# For The Bookworms...How Do You Arrange Your Shelves?



## fureverywhere (Oct 8, 2016)

Some of you might know I like to read a bit...okay, it's an addiction...I can haul out twenty five new titles at a good sale. But shelving them is another story. Do you go by subject? Just randomly line them up? Do you go by author? By series? It gets tricky sometimes when one book could be in or four or five different categories. 

I did a serious overhaul. I have them by subject unless there are multiples by an author. Then I might get real fancy and arrange them chronologically. The best change was having a full open shelf in the kitchen. New titles get put there if there are one or twenty. The ones worth rereading are shelved elsewhere. 

The others go immediately to the trunk to be donated back into the system. It makes it easier, when I used to bring books home I might find three or four copies.


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## Aunt Bea (Oct 8, 2016)

That is a constant battle, it would be easier if I bought my books in alphabetical order!

I have about 1,200 books, cookbooks, local history and regional history.  I try to group them by subject or geographical area and then by author.  In the winter I try to spend a few snowy days reshuffling books, trying to get things in shape.  I am constantly culling my "collection" and trying to segregate a small number of books that will go with me to the old folks home.  I also try to use a "catch and release system" to donate books to the thrift shop when I'm finished with them. One book in, one book out doesn't always work but I try!!!


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## fureverywhere (Oct 8, 2016)

Well we do what we can. Sometimes I'll run into a book I donated back in the day. Re-read it or pass? What the heck, for me they're free. If it looks the slightest interesting I'm grabbing it.


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## Aunt Bea (Oct 8, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> Well we do what we can. Sometimes I'll run into a book I donated back in the day. Re-read it or pass? What the heck, for me they're free. If it looks the slightest interesting I'm grabbing it.




I have done the same thing a couple of times!

I also have a problem with some of the page turning paperback mystery novels that I buy.  They reissue some of them with a new cover and I forget that I have read them until I get into the first few pages!


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## fureverywhere (Oct 8, 2016)

Oh absolutely, hey I remember this story! Was it good? A few more chapters and I'll find out.


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## Susie (Oct 8, 2016)

So happy to read that some of you actually still read books (paper, not electronically downloaded).
I love the feel of the "real thing"!
Buy up 10-20 books at the local library's sale table (5 for a dollar).
Some I read, then give away; others I try to read, but soon give up, throw them in the bin.
Sometimes I even remember to leave a book on the train or in a public place.
This way I always have room in my "bookshelves" for the books I love and enjoy!
Sorry, fureverywhere, no rhyme or reason in my bookshelf system!


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## fureverywhere (Oct 8, 2016)

It's okay Susie, books are our best friends. I pretend for interviews that I know the electronic version. But no I want paper pages.


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## Ameriscot (Oct 9, 2016)

I only buy paper books if there is one I really want to read and it isn't available on Kindle - or reference books like photography books.  I've had my Kindle for about 5 years and had hesitated to give up paper books. But what did it for me was on a flight when I was in the middle of a 1,000 page hardback book and having to carry it with me making my backpack weigh a ton.  We travel a LOT on long trips and my Kindle is like a miracle.  I can bring endless amounts of books with me anywhere I go, and I find my eyes get much less tired when reading one, plus I can make the text as big as I want.  I can also read it in the sunshine and there is no glare.  

On my bookshelves I have books I've owned that are mostly pre-kindle and a good portion are reference.  One shelf is books about Scotland, one is Ireland and Celtic - history/culture, etc.  One shelf has cookbooks, fix it books, sports books, bird/animal/flower reference books, one is Buddhism and photography, and two shelves are a mix of fiction, biographies, travel, etc.  I can find any book I'm looking for easily.


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## bluebreezes (Oct 9, 2016)

I keep my favorite hardbacks in the most prominent location because it gives me pleasure to look at them and then generally keey the others together by author. One of my lifetime favorite authors, Jim Harrison, died this past spring, so I've been keeping his books on top of a shelf where I can see them to be reminded what a great writer he was.


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## Ameriscot (Oct 9, 2016)

bluebreezes said:


> I keep my favorite hardbacks in the most prominent location because it gives me pleasure to look at them and then generally keey the others together by author. One of my lifetime favorite authors, Jim Harrison, died this past spring, so I've been keeping his books on top of a shelf where I can see them to be reminded what a great writer he was.



