The BOS
A few months ago I was to the point that I either had to buy more bookcases or get rid of books. I had books lined up two rows deep on some shelves, and stacked on top of each other on others, and not only was it unsightly, it was not good for the books. So I put all my books in the middle of the living room floor, picked up each one individually and determined its fate. At the end, I was able to give away about 100 books to charity.
It was not enough. Even with the pruning, I did not have room to shelve the remaining books properly so I purchased two more bookcases. I was sure that would give me the space I needed, along with providing some room for growth, should I choose to expand my collection.
Guess what? I chose to expand my collection. One month later, I purchased an additional, even larger, bookcase. Now, just a couple of months later, I have possibly 24-30" of shelf space remaining and there are books winging their way to me via Amazon as I write.
However, my obsession with love of books is not the point of this post; my OCD love of book organization is. Somewhere along the way, which was probably right around the time I finished building the second bookcase, I abandoned my BOS (book organization system). Due to time constraints in getting ready for the holidays, I chose to just house the books I purchased on whatever shelves were vacant, rather than keeping like books together, which is my regular habit. Right now, there is fiction in with non-fiction, fantasy in with memoirs, philosophy in with mysteries... it is complete anarchy.
I will not have time before I leave for England but certainly, once I am back, an entire weekend will be dedicated to reorganizing my bookcases. The headache that overcomes me from knowing that I have Steinbecks here, there, and over there, is crippling. I cannot cope.
While I do have a rather ordinary BOS (sort by genre, then group by author, series must be in publishing date order, etc.) , one question always stumps me. Where do the 'to be read' books go? I would like to shelve them separately, so that I know exactly where to go for a new book to read, however, in doing that, I have not made room for them within their genres on the other shelves once I have finished them. This could result in having to completely reorder my shelves every time I finish a book. I suppose I should add that my 'to be read' pile now consists of close to 140 books. So you see the conundrum. That is a lot of books to squeeze back into their appropriate places once I finish them.
How do you organize your bookshelves? Are your unread books in with their like genres on the shelves or do you have a separate section (or in my case, bookcase) for them? Do you suppose there is a book on how to properly organize bookshelves? If so, I probably already own it but I just cannot find it.
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And before you even say 'Why don't you just download e-books and forget all this nonsense?' (because I know some of you will), I do. I have downloaded at least 20 new books to my Kindle in the last month. The two topics are not even related in my mind. Nothing will replace my love of paper books. I plan to be buried with my favorite books... or perhaps, under them, depending on how well I built those bookcases.
books, reading in About My Day 
Reader Comments (7)
alphabetical order-author's last name. always. i even rearrange the kids' bookshelf into alphabetical order whenever i get a few minutes. and, when "shelving" books, I always leave about 10 inches of blank space at the end of each shelf...this allows room for growth. so my "not yet read" books live in a pile on/around/behind my nightstand (if i had 140 i'd get them their own shelf!) and then get filed away in alphabetical order by author's last name.
All I can say is NEVER look at our book closet. You would have a heart attack! I love books but could care less if they are in any kind of order. I feel like I'm doing good if I have all of my soups on the same shelf in the pantry. Glad to see your organization style has never changed. :)
Okay - so I arrange a lot like you - by genre and then by author. My to-be-read books sit on the end tables or night stand or somewhere around there....and then every few months I rearrange to fit them all back in. Although I can't offer a lot of suggestions for how to 'fix' that to-be-read versus keeping books organized scenario I do have a suggestion for you that might increase your book storage space. You know all those rolls of aluminium foil, seran wrap or waxed paper that you just pitch? Keep them! Wrap those liitle boogers in contact paper (or don't - whatever you want). Line them up along the back of your bookshelves and PRESTO - you can line books on top of those in the back and then another line of books in front of them. Your books are stacked so you can see titles, they get to sit upright and and you get double the row per shelf! One thing though - I'm not sure how well it would work for hardbacks and I think you might have several of those. Regardless - something to try :)
How does it go? Something like this:
Favourite authors
Random stuff that fits in that space
Role playing stuff
More favourite authors
Poetry
Science/Art/Philosophy/Random
Graphic Novels
Even more favourite authors
Miscellaneous fiction
More miscellaneous fiction
Just Miscellaneous
Photography
Cooking
Travel/walking/expedition
The To-Read Bookcase
The Currently-Reading shelf
Where did that come from?
...
Alphabetical by author? You have got to be kidding.
Alissa: I think I knew this about you. We've had this discussion, I believe. I love that you even order the boys' books that way, too.
Kim: Having grown up together, I doubt our styles as adults are too shocking. :)
Denise: I like the idea of elevating the back row. I had just been trying to put the books I didn't think I would want to read again soon back there. Talk about a Sophie's Choice moment.
José: You are the King of BOS. No arguments here.
Sweetie --- it's time to cull some books. Put your favorites on the shelves first (I never bother with alphabetizing or anything. I like them all mixed up by size for and interesting look.) then the ones your not ready to part with...
Take the books to your local library, homeless shelter, Carnegie Center or whatever (this makes them all tax deductible) they will love getting all of them!
I love my books, too, but I like having some space even more!
I am more anal about my DVDs than about my books. I'm not even sure why, it's certainly not from loving one more than the other. My DVDs are in alphabetical order by title. Have been for years. People find this weird. I find it easier-to-find-a-damn-movie-when-I-want-to-watch-it.
I have reached critical mass with my books so many times that I've given up on organization. I have a collection of books which are just that, a collection (they are double-sided books from the 50s) and those are organized by color, so they look pretty on the shelf. :) Everything else is just in chaos, all of my photography and coffee table books are on a shelf with my DVDs in the living room. I try to group authors together. My to-be-reads are usually in roughly the same area. It's pure chaos. One day I'll have to come up with a system. Right now they are lucky if they don't end up on the floor, as I am mostly out of room. :)
And that is so funny. I remember the evening you were putting those shelves together. Now I know why! LOL