A new feature on Instagram allows users to display exactly what they are reading at any given time and have that information permanently affixed to their credentials. Unfortunately, there is only a 20-character limit. À la recherche du temps perdu is 24. You can see where my problem lies.
Prior to this, the only possible way to let other Instagram users know what you were reading was to either take a still image or video of the book in question, plus a lengthy, written treatise covering its failings and attributes and post that to the social media platform. Like we were some sort of cavemen.
Or, if a dedicated book post couldn’t be achieved for any reason, other more surreptitious means could also be employed. For instance, documenting the birth of a child or the death of a loved one (events sure to attract many eyeballs) and not including the latest Karl Ove Knausgård somewhere in the frame feels wasteful. Many were driven to comment when my copy of Foucault’s Pendulum was spotted jutting out of my pocket during a post concerning a local road traffic accident that I’d stumbled across (don’t worry, I was fine).
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Linger on: the strange afterlife of the Velvet Underground
In recent times, celebrities have also taken up this mantle. For many, if Dua Lipa wasn’t telling them what to read, they wouldn’t be reading at all! Luckily, if Dua Lipa is unavailable, there are one or two million others on the social media platform willing to express their feelings about the books you should be reading. Often quite loudly.
For some, this is known as Performative Reading (I often call it PR to save time). Bafflingly, this is often offered in a negative context, as if there’s something wrong in highlighting the works currently enthralling you and making sure others know about it. I don’t understand this at all.
Other activities aren’t considered detrimental simply because they’re described as “performative”. Think of performative walking or performative driving (both things I also enjoy). Yes, it may briefly encumber a few pedestrians or snare up a roundabout, but the entertainment value is priceless. To me, the use of “performative” simply emphasises something executed with flair, for the (free) benefit of others.
Yes, obviously, things can also be done with subtlety and discretion. There are even a few lunatics out there who think there’s no need to crow about the very difficult books you’re reading at all. But I feel it is my duty, if I have skills and attributes above those of others, to share that with the world, simply so others can learn from my example.
The culture needs, nay demands, to appreciate the advanced habits of the truly gifted. If we deny them this, how will the human race ever advance?
Naysayers claim that this sort of performative reading puts pressure on those struggling to read due to time constraints, anxiety or a comprehensive school education. But to that I say: diamonds are only formed through pressure. I think nothing further needs to be said.
Allowing the more advanced bibliophile to share their libraries with lesser readers can only lead to what I call “proper reading”. Seeing the latest work that’s enthralling me – whether it be Nabokov, Hemingway or David Foster Wallace – sitting next to my pithy but poignant bio and my perfectly curated grid, can only offer deep inspiration. A beacon of hope in a dank, dark wasteland.
I hope the next development from Instagram is some sort of filter that prohibits the inclusion of improper types of books. Yes, I am sure there are some wags out there who would think it “very funny” to include fripperies such as the Katie Price canon or Murakami in their profiles for a lark. But we don’t need the waters muddied here.
I’m sure any sensible person would agree that it would be wholly beneficial if any titles deemed unworthy are instantly rejected by the algorithm, plus a short ban inflicted on the user concerned to give them time to think about where they went wrong.
And so my warmest thanks and gratitude are extended to Mark Zuckerberg and the whole board and shareholders at Meta. Finally, the boffins over there have found a way to combine the disparate worlds of Instagram and reading that was so desperately crying out for connection.
Because, as the old saying goes, if a book is read and no one sees you reading it, is it really being read at all?
