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Scroll.in
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
Dua Lipa reading Helen Garner may set off a trend. But books have signified taste for centuries
Books and bookshelves as interior decoration are a new trend, according to recent reports. An expert at Etsy, where some sell books by the metre in order to fill shelves, reports a 19,616% increase in searches for 'book-lover decor' over the past three months, compared with the same time last year. Another ' more bespoke service' offers a metre of assorted vintage books, all with orange covers, for £98. 'Bookshelf wealth' is an interior design trend on TikTok, too. According to The Guardian, 'A bookshelf that looks like an heirloom family collection, complete with art and ornaments, suggests you care about literature and art – and have time and money to spend on these things.' Even if you don't read much, you can gesture through your bookshelves to aspirations to culture and good taste. Like all bright and not-so-bright new ideas, of course, the use of books and bookshelves as interior decoration has a much older history than its recent online incarnation suggests. Bookshelves as interior decoration – along with book-of-the-month clubs and discussion of books in popular media – were 19th and 20th-century trends too, though with important differences. Unlike books bought by the metre, those trends could cultivate a genuine interest in reading – as do some 2025 trends, like the celebrity book club. Helen Garner's This House of Grief was recently chosen by musician Dua Lipa for hers. Democratising reading The imposing library in the gentleman's stately house in the 19th century is a familiar image. It was a key element in marking one's arrival in the privileged professional or landed classes. At the end of the 19th century, though, book publishing (and book talk) filtered down to middle-class and working-class readers who began to self-educate or to broaden their reading through accessing new books. These changes were brought about by wider education and employment, but also an increase in publishing activity, especially for new novels. (The later invention of the mass-market paperback, in the 1930s, would be another landmark.) Readers hunted down the classics, followed reading lists set up by reformist associations, or joined newly opened libraries, which also expanded across this period. A new fashion emerged, from the 1920s, for knowing the best, most absorbing or enjoyable of the many new books appearing: modern novels above all. This fashion for the new often existed alongside a desire to know the classics and their authors – and to display them all in the home. Book clubs formed, book programmes on the new medium of radio were introduced, and new essays and advertisements about owning and displaying books appeared. Features in newspapers and magazines highlighting the 'Book of the Week' or 'Book of the Month' became common by the late 1920s. So did essays and advertisements addressed primarily to women readers. Most images, though, showed a man sitting in an armchair surrounded by his homely books. A new language emerged too, describing the emerging book worlds as 'middlebrow', in contrast to the 'lowbrow' (those merely following popular or mass tastes) and the highbrow (those whose tastes were only high, refined and, perhaps, pretentious). All three terms could be terms of abuse: usually in feminised forms. Harvard Classics The volume of new books could provoke anxieties for both established critics and the new readers about 'drowning in a sea of new novels', alongside new enthusiasms for trying to keep up with the latest. Guidance in reading – what to read and how to read – became a new industry. So did guidance on buying and collecting books, and owning them. And, no less important, to displaying them by building a library in your own home. In the United States, in 1909–10, Charles W Eliot, president of Harvard University, edited the Harvard Classics, or Dr Eliot's Five-Foot Shelf: 50 volumes containing selections of classic works, newly packaged for ordinary and aspiring readers. Authors ranged from Plato to Saint Augustine, Dante to Milton, and included Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson and Edgar Allan Poe. Subjects ranged from Christian texts, to texts from Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. The total choices were extraordinary (and no doubt daunting for many). Special editions were produced, but cheaper versions appeared over the 1920s and 1930s. Harvard Classics were designed for the home. They could be purchased with a five-foot bookshelf to hold them, as well as a booklet giving plans for reading through the collection in just 15 minutes a day. The mix of high culture and easy access to it was one dimension of what would be labelled the middlebrow. The Harvard Classics were available to Australian readers by the 1940s. Early book clubs The American Book-Of-The-Month Club, launched in 1926, was another outstanding success in attracting a new generation of readers. Henry Handel Richardson's Ultima Thule and Eleanor Dark's The Timeless Land, in their US editions, were among the club's successful monthly choices. In Australia, All About Books, launched in 1928, was produced not by a literary critic, but by a key figure in the book trade, bookseller and editor DW Thorpe. Its aim was to 'sift the grains of wheat out of so much chaff' – sort out the good books from the so many new books. Its readers were 'ordinary readers', not part of the literary community but eager readers, whether in business or the home, keen to know the best of the latest books. It presented recommendations of the best new books (and the rest), plus guides to what was being read in England and the US. All About Books printed short notices, plus slightly longer reviews by noted critics George Cowling and Nettie Palmer on new fiction. Palmer's column was 'A Reader's Notebook', while Cowling's became 'All Sorts of Reading for Everybody'. New habits of reading were also linked to new habits of book buying and book owning. The building of a personal library might begin by purchasing the ten-book Masterpiece Library of Short Stories (each book contained two volumes) from the 1920s, or by discerning consumption – a most important quality to achieve – of the new books appearing. With such abundance, guidance in how to build a personal or 'domestic' library was always needed. All About Books obliged. Australian home libraries The home became the crucial