Why do people in the UK read and collect books when there are so many other sources of information and forms of story-telling available? What are the material and experiential bases of book love? People are attached to books because books are icons: they embody and enable the realisation of sacred cultural goods. Books do not simply communicate or signal social values or ideas. Aesthetic immersion in books’ materiality allows for these values to be realised. On the basis of the qualitative analysis of 43 interviews and 60 responses to the UK’s Mass Observation project this article advances the cultural sociology of reading by bridging theories of iconicity and attachment and placing materiality at the centre of the analysis. The data are used to illustrate the powerful appeal of the practical fusion of three elements: the material, surface properties of books; the highly valued cultural goods that books represent and realise; and the act of reading.

当有许多其他信息来源和讲故事形式可用时，为什么英国的人会阅读和收集书籍？书本爱的物质基础和经验基础是什么？人们之所以喜欢书籍，是因为书籍是偶像：它们体现并实现了神圣的文化产品。书不只是传达或传达社会价值或观念。审美沉浸在书籍的实质性中可以实现这些价值。在对英国“大众观察”项目的43项访谈和60项答复进行定性分析的基础上，本文通过将标志性和依恋理论联系在一起，并将重要性置于分析的中心，从而推进了阅读的文化社会学。数据用于说明三种元素的实际融合的强大吸引力：材料，书籍的表面特性；书籍所代表和实现的极有价值的文化产品；和阅读行为。