So, like K.C. I need to reorganize my bookshelves, and not because I moved or anything but because I am a certifiable bibliophile. Currently they are organized in the following catagories: history, woodworking, YA, poetry, picture books, series books, Stephen King, hardcover horror, literary, autographed, friends books, reference, magazines, and paperback. I also have an antique section and a big little book section (you may remember them from the 30's. many of them if you flipped the pages they showed a cartoon) I need a better way to organize them as many of them spill over into multiple categories. any suggestions? Just to show you what I am up against here are a few of my bookcases.
The first one shows history, big-litle books, and a few paperbacks. It has actually become a catch-all for anything I can't put somewhere else. This has become my problem area. (note the double shelving of the paperbacks.)
this second one contains all of my autographed, friend, and antique books (and a few reference books) It was built by my dad as a graduation gift and has some stunning glass doors (unfortunately they reflected the flash to badly to show them)
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16 comments:
I used to have some of those Big Little books, but alas no more. My own scheme is sort of like this: a sort of favorite writers section with all their stuff organized by author; a general novels section with no particular order to it; a short fiction collections section; another section that is mostly "Literature" and some non-fiction lit; Out in the living area, there is a cookbook section and also an "oversized" books section of items of various content that don't fit well anywhere else; ....and then I have books stuffed into closets and desk drawers because I have nowhere near the shelf space for everything. If I were blessed with that glass-doored case that you show in the picture, I'd consider finding somewhere else nice for the non-book stuff in there. But then I guess that creates another problem.
Chris- I forgot about my cookbook section (in two spots in the kitchen). I agree. I would like to find another spot for some of that stuff, but it would require more bookcases, or at the very least shelves somewhere else.
I don't keep a lot of books anymore...our house is so small that we have to be conscious of every little space, so I only keep the ones I may want to re-read or use as reference materials someday. The rest all go on Paperbackswap, which means about a quarter of my bookshelf is TBR at any given time.
Did you see the pix of Gaiman's library this week? Insane...I want a big house just to have a library in the basement like his.
What I do is alphabetize all of my fiction books and nonfiction books separately. I t makes everything easier to find that way.
-Brandon Rhys Parker
Jeremy- I saw those pics this week. That would be fun to have a library like that. Very fun.
Brandon- Sadly, I never have a problem finding exactly what I am looking for (even on the double stacked paperbacks), I just wish it looked nicer.
If you wanted to go simple, you could reduce sorting to author's surname and leave it at that.
I sort my books by fiction and non fiction. Fiction then gets subdivided into scifi, fantasy and horror categories. After that it's alphabetical by author.
Sometimes my wife moans about all the bookcases in our house, but getting rid of books is just pure anathema to me.
My advice would be to kindly ask those little dancing people to please scoot over a few inches after the song stops playing so you can spread things out.
Nat- for some reason that would mix the children's books in with the horror and I am saving the horror for them until they are at least 10. :)
Jameson- I think you may be onto something. I may have to put more bookshelves in the upcoming billiard room to accommodate the changes.
Jeremy- I think I need more bookends (I haven't heard the music play for years, unless they like NIN)
Yeah, my paperbacks are triple-stacked in some areas
My bookshelves are not at all organised... Except for my 'me' shelf. How egotistical to have a shelf dedictated to my own stories? And lame, I wish I had a whole bookcase. :D
Oh, and love the Willow Tree ornaments. I collect those.
Barry- that makes me feel a little better.
Cate- we just start getting the Willow Tree. Nothing egotistical about having copies of your works for posterity. If you don't, who will?
I'd love to have that much bookshelf. I take all the overflow to school and let the kids have at it.
Some of them give me a curious eye, but hey, it me.
That would be "it's me". Yikes.
Aaron- its Friday. Enjoy the weekend and crack open a beer, students be damned.
That warmed the cockles of my little organization-freak heart, man. I like having a separate shelf for special books like that as well, to the point where I'll prefer decoration over "normal" books for it.
Mmm, neat stacks of books.
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