Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

A converstation between Jennifer, Audrey and Samantha got me thinking.

How many Books are in your Library? Consist of Hardbacks and/or Paperbacks? Do you prefer one cover over the other?

How do you organize your reads?
Color
Author
Genre
Piles all over
Your own system?
Do you use Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to keep track?

Do you have throughts on a new way to put your lovely books in an order?

Please share 🔖📚📕📗📘📖

I have over 820 books in my Library. I have shared photos under my profile.
I must say I am a Hardcover snob!!
I have 41 paperbacks, mostly forgein authors that I am not paying a ton of money for a used copy of a hardcover for!
I have inherited from Mom over 130, that was not a duplicate. We read many of the same Authors.

I use a mixture of organizing:
Genre, Classics, Modern by bookcases
Author all their books grouped together
Single Author (do not own more than one book) by Color and size
"Complete Works" by Authors on one shelf (one book containing multiple books)
Heritage Press/Folio together

I have had them in so many different ways including just a mess,
I like the reorganizing and completed feeling...always makes me smile and just absorb it all in. It is therapeutic in some way for me.

I guess I have about 600 books in my library. A lot of my books got 'left behind' during several moves in the past. I started to exchange physical copies for ebooks due to storage limitation.

I prefer to have them standing up in a line, but due to above mentioned storage problem most of my books are now in piles in two rows, so that I constantly keep forgetting the ones in the rear row ^^'. Since this already has let to me buying ebooks that I already owned as physical copies I try to keep track of them in GR, but so far I've only put my SFF books and some of the classics in my GR shelves.

I organize them more or less by genre and within a genre by author (or in case of my classification books by subject).
I prefere paperback, both because of the fewer space they need on the shelf and cause of financial reasons. I seldom care for the covers.
An exception was last year Ursula K. LeGuin's illustrated Earthsea collection. This one I bought as hardcover and despite already owning all the individual books therein.

Mine is vaguely in class organisation. But it is waiting to be purged before completion. My main problem is, like Gabi, I have front and rear rows in many places.

Bernard wrote: "My main problem is, like Gabi, I have front and rear rows in many places."

I had that issue as well till I bought two more wall cases! Now if I purchase anymore I will be stacking in front again!

I have mine vintage/antique on one section by height, classics by height on another, finished books on one section by author, unread by author on the last.

I have all my black classic Penguins together, by era. As well, my books in foreign languages are generally together.

I have in my current library 357 titles, of which 228 are hardcover and 129 paperbacks. I used to try and buy all hardcovers, but the cost began to get out of hand and so switched, primarily, to paperbacks. I have no real preference between them.
The books are arranged over three bookcases. Dickens and Dumas occupy most of one. The second contains Henry James, Honore de Balzac, Sergeanne Golon, and a few miscellaneous. The third is all other authors arranged alphabetically by author, and then by publication order.
The only pile are those volumes I am currently reading.
My library is to a small extent on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, but maintain two Excel spreadsheets to keep track of everything: one is in publication order divided by decades and the second in author order.
This has worked for me for several decades and have no reason to look for a different way to keep track of my books.

Mine are wholly disorganized. I have reached what I am referring to as PLEPLE - Personal Library Exceeds Probable Life Expectancy.

I have books in three different "places":

I have a kindle library that has around 2600 books in it. An unknown number of those have already been read by me. In addition, I share that library with my parents and my daughter, so an equally unknown number of them are books in which I am entirely disinterested and will never read.

I have a separate book club kindle library that I share with six other friends. That library has around 1200 books in it, and, again, an unknown number of those have already been read by me. I am interested in most, but not all of them.

I also have physical bookshelves, and I have no idea how many of those books are unread. I have a collection of black spine Penguin classics, a collection of Agatha Christie paperbacks, and a couple of shelves of vintage paperbacks gothic romance/golden age detective fiction, along with random physical books that I will likely take to the UBS once I read them because they aren't keepers. These shelves are a mess because I'm planning to replace my shelves and I haven't gotten to it yet.

I love that, Christine - PLEPLE! I can relate!

