When I moved in with my (now) husband, I kind of took over the den and used it as my book room (we also have a computer and t.v. in there, plus a futon for when guests stay over), but didn’t bother organizing anything at the time. I finally got sick of it not being able to find anything and decided to alphabetize them. With the help of my son, we managed to do it in about 3 hours.
I didn’t include pictures of the other 2 shelves I have (mostly because I’m lazy and don’t feel like snapping more pictures) but you get the idea.
I alphabetize by author, then put in order of series. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure I still need to put these in order of series. Eh, this is good enough for now.
I’m curious..how do you shelve your books? Do you alphabetize? Have some other crazy system only you can decipher? Something else?
Holly, I love you 😀
I have them by genre (mystery, science fiction, poetry, history… you get the gist)then by author, and then by series or order of publication.
And all my DVDs are in alphabetical order–which means moving them all around every time I get another one…
Have a great weekend!
The ones I’ve read are alphabetized by author and then by title. The ones in Mt TBR? All over the place. Really. I’ve got pictures just like the ones you’ve posted here. 4 linen drawers full of books plus a big stack on my living room floor.
….oops, except the series. The series books are listed in order. So I mean to say, by author, alphabetical; and then by series.
I have them by author, as long as they’re together I don’t care if it’s alphabetized or not. Or I have them by “Classics”, “Keepers” “Give aways” and “What the hell was I thinking?”
Thankfully, there’s very few of the last category. *grins*
my highly complex organizational system is as follows:
whereever i can find space in the shelves! upright, lying, wedged…
I have them by hardcover, paperback and trade-size. Then, by alphabetized by authors as much as possible. Then, in order of series or publication 😛
My room looked like that yesterday… but half of the books were already in the shelves so it wasn’t that bad 😀 I ended up having help from my sis 🙂 They’re useful LOL 🙂
Oh and surprisingly, I don’t have difficulty finding my books even if it’s a mess. Like I knew where the Mercy Thompson books or Just Desserts were in all the boxes…
My books have no order at this moment. It is a very scary sight.
I was literally doing the same thing as you today. Sort of. I couldn’t stand the various piles around the house and at least organized by author… one shelf of books I’ve read, two for my TBR, and I put some older books in an under the bed box. 🙂
I tried to come up with a giveaway box… there were only six book in it by the time I was finished. LOL SIX! Out of easily 100 books I handled this afternoon. I suppose I’m a hoarder, huh?
Wow! I would have left them on the floor for about uh, three weeks cause I get overwhelmed way too easily.
My books are all over. I have an Anne Stuart shelf and then if authors’ books are grouped somewhat together then it’s good. I like having the books everywhere so that every time I go to look for a book I comb through the piles and remember all the ones I want to read.
Of course, it’s not good for buying duplicates. Yep, it’s happened.
Cindys
Looks good Holly!
Mine are by genre and then grouped by series and author but I do not have them alphabetical yet.
Then I also have a tbr shelf and library pile.
alphabetize???? pfft. In my dreams.
Right now like most of the others here it’s by genre then series … mostly.
Cindy, that’s how mine ended up a mess in the first place. B/c I kept taking them off the shelves to organize them, then I’d get bored/overwhelmed/whatever w/ the project and just throw them back on the shelf willy nilly. It got to the point where I couldn’t stand it anymore! lol
Hi Holly, I need bookshelves like yours. Right now, all my books are in huge bags sitting in my guest room. 🙁
Thanks for the kind comment you left at my blog re: the Linnea Sinclair contest. I’m just very pleased to be able to do it for her.
In a perfect world (mainly I would have more shelves!) I have them alphabetized by author – the keepers and continuing series, that is.
In my world, the books I had when I moved into my house are alphabetized by author. The books I’ve added since then (8 years!) are on another shelf roughly alphabetized – very roughly. The TBR is a horrible jumble but that can be nice. You know, rambling through and finding a treasure you forgot you had… Oh, and hardcovers are in a different room, alphabetized and in series order.
Martha Stewart would run screaming from my house… *sigh*
I try to put the books by the same authors together, but my main criteria is… color. I have a shelve mainly for the white/pale yellow books, a few for the very dark/blakc ones (mostly paranormals), a few with a variety of colors, but classified in shades. I kept all my Judith Mcnaught together, but they’re in a gradation of color, from deep purple to pale blue with pink in between. The Julia Quinns make the rest of the shelf and they continue the gradation. Some series, like the Stephanie Plums, Anita Blakes, Sherrilyn Kenyons, etc. have their own shelves, they’re in the order they’re supposed to be read. I try not to mix the French and English books. As for the piles scattered around the room, I just try to keep the books I most want to read, or the keepers I want fast, easy access to (ex.: Black dagger brotherhood) on the top. Oh, and I have a pile dedicated to manlove books too.
Lol. I have one freaky system. And every time I clean up the bookcases, I move the books around. Try combining new colors together. Lol.
Ooh, looks really neat.
