Why buy books if you can’t show them off on your shelves? If you’re simply trying to read more, you might as well go to the library and then return whatever you read as soon as you finish it. Frankly, reading books without telling people you read books is a fool’s errand. You have to flaunt it. Unfortunately, not all curated shelves are alike, as actress and singer Ashley Tisdale discovered after her interview with Architectural Digest.
While giving a tour of the Los Angeles home she designed herself, she revealed that she didn’t have enough books to fill the built-in shelves. In a viral tweet about the moment, writer Sarah Caldwell captured the breathtaking moment:
In Tisdale’s defense, you buy books because they look nicer on shelves than whatever tchotchkes and action figures most people put up there to fill space. Just because someone hasn’t been hoarding a TBR pile as long as you have doesn’t make them a dumb person.
Buying completely random books that you’ll never read, however, is kind of silly and a waste of money. Well, what are you gonna do? Oh, I know! Tweet about it! While the original tweet seemed somewhat judgmental, many people pointed out there are worse things you can do with your money than buy books.
Here’s how people reacted to Ashley Tisdale buying 400 random books as decor for her home:
1. On the bright side, she’s supporting the literary economy.
Ok more like Ashley Tisdale donates $12,000 in one afternoon to local bookstore https://t.co/TKiJTFGBjN
— Zara Rahim (@ZaraRahim) March 30, 2022
2. Seriously, what’s your problem everyone?
I would simply not criticize an actress for the crime of buying lots of books https://t.co/4y0ty8p9rw
— literary agent needing jerk (@rajandelman) March 30, 2022
3. Others don’t really care but appreciate the honesty.
Going on record to say this very funny and imo she’s kind of a queen for saying it outright, sorry https://t.co/2k1a5gGsU2
— Will Kellogg (@Will_Kellogg) March 30, 2022
4. Everybody’s a critic.
Imagine having contrived your entire bookshelf style for Architectural Digest only to have this eye sore jumping right out of the picture 🥴 pic.twitter.com/Lg9WV0tk6X
— 🌻long time no seal🌻 (@HNSeal2) March 30, 2022
5. You know who you are.
everyone hating on miss tisdale for not having read these books meanwhile 90% of them haven't picked up a book since high school https://t.co/2KpAGZKqHA
— ⟦maratus⟧ (@Oceanicul) March 31, 2022
6. Many overlooked the reason people thought this was silly and said “relationship goals!”
A husband who buys you 400 books at once omg keep him girl https://t.co/cXDKbDfwtF
— s (@c0astin) March 30, 2022
7. An evergreen meme for some.
Bless this woman. pic.twitter.com/QUJsbLJ8LL
— Katarzyna Schmidt (@elxbecker) March 30, 2022
8. Hot tip if you’re trying to do this yourself!
Google "books by the foot" and you'll find dozens of companies selling bulk books solely for decorating, based on size, color, etc. pic.twitter.com/mNGmi8XuOh
— Bruce Templeton (@brucetempleton) March 30, 2022
9. What about the dudes who do this with worse media? I have 700 copies of Speed on VHS.
film guys do this with dvds all the time. it’s fine https://t.co/O4q50ZoutE
— coworker saying erm before talking about The Slap (@CinemaMonsieur) March 31, 2022
10. Now we know who…
I always wondered what the demographic of “owns condensed novels” looked like and now I know pic.twitter.com/DtrArA9z1k
— Reaping in the Cornfield 🌽 (@singingReaper) March 30, 2022
11. Some people are bored enough to look at the titles.
A 22 year old almanac? Sure! Ring it up! pic.twitter.com/dV50y1AMWn
— Andrew Waruszewski (@AndyWaz_) March 30, 2022
12. In her defense, regular people also don’t know how to fill their shelves.
I get it I moved from 2 bookshelves to this I got no shot of filling these. pic.twitter.com/txzlRLofEx
— Mike McKeever (@mikemck401) March 30, 2022
13. The rich are different.
giving this energy pic.twitter.com/75slERR5CR
— an empath (@Arial12_) March 30, 2022
14. Tough Venn Diagram to be in the middle of.
dangerous intersection of Book People and ‘never heard of a rich person or interior design before’ people https://t.co/8jPYfF8mN3
— joanna (@JoannaMang) March 30, 2022
15. How dare anyone come into your house and ask this??
I remember people coming into my house and asking me if I had read all these books and I was like why else would I have them. Lol, now I know.
— FoxgloveFarms (@FarmsFoxglove) March 30, 2022
16. Good one. LOL.
“To be honest, these frames didn’t have pictures in them, so I sent my husband to Getty Images, and I said you need to buy 400 pictures of other peoples’ families.”
— Mayowulf (@DavidFaragalli) March 30, 2022
17. Wow. Tell us how your really feel.
Yeah but actually people can literally just by books in bulk for the sole purpose of putting them in their library and flexing and thats just crazy to me. Instead of reading a library of books and flexing true knowledge, people want to flex that they know nothing while having all
— yeah 🧱 (@big_chillings) March 30, 2022
18. Yes! Good for her!
I thought we were all laughing but people are actually mad at this. Not too much on my girl Sharpay!! At least she's honest! And has a wonderful husband! Good for her https://t.co/GtkozuQwVb
— Bolu Babalola (@BeeBabs) March 30, 2022
19. On the other hand, the gap between super-rich people and people who want more books continues to widen.
I hate rich people so much it’s unreal https://t.co/uIumLh8Skr
— emily 🧚🏼♂️🦈 (@byejudymoody) March 30, 2022
20. The most bored person in the comments.
I will add that (at least) two of them are the same book, in the original edition and the reprint. pic.twitter.com/YLuLtbRnNa
— Christopher Bonanos (@heybonanos) March 29, 2022
Ashley Tisdale did take the time to defend her choice. Good for her. She has a lot more space to fill than most.
Personally, I think she did a great job. What do you think?
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