The article is a study of politicians’ views on literature based on motions and debates in Swedish parliament 2000–2010. The aim is to investigate the political agenda for literature and the functions ascribed to literature, reading and books during the period. The first part examines the uses of the concepts literature, reading and books and these notions are traced into ideology as well as theoretical traditions within literary studies. The ways these concepts are used has political consequences for regulations and support of literature and the book trade as a whole. Literature is throughout the period and by most speakers credited with a particular large value and becomes a symbol of a better and more democratic world. This utopian vision of literature is significant as it is transformed into real-life politics and regulations.