Apologies to those of you, who follow me on Twitter, and who have already been subjected to some of these pictures, but I couldn’t resist sharing my new bookcases with you.
Now I don’t have a large house – it’s a very modest mid-terrace – but there is only me in it – and I do have more bookcases than many people. I am aware that there are houses that boast no bookcases – I can’t quite understand what that must be like.
Currently I have two bookcases in my living room, two bookcases in my dining room, and two bookcases in the spare room. I don’t have room for a bookcase in my bedroom, though I do keep a kindle and two or three collections of short stories in the bedside cabinet – just in case.
Except for the tbr shelves on the bookcase in my living room I organise my books mainly by publisher or type. So, I have all the VMCs together, vintage hardbacks take up a couple of shelves, l have a small collection of clothbound classics, some of those Vintage’s red spine editions and some Agatha Christie first editions, they all have a place somewhere in the house, and I usually know exactly where a book is.
The two bookcases in the dining room, house my Persephone and old green VMC editions – the ones I’ve read – there are more on the tbr bookcase. I try to be selective I only buy ones I think I want to read, and if there is one I don’t like or can’t finish I am less likely to keep it. The VMC and Persephone books had outgrown their bookcases and I needed ones that my collections could grow into.
So, I asked a handyman who recently did some other work for me to quote me for making two bookcases to fit the alcoves either side of my fireplace in the dining room. He built them in his work shop and brought them over to fit last Saturday, and here they are – with the books back on out of the way.
They are made from MDF – no doubt proper wood would have been prohibitively expensive – but I think they look great. I shall be getting them stained/painted in the next few weeks – but love the look of them even as they are. The empty spaces are calling to me to fill them – still it is nice to have room on my bookcases again. Perhaps I will move some hardbacks on to one, from the shelves in the living room to fill a gap – I haven’t decided yet.
Whatever I decide – I shall enjoy playing around with my books. You may find it hard to believe but I am trying to get rid of some books (not the special editions) I went through the bookcase upstairs a few days ago and took about twelve books off which will find their way on to the table at this year’s bookcrossing Unconvention.
How do you organise your books? Organised in some special way? or are they gloriously randomised?
Gorgeous Ali!
Thank you. I am pleased with them.
Lovely, Ali. You can never have too many bookcases. 🙂
It seems I can’t certainly. There is something very satisfying about bookcases.
Indeed, especially when they are made to measure.
I’m an old bookseller so my books are arranged into sections then alphabetically. My partner decided to instill a bit of anarchy a while back but on the whole prefers not to live dangerously! They’re back to alphabetical now.
I couldn’t possibly organise my tbr alphabetically, but I am thinking about organising some bookcases alphabetically too.
New bookcases! How quickly they fill up. I read a lot of international literature and work in translation so I tend to organize fiction by country and/or language. Poetry, essays and other nonfiction tend to get put together, more or less. I have bookcases in my living room, office and bedroom!
Oh yes, they do fill up quickly.
Oh yes they do fill up quickly.
How organised you are. I tried alphabetical organisation but then every time I aquired something new I had to do a rearrange. Then I tried it by project – all the Bookers together for example. Now it’s just a mess
Down stairs is definitely more organised than upstairs. I actually want to get my upstairs bookcases better organised.
Dont rub it in by telling me you plan to be even more organised!
My books are in matching book cases which my husband assembled.They were cheap at £40 each from a well known store.All in alpha order and i remove the books and dust them and the shelves every 8 weeks or so.I can find all my books easily.
I do a cursory dust weekly with a special duster on a stick.The big clean is 8 weeks or less if i am in the mood.
Goodness that is good work, I can’t say I do the same. I dust the bits that show.
Well i only have 400 books.
That’s more manageable then.
I recently reviewed by 2017 blog related objectives and a reorg of my bookshelves was on there and has still to be done (for the 3rd year running!). My current plan? To do after the Bookcrossing weekend when I know what books I’ve picked up. Opening a book as to which year that will happen in!
Reorganising shelves can be a really big job.
It’ll be the best part of day – assuming I know how I will reorganise them when I go in! I might just have a tidy….
Ooooh, lovely book pix and lovely shelves! The new ones look particularly lovely and very organised (and I do adore your Christie collection). My shelves are – random, really. Notionally split into sections by subject or publisher, e.g. Virago, Persephone, Russian fiction, Russian non-fiction, crime, Agatha, Japanese lit, Orwell, Beats etc etc. The sections that are subjects rather than author are meant to be alphabetical, but my complete works of Agatha is chronological. I can *usually* find a book – but not always, and I have been known to not know whether or not I own something. It’s not perfect….. :s
I like your way of organising your books by subject – that makes sense to me too.
i am drooling here
Ha sorry.
I love what you’ve done! My bookshelves are a bit of a mess. I might be inspired to rearrange them!