Kathy wrote: "I love that, Christine - PLEPLE! I can relate!"

It's a blessing and a curse! It also doesn't stop me from buying books, of course!

Christine PNW wrote: "Kathy wrote: "I love that, Christine - PLEPLE! I can relate!"

It's a blessing and a curse! It also doesn't stop me from buying books, of course!"

Of course! I've been buying more than my usual amount of books because my library doesn't have interlibrary loan. I've gotten some great Penguin Classics and New York Review of Books editions.

Kathy wrote: "Christine PNW wrote: "Kathy wrote: "I love that, Christine - PLEPLE! I can relate!"

It's a blessing and a curse! It also doesn't stop me from buying books, of course!"

Of course! I've been buying..."

Penguin is my preferred Classics imprint, although I also love the Vintage classics. NYRB is another favorite publisher, although I don't have very many of their books.

Felicia wrote: "I have mine vintage/antique on one section by height, classics by height on another, finished books on one section by author, unread by author on the last."

Antique? Medieval manuscripts???

I should add that I am a strict adherent to the Dewey decimal system.

I have shelves with barnes and noble leatherbound classics by type, Russian, English, Horror, Mythology, Detective, Sci Fi, Children's, Fairy Tales.

I have a shelf of Russian authors.

I have a shelf of folio books.

I have some shelves of Penguins, the blacks, silvers, and greens. Most of my Japanese books are Penguins.

All in alphabetical order by author's last name, of course.

and on the floor behind the chair in stacks are other paperback books.

I also have a large cloth carrier bag of poetry.

And a shelf full of comics.

And two dedicated shelves for sheet music.

I like the poetry bag!

Bernard wrote: "I like the poetry bag!"

Thank you, and me too Bernard, it's like a lucky dip!

I completely forgot about my shelf of Everyman's Library. I've got a massive Raymond Chandler mixed in there, and a row of the stories as well.

I had a lucky dip in a back row, and found my collection of Private Eye books of misprints.

I have two large bookshelves. Only finished books are on them. I tend to group authors together but not in any particular order, though my Henry Miller Collection has been on the same shelf since I first moved on my own over 30 years ago (It includes Anais as well).
Other than that my main groups are Stephen King, Elizabeth George, Mo Hayder and Diana Gabaldon. Classics are mixed in all over, but I have a mental picture of where they are located so I can go right to them. I also have several micro-histories, like Isaac's Storm etc grouped together. If someone was looking for something I could tell them EXACTLY where it is.

Aha! How big is YOUR Henry Miller collection?

Bernard wrote: "Aha! How big is YOUR Henry Miller collection?"

HAHAHAH! I have most of his major works, Sexus, Nexus etc, and several of his collections of letters and I even have a cd of him reading one of his short stories from many many years ago. I have an interesting part of this collection though, a copy of "Henry and June" Anais's Nin's diary entries with the movie cover, which is signed by Fred Ward who played Henry Miller in the movie.

Bernard I have two collections of 50 years of Private Eye.

A mess right now.

