why everyone wants to be the internet's librarian

on aesthetic intellectualism, taste, and being hot online

in lieu of my monday newsletter, which I didn’t trust you guys to read in between BBQs and beach days, i’m sharing an essay instead. i wrote this almost two months ago, pre newsletter, and made some minor tweaks. back to regular programming tomorrow. enjoy!

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So, celebrity book clubs are a thing now — I know this, you know this, it seems the whole internet knows this. Before this newsletter was my entire personality, books were my entire personality, so I’ve had a fair few friends ask me what my thoughts on this trend are. Do I find it icky? Cringe? Another example of how capitalism and celebrity culture relentlessly seek to commercialize every aspect of our lives? To that last point, let me remind us all that that ship has already sailed — weren’t we all having this conversation last year?! As a person with strong opinions loosely held, I find the entire thing pretty fun actually! Service95? Library Science? That actress from Fifty Shades and The Awful Spider movie telling us what to read next? FUN! Think of all the discourse to be milked from this, the monthly book picks we’ll judge together, the reviews we’ll pick apart. Surely, if you read this newsletter, that's about as fun as it gets, no?

A few weeks ago, The Cut published a piece asking why so many famous women have book clubs now. Clearly the question had been on people’s minds because soon enough Substackers started asking too, then the Bookstagrammers, Podcasters and TikTokers entered the chat. See what I’m saying?! The Cut article concluded that celebrities are suddenly entering their bookish era to “add an extra layer to their personae”. Basically to make them seem cooler, smarter, hotter. Can’t say I disagree, but I think there’s much more to it. As with most things these days, it all comes down to Perception, Influence and of course, Money.

but is she hot and smart?

Let’s talk about being HOT. It seems nothing can be gatekept these days, being hot included. A little botox here, filler there, sleek bun, cream blush, great contouring ... looksmaxxing is all the rage. When even tweens seem to be skipping the awkward phase altogether, nowadays being hot just isn’t enough anymore. It’s like, yeah, she’s hot, but is she hot AND smart?

is she an INTELLECTUAL?!

Intellectualism is society’s hot new commodity. More than ever before, popular culture is placing a premium on being smart as well. The bright young things used to be Hollywood starlets and Victoria’s Secret Angels. These days it’s that twenty-something consumer startup founder and your Forbes 30U30 wunderkids. I’m much more interested in getting tea on Sam Altman’s dating life than Brad Pitt’s. And I promise it’s not just me. Founders are becoming celebrities, and celebrities are becoming founders. At this point, Kim Kardashian is a wildly successful founder that just happens to be insanely hot. I’ll stand by that. And this standard doesn’t just apply to famous people. Those who cannot start billion dollar companies make TikTok analysis videos, or like me write self-aware Substacks to show we know more than a thing or two about more than a thing or two. This particular brand of intellectualism du jour does best when combined with taste and aesthetics. Everyone wants to be seen as being a hot intellectual with great taste, thus the likes of recommendation culture and corporate fetish proliferating the zeitgeist.

watching you, watching me

Reading the right books is perhaps the most accessible way to prove all three: intellectualism, taste and aesthetics. Last year, I began to notice literary merch in the wild. A Sally Rooney hat here, Jane Austen tote there and of course this Ottessa Moshfegh T-shirt. Were lit fic authors a part of the zeitgeist now? They’d passed the T-shirt test afterall. It was like all the middle school Tumblr girls had grown up and discovered a slew of similarly disillusioned fictional characters onto which they could project their woes. Perhaps that’s why all the best sad girl novel heroines are unnamed? Now, I bet at least a few on your local subway hot girls donning bookish merch might not even read the books in question, but that’s not the point. Actually it proves the point because what’s important is that they know enough to appreciate the cultural significance of associating with these narratives and even the authors themselves. Even as a bookish girlie who genuinely loves to read, my bookstagram presence is still curated with aesthetics and taste strongly in mind. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

When celebrities get papped with a novel, or post a beach read on IG, or do book reviews on Stories, it has much the same effect as wearing a Sally Rooney hat. It’s perception building —  all part of creating the brand personae if you will. Here’s a fun anecdote: One of my fave Youtubers, Jack Edwards, makes these videos where he analyses celebrities’ reading tastes and rates them accordingly. He made one for Kendall Jenner a while back where he pretty much roasted her reading taste. She must have watched the video because in an i-D interview soon after (which I can’t find because i-D is AWOL) she goes on to talk about how hard it is to have people judge and criticize everything she does, even the books she reads. Kendall now has Ashleah Gonzales as her “unofficial literary consultant”, so I guess she’s in good hands now. Kinda lame, though.

a different kind of influence

It’s 2024 and everyone either thinks they’re a thought leader, or wants to be one. You know who the OG thought leaders were, though? Your small town ladies’ book club leaders. There’s nothing like literature to mold the minds and perception of people en masse. From the earliest days of Bible study to the infamous French Salons, book clubs have always been a way for people to gather, gossip and exchange ideas. Sure, popularity might have dwindled in recent years due to people literally not reading anymore, but with the rise of Booktok and the romance genre boom, book clubs are making their way back and celebrity books clubs are leading the way. When celebrities endorse a book, directly or indirectly, that book sells. After Tayari Jones’ fourth book, “An American Marriage”, was selected for Oprah’s book club in 2018, copies began to fly off the shelf, Obama called it out as one of his favourite summer reads and it's since been optioned for a movie adaptation. Now that’s influence.

