It’s taken me a long time to perfect my display of books. Like many bookworms, when we first get into reading, there’s plenty of space! But then it accumulates… and grows… and g r o w s.
After 2 years of having my mother and friends trip over my random stacks of books on the floor, I got my first-ever proper bookshelf (not the little ones that I had previously!) :D.
How I Used to Order my Books:
By favourite to least favourite. I know, unorthodox. There was no cross reference to author or anything like that; just favourites at the front, to least (hiding behind).
After a year of my book collection growing, I reordered my two shelves so they were in trend; aka, RAINBOW.
But I soon learned how much of a pain rainbow shelves were. No series together, no authors, no order. If you can’t remember the cover of the book: you’re stuffed. This happened to me, a lot. I have an awful memory (despite articles saying ‘bla bla if you read more, you’ll improve your memory’ etc). It was a nightmare. Yes; there were some cute pics. But the practicality was a mess.
How I Currently Present My Books:
It took me three hours to scan every book I own and tag it under my Goodreads shelf: “owned”, but it is worth it. I’ve catalogued my books, and they’re ordered alphabetically by author’s surname. Look at me, all grown up.
My Top Tip for Organising Your Bookshelf:
Open Goodreads’ barcode scanner. Scan all your books. Make a virtual shelf for them, so you have a catalogue that’s easy to search and keep track of. Trust me; it’s a life saver.
The Final Product
Here’s some mediocre shots taken from my camera. I’m pretty sure my iPhone could do better than this, which is worrying…
Future Plans:
As I’ve hinted a little on this blog, I wish to start up a Booktube channel soon. I will jazz up my bookshelf for my viewers, with a few fairy lights and merch like other Booktubers use to entice viewers! 😀
oooh i’m excited to see what you think of geekerella & ember!! and I really want to read our chemical hearts.
since I don’t own nearly as many books as you (maybe only ~40) i’m pretty good about memorizing covers, I have a rainbow shelf (most of these are standalones because a lot of series are dark) and then I have a dark blackness fantasy shelf, and below that is a miscellaneous shelf.
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I could never fully do the rainbow thing – it would drive me nuts to separate authors and series! But I do have my vintage books organized by color, though it’s less impressive because most are red or a weird beige/yellow. Doesn’t flow like the nice rainbow ones you see online. 😀
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you’re shelf looks great! 🙂
i have my books divided by read and unread. within this, i have my series separated by my stand alones. also my classics and my german and english books are separated. within all those they are organized by color. yes, i got it all 😀
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Omg that’s a great system!!!!! I may adopt some of your techniques 😍
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haha, glad to be some inspiration! 🙂
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Timely article for me as my husband and I cleaned our bedroom this past weekend and we attempted to “fix” or book shelf. We too have outgrown the shelving we have so it looks pretty ugly right now with stacked books. I have yet to figure out how I want to organize ours. I have a weird OCD thing about book size…but organizing in that manner would lead to your rainbow situation, which would also drive me nuts. Haha
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Ooh– enjoy reorganising 😀
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