Decluttering queen Marie Kondo on books: what has she got against them?
- The titan of tidiness has raised hackles with comments such as ‘reading clouds your judgment’
- Social media users are divided about her advice to decide which books to keep based on touch
Marie Kondo is back, and this time it’s personal.
With The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, the anti-clutter guru persuaded millions of people to clean out their wardrobes. This month, she’s taken the KonMari Method to television with a Netflix show called Tidying Up With Marie Kondo.
And suddenly people have noticed the dark side of Kondo’s war on stuff: she hates books. All books.
That signed first edition of Catcher in the Rye. That poetry collection your husband gave you before he was shipped off to Iraq. The Bible that’s been in your family since 1784. Consign them all to the flames and breathe in those sparks of joy!
Kondo may not have gone that far, but you wouldn’t know it from the response on social media, where defenders of books have pushed back hard against Kondo and her shelf-tidying message.
“Do NOT listen to Marie Kondo or KonMari in relation to books. Fill your apartment & world with them,” tweeted novelist Anakana Schofield. “The woman is very misguided about BOOKS. Every human needs a v extensive library not clean, boring shelves.”