'A complete misconception': Marie Kondo shuts down crazy rumour about books

Marie Kondo's drastic clearing out methods might have taken Netflix by storm this month, but it didn't take long for one supposed rule to anger people around the world.

As we binged on episodes of Tiding Up With Marie and vowed to start folding our clothes into neat little stacks, rumours spread that the Japanese cleaning guru was gunning for people's books.

Soon after the show premiered, Twitter user @umjeremy created and shared a meme which featured a photo of Kondo with a speech bubble saying: "Ideally, keep less than 30 books."

The meme soon went viral, along with claims Kondo endorsed the mass throwing out of books which unsurprisingly got some pretty bonkers reactions on Twitter.

#MarieKondo: Ideally, keep only 30 books
Me: *looks at my shelves with 300 books* pic.twitter.com/Fmd4tA6YCx

— Diego 孙建宇 (@diegobriones96) January 28, 2019

I'm a Marie Kondo devotee, but I disagree with her when it comes to books. Books are works of art. They enrich a reader's life, are an avenue for introspection, escape, conversation, and empathy, and help to make a house a home. They spark joy and so much more! #booklover https://t.co/4dWfXZ783t

— GreekGirl (@GreekGirl2018) January 4, 2019

Marie Kondo: "Get rid of things that don't spark joy, such as books. I personally only keep around 30 books."

Me: pic.twitter.com/MsEMmtpTCE

— Josh R R Jokin (@joshcarlosjosh) January 23, 2019

MARIE KONDO TO BOOKS:
“Ideally keep less than 30 books.”

ME: pic.twitter.com/YwAHYewXLq

— Han Han⁷ (@ArchitectHan) January 22, 2019

I just don’t trust someone who doesn’t understand the magic of books. (This is a Marie Kondo subtweet) Books come to us when they are supposed to and we read them when we are meant to. They are not interchangeable, indistinguishable blocks of text. pic.twitter.com/sW4rEUeute

— Kelli G 🐂 (@glazebrookgirl) January 4, 2019

Wait Marie Kondo is telling people to toss their books? THEIR BOOKS? pic.twitter.com/QQxAXwk3Sq

— Joanna Robinson (@jowrotethis) January 4, 2019

But according to Vox, @umjeremy created the meme to make fun of his own book hoarding ways and he never meant for it to be taken as fact.

In The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Kondo writes that she personally keeps her book collection "to about 30 volumes at any one time" but does not tell others that they must do the same.

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week, Kondo cleared up the confusion once and for all while helping the talk show host organise his living room.

"I read that you said that you should only have 30 books," Kimmel said as he and Kondo surveyed his own collection.

"I don't know where that rumour came from," Kondo replied via her interpreter. "That's a complete misconception."

Kondo added that she was "very surprised that there's a rumour going around that you should only keep 30 books," prompting Kimmel to offer to find out "who spread it around".

"I mean we could have them killed. We'll do whatever we need to do," he joked back.