I arrange my books by genera, then by series’ within a genera, and then by favorite authors.
OMG alphabetized? That would take me centuries to do! LOL I wish! Love the pics of books. I just want to dive into the pile! 🙂 I usually just put books by the same authors together. If I already read a book or I am not going to read it anytime soon, I put it in the back. I try to put only unread books in the front rows. I definetely need my own library complete with one of those ladders. That would be lovely. 🙂
I’m pretty sure I had a comment about this, but then I clicked on the picture and saw the book titled “Unicorn Vengeance” and lost it.
*wipes away tears*
Oh, god.
I really, really, really need to organize. *sigh* My bedroom is 12X12 and I have no space. When I’m finally able to organize, it’s alphabetical by author, then by title, unless it’s a series and then it’s by which one is first. If that makes sense. It’s late and my brain is fried. 😀
Uhhh…yeah…about that. Can you come over here? Drinks on me when you and the boy child finish LOL!
Mine get put into a pile against a wall when I finish them. When the pile falls over, I know it’s time to start a new pile *g*
My PLAN is to alphabatize by author’s last name – but I haven’t quite got there yet and I’m still buying like crazy.
I’m amazed that you got it done in 3 hours *g*
One thing I notice – and I’ve seen others do the same thing, if you have double rows. I couldn’t bear to do that. It would be covering have my books and if some were behind another row, I might forget about them.
kristie(j), exactly! I can’t double row for the life of me!
My mother the librarian looks at me weird when I say this, but I can’t bear to cover my poor books for too long.
They need air and light and to be seen and read 😀
Kristie(j),
I have too many books to not double them up. My goal is to someday have a full library where I’ll never have to, but for now? I don’t have a choice.
Meljean,
Don’t be jealous.
I don’t really like double rows either, but I just have no choice. It’s either that, or get rid of hundreds of books for lack of spcae. The decision was easy :). I do forget about a lot of books I bought because of that, but on the other wise it makes for fun surprises when I clean up :-D.
Ah, Holly, you mean like the “library I built that is now not big enough so that I have to expand into the next room that I haven’t organized yet and also need to buy new book shelves for and my son says he’s just going to rent a truck and haul them all away when I’m not longer of this earth and I scream in horror NO YOU CERTAINLY ARE NOT!!!” kind of library.
They are great!
And question *laughing* did MM know when he was lucky enough to get you, he got lucky and got your books too?
The last time I did that… well cindys hon, I think I had them on the floor and crawling the walls for about a year…
🙂
omg the books looks sooooooooooo bad again too *g* oops I think I need to just embrace my organizion is lack of BUT I had my mom come over once and my lil sister wanted a book I had for her.
She called me at work. I told her to go to the third pile, next to the phone in my bedroom and it was the second book on top (or something like that) – and I was right *g*
LOL, I don’t really like double rows either, but I have no choice at all. I think that double rows is better than a box… or the basement like my dad wants LOL 😛
WHOA! This is worse than our comic filled living room. I love it.
I have nothing helpful to say here. I put my books wherever on the shelves. And next to the bed, maybe 20 TBRs. Bookstores group by author within genre. I’d go with that if you want to organize, because obviously they have experience!
Oh, yeah, double rows DEFINITELY better than boxes! I agree with Nath.
CJ,
Your comic filled living room scares me. What if you accidentally stepped on one? EEK! LOL
Syb,
That so doesn’t surprise me..like, at all. *g*
I did a clean and purge recently but emphasis was on the TBR more than my shelved books. I used to shelve alpha by genre, but alas 20+ years of collecting and I double shelve and stack on top. Now it’s straight alpha although I separate trades and HCS to their own bookshelves. Seven 6′ bookshelves stuffed to the gills. *sigh* All I wish for is more room and shelving.
That’s why I love me Sybil 😉
I have lots of bookcases because the hubby built them for me but I still have to double row it.
And I’ll never stop buying!! So the shelves are permanently well stocked 😉
Holly – that’s how I get in trouble with any organization project. I get part way done and realize I a) don’t have enough room to continue sorting or b) nothing is ever going to fit back or c) no matter what, nothing seems to be dwindling.
And then I leave. Explains my clothes closet, my linen closet, my file drawers (many, many, many), my desk, my … Yeah, you get the idea.
I alphabetized my books once and couldn’t stand it. I wouldn’t even go in the room. Not really sure what that says about me but after 6 months I went in and just started moving the books all over the place. And then I was able to breathe again.
CindyS
Chantal,
you should come over and play with me. I’d like that.
😛
Damn!!! I want to go to your house and play with your books.
I arrange mine the same as you. By author, then alphabetically by title and series.
LOL, hey there’s me and Daphne’s room! LOL. And look, there’s my bed right there, hahahaha.
The room looks great, Holly seriously.
As for me, I just have them organized by author and then series but I want to do them by genre then author, why didn’t I ever think about doing it that way? It makes so much sense.
Duh.