How do you organize your books?

[Adriana]

I am the type of person that has her things perfectly organized in a day and the next day it feels like all hell broke loose! When it comes to books, the ones I'm reading are somewhere between my bed, my nightstand, my desk, my bag or on top of some random furniture and the ones I'm not reading are harmoniously organized in alphabetical order by the author's last name (in an already full bookshelf).

Here on Goodreads I have shelves by century, shelves by the author's nationality, shelves for the language I've read the book on (English or Portuguese) and a few random ones.

So, how do you organize your bookshelf, if you organize it at all? Do you organize your books by title, author, genre or any other way? What about those who have ereaders? And how about your goodreads shelves?

[Britteny - , Mod Assistant]

We have two bookcases in our apartment. I try to keep genres together but I pretty much know where every book I own is. whatever book I'm reading currently is usually in my bag or on my bedside table, depending on the time of day or how the day has gone.

[Adriana]

I can't seem to organize books by genre, there's always those books that I have no idea what genre best fits them!

[misplacedselchie]

I have my hardback collector's editions where my son can't reach and the rest is a free-for-all. No matter how many times I try to at least keep certain books together he decides to "fix" it.

On Goodreads I have maybe half of my stuff loosely organized lol

[Luisa]

I have no specific order, i keep the book series all together and try to organize in at the way the shelf looks pretty.

In goodreads i organize mostly by year i read and the genre.

[Guy]

Great question. I've tried all sorts of schemes and nothing has seemed satisfactory. First of all I own almost no actual books. (And me a librarian.) I have moved so many times in recent years that I decided that lugging heavy boxes of books along was just not practical. So I donated them all. Now my "organizing" is virtual I guess you would say. My local library website allows me to make lists of books that I wish to read. I draw these titles from the library's monthly report of new titles added to the collection. That way I'm only dealing with books the library actually has available. My lists are: fiction, nonfiction and e-books. (I just got a Kindle reader and prefer the format if possible because I can adjust the font size.) Then I have sub lists of titles arranged by areas of interest. My Goodreads account simply lists books as read, currently reading and want to read. Simple but mostly effective.

[Britteny - , Mod Assistant]

I have yet to fully understand Goodreads so I have no clue how to use it outside of this group and putting in books I'm reading it wasn't too read or have...which would take forever if I went back thru my bookcase and inserted all those I've already read. lol

[Corynne]

I don't have separate shelves on Goodreads besides what I have already read and what I want to read. This makes trips to the bookstore much more organized. At home, I organize my bookshelf by page length and season in which the book appears to be set. I can't read a summertime book in the bleak winter.

[Michelle, Mod Assistant]

I'm like Luisa. There is really no organization to my shelves other than arranging them so they flow with whatever else is on the shelf. Books are pretty. They're like art to me, I like to display them with my knickknacks.

Since buying a Kindle (i.e. joining the dark side), I buy more e-books than anything. If I really enjoy a book, I will purchase it in traditional form to have, and to hold, and to cherish from that day forward. ;) On my Kindle, there is no organization. I use the search tool to find what I'm looking for. Once I've read it, I take it off the device and it just sits in the cloud should I want to download it to read again.

My GoodReads shelves are pretty boring. I have the currently reading, to read, and read shelves like everyone else, of course. The only other shelves I've added are one for this challenge, a shelf for books I never finished reading, and a shelf for favorites.

[Esper Dee]

In my bookcase I arrange them by author's last name, alphabetical order.

[Jessica]

Elizabeth! That is gorgeous!!! I'm a wee bit jealous.

I have a small collection of physical books, nothing to gawk at. They aren't organized in any sort of way. I also read books on my ipad (through my library's app (Blio), ibooks, and Kindle) though none of those are organized either. Sigh.

[Britteny - , Mod Assistant]

I wish Kindle had a way to organize books!!!

[Cait]

I've got two bookcases and a cupboard in my living room. The cupboard is for finished books or books I want to start in the future. One bookcase is children's books organised by series (Harry Potter, Edge Chronicles, Hunger Games, etc) in the order I want to read them in.

The main bookcase is sorted into Terry Pratchett, non-fiction, general fiction in alphabetical order by author, my husband's shelf (mainly detective stories), Tolkien, big hardback books and books I've acquired recently and have nowhere else to put them.

I got several boxes of books in a cupboard upstaira but nowhere to put them out. I would love to arrange my books by colour!

[Adriana]

Guy - On my first year of college (my first year away from home) I thought it was a good idea to move ALL my books. I was terribly sorry in the summer when I was packing. Now most of my books stay on my parent's house and I only bring to college the ones I'll be reading in the near future.

Elizabeth - It looks so cool!! Suddenly I feel a need to organize all my books by colour too!

