IKEA and Man Booker Promote the Wonder of Books
Reading Rooms initiative provides another way to get lost in IKEA.
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The literary prize foundation and Swedish retailer have joined forces to create The Reading Rooms, a series of quiet spaces at the IKEA Wembley store, where visitors can curl up with a novel from The Man Booker Prize 2018 longlist.
One of the best things about a book is that nobody can phone you up on it, it won’t ding at you all the livelong day with tweets/stats/cat videos or updates on the tennis/weather/your social standing. It’s just a book. You read it, quietly, ideally in a calm place that is free from a world of adults with digital ADHD, zombified scrolling teens and screen-savvy toddlers trying to swipe pages.
The Man Booker 2018 longlist. Image courtesy of manbookerprize.com
With IKEA's own survey indicating that about a third of Brits only read a whole book on summer holidays, plus research conducted by the University of Sussex indicating that reading for just six minutes a day can lower stress levels by more than two-thirds, losing oneself in the awesomely analogue world of books would seem a beneficial antidote to modern living.
The project runs from 31 July to 5 August, when hour-long reading slots can be booked in the Living Room spaces. Of course readers will be lounging on armchairs bearing unfathomable Nordic names and dipping in and out of the famous Billy bookcases. They will also be able to take a book home with them after their visit to continue reading at home, which could be a vital de-stressor following a particularly vexing flatpack self-assembly challenge...
