Why Do You Collect Books? An Analysis of What I’ve Seen in 1.5 Years of Book Blogging

We all have our reasons, right?

There’s lots of psychological theories regarding collecting. Wikipedia has a page about it (surprise, surprise). MD Magazine‘s got one as well. We could talk all day about why we collect and how we collect and what are the psychological things that cause us to collect, but 1. I don’t want to write a research paper on my blog and 2. because that would be less fun to read.

But I’ve been hanging around the blogging world for almost two years now, actually blogging for about a year and a half. And I’ve noticed some patterns when it comes to the reasons people read. So I thought I’d share those with you today!

Reason #1: Re-Reading

This is my crew, if you were at all curious. And my partner’s, for that matter.

These are the people who buy books because they are going to read them ten times, and that’s way harder if you get a book from the library. The library wants you to give other people the chance to read it.

They buy books because they know they’ll read them again and again, and it’s just easier if that book is already on the shelf. It’s going to be well loved, and well read, and some of the pages will probably eventually fall out someday. Some buy books new to read for the first time, some read from the library or another source first and then buy if they like it.

But there’s a sense of comfort coming back to the same story over and over again, and that’s something that rereaders crave.

Reason #2: Collecting

These are the people who often have way more books than they could reasonably read at any given time (though not necessarily all).

Some of them like the way that the books look on the shelf, and the whole aesthetic of books. Some like owning books that are rare, uncommon, signed, unique, or something else that makes them stand out from your average shelf of books. Some just like the idea of having a huge library, and daydream about Belle’s library in Beauty and the Beast.

There are actually some articles online (such as this one) that actually considers book collectors as something entirely different as readers. It’s pretty interesting, actually.

Reason #3: Lending

I’ve met a few of these people, and I always find it interesting.

These people collect books for the purpose of lending them to other people. Usually, it’s books they know and love and have read numerous times. But they buy these books so they can share them with friends, and so their friends have the connivence of a place to go to get a book.

I don’t know where they get the money for it, but it’s pretty cool to be on the friend side of it, in my experience.

Reason #4: Belonging to a Crowd

This is one I see a lot around this community, especially when poking around Instagram and BookTube.

There are certain things that seem to define book bloggers/booktubers/readers/whatever you want to call yourself. Talking about books and reading them is a big one. But owning impressive shelves is another. Having a copy of the latest hyped release seems to be like wearing the right clothes or whatever made you cool in your school years. It makes you fit into the crowd and depending on which books you choose, designates your sub-crowd.

There’s nothing wrong with it. Hell, sometimes it’s fun, because you have tonnes of people to talk to about what you’re reading, because everyone’s reading the same books. Hype doesn’t come out of nowhere, after all. It’s just fascinating stuff, from a social psychology perspective.

Reason #5: You’re a Dopamine Addict

Don’t worry, everyone is. It’s a biological thing.

You just get your kicks from buying and owning books.

It’s probably healthier and safer than many other things people go for, looking for that same hit of brain chemicals that give you all those happy feels.

Reason #6: The Books Replace Something Else in Your Life

Some people have things that they’re missing from their lives. Could be satisfying relationships, could be self-worth, could be anything. And when that stuff is missing, people tend to replace it with physical objects.

This also happens when people are unhappy for whatever reason and trying to make themselves happy.

Because of that aforementioned dopamine hit, it temporarily satisfies that need for something in your life. You learn that you can rely on this hit of a dopamine, and so you keep coming back to it. But it’s only a temporary fix for an underlying problem.

Reason #7: You Have a Thing About Reading Books Other People Touched

This is my partner. He only buys new books, because he is grossed out by the fact that he doesn’t know the cleanliness of the person who had it before. Which is fair if there’s something off looking about the book, but when it’s in perfectly fine condition, I’m confused.

I get drooled on/licked/sneezed on/etc by kids all day, and he’ll still touch me, so who knows?

Thoughts? Opinions? Which one of these do you fit into? Got one that I’ve left out? Let me know in the comments below and we can keep this discussion going!