The books you hide on your shelf and the ones you display tell two different stories. Which one is you?

A shelf has an audience, so it gets curated, and the curating is done by the part of you that wants to be seen a certain way. The hidden books are usually closer to what you actually read. Neither row is fake; one is aspiration and one is appetite, and most people are a mix of both.

Look at both this week and move one book from the hidden row out into the open. Then take one from the display you have never opened and either read it or pass it on. A shelf works better as a record than as an advertisement.