site for this new book culture, and the frequent recommendation that books and bookshelves made attractive living-room furniture was not simply trivial. These should be good books in good bookshelves, well presented in the domestic space. The new book culture was very reader-oriented and often feminised. A weekly book page appeared in the commercial radio paper, The Listener-In, edited and written by Miss J.G. Swain, who also presented a weekly radio programme: 'Living Authors'. A Book of the Week selection appeared on the Women's Page, and readers were invited into close relations with 'living authors'. As leading historian of Australian reading, Patrick Buckridge, has shown, the very successful Australian Women's Weekly also ran extended pages on good books and good reading from the 1930s to the 1960s. Women readers were specifically addressed, and they were the key participants. A worried stenographer wrote to the Weekly, with perfect middlebrow judgement: 'I like biographies, best-sellers, history and travel books and most of the classics, but the girls I have come in contact with cannot be bothered with any of these, and, if they read at all, just read light fiction. (20 July 1940)' In Buckridge's words: 'Good books and good reading [were] defined mainly by negation […] they are what 'light fiction' is not. […] Good books could also be defined […] as the books that should be owned and kept in the home.' This mid-century period in Australia has often been characterised as a period of cultural lack, before the post-war developments in modern literature and art. But looking back now through the vision of reading and publishing history – and the broad range of cultural institutions – we see something else. We see a period of cultural expansion and diversity: of new books, new readers, new cultural and commercial opportunities. Much of this culture around books and reading continued in the post-war decades, in newspaper review pages for example, but criticism was increasingly in the hands of university and other professional critics. The broad public culture around books was divided and much was lost – until its reinvention with the expansion of book festivals, reading groups, and new forms of reading fandom in recent decades 'At home with books' Books for the home, for the domestic reader, for owning and displaying in home bookshelves, were no doubt involved in forms of social distinction and class affirmation. To be 'at home with books' was a demonstrable level of cultural capital. But the spread of books and reading also involved forms of democratisation and new kinds of engagement with modern culture. That many of the ideas and the books themselves came from overseas was not a matter of 'domination', but of wanting to keep up with modern culture as it appeared — much as we do today. In interesting ways, the last two decades have seen something like a resurgence in middlebrow (and 'high pop') cultural enthusiasms. The word 'middlebrow' itself has had something of a revival. Bookshelves as interior decoration are likely to be with us – in ever more complicated and design friendly forms – for quite a long while yet. Bookshelves still have many new and many old stories to tell. Most importantly today, the popularity and public presence of a wide range of reading activity – right across the scale of genres, from literary to popular – has significant potential to further democratise reading.
The Age
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
MP Will Fowles cries foul over his bullying complaint
CBD could not contain our excitement when we heard Zendaya was coming to Melbourne. Melebrities of a certain stature (i.e., not us) were beside themselves to receive an invitation with the contents line: 'You're Invited: An Immersive Evening with On & Zendaya.' The storied actor and contemporary icon was coming to Melbourne to host an event at a trendy sneaker shop? First Dua Lipa raves about Helen Garner's This House of Grief, and now this. Praise be to Melbourne! Zeitgeist is our middle name. The invitation continued: 'On is excited to invite you and a guest to an evening to celebrate the launch of Cloudzone Moon – the first footwear co-created by Zendaya and her longtime stylist, Law Roach.' 'Enjoy a relaxed evening of drinks, music and curated moments, as we launch this bold new silhouette and apparel range – the first of a two-part release, with Cloudtilt Moon to follow in October.' But alas, it now turns out that Zendaya is not attending the event. But her Cloudzone Moon shoes will be. And the immersive experience? Presumably, that's trying the shoes on. Man of many talents Former Howard government communications minister Richard Alston 's quiet post-political life upended when he was tapped by former opposition leader Peter Dutton to co-manage the perennially troubled NSW division of the Liberal Party last year. Alston and fellow octogenarian party elder Alan Stockdale were part of a trio of administrators called in after the division failed to nominate hundreds of candidates for local government elections last year. Their control was effectively nuked by Stockdale's off-colour comments, reported in this column, about the party having a problem with 'assertive women'. Now relieved of his duties, Alston can return to his real post-political career as a man of letters. CBD readers might recall the former federal senator and high commissioner to the United Kingdom wrote a tome on medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Alston's latest work concerns a more unfamiliar subject – the great Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan, a country he told CBD was an 'extraordinary place'. 'It's a rapidly growing new economy, a president who's been in power for nine years and transformed the country, moderate Islam – they hate extremists – a phenomenal history, and three to four amazing cities,' Alston gushed. Alston was drawn to Uzbekistan because he collects suzanis – a traditional Central Asian decorative embroidered wall hanging. 