It’s a big job, but can be fun, and I bet you find things you had forgotten about.
Good point! Even though I moved out 6 years ago my mum still has loads of my books, so if I can create some space I’ll be able to have everything in one place. Ok, now I’m inspired! 😊
Ooh lovely.
Thanks for the bookshelf porn! Another bookseller here, so my books are organised alphabetically by section as well.
Ha ha, bookshelf porn! I need to start getting some of my sections in alphabetical order, it’s a job I have been putting off.
Really? I find it’s the kind of job that I enjoy :b good luck!
Thank you for this post. I always enjoy a look at other people’s book cases. And as usual, I think that I should really try stacking some of my books, to fit more of them onto a shelf.
I always love looking at people’s bookshelves. When I go to someone’s house and they have bookshelves – I am in heaven.
So gorgeous! I’ve always wanted a fireplace with bookcases on either side! I have 2 fireplaces but they way they are situated no bookcases. Only one small set of shelves built in on the one in the den and of course I put books in them even though they are way too deep. The more bookcases in a home the better, Ali!
Bookcases make a room look nicer don’t they.
They look wonderful, love that blue wall. I wouldn’t paint or stain them they look great just as they are.
Thank you, yes I might leave them only the carpenter’s pencil markings are still all over them if you look closely.
These are lovely and it’s great to have so much more space! I have fiction upstairs and non-fiction downstairs in sections (travel, biography, sport, essays, quest and weird books, then oversize!). I have reference books in my office / on the landing outside, books about books on the top landing, some pretty books on the middle landing and now my Iris Murdoch first editions on that landing, too. One bookcase in the fiction room just for Persephones. Phew.
Your bookcases are organised really well, I need to organise some of mine much better than they are at the moment.
Wow, so great! & I love your decor. The blue chimney stack is stunning. I keep Persephones together and the British Library Crime Reprints, & then there are subject& theme groups all over the house. Nothing better than a house full of books…
I think a lot of people keep Persephone all together, I do think they look nice together.
They are wonderful, Ali. I organise by genre and then alphabetically by author within the genre. With the exception of poetry: I organise it by age, oldest to newest. No one knows who wrote Beowulf, after all. Enjoy your new space(s)!
Thank you. That’s a clever way to organise poetry.
Very nice! I also love looking at other people’s bookshelves. I also like how you organize them. Mine aren’t organized in any particular way, except that all the newer books are on the newer bookshelf. Maybe someday…
Ah, a good idea to a place for newer books.
One shelf of my special, vintage dog stories, Jaack London and Steinbeck. The larger book cases organised by author. The Penguins on their own shelves. Lovely cases. As a child I played with and moved dolls and toy horses around. As an adult I play with my books, moving them around on shelves. Though I have not yet resorted to dressing them in clothes. That may come in my very later yeaars.
Ha yes, playing with books, yes I think we all like doing that.
Ooo. Nice shelves Ali! I need to buy more shelves too. I have piles of the book in front of my bookcase.
Oh yes, I have a small pile on the floor upstairs – which really must be sorted out.
I have bookcase envy! I especially love the bookshelves surrounding the fireplace. Thank you for posting your photos. I have by TBR fiction (with some memoirs) together, and Have Read fiction (with a few memoirs) on separate shelves. Nonfiction is roughly organized by subject and could be sorted better. I love this topic!
Thank you. We book lovers like talking about how we organise our books, it seems as much as the books themselves.
Oh WHAT fun. Merry hours of book shuffling awaits you
Beautiful! Enjoy the arranging 🙂 I just go for alphabetical order though, actually by accident, many of the plays are separate!
Shockingly I don’t think I own any plays. I did used to have a few Shakespeare but they got recycled through bookcrossing.
I love your new bookcases – enjoy! Sadly I only have one bookcase in my bedroom and because of this I just have to fit books where I can, although I have made a valiant attempt to keeps books series and books by the same author together 😛
With one bookcase though you get to choose the most special books to keep.
True! I have no space for ‘okay’ books 😛
Lovely! What a good idea.
Thank you.
What lovely nooks! And I like them unstained as well. And, even some empties! Are they *still* empty? I recently had to part with about half my collection, and now find it hard to find things (you would think it would have been the other way around) because first I have to try to determine if I still have it. I’ve begun to replace some favourites but, overall, am intrigued by the idea that there is now nothing double-stacked or perched precariously atop other books, and the tops of the shelves now have plants on them, rather than more books. And I”m lucky to live in a city with a truly spectacular library system, capable of filing almost all the gaps I might spot.
They are still empty. I am considering keeping the shelves as they are.
Did you paint the shelves after all?
And are the shelves reversible so that they will not bow with the weight of books over time?
I haven’t painted them. The shelves aren’t removable.
I had to turn mine over in case they bowed under the weight.