I’ve been considering re-shelving my books recently. Between a few moves, borrowing books and trying to construct a To Read Pile out of the book fort that is becoming my apartment, I’ve wanted to arrange them in a way that would please me and make them more accessable.
In my mind, there are two main obstacles when it comes to book shelving and both of them come from size. The first is oversized books: large in either length or width in a way that makes them difficult to shelve. The second is paperbacks, which are easy to find space for but don’t use all of the space efficiently. Bookshelves are designed for the larger end of books, but don’t always allow the user to optimize the space. So, how do I make all my books fit without losing too many in the process? Personally, I think bookshelves should come with mini-shelf attachments: just enough to hold another row of paperbacks a little above the row in front of it. This would really help the paperback problem to optimize the shelf space without having to double stack and lose the titles behind them. I tend to keep Oversized books on top of shelves with bookends to support them or arrange them in their own section. Dungeons and Dragons Manuals tend to make their own section next to my TV rather than a shelf (any Ikea bookshelf would crumble under the weight).
I like to arrange my books by subject as much as possible. Most of my books are fiction (Sci-Fi and Fantasy, mostly), but I also have books that are on different sciences, writing practices, history and mental health. With all the moves, my shelving recently has been “where’s the space?” and that hasn’t been working for me recently. I’d like to get that to be my main organization system and kind of build from there. Right now, I have a few paperbacks stacked on the shelf over my fireplace, but I want to try and work out something to prop up a second row of paperback for my regular bookshelves to make use of that space. I want to try and put all my nonfiction books together at the very least, but I have to take stock of what I have and what I don’t. With the holidays and my birthday approaching, I want to try and make any room I can for new additions to the collection.
How do you organize your books? Subject? Size? Author Name? Color?
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I lay down the oversize books. I find that it keeps them from leaning and losing their shape. I do double shelve paperbacks and you’re right that you lose the ones in back. Maybe a narrow but thick piece of wood that fits in back of the front books would raise them up? I don’t usually bother to put books in author order but I do make sure that series books are all together. Non-fiction books go after fiction. But, I no longer buy too many books. Libraries keep me well supplied and I don’t really have time to re-read. I have too many authors on my to-be-read lists!