As you can probably see from this picture, I'm still in the process of cleaning up some of the mess I made on Saturday while reorganizing approximately 1,000 books that are shelved in my home office. But overall, especially now that my knees are feeling a bit better after two days of resting them, I am pretty pleased with the result. I can't believe how much easier it is now to find any specific book that I might be searching for than it was before I moved almost every single book shown here to a new spot on the shelves.
I still have some fine-tuning to do with the few books still on the floor, but I have also marked about 30 books to be given to friends in a few days and discovered more than a few hidden gems I'd forgotten all about.
Prior to this re-do, my books were mostly sorted alphabetically according to author surname. I also had that center section dedicated to older editions, classic literature, and all those Library of America books in the center of the middle section, along with another couple of shelves for signed copies and other more valuable first edition copies of some of my favorite books. But the main problem was that many of my favorite writers didn't limit themselves to novels. They also wrote short stories, novellas, essays, memoirs, literary criticism, and the like - genres that seemed to disappear into some kind of black hole when I went looking for a specific type of reading experience.
So I decided to chuck the surname method in favor of dedicating separate sections of the shelves to:
- Short Stories
- Memoirs, Essays, and Criticism
- Westerns
- Biographies
- Historical Fiction
- Road Trips and Long Walks
- History
- Science Fiction
- Signed Copies / More Valuable Editions
- Favorite Series
- Spy Fiction
- LOA Books, Modern American Books, and Other Favorite Editions of "Literature"
By genre and then alphabetically by author surname. There's something very therapeutic about reorganizing your bookshelves.
ReplyDeleteSounds very similar to what I've finally done. I still have a ways to go before I get them all the way I want them, but that's a project for another day.
DeleteLove your bookshelves! Mine are sorted strangely...mostly because of space limitations, but I do try and group all my nonfiction together, my classics, and my science fiction & fantasy. All my other books are alphabetized by author between two other bookshelves...which means that only I know where to find any of my books. I'd love to reorganize it all, but it's hard with my limited space. Maybe someday. Good luck getting the rest of your books organized!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lark. I should mention that the bookshelves shown are actually built into that side wall and are not curved. I think that "panoramic" shot makes them look a little curved, at least to my eyes. I love the thought that "only you" know where to find your books because, really, it's your library and it SHOULD be all about you.
DeleteWow what a beautiful bookcase ... and you really can get a lot in there. So you've marked about 30 books to give away? I think that's always good if you can get rid of some books while sorting thru them. My books are organized loosely into Fiction (one side of my case) and Nonfiction (the other side). Within those I try to keep author's books together ... like all the Tim Winton fiction or Alice Munro books together etc. But I do put them into genres a bit ... like I have the classics together (which it seems you do too.) And short stories or poetry together. You've done a great job! Good work.
ReplyDeleteHa! I've already gone out to the car and snagged two of my discards because I find that I'm just not ready to get rid of them, especially A Man in Full which is now a series on Netflix. Read it years ago, but now I'm tempted to follow along with the series to see how the two compare.
DeleteYour sorting system sounds very much like what I was doing before this re-sort. The only real frustration I felt was that a lot of my short story collections were blending in and slipping through the crack that way. My library used to shelf short stories separately but started mixing them in with novels and my consumption of new short stories immediately dropped. I even begged them to rethink the change, but no...was the answer.
Mine have no order, other than fiction and nonfiction. I kinda love walking around and coming upon a book. I probably do not have as many as you do, but I dearly love my books (and my music - albums and cds). I kinda know where something is but I do love coming upon something I had forgotten about. I wish I read as much as you do.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are a natural browser, Nan. I miss the days of being able to do that in used book bookstores because it always ended up feeling like a treasure hunt to me. And when I found just the perfect book - which could well have been completely unknown to me when I entered the shop - it did feel as if I'd unearthed something long lost to the world.
DeleteWhat an undertaking! Sorting and reshelving the books is fun and satisfying, but I know it can be quite exhausting as well. Mine aren't nearly so well organized as yours- I have fiction on one wall and non-fiction on the other, and unread books on a third. My fiction is all just alphabatized by author, the non-fiction is roughly sorted by subject matter: bios and memoirs, gardening books, travel and books about specific places, medical stories and mental health, and then all the animal books which are organized more or less by species or animal families. There's a lot of those.
ReplyDeleteJeane, sounds very much like the system I've been using for so long before now...except for those animal books. I know you read tons (literally) of those, and I absolutely LOVE the idea of sorting the by species or family. That must be fascinating for those seeing the books grouped that way for the first time.
DeleteA friend came over and glanced at me shelves one time and said "Wow, you REALLY DO read a lot about animals!" Lol
DeleteMind boggling is your dedication, Sam. I have books all over the house so there is no organisation really. One has books I've read and want to keep, one's full of non-fiction both read and unread, another is full of tbrs, I have a shelf for travel books, sci-fi and fantasy. It would drive an organised person insane! LOL!
ReplyDeleteI think the word you're looking for is "foolishness," not "dedication," Cath. lol I like your idea about keeping a separate area just for TBRs. I generally mix mine in on their proper sections of the shelves and forget I have some of them before I ever remember to go back and read them.
DeleteYour study looks fantastic with that wonderful huge bookcase. I can easily believe you found lots of treasures while going through your books.
ReplyDeleteI would roughly like to keep nonfiction and fiction separate, and have short story books together, but all of that usually gets messed up anyway so in reality there is no organization at all. I do have two shelves with mystery reference books, but that doesn't hold all of them.
That big bookcase completely dwarfs the little one standing beside it. I need to figure out another place for that one, but I'm so desperate for the space that I can imagine doing without it. Most of the ones I "found" were those stacked behind the upfront rows. Some of them had been there for at least ten years, I suspect.
ReplyDeleteWow...that's a lot of reference books. I have several, but don't take advantage of them nearly as often as I should. I kind of forget that I even have them...and some are oversized to the point that other, smaller books end up stacked on top of them sometimes.