First, I genuinely LOVED reading about everyone's library! Thank you for sharing!! I am assuming it originates from a desire to know everything? (lol) As I confess the details of my book ‘problem�. Well, my husband, who doesn’t read at all, considers it to be a problem. I am very lucky to have a super cute little house. I love it, it’s like our oasis, my husband and I generally would rather be home than anywhere else (with the exception of the pandemic version of ‘home�, this is a little extreme). I have my own little office where I have artistic licensing to do as I want, so I have 2 walls painted in sparkly blue with beautiful paintings hung, or as my husband says, ‘the creepy kind of paintings that the eyes follow you�. There is a small nook where I have my religious books, I have a set of Babylonian Talmud, several versions of the Bible, the Torah, Apocrypha, Dead Sea Scrolls books, and many other religious books such as a version of the Bhagivad Gita. Along the opposite wall, I have shelves lining the wall filled with my children’s library for future grandchildren. I have refined the books from my daughters childhoods, and bought at goodwill / found in boxes that people leave for the trash / and purchased additional childrens books as I think of them. I threw out the crappy ones, and kept the good ones like The Little Prince, Beverly Cleary, Jack London, Louisa May Alcott, Ludwig Bemelmens, etc. My future grandchildren are going to have culture and vocabulary!
I have entirely too many occupational and technology books, I am a data professional, and I probably need to purge some of my older technology books. These books fill up a section of my office wall shelf, and I have a 6 foot tall tower style shelf beside my desk that is full of them. However, I look at most of my occupational books as temporary inhabitants of my library along with books that have been gifted to me like Joyce Meyer daily readings and ‘The Help� (gag). I guess when people don’t understand that you are a book snob, they think that you would love any book. Then they give you a book and you’re like, what am I supposed to do with this? I have a shelf in the living room beside the entertainment center that has my health and dieting books (which are also temporary inhabitants to a large extent), randomly placed recent purchases such as my growing Ulysses library. I have a James Joyce Ulysses reference book that has a list of all of the works that he references in Ulysses, so I am collecting all of those in preparation for a future deep dive into a reread of Ulysses (I can't wait). Under my desk, I have baskets turned sideways also stuffed with random recent purchases. In my kitchen nook, I have a bookshelf with my cookbooks and random recent purchases like a beautiful leatherbound Shakespeare compilation, Ralph Ellison, Tolstoy, Le Guin, etc. Plus I have my secret bookshelves under the beds. I plan to probably get rid of 30% of my current books along the way of evolving my library into what I want it to be. I normally buy used paperback versions of everything, because they are cheaper. Ultimately, I don’t want to turn into one of those people on The Learning channel that has 5 million pig dolls, stuffed into every inch of every corner of the house.

Oh I also have a small shelf with my grandmother’s old records from the 30’s and sheet music. I have about 800 audible books and upwards of 3000 kindle books (mostly the free versions of classics). Also, by 'Recent Purchases', I mean within the last 7 years. I also collect classical painting photos from wikimedia and keep them on an external drive. Now that I am saying all of this I feel like the book lady on Farenheit 451 or like the V guy in 'V is for Vendetta'. I also have a large collection of clothing patterns in the attic dating from the 30's through the 90's that I mostly bought on ebay.

Alicia wrote: "Bernard wrote: "Aha! How big is YOUR Henry Miller collection?"

HAHAHAH! I have most of his major works, Sexus, Nexus etc, and several of his collections of letters and I even have a cd of him read..."

A CD ??? OMG, I am so jealous!

Make your own CD Bernard.

Jennifer wrote: "First, I genuinely LOVED reading about everyone's library! Thank you for sharing!! I am assuming it originates from a desire to know everything? (lol) As I confess the details of my book ‘problem�...."

Jennifer I do not even know what to say! Wow! seems very insufficient right now. Your collections are remarkable!

Lesle wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "First, I genuinely LOVED reading about everyone's library! Thank you for sharing!! I am assuming it originates from a desire to know everything? (lol) As I confess the details of m..."

Thank you, Lesle! :) I figured out a neat trick, if you love classical paintings. I bought pretty frames with glass at Hobby Lobby, and I categorize painting photo files into seasons. I edit the photo files in Paint 3d to make them have a higher resolution, and I print them at Walgreens.com on peel and stick posters. I leave the backing on and stack them inside of the frame, and switch them out with each season. So for instance in my living room, for Fall, I have a Homer Winslow, then summer, I have a Better Homes and Gardens magazine cover from the 50's, for Christmas, a Thomas Kinkade. Etc. Same for the kitchen, you can print seasonal paintings like those historical beautiful paintings of food, fruit and fowl, etc. That way you can save space and create a seasonal look for a low price.

Right now, I would estimate that there's approximately between 9-10,000 individual volumes in my personal library.

The choice stuff I keep at home (NYRB Classics, Everyman's Library, Phaidon, etc) and the rest I have in a storage unit which I try to keep organized by genre (poetry, fiction, non-fiction, essays, short story, literary/cultural criticism, art), then by publishing house and then within that, alphabetizing. But usually it just descends into a state of organized chaos with books of all kinds all over the place, depending upon where my interest takes me.