'They're amazingly colourful, and by our standards, ridiculously cheap,' he told us. Who knew? Another World: An Australian in Uzbekistan was released by boutique conservative publishers Connor Court last month, and promises 'a fascinating blend of personal reflection and historical analysis'. As for Alston's next project, he's beavering away on a book about Australian pulp novelist Morris West. Unless another Liberal Party implosion calls him up to duty. OpenAI wines and dines in Canberra Since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, OpenAI has exploded from a little-known not-for-profit to the world's most influential tech company, helmed by its mercurial chief executive, Sam Altman. Having helped send the artificial intelligence boom into overdrive, it was only a matter of time before OpenAI would let its lobbying muscle loose on Canberra, where policymakers have historically been a little flat-footed in the face of tech developments. The OpenAI circus came to town in June for a lobbying blitz, led by its chief economist, Ronnie Chatterji, who met a posse of Labor frontbenchers in relevant portfolios including Andrew Leigh, Tim Ayres, Andrew Giles and Andrew Charlton. Lots of wonky types are called Andrew, apparently. Less attention fell on OpenAI's wooing of senior public servants. After a busy day on the hill, Chatterji hosted a private dinner for top public servants at the Boat House, a modern Australian fine diner on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. On the dance card was the Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson (just days into the job), the Australian Bureau of Statistics' top statistician, David Gruen, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet deputy secretary Nadine Williams, IP Australia director general Michael Schwager and Peter Anstee from the Department of Home Affairs. The Canberra dinner was just another piece in an Australia lobbying effort that is becoming increasingly sophisticated. The firm recently hired former Tech Council of Australia boss Kate Pounder to lead its local push as Australian policy liaison. Before the Tech Council, Pounder co-founded analytics firm AlphaBeta with Labor assistant minister Charlton, who would later parachute from Bellevue Hill into the federal seat of Parramatta. CBD was not a fly on the wall, and although it was a fairly standard reception for a visiting expert — Chatterji was an economic adviser in Joe Biden's
The Age
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Good grief: Dua Lipa turns spotlight on Helen Garner's book
Here's something you don't hear every day. English-Albanian pop sensation Dua Lipa has thrown her star power behind one of Australia's most loved writers, Helen Garner. Talk about an unlikely duo. Lipa is spotlighting Garner's This House of Grief in her popular book club this month. The 2014 non-fiction book follows the trial of Victorian man Robert Farquharson, who is serving 33 years for murdering his three sons on Father's Day in 2005. When contacted by CBD, Garner told us she was a bit embarrassed by all the international attention – having fielded multiple media requests all day. Luckily, Lipa had a few more words to say on social media. 'Her work is new to me and it's a thrilling discovery. She's one of the most fascinating writers I have come across in recent years,' the singer said about Garner. 'What she reveals along the way is not simply a courtroom drama but a sharp and forensic analysis of the human condition.' Garner, who has also tackled true crime with her 2004 book, Joe Cinque's Consolation, was spotted in the courtroom for the trial of triple mushroom murderer Erin Patterson. Garner is partnering with Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein to write The Mushroom Tapes. It turns out Lipa is somewhat of an aficionado when it comes to our local arts scene. Back in 2023, the Sydney Theatre Company's production about ex-PM Julia Gillard, Julia, was on the pop star's must-watch theatre list.
Sydney Morning Herald
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Nick Cave draws a crowd – but the queues aren't to listen to his music this time
London: Australian singer Nick Cave has surprised shoppers at a small store in England by giving them an insight into his creative life – not with his music, but with his books. The singer has generated queues at an Oxfam bookshop at a seaside resort by donating 2000 books on topics including philosophy, religion and rock. The first of his boxes was opened last week and drew a crowd of buyers when word reached the local media in Hove, near Brighton in south-east England. 'I guess there were between 50 and 100 people queuing in the first couple of hours of the stock going out,' store manager Richard, who asked to be quoted without his surname, told this masthead. Cave lived near Brighton with his family for many years and donated the books after they were used in an art installation about his creative process. That exhibition, called Stranger Than Kindness, included a recreation of Cave's office, with his entire personal library, as presented in the Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard film 20,000 Days on Earth. Word of the donation reached the local newspaper, The Argus, which broke the news and triggered the crowds. About 800 of the books were put on display last week and included Australian books such as Helen Garner's This House of Grief, her account of the trial of Robert Farquharson for driving his car into a dam, killing his three young sons.
The Age
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Nick Cave draws a crowd – but the queues aren't to listen to his music this time
London: Australian singer Nick Cave has surprised shoppers at a small store in England by giving them an insight into his creative life – not with his music, but with his books. The singer has generated queues at an Oxfam bookshop at a seaside resort by donating 2000 books on topics including philosophy, religion and rock. The first of his boxes was opened last week and drew a crowd of buyers when word reached the local media in Hove, near Brighton in south-east England. 'I guess there were between 50 and 100 people queuing in the first couple of hours of the stock going out,' store manager Richard, who asked to be quoted without his surname, told this masthead. Cave lived near Brighton with his family for many years and donated the books after they were used in an art installation about his creative process. That exhibition, called Stranger Than Kindness, included a recreation of Cave's office, with his entire personal library, as presented in the Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard film 20,000 Days on Earth. Word of the donation reached the local newspaper, The Argus, which broke the news and triggered the crowds. About 800 of the books were put on display last week and included Australian books such as Helen Garner's This House of Grief, her account of the trial of Robert Farquharson for driving his car into a dam, killing his three young sons.
