What is BOOKSMAXXING?
Booksmaxxing is the intensive cultivation of a visibly literary life: reading, collecting, annotating, listing and arranging books into an identity. It becomes maxxing when the systems for displaying, tracking and signaling reading begin to compete with the quiet act of opening a book.
Supposedly maxes
reading identity / book ownership / visible intellectualism / annotations / shelf density
Adherents believe
A book changes the room before it is opened.
Reading is an identity surface.
Annotations prove contact.
The tote bag is part of the text.
A stack of unread books still has atmosphere.
You may already be BOOKSMAXXING if…
- you have more reading systems than uninterrupted reading time
- a book photograph is ready before chapter one is finished
- the unread stack has become part of the room's self-portrait
- you can explain the shelf architecture at length
Typical practices
- setting reading goals
- carrying books visibly
- annotating and posting pages
- building thematic shelves
- joining reading challenges