Most celebrity book clubs today are entirely virtual — really just Instagram pages that recommend books. Sure, throw in an author interview here or a giveaway there, but there’s still very little “club” about them. I think that’s a big miss. Young people are seeking out ways to meet people and connect IRL, and much like Gen Z is trying out speed dating, book club meetups are growing in popularity. Didn’t you hear? People are lonely and selling intimacy is the hot new business model. I’d love to see one of these celeb book clubs hire some city leads, get on Geneva and organize some fun IRL events. I see beverage collabs, custom totes and for some reason, lip gloss. Community is influence. Someone tell Dua and Kaia!

about that billion dollar company ...

Books, apparently, maketh rich. Just ask Reese Witherspoon who sold her production company, Hello Sunshine, to Blackstone Group for $900M last year. Puck has it that the company might be struggling a bit these days, but that’s a different story. Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere, and Daisy Jones & The Six were all hugely popular Reese’s Book Club picks before they became successful TV Shows. There’s also the fact that Reese has been able to cast herself as a lead in many of these productions, giving her acting career (and cultural relevance) a little more runway than it likely would have had otherwise. A nod to perception and influence.

The book club to TV screen pipeline seems to be the goal for the most ambitious of these women. I hadn’t heard of Emma Roberts’ production company, Belletrist, until very recently. But it’s out there existing and already has two adaptations under its belt (both of which I’ve also never heard of). Nepo babies turned book club owners Dakota Johnson and Kaia Gerber both think Reese is the blueprint and even Margot Robbie has something (or two) hot and bookish in the works. I’m most excited to see what Dua Lipa does with Service95, though. Right now the brand is positioned as an editorial platform with a podcast and a book club. The vibe is very much Poosh (btw what’s happening there?!) but bookish. If Dua wants to make some real money, though (and I’m betting she does), she’s going to have to put out some more lucrative media assets, so I’m betting on some movie and TV adaptations in her future too. This I’m excited for. Her book club picks skew a bit more complex and literary than Reese’s — more Elena Ferrante, less Colleen Hoover. IYKYK.

so, is the “yassification” of reading culture a bad thing?

The only reason I’m asking is because I know at least a few of you are asking too, and I’m willing to bet articles like this are a big reason why. Let me level with you here: I think people who take any assertion comparing the publishing industry to SHEIN, or clothing purchasing habits to book purchasing habits, don’t know what they’re talking about. Because what?! Dear readers, let me remind you all that people DO NOT READ. A survey of 1,500 American adults last year showed that 46% finished zero books and 5% read just one. If you read more than 2 books last year, you’re in the top half of U.S. adults. How freaking sad. 

Might be a hot take, but I think almost anything that gets young women to read more, and be proud of it, is a good thing. In a world where young people are brain rotting away on their phones, and skibidi toilet counts as entertainment, reading BETTER be so hot, because apparently some of you CAN’T HACK IT! So yeah, I’m here for the rainbows shelfies (only in theory, I think they are hideous) and the bookish nightstands. I love that the women are reading Joan Didion and that celebrities are intentionally curating thoughtful book recs. Sure, dumb headlines like these will surface once in a while, but these people live and die by SEO and we must not hold it against them. 

reading is hot, good literary taste should be celebrated, and people aren’t reading nearly enough for “hyper consumerism” to be at all attached to this conversation

I read 162 books last year, all of which I bought physical copies of and still own. I copiously record every book I read, share book reflections online and love love taking aesthetically pleasing pictures of books carefully placed around my aesthetically pleasing apartment. It’s all part of a ritual I’ve built around my reading experience that turns something that’s otherwise so personal into an experience I can share with my friends and community. Do I ever feel pressure about meeting book goals or reading the hottest new release? Of course! But I’m a self-aware adult, so once in a while I like to take responsibility for my unhelpful habits while acknowledging and distancing myself from stimuli that encourage them. I swear it’s the neatest trick. It’s funny, society is perpetually anxious about the example female celebrities are setting for girls and young women. Maybe “reading is hot, reading is cool” isn’t such a bad thing — some might even say it’s a win.