Paperback, hardcover (though I prefer the former), pamphlet, loose-leaf, it's all there. I don't use electronic/digital organizers of any kind; too sanitized and technocratic.

Jazzy wrote: "Bernard I have two collections of 50 years of Private Eye."

That is an enviable collection.

Re: Babylonian talmud ... Do you mean one written during the captivity?

Jazzy wrote: "Make your own CD Bernard.
"

Thanks Jazzy, I did not think of that!

Bernard wrote: "Re: Babylonian talmud ... Do you mean one written during the captivity?"

Yes, I love studying the text in a search for meaning. The text is monotonous and idealogical, however, the goal for me, is to search for meaning. I have a great love for studying ancient Jewish history and the texts and believe that the texts are more than just words, they are living to me, even though I am not 'Jewish', I consider myself to be Christian, was raised Lutheran, however, I have a great appreciation for Jewish faith and history, and believe there is so much there that can be brought into Christian faith. I also love the Jubilees version of the Bible, based on the Ethiopian Jewish history. I have an Ethiopian Book of the Dead, am obsessed with the Essenes, and can go on and on about this subject.

Pilonista- WOW - 10,000 books. That is amazing, and judging by your reading lists, your library is selective, massive and unique. You officially get the 'V for Vendetta' sword.

The last time I counted, I had ~400 books. I’m in a downsizing mode & just donated over 60 recently. I have separate areas for non-fiction, sci-fi, & classics. Everything else is random. One of my bookshelves is a microwave cart, turned into a book case/storage unit. I keep on display the books I plan to read this year for reading challenges. When I’m looking for what to read next, I go to that shelf first. I just finished reading Marie Kondo’s Spark Joy & have been thinking about her idea of the words you see & how they reflect who you are. I will rearrange my 2 major bookshelves with this idea in mind. I do like to organize my downstairs bookshelf by color but will probably change that.

I am slowly downsizing my physical library as well, since I am reaching a major age milestone next year. However, that doesn't stop me from buying ebooks!

Pam the use of the cart sounds like it works well!

I did colors several years ago but could never remember what color the book was.

Recyling is always good. I donated quite a few of the duplicates from my Mom's collection to friends and the Church's Thrift Store. I also got rid of a few of mine that I knew I would never read again.

I've been buying more books in the past few years, ever since I retired. I worked as a librarian for 35 years (public library and school libraries) and always just read the books I had access to in my libraries!

I mostly read children's and young adult books for probably twenty years, then during summer vacations I'd read all the Martha Grimes Richard Jury mysteries or Sue Grafton's ABC books (I read A-T and then quit). One summer I started on Agatha Christie books, one summer I read a few classics (Sense and Sensibility was my first Austen)

So I have one shelf of 250 book or so that I am using now. I have it arranged by publisher and size right now! I have a collection of Agatha Christie books and Barbara Pym books that I keep together. I'm gradually getting more Penguin classics (didn't know there were different colored spines - I have mostly black, one gray and one green), 4 Penguin Clothbound classics, NYRB classics are building up too, several Barnes and Noble Classic editions. Otherwise I have big hard covers, small hardcovers, trade paperbacks, and the little paperbacks like Bantam and Signet, then a group of odd publishers and sizes. It's been fun building up the library. I do give books away if I'm not attached to them, but tend to keep my classics.

There are more bookshelves though - my adult daughter's room has twenty years worth of Caldecott award and Newbery award books plus miscellaneous books from her major in English in college. Oh, and a collection of Eoin Colfer books.

My husband has many many books - mainly Wisconsin authors, poetry, small press authors, self-published books, and his own writing.

Two other shelves are full of miscellaneous. I also have ebooks (cheap or free) and audiobooks (Audible subscription).

I like to see the collections everyone has and how they're arranged. Great fun!

Jennifer wrote: "Bernard wrote: "Re: Babylonian talmud ... Do you mean one written during the captivity?"

Yes, I love studying the text in a search for meaning. The text is monotonous and idealogical, however, the..."

