The real trend of fake books

On film sets, things are often not what they appear to be — the flowers are actually made of plastic, the stairs lead nowhere and the bookcase in the background is just a facade. Recently, what we've seen again and again in films has started appearing in homes and workplaces. Fake books have become a real thing.

The US company Books by the Foot can fill a specified amount of shelf space with random books according to colour, subject or whatever is required. The pandemic lockdowns caused a surge in demand for the company's services. "People were requesting books for Zoom meetings," Charles Roberts, president of the firm's parent company, Wonder Book, told The New York Times. "They wanted classic literature, cookbooks or other things for their backgrounds, kind of like props but also to reflect their personality and tastes. People wanted to avoid getting made fun of for having a romance novel in their background."

For the most part, Books by the Foot sells "rescue books" (real books that would otherwise be thrown away or recycled) but they're also one of several companies offering fakes. Tina Ramchandani, an interior designer in New York City, says her company installs fake books, for example on the high shelves of bookcases that can't be reached easily. "It's usually for larger homes, where you're not using every part of the home," Ramchandani says. "Instead of doing real books that are going to collect dust that you're never going to access, we end up doing fake books."

Nothing inside

Fakes come in various types. They might be once-real books that have been hollowed out. They could be book-shaped boxes with fake or real titles and authors printed on them, or just a facade of book spines. Sometimes, it might be a fabric backdrop with the image of packed bookshelves printed on it. All of these types are becoming more common in a range of commercial spaces as well as in private homes.

To many people, this is horrifying — even outrageous. They see books being treated as a simple commodity. And there's a sense of unfairness since reading is associated with culture and intelligence. Jeanie Engelbach, who is also an interior designer in New York, calls it "pretentious". "It creates the illusion that you are either better read or smarter than you really are."

The rise of remote working and online communication has given everyone an unprecedented glimpse into their co-workers' homes. Naturally, people began positioning themselves strategically for online meetings and interviews, often with a bookshelf behind them — even selecting specific "smart" books to display, such as works of literature or non-fiction, in order to impress others. The expression "shelfie" emerged to describe this behaviour. It's only human to want to be seen in the best possible light. While fake books are a step too far for many, others may simply want to look more professional.

Real reads

This might turn out to be just a phase. Sales of e-books were once widely expected to surpass those of printed books. The fact that this hasn't happened is a sign of the enduring popularity of physical books. People like reading them and having them in their homes — perhaps, in part, because of the self-image they help to project. Like many other choices we make, the books we have at home say something about who we are — or who we wish to be.