Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
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30-day Challenge! - Day 20: Do you like to keep your books organized?
I usually keep them by size (hardcover, paperback), and then all the works by the same author are together (ex. all the Stephen Kings), and in alphabetical order
Yes. My books are organized in my bookshelf by color. It looks better that way.
No, I don't reallt have a system... At home I have a really small bookcase so I only have my newest or most favourite books in there. The only thing I did to organize it, was putting my Harry Potter and A Song of Ice and Fire series together and then my other books are separated by language, so English, Dutch, French together. But that's it!
Mod
Well, first by size. The top two and bottom shelves in each book case are reserved for Hardbacks/trade paperbacks and the middle 2 shelves on each can fit 2 rows of MMPBs - one stacked on top of the other.Next, I put all books by an author together with the series together and in order, if I can remember what that order is or am not too lazy to look it up.
Then last by genre/subgenre. Mysteries, classics, science fiction and "nostalgia" all get shelves. And since I have a TON of fantasy, the different types of fantasy get split up. Urban fantasies on one shelf, epic on another, etc. No particular order other than that. If I have room and I feel like sorting things more, I sometimes try to put authors with similar writing styles near each other or books with similar plots or "feels" near each other but I'm not at all consistent or picky about that.
Sometimes I'm not sure what book in particular I want to read but I usually at least know what genre I want to read, so then I can just go to that particular shelf and browse until I find something appealing. I really ought to use tags/bookshelves more often here on Goodreads so I could do the same with my ebooks, but that would take a huge amount of time.
Annina - how on earth do you find anything? Do you just remember what books have what color spine? I would be so lost with a bookcase sorted by colors.
Mod
Yes! (But they don't like to stay that way!) I generally go by size, then author.
I only do by "already read" and "future reads".
I just reorganised so I have Australian, modern-friction (1900 - 1980), pre 1900, new-fiction (post 1980), Russian, a large military history section (my husbands), auto-biog/biog, science, self-help etc, sports, craft (in craft room!)...I think that's it. I have to double stack too! I'm slowly working on alphabeticising (if that's a word!). I just finished this re-organisation after I have joined this group as lots of my books I have inherited and not read, so I was sick of buying books that I then later realised we already had!
Yep, I have my books organised. My read books are on different bookcases for children's books and YA, history, non-fiction and biographies, classics and general fiction. Each shelf is either stacked by date read, or sometimes size dictates where the book goes.
My TBR shelf is organised by date order- top shelf pre-1900, middle shelf 19th and 20th century, bottom shelf newer fiction and non-fiction.
Day 20 - May 20th Entry:My bookshelf looks more like a Tetris game. I do try to keep the series together, but Half Price Books is fantastic and I can't walk away without a stack of books. Not trying to sound like a cheapstake, but finding brand new never been read books in the clearance section for $1...who would not buy it?!?
May 20:
I try to keep my treebooks somewhat organized. The shelves within my bookcases aren't repositional so I basically have one shelf on each case for tall books, two shelves for books grouped by subject matter and another "short" shelf dedicated to paperbacks. So, I guess the organization process is really dictated by my bookcases. They aren't perfect but are durable and have served me well throughout the years!!
I try to keep my treebooks somewhat organized. The shelves within my bookcases aren't repositional so I basically have one shelf on each case for tall books, two shelves for books grouped by subject matter and another "short" shelf dedicated to paperbacks. So, I guess the organization process is really dictated by my bookcases. They aren't perfect but are durable and have served me well throughout the years!!
I just moved so I had to get rid of a lot of books (donated it, don't worry ;)) The few books I have left (I say few, in reality it's two walls) are devided first by fiction/non-fiction (they have one wall each. Very diplomatic) Non-fiction is devided into topic, like pedagogic/history/sociology/philosophy/etc while the fiction, I have taken out some groups that I have a "lot" of books in. This can be either an auther like Shakespeare and Jane Austen, where I also keep the books about the writer or any of the books in that group. Then I have seperated some genres like mystery, poetry and plays. The rest is by author.
And I do have some coffee books that I have to keep seperat due to the fact that they don't fit into my normal bookselves and need their own space (bad pun, sorry XD)
Well, since I can't have a secret bookshelf ;)
My Nook Bookshelves are much easier to organize than the print book bookcases. My Nook library includes some by genre... i.e. classics, history... some by series, some by author, and a favorites shelf for some that don't fit well on the others. Physical bookshelves is another story entirely. I do my best to organize those, too, including traditionally more feminine classics like Jane Austen and the Little Women series and adventure stories like Narnia and Jules Verne. Would that I had the bookshelf space to put all of my books on them and the room space for adequate bookshelves! My dream house includes a designated library!
@Rachel - Hahaha. So very true about HPB! A dangerous store indeed, but then I suppose all bookstores are....
Lesserknowngems wrote: "Well, since I can't have a secret bookshelf ;) "
Ha, too funny!!
Ha, too funny!!
Yes. But they aren't properly, because of the lack of space and a proper bookcase. There is no free room/wall anywhere in my apartment at the moment, so I try not to get too many books. The ones I own now would fit nicely, if only I had that one good bookcase, about 80 cm wide...The ones that fit somewhere are now organized as fiction and non-fiction. I'd like to one day keep by cookbooks in the kitchen, like they are at my childhood home. The other non-fiction books are mainly about history. There's not that many of them so they are in a pretty random order.
Novels are organized by size and/or separated by hardcover/paperback. I also like to keep classics (mainly hardcovers) separated from the rest because I want to keep those. Most of my books are either paperbacks and/or random BookCrossing or otherwise found books that I mean to give away some day. The "better" paperbacks I have covered and some have found a place in a couple of shelves. The others are in a couple of stacks on the floor... The ones on the shelf are in an alphabetical order.
