Wednesday, April 08, 2020

Lockdown libraries

While you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, what about judging a person by what's on their bookshelves? Coronavirus has meant that we're currently confronted by a constant stream of politicians, pundits and celebrities talking from the sanctuary of their own homes - many of them positioned in front of an array of tomes that looks suspiciously artful.

As this Guardian article suggests, Dominic Raab has been perhaps the guiltiest culprit, pictured with a selection of doorstop volumes that seemed calculated to give him some gravitas and authority. Nicola Sturgeon, meanwhile, certainly couldn't be accused of failing to put her money where her mouth is and enthusiastically support Scottish writers.

I'm partial to a carefully curated collection of books myself but can avoid any accusations of "doing a Raab" on the grounds that the shelves behind my head are completely empty, and will remain so as long as competing working-from-home and childcare/home-schooling commitments keep me from finishing painting them. Well, that and the fact that my laptop's camera is bust.

1 comment:

Joe x said...

There does need to be a term for that, although "I Raabed his shelves of the books he actually likes" can sound like you're just talking like a pirate...