Marie Kondo and her Netflix special Tidying Up has become a cultural obsession. She has brought us revolutionary de-cluttering techniques, she has united the hoarders among us for realising what we could never be, She has blessed us with the ‘spark joy’ catch phrase, and she’s ignited a raging debate over her approach to tidying up books.
Basically, Marie Kondo wants you to Marie Kondo your books, and only keep what you really need to. But a lot of people are very attached to books – or at least the idea or aesthetic of having them around – and were outraged by the mere suggestion.
Thank you all for your incredible response to my uprising against Konmari The notion that books should spark joy is a LUDICROUS one. I have said it a hundred times: Literature does not exist only to comfort and placate us. It should disturb + perturb us. Life is disturbing.
— Anakana Schofield (@AnakanaSchofiel) January 4, 2019
And chucking out your books or ripping them up is disastrous. I wholly regret disposing of a virology textbook I found at med library + discarded bc what do I need this for? Years later my passion is reading abt infectious diseases. I have turned my apt upside down for that book
— Anakana Schofield (@AnakanaSchofiel) January 4, 2019
Wait Marie Kondo is telling people to toss their books? THEIR BOOKS? pic.twitter.com/QQxAXwk3Sq
— Joanna Robinson (@jowrotethis) January 4, 2019
So true to her nature, Marie Kondo has tidied up this grand book controversy mess. In an interview with IndieWire, through her translator Marie Iida, she clarified how the ‘spark joy’ method can work differently for different people when it comes to books. Kondo herself prefers to cap her book collection at 30, but does not enforce that on everyone. She merely challenges them to consider their own preference.
“t’s not so much what I personally think about books. The question you should be asking is what do you think about books,” she said.
“If the image of someone getting rid of books or having only a few books makes you angry, that should tell you how passionate you are about books, what’s clearly so important in your life.”
She also clarified that she definitely never recommended literally ‘throwing away’ your books. That myth does not spark joy and it’s important to donate (and donate properly) when Marie-Kondo-ing your stuff.
“I always recommend donating them, so if that’s part of the misunderstanding, then that’s certainly being mixed up.” She said.
So there you go. Consider the whole ‘Marie Kondo wants you to throw your books away’ chaos officially tidied by an absolute pro.