If ever I have more space to put them, I will keep "classics" (a loose definition) separated from other novels and maybe have a small bookcase for "TBR soon" books (from the library or something) and another for books that I can easily borrow or give out to friends, if they want them, almost like a showcase for them.
I love this, Tytti! The shelf for your friends is such a neat idea :)
MK wrote: "I love this, Tytti! The shelf for your friends is such a neat idea :)"Well I do have an ulterior motive for that. It's a one way to to get rid of books I have already read and don't plan on reading again.
Tytti wrote: "Well I do have an ulterior motive for that. It's a one way to to get rid of books I have already read and don't pl..."Hey, that's a great reason :).
I most definitely do! Mine are organized by genre, and alphabetized within their genres.
I used to organise according to author and the have-reads. Now, my shelves are overflowing, so it has become impossible.
In paperbags piled on the floor in my library room which already has full shelves.
Definitely.I have sections for children literature (Fairy Tales,Peter Pan,Alice in Wonderland),existentialist works (Kafka and Camus),Russian novels (Chekov,Tolstoy,Bulgakov,etc),popular classics (To Kill a Mockingbird,Slaughterhouse 5) and Booker nominees and winners (Never Let Me Go,Possession,Oscar&Lucinda etc).
I moved into a new home, so I needed to pack all my books into boxes. In my new home I don't have build in bookshelf, like I had in my old place, so now I have small home full of books all over the places and there's no order of which book is where.. (which is a night mare, cause when I'm not organized and know exactly what I have in some corner, I might end up buying double copies of some books..)I might need to start looking for myself a bookshelf, which is also great thing, but can be a pain in my ass as well, cause I need to move it into a new place, when I decide to move away from this apartment. So this combination can be a real struggle.
In the living room we have a bookcase overfilled with our most beautiful books. We have them ordered by theme (nature-books, art-books, novels). And the novels are also ordered by writer (but not alphabetical): Joanne Harris, J.K. Rowling, Ken Follett, Isabel Allende, Iain Banks (to name a few of our favourite authors). The overflow we have in a bookcase in our attic.Since both bookcases are more than full, I bought an ereader a couple of years back.
My ebooks I order here on Goodreads and I have a program on my computer (Calibre). I shelf them by website I downloaded them from (Girlebooks, StoryCartel, Smashwords) or by writer, classics and a few others.
Yep...first just fiction and non, then alphabetical by author.
Treebooks-Fiction / Non-fiction
Then , size
Then Author
Ebooks -
Genre
Then author
I've worked with books in various stores for over half of my life, so my books are organized as if my home was a store. Genre, alpha by author, then alpha by title, unless it's a series, then it's in number order of the series. Makes it much easier to find things this way. :)
Oh man! I really do try! Let's see. I do keep all my books on religion together but the rest, not so much! But hey, I can easily find any book I'm looking for, so it can't be that bad, right? Lol!!! :)
Lol, as long as you can find what you're looking for Loretta, it's a win! Though I have to have order. I have roughly 2,500 physical books and to minimize duplicates, organization is key. That and a strong floor!
Lol, as long as you can find what you're looking for Loretta, it's a win! Though I have to have order. I have roughly 2,500 physical books and to minimize duplicates, organization is key. That and a strong floor!
Yes!! I love organizing lists of what I'm reading and what I want to read! Unfortunately, I sometimes spend more time on the lists and organization that I do reading ;)
Jen wrote: "Lol, as long as you can find what you're looking for Loretta, it's a win! Though I have to have order. I have roughly 2,500 physical books and to minimize duplicates, organization is key. That and ..."Yikes! Thank goodness for that strong floor Jen! :)
Terris wrote: "Yes!! I love organizing lists of what I'm reading and what I want to read! Unfortunately, I sometimes spend more time on the lists and organization that I do reading ;)"Oh wow Terris, you're preaching to the choir! Me too! :)
Favorites and not favorites, then by genre :)
By genre in alpha-order but I get most of my books from the library.
If somebody else would do the organizing, sure. I'm not very good at that sort of stuff, though.
Yes. I put my novels alphabetically, and group my non-fiction by subject.
Well yeah...can't have stacks of books lying about, with no order :)But for me, yes. First by fiction, bio, other non-fiction, and then alphabetic by author.
How else are you to find what you’re looking for? The majority of my shelves are organized by genre, then alphabetical. The exception is the living room TBR, which holds books pulled for challenges or books I want to try to get to soon (“soon” generally being within the next month to five years, lol). (For some reason autocorrect changed the word ‘within’ to ‘wishing,’ which in this instance seems rather apropos. 😄)
Good grief, NO! I mean, I'm not a hoarder or anything but I have to dig through boxes to find older acquisitions and piles on shelves for the more recent. I do have 2 boxes full of books I have read and are ready for the thrift store. I guess that's a bit of organization I can claim. The older I get, the less I want to keep, so my collection is getting smaller, I think.
Organized alphabetically by author surname as within each set of shelves/storage. I'd like to eventually establish separate sections for translations and a few other categories, but that's for when I have more stable storage space.
Very, very loosely organized; sort of the way I keep house.
(Bonus - if yes, how? Color, genre, title, author, size, something else?)
- Yes! But, sometime in my late 20s the books won and made vertical and horizontal battalions in multiple rooms :o. I plan to re-engage. I think I'll win the next organizing battle, and thus the war! haha!
Who wants to play!