I have read much about the Babylonians, but little about Judaism, other than what I got from the Bible. The only religious book I have is Bede.

Correction: I also have two books on the Gnostics, which I only bought last year!

Bernard, That is really neat that you are beginning to study religion too. If you like it, study of religion adds dimension to your library. All of them are beautiful in their own unique ways. I am still learning, I have put a lot on the back burner for school but will be doing more intense studying of my books, if possible in a few years. It's a lifelong journey. I think that we currently live in the most enlightened time in human history, because we have access to great minds, knowlege, literature, art and music through the internet. Hopefully, we don't lose ever lose it. When I get my bookcases organized and everything clean and dusted, I will post pictures of my library to my goodreads profile. It probably won't be until next year though, because I am in school until the end of November. I've been neglecting things around the house for a long time to study all weekend. It has been almost every weekend for the last 3 years. And during the week, I work long days. One day I'll get there!! :)

I find the Gnostics particularly interesting. What if they had elbowed the Christians aside, and established a world religion?

My books are kind of scattered. In my bedroom I have a bookcase of unread books in no particular order. I filled the top shelf with books I hope to read this year. My husband also has two medium bookcases half-filled with books. The TV stand also has about a dozen books in it, most MG.

In the living room I have a tall skinny bookcase between the piano and the pump organ. The bottom two shelves are full of sheet music, organized by instrument. The top shelves contain the Michael Vey series, Harry Potter, Hitchhiker's Guide omnibus, Jonathan Stroud, and a few Brandon Sanderson. There is a very short bookcase under the windowsill that contains Michael J. Sullivan, the rest of Brandon Sanderson, and some classics favorites.

In the family room are a bunch of bookcases that are getting less organized because when I finish a book it gets stuffed anywhere. One bookcase is nonfiction and comics. Another is mostly children's books, another is mostly sci fi.

My mess of a shelf of my headboard shelfs:uh
uh
One side got cds, autobook,,/drama ??? Cd, dvd, meds, small flash light, cards.uh
uh
Middle: couple of books, crystal snowglow, and nick nacks and other mics iteams.uh
uh
Last side: Bibles and other small books, nick nacks, phone with charger.

Two tall bookcases: uh
uh
One with mixes of soft and hard back books mix of mystery books, vitange kids books, cook books and mics book.uh
uh
Second mix of Barnes and Nobles collection books, comic books I'm reading now/almost finish and mic books.uh
uh
Third self with door fill with dvds/blue rays, and mics.uh
uh
Last with door mainly ommbius comics and mic stuff.uh
uh

Jennifer wrote: "Lesle wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "First, I genuinely LOVED reading about everyone's library! Thank you for sharing!! I am assuming it originates from a desire to know everything? (lol) As I confess th..."

Jennifer, I love the idea of changing pictures with the seasons. I already have framed photos on my walls, but hadn’t thought to change them they way you do. This will be my new photography project.

Alicia wrote: "Two tall bookcases: uh
uh
One with mixes of soft and hard back books mix of mystery books, vitange kids books, cook books and mics book.uh
uh
Second mix of Barnes and Nobles collection books, comic..."

Do you collect vintage cookbooks?

My books are a mess with little actual organization. A couple shelves are still at my moms house away from me (only by a few miles). More details later.

Samantha wrote: "My books are a mess with little actual organization. A couple shelves are still at my moms house away from me (only by a few miles). More details later."

That is technically known as a DBS (Distributed Bibliographic System).

I finished downsizing my books (donated ~100, many large hardbacks!) and finished reorganizing my bookshelves. I’m very happy with the results! I still have too many books but I’m making a dent in reading them. I have much more space and am better organized now. I didn’t realize how many non-SF short story collections I have! I rarely read short stories so I’m not sure why I have any. They will be the next ones to go most likely. I kept my one shelf of black cover books and changed the other color shelves to order by author, just for something different.

Pam it sounds like a lovely time reorganizing!

I hadnt thought about shelving one of just one color! That would look really nice I am sure.

What is non-SF? Only thing in my head is non-science fiction lol it just will not leave haha!