How do you organize your books?

Forget your music collection. That's been a topic in bars and movies for years now. I want to know how you arrange your books. My new floor-to-ceiling bookshelf is just about finished, and I've put about 300 books up there. It's kind of embarrassing that that doesn't even come close to holding my collection, but it just gives me a reason to build more.

In the mean time, how do you arrange yours? Alphabetical? Dewey Decimal System? Library of Congress? Fiction/Non-Fiction? All the Vintage Paperback Classics on one shelf? All the red books on another?

I've got a system going that makes perfect sense to me, although FWT thinks I'm kooky. I probably am, but I can find both my French/English dictionary and my World According to Garp in an instant.

What's your system?

3 comments

  1. Paul TSeptember 15, 2010 at 11:50 AM

    General subject, then authors grouped . . . I used to alphabetize, but I became a bit obsessive about it . . .

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  2. dmSeptember 15, 2010 at 3:05 PM

    I do the same for books and CDs....totally random. It seems to actually work fine as I remember very clearly what the spines of all the books and CDs look like.

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  3. troySeptember 16, 2010 at 9:21 AM

    I don't do this myself, but I saw it in a magazine or a design show, and it looks great.

    Organize them by spine color. All the red spines together, blending through different shades into another color, maybe purple, then into blue. Or maybe you want to make a large design with abrupt color changes using blocks of color.

    I thought the idea was great. One of the reasons we still love real books is that the book itself is visually pleasing and feels good in our hands. Why not take this a step farther and use it as a piece of color in a larger piece of art (your new and totally awesome floor to ceiling built in) in your home.

    You should give it a try at least, the effect is very nice.

    Have fun!
    Troy Gray
    Easthampton, Mass (a place where Brigid will apparently never come near with her accordion and guitars)

    ReplyDelete