Guardian UK: “Books are props, just like you buy a little objet – Interior designer Miles de Lange” – “There may be two kinds of bookcase owners: those who own more books than they can accommodate, cramming tomes into every crevice – and those who dot their shelves with artfully placed stacks, and have space to burn on potted plants and framed photos. And then there’s Ashley Tisdale, whose bookshelves are just empty. The High School Musical star recently went viral for admitting to Architectural Digest that she had rushed to fill the in-built shelves in her Hollywood Hills home specifically for an on-camera tour. “These bookshelves, I have to be honest, actually did not have books in [them] a couple of days ago,” Tisdale said. “I had my husband go to a bookstore, like, ‘You need to get 400 books.’” (Her husband’s alternative plan, of “collecting books over time, and putting them in the shelves”, Tisdale promptly dismissed.)..

But it turns out the bookshelf bulk-buy is standard practice among the rich and famous – and increasingly so, since books have become established as an erudite backdrop for Zoom…”