This article wrote about bookshelves and what they say. An interesting point, besides the depressing asides on buying books by the foot for the purposes of simply appearing well read, was how a bookstore set out some fifty books mentioned by Obama in his books, interviews, and speeches.

To expose a bookshelf is to compose a self, the author of the piece writes. And it’s true, isn’t? Even exposing a bookshelf of books you never intended exposes the secret desires of how you want the world to view you.