EMILY PRESCOTT: Adele spends £1,000 during Chelsea book splurge so she could have an erudite Zoom background

By Emily Prescott For The Mail On Sunday

Published: | Updated:

She reportedly had a series of ‘explosive’ rows over the design of the set for her ill-fated Las Vegas residency.

But when it came to that most important backdrop of modern day life in the public eye – the bookcase backdrop that gets shown off during Zoom calls – Adele took matters into her own hands and marched into an esteemed London bookshop, announcing: ‘I want a library.’

My mole tells me: ‘She came into the Chelsea branch of Daunt Books with a friend.

‘All the staff were thrilled when she walked in, wearing sunglasses and looking like a superstar. She went about pulling books off the shelves without even looking at the spines or reading the blurbs, and piling them up by the till.

‘I said, “You’re buying a lot of books”, and she replied, “Yeah, I want a library.” The total bill was around £1,000.’

Popular singer Adele, pictured, spent £1,000 on books so she could have an impressive background for zoom meetings

Popular singer Adele, pictured, spent £1,000 on books so she could have an impressive background for zoom meetings

The singer and a friend arrived at the Chelsea branch of Daunt Books, pictured

The singer and a friend arrived at the Chelsea branch of Daunt Books, pictured

Scrutinising – and judging – the reading material on display on celebrities’ shelves has become something of a national obsession since lockdown video calls gave us a glimpse into their homes. There’s even a hilarious Twitter account titled Bookcase Credibility, which has 115,000 followers.

Pictures of Adele’s bookshelves in her London home, which she filled before the pandemic, show a random mixture of books including London Blitzed: Drugs In The Third Reich.

And she wouldn’t be the first person to buy books willy-nilly. High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale was criticised last week after admitting she bought 400 books to fill her shelves ahead of a photoshoot at her California home.

Adele, 33, was recently quizzed about her book collection in a video interview with Vogue at her LA home. The diverse collection included the titles The Mosaics Of Rome and Japanese Prints. ‘There are some good ones up there,’ she said as the camera panned the shelves.

When the interviewer asked: ‘Can you learn a lot about a person by the books they keep?’, Adele replied: ‘Well I would say that, but I don’t know many people that have real books in their house any more. They seem to have Kindle or they just don’t read at all or on their phone.’

I can only defer to the tagline of Bookcase Credibility, which says: ‘What you say is not as important as the bookcase behind you.’

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