This past week had a lot of ups and downs, and the weekend has been gray and rainy, which always makes my joints hurt more. The high point of my night is going to be when I finish scheduling this post and get to put my heating pad on my sore finger joints. So I’m going to keep it short and light yet still a topic that people have opinions on: bookshelves! The one thing I’m guessing that we all have in common is that there is at least one bookshelf in our living space, yes even if you also have piles of books on any available surface. But there are endless variations of how we decorate our bookshelves. My bookcase aesthetic is going to have to change soon, and I want to hear your thoughts!
I used to always keep my books shelved in alphabetical order of author’s last name, like you’d find at the library, because that was all I really knew. But my home library and my personal preferences have changed over the years. Also, shelving new books got to be a pain because I’d have to reorganize the whole shelf, and maybe more than one.
Once I started having to purchase super expensive textbooks for classes, I discovered that there were some I wanted to sell back ASAP and forget I ever owned them (math and chemistry books, I’m looking at you), but there were so many really fantastic books I read for my major of biology, especially those that were cross-listed with psychology or sociology or anthropology, and I knew I wanted to keep them for future reference. This was the point at which I began to sort my shelves by genres: textbooks and nonfiction (those always got a bottom shelf because you haven’t had a brick of a book until you’ve held a college textbook), classics (a mix of what I’ve read and liked, and what I’ve always hoped I’d pick up someday), fantasy, mystery, romance, etc. Now that I’m thinking about it, I might have to reevaluate hanging onto these textbooks with tiny print now that I’m disabled, running out of books space, and can’t read most of them without a magnifying glass, even with my bifocals. Yes, I’m that many years old. But the main issue I had with shelving books this way was: where do I shelve books that fall under more than one genre? Where would romantasy go? I’d run out of shelves if I had one for each genre and subgenre I like.
It wasn’t until I got involved in the reading community on social media that I fell in love with the idea of rainbow shelves. To me, it looked like a bright and cheery way to sort my books. I also discovered that so many of the gorgeous bookshelves on Bookstagram were also accessorized (is that the right word for this? If not, I’m blaming pain medication for my inability to think of the right word), with especially pretty covers facing out on the shelves, plants, fairy lights, and other little tchotchkes. I spent a good portion of a day taking all my books off all four bookcases, dusting everything extra thoroughly, sorting all my books and putting them back on the shelves. But it wasn’t long before I discovered that this way also had the same issues as the first method I tried: I was able to squeeze in one or two books, but I’m at the point where almost every single shelf is packed full with random books stuck on top of the other books. At this point, I need to completely redo my shelves. The other issue is having difficulty finding sequential books in a series if they are not all the same color.
I also have a shelf that is completely fully of books that I’ve listed on Pango (you can visit my shop here) for super low prices if you’re looking to grow your collection or sign up for an account to resell books you want to unhaul.
I’ve also seen people who turn their books the opposite way on shelves—so that the spine faces inwards, and the only thing visible is the pages. It’s a wonderful way to highlight the progress being made on reading backlist books languishing on shelves, and keeping old favorites out of sight out of mind. I don’t think I could ever handle doing this my own bookshelves, and I classify it as one of those things that other people do which I don’t because it makes me stressed out, kind of like people who leave the house wearing two different color/style socks. The downside of this can be similar to the color method, in that it can be hard to find a book that’s turned around for when I lend them out or am looking for certain books.
How do you organize your books? What are the pros and cons you notice?
Categories: Sunday Bookish Discussion
Leah's Books 
I have no real organizational pattern to my shelves. Although, I do try to keep books by the same author together. Now that I’m almost completely out of space on my shelves, it’s getting harder to do. https://romantasylife.com/
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I hate that the more books we buy, the more room we need for them. The simple solution would be to get all kindle versions, but to me, nothing beats actually holding a book in your hands.
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I love your rainbow shelves!!!
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Thank you so much! This isn’t an up to date picture, because I’m so embarrassed of how many books I have just shoved onto a shelf and told myself I’d organize them later and never got around to. You know what it looks like lately 🤣 except worse since you’ve seen it.
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At this point, I’m not sure if it’s ever going to stop raining. I placed my books on the shelves by height and color. I can’t stand to see books that are all up and down up and down on a shelf. I do keep my non-fiction on a separate shelf than my fiction. Honestly, the non-fiction is behind the doors on my shelf, so they are not really visible. When my shelves start getting too full and there’s not a little bit of white space for decorative items then I know it’s time to donate some of the books. In my hobby room, I have two bookshelves. The left is TBR and the right is books that I have read.
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I love the idea of keeping books on shelves designated TBR or Read. Nonfiction doesn’t go with my rainbow shelves, that gets grouped with Judaica books, whether they’re about history or recipes or even fiction. Keeping book heights consistent doesn’t really bother me, but I have to plan a little better going forwards, since selling books on Pango takes a lot longer than unhauling them all at a little free library, a public library, or Savers.
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First by genre and then by author
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That seems like the most straightforward way to do it. I really don’t want to reorganize all of my shelves, but I do think that I need to make more room for the piled up books.
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However, if a book is too tall for its intended shelf, it goes to my bottom which is designed for taller books (despite mainly being a coloring book shelf)
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Aww, I think we all have what I like to think of as the junk drawer of bookshelves where all the books that don’t fit anywhere else wind up.
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I was a teacher/librarian, so my books are in alphabetical order for fiction and topic for the few nonfiction that I have. I want to be able to find what I’m looking for easily.
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Ahh, that makes a lot of sense. I do keep my Jewish history, Holocaust memoirs, and other Jewish stories on one shelf, and I have one more devoted to the few classics I like. It’s really just got 2 Dostoyevsky books and War and Peace, but that’s about the width of a shelf anyway! I might have to switch to the alphabetic style to make it easier to add books to my shelves. Currently, I just have books by the color added on to the top or wherever I can find the space.
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I am a bit too OCD, mine were always by author, in alphabetical order.
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I love how neat those kind of bookshelves are – it reminds me of the library.
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My biggest con at the moment is that I don’t have any bookshelves in my new home yet. All of my books are stacked in random piles in the guest room cupboard. I’m hoping to create a cosy reading nook soon with colour coded shelves filled with all of my favourite reads.
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That’s the worst, when you’re in the new home but don’t have yourself set up yet. Hopefully you get your zen corner (that’s what I call my reading area) soon, and can get yourself set up exactly how you want it. My only suggestion would be to leave a little room on the shelves (if you have it) to add a new book or two for each color, otherwise you’ll find yourself having to redo them all or wind up with a pile of books taking up one shelf, unless that only happens to me?
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That’s part of the fun … I love to rearrange my bookshelves every time I get a new book.
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I think the problem for me is that there aren’t magical shelves that expand to fit the number of books I have! Why hasn’t someone invented this yet? We’re bookish – we’re smart!
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