‘The best story, a connection through time’: The role of family in shaping book culture across generations

Using qualitative case studies drawn from a mixed-methods survey of 160 Australian participants, this article explores how books make family narratives and intergenerational experiences visible, and how, in turn, these family links interact with reader's behaviours and identities. While existing research focuses primarily on the impact of parents reading to their children, this study expands the concept of family literacy to include non-linear, multigenerational connections such as aunts, great-aunts, and other relations. The study found that eight generations of family members, across non-linear and intergenerational ties, were influential in participants’ reading histories. Family shapes reading not merely as a skill but as a social, material, and emotional practice embedded in everyday life. Books on home bookshelves become memory objects, identity markers, and connectors within families. In this context, books are valued not just for their content, but for their material and emotional significance.