A new wave of celebrities launch book clubs and are spotted by the paparazzi holding the hottest books is not just for nerds. A mainstream revival of this cherished pastime is on the horizon.
Bookworms unite: reading is finally cool again. With everyone from Timothee Chalamet to Bella Hadid getting papped with paperbacks in their hand, it seems having your head in a book is the new hottest look. A recent Reddit thread showcasing famous figures reading books has gained over 5K upvotes, showcasing the hobby’s surge in popularity.
Reese Witherspoon’s Reese’s Book Club, which launched in 2017 and has since gained over 2.9 million Instagram followers, is undoubtedly unavoidable. Dua Lipa, the pop icon who founded Service95’s book club in June 2023 with the intention of presenting a variety of stories around the world, is yet another well-known example. But why is this epoch that, let’s face it, has been viewed as a form of nerdy making a mainstream comeback?
READ MORE: ‘I reversed my social media ‘brainrot’ after picking up this common hobby’
After all, many of us can recall the days when books were associated with being introverted and geeky. Additionally, less of us are currently reading because, according to a YouGov poll, 40% of Brits haven’t finished a book.
However, the trend of posting images of Timothee Chalamet, a classically attractive Timothee Chalamet reading Frank Herbert’s Dune on the New York Subway online served as a cultural reset. Being caught pouring over a novel on the bust had an undeniably avant-garde chic quality.
Hollywood sailor Jacob Elordi recently captured reading Jean Jocteau’s The Art of Cinema while on vacation. Bella Hadid, a high-fashion model, was also spotted wearing Stephen King’s The Outsider, which added a very trendy pop of red to her gray suit.
Some celebrities have even used them to make political statements, but it goes beyond just aesthetics. When Canadian musician Grimes walked out in front of the cameras in 2021 with a copy of The Communist Manifesto in her hands as a “troll” the media, it’s hard to forget.
Of course, reading is also attractive. Perhaps no better example of this is superstar US athlete LeBron James, who regularly posts half-dressed pics of himself glued to a novel on Instagram – including the dystopian bestseller The Hunger Games.
It also has a cultural significance for “men who yearn,” or sensitive, romantic men. Over 60K TikTok posts contain clips of Jane Austen characters eloquently expressing emotions under the hashtag “yearning.” Celebrities with the likes of Cillian Murphy, who are renowned for having sincere public faces, also appear frequently.
Pedro Pascal has publicly endorsed LGBTQ and trans rights, as has Pedro Pascal. The Last of Us actor was caught reading a queer love story called Rosewater by Liv Little.
Reading a book, especially a good book, has a certain je ne sais quoi that the reader feels a certain way. The activity may have been a result of the timelessness of the 18th-century poets’ longing for love, which were also a part of the romantic era.
Or maybe it’s the aura of mystery that a book contains. It’s harder to interrupt someone who is reading a book versus someone who is on their phone. There is generally a shared understanding that the reader is enveloped in their own world, that their thoughts, at least for the moment, are their own.
Source: Mirror
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