I can't imaging having a home with no books on display.  I have two side by side bookshelves in my living room which besides books, have photos, African souvenirs, etc.  The living room would be lifeless without them.


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## bluebreezes (Oct 9, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> I only buy paper books if there is one I really want to read and it isn't available on Kindle - or reference books like photography books.  I've had my Kindle for about 5 years and had hesitated to give up paper books. But what did it for me was on a flight when I was in the middle of a 1,000 page hardback book and having to carry it with me making my backpack weigh a ton.  We travel a LOT on long trips and my Kindle is like a miracle.  I can bring endless amounts of books with me anywhere I go, and I find my eyes get much less tired when reading one, plus I can make the text as big as I want.  I can also read it in the sunshine and there is no glare.



I totally agree about the benefits of a Kindle, although I rarely buy books. I'm not adding to my home printed book collection either, but I'll take out a printed book from the library if it's available. More often than not, it's easier and faster to check out from our state-wide interlibrary system in Kindle format. I tried for about a year being a print purist and not reading any book in an electronic format, but found that I often had to wait too long for books I wanted to be available.

In addition to being able to adjust the font size, I like that I can read at a better angle because of its light weight. Another benefit is the X-Ray feature which provides details about people, terms, and places. I'm reading all of the Song of Ice and Fire series currently (that's over 4600 pages in 5 volumes), and being able to reference the characters and places with this feature is amazing.


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## Ameriscot (Oct 9, 2016)

bluebreezes said:


> I totally agree about the benefits of a Kindle, although I rarely buy books. I'm not adding to my home printed book collection either, but I'll take out a printed book from the library if it's available. More often than not, it's easier and faster to check out from our state-wide interlibrary system in Kindle format. I tried for about a year being a print purist and not reading any book in an electronic format, but found that I often had to wait too long for books I wanted to be available.
> 
> In addition to being able to adjust the font size, I like that I can read at a better angle than tilting my head down because of its light weight. Another benefit is the X-Ray feature which provides details about people, terms, and places. I'm reading all of the Song of Ice and Fire series currently (that's over 4600 pages in 5 volumes), and being able to reference the characters and places with this feature is amazing.




Last time I read a paper book I forgot and pressed the right page to try to turn it!  LOL.  And also started to press on a word so the definition would come up!


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## Ruth n Jersey (Oct 9, 2016)

I love to read and put off getting a Kindle for quite awhile. Finally I bought one. It was one of the best purchases I made in years. As Ameriscot mentioned, my eyes aren't as tired, I can change the text size and I change the background color for evening reading. It is suppose to help when you want to go to sleep after reading awhile. I have never reread a book, my cookbook collection is another story. The ones I refer to often are in my Kitchen, the others are in a large old jelly cabinet my Grandpa made. I wouldn't give them up for the world.


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## fureverywhere (Oct 9, 2016)

I can't imaging having a home with no books on display.  I have two side by side bookshelves in my living room which besides books, have photos, African souvenirs, etc.  The living room would be lifeless without them. 

It is mystifying with some family members especially...a house with no books. My grandfather got the daily paper and Readers Digest. That was his reading material period. Other family members the same thing, a few magazines and the family bible. I just can't imagine, don't want to imagine. Reading gives you wings:love_heart::love_heart::love_heart:


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## Ameriscot (Oct 9, 2016)

I remember reading a big book of fairy tales when I was 7.  Nancy Drew when I was 11 or 12?  Gothic novels as a teen.  And branched out a lot the older I got.

I grew up in a house that always had lots of books on shelves.  Frequent trips to the library as well.


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## Ameriscot (Oct 9, 2016)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> I love to read and put off getting a Kindle for quite awhile. Finally I bought one. It was one of the best purchases I made in years. As Ameriscot mentioned, my eyes aren't as tired, I can change the text size and I change the background color for evening reading. It is suppose to help when you want to go to sleep after reading awhile. I have never reread a book, my cookbook collection is another story. The ones I refer to often are in my Kitchen, the others are in a large old jelly cabinet my Grandpa made. I wouldn't give them up for the world.



My kindle is a lifesaver!  I can read on long flights - I've read up to 7 hours on a single flight and my eyes never tired.  And when we got away for up to 3 months at a time, I've always got tons of books to read on my kindle.  My husband gets his favourite newspaper downloaded to his kindle every morning.


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