Bookshelf organisation

[mrkgnao]

How do you organise your bookshelves? The topic came up in the "Pictures of your book collection" thread, but I felt it deserved a thread of its own (because I'm always looking for new ways... )

After trying all sorts of orders (library classification, by colour, by size, alphabetical by title or by author, by country/language &c) I now have this: my trilogies and series are in one shelf, and in another I make up new trilogies/series for all the books I can fit in somewhere. E.g: The Just Because You're Paranoid trilogy (Foucault's pendulum, The magus, Gravity's rainbow); The Scientific Method Trilogy (Dracula, Frankenstein, The Historian); The All Things Flow Tetralogy (Foam of the daze, Lighthousekeeping, The shipping news, The waves); The & Diptych (Mason & Dixon, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell)... and so on.

*mrkgnao*

 

[Ryouko]

I have just recently started a database of all my books, at both of my houses. So far I have two shelves of fiction done and a very small portion of non-fiction done.

Maybe I'll work on that some this afternoon...

 

[steffee]

I just chuck them in

Nah, seriously... I have the non-fiction organised by category (ish), and the fiction organised by condition, with those that are in poor condition stuffed behind the better condition ones, and then by size, and the ones I really like are all together on the eye-level shelves.

Then I have stacks of books I've recently bought and not read yet, stacked in front, so you can't tell the condition (or anything actually) of the ones behind anyway, but still...

 

[pontalba]

Organization, what please is o-r-g-a-n-i-z-a-t-i-o-n.......

Actually, some of mine are by author, some by genre, and some where I can fit 'em. Many in stacks that I have haphazardly about the house.

I will sort it out someday. Probably Tomorrow......

Yeah, right!

 

[Geenh]

Alphabetically, actually. Fiction in with non-fiction. I'll have to get a pic put up.

 

[zen]

by genre, then by author.. with the lesser favoured stacked behind the others, as practically all my shelves are double stacked...

 

[tartan_skirt]

I tend to group mine together by author and series then separate them into groups. I keep my non-fiction and fiction apart (unless it overlaps with authors and subjects) and divide the fiction up into genre and subject matter (ie vampire books, detective books). Then of course it just goes by favouritism.

My to-be-read shelf (which will soon be shelves) is in a general order of what I estimate as a reading order. It is half hidden behind a drumkit, so my next read needs to be in reach.

Oh, and my manga gets it's own shelf, which is just grouped into series.

 

[Miss Shelf]

oh, gee, mine are all over the place. Periodically I look over them, mostly when I'm looking for a particular book. Funnily enough, I remember mroe or less where the one I'm looking for is, even though they're all mixed up, no "organization" at all. Now if I had the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on all the walls of my fantasy library in my fantasy house, they'd be alphabetized by author since I like to get books by certain authors.

 

[abecedarian]

oh, gee, mine are all over the place. Periodically I look over them, mostly when I'm looking for a particular book. Funnily enough, I remember mroe or less where the one I'm looking for is, even though they're all mixed up, no "organization" at all. Now if I had the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on all the walls of my fantasy library in my fantasy house, they'd be alphabetized by author since I like to get books by certain authors.

That's my style of organization too. I keep thinking I should attempt a more sophisticated style, but my way is more interesting..specially since I have so many helpers to shift stuff around. I have a theory about book hunts: the goofy things 'sense' they're being hunted, and somehow throw on camoflage and blend in with their fellows so I can be looking right at it and miss it entirely. This means I get to search the whole house, usually at least twice. So, yeah, I have a pretty good idea where most of my books are, until the next time..

 

[Kailana]

I organize my books very simply. I divide the books by read and not read and then put them in alphabetical order. It changes from time to time to make things interesting. I have most of my non-fiction seperate too, but mainly because I am in university and some of them are textbooks.

 

[mehastings]

Once upon a time I used to organize books I've yet to read onto one shelf with mass market together and trade together (just cause it looks nice). These days my books are heaped everywhere (as you've seen in the other thread).

I'd like to be better, but I just don't think I have the willpower!

 

[Luna]

Well for me, if the books are a series, then I put them in the order of that series. Otherwise I put them in the shelf in the order that I buy them.

 

[mrkgnao]

I have a theory about book hunts: the goofy things 'sense' they're being hunted, and somehow throw on camoflage and blend in with their fellows so I can be looking right at it and miss it entirely.

I totally subscribe to this theory!

*mrkgnao*

 

[jaynebosco]

Top shelf - series, newer books, etc.
2nd shelf - more memorable books and books I want to read
3rd shelf - library stuff (gotta remember where they are and have easy access to; includes dvds that I get as well
4th shelf - text books from my university days (includes some novels and my Norton Anthologies as well)
5th shelf - books that I really don't want to read or just don't care about or will read at a later date
Bottom shelf - heavy textbooks, course packs, heavier books (my bound copy of "The Water Babies" that has colour plates inside of it)

I have books that are also scattered on the tops of my dresser, a desk, my floor, the glass table, my couch, and the table with my bedside lamp.

 

[SFG75]

I sort by fiction and non-fiction. Fiction books by the same author are grouped together, which means there is a mini-Dean Koontz, Clive Cussler, and Tom Clancy section. Non-fiction is grouped under politics, religious/spiritual, and professional.

 

[G4G]

Mine are sorted on the floor, mainly. In piles.

 

[ruby]

me having any kind of organisation with my books thats a joke there bloody everywhere in my house.

 

[Kailana]

I also generally have a list on my computer of the books I own that I have read and the books I own I haven't read, but it is really outdated right now. I will fix it this summer.

 

[Inkheart]

Colour is the best way to go. I read about it in a style magazine once and I tried it out. It looked great!

 

[steffee]

Colour is the best way to go. I read about it in a style magazine once and I tried it out. It looked great!

Wow, what a good idea, I think I might try that. I love all that feng shui stuff, and it will be great to see what the predominant colour of my bookcase is, since I have no idea