[Luisa]

I feel your pain Adrianna. The same happened to me.

This days i keep the books i already read in my old room shelf in my parents house. And everything i have to read in my apartment. My parents house is bigger than my apartment, so its easier to keep my old stuff there.

Elizabeth - your bookshelf is so inspiring. I'll try organize mine by color too. :D

[Sara]

Britteny wrote: "I have yet to fully understand Goodreads so I have no clue how to use it outside of this group and putting in books I'm reading it wasn't too read or have...which would take forever if I went back ..."

I'm the same way Britteny! I just stuck to the defaults of "to-read", "read", and "want to read" haha. Besides having a book at my coffee table or one by my bed, I have my kindle that I carry around with me and I'm not sure where it is at the moment and my old trusty Nook that is on my desk. My bookshelf is organized by my interests; HP, LOTR, & Twilight at the top, followed by my obsession of Tudor/Monarchy fiction & non fiction, Ancient Egypt, Native American and Ancient Greece, then it's romance and John Saul, then its whatever else didn't fall in to those categories. Plus I read some of my Nook books online and I listen to audio books. AND I have a box full of my old Sweet Valley High books because I just can't donate them yet. *sigh* The struggle is real folks

[Sara]

Elizabeth that is such a beautiful and clever way to organize your books!

[Jessica]

Cait, that sounds so organized! Lovely!

[Cait]

Jessica, it sounds organised, but I'm not sure it looks it. My 'children's' bookcase looks okay, but the other bookcase has all sort of books squeezed on top of other ones that it doesn't look nearly as neat as it sounds.

Because I don't have much storage space I have to rotate books round between the ones on display, the ones hidden in the cupboard and the ones in boxes upstairs. I'm due another rotation soon so I'll be able tidy things up a bit.

[.•*¨`*•✿ ✿•*¨`*•. Christine .•*¨`*•✿ ✿•*¨`*•]

I have a large collection of ebooks on my computer. I have everything in separate folders by author (First Name Last Name). When I move them to my reader, I sometimes put them by author, but usually by genre or series.

Once I started on the ebooks, we got rid of most of our paper books.

[Ashleigh]

I'm so fussy! I have the majority of my books as paperbacks. They're sorted by author surname and then alphabetically by book (or if a series, they're plopped together). But I am so fussy with which editions I buy. I'm such a book snob. I can't stand having an ugly book on my shelf!

But I have my Penguin English Library/Penguin Threads/Puffin Chalk/Penguin Clothbound/Vintage Red-spine editions all over two shelves. I like my classic-classics to be together. My Penguin Modern Classics are dotted around the place in the rest of my bookshelves but I think that the Penguin English Library/Penguin Clothbound editions just need to be put together because they just look so perfect when as a collection! They're not nearly as attractive to look at when they're on their lonesome.

Then I just have my shelf of smaller hardbacks which is woefully neglected and has a total of 7 books on. Then my larger hardbacks which has 8 on (along with my DVD overspill!)

& let's just not talk about my non-fiction/uni shelf at the bottom. Foot tall textbooks that have over 1000 pages are NOT cool! It's backbreaking just getting them from one side of my room to the other!

[Cait]

Ashleigh, I'm a bit of a book snob too. I hate reading books with the film covers in case people think I'm only reading it because of the film, hehe.

I love the clothbound covers. I have Jabberwocky and keep lusting after the other editions they have.

[Ashleigh]

My collection currently consists of:



I keep them in alphabetical order by author (as per.) but I feel that it doesn't do them justice. I shouldn't have so many feelings for books!

It has to be said though, I really do love the Penguin English Library editions for durability and they do look more 'complete' with only a few books. The Clothbound books have a tendency to get a little worn on the printing etc. but also I feel that when you have 3 or 4 you need more to make the collection look something!

[Rebeccah]

I used to organise my books in alphabetical order by author's surname, and then within that the books would be organised in date of publication. But I found that so boring, so now I organise them in rainbow colour order of their spines. It makes everything look so much more pretty!

[Cait]

Ashleigh, if I had all those on my bookcase I'd have no room for any other books because I'd be too tempted to display them cover facing out!

Elizabeth, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I did enjoy Emma and was just reading it on the Kindle. I loved it so much I'm going to have to get myself a pretty edition for the next time I read it. A clothbound one would be perfect. ;-)

[Jennifer]

With my actual books they are arranged by author in alphabetical order. With my kindle app and goodreads, it's in whatever order I purchase/read them.

[Michelle, Mod Assistant]

Ashleigh wrote: "My collection currently consists of:

[bookcover:Alice's Adventures in Wo..."

Ashleigh, I love those books. I want them every time I go to B&N but I always talk myself out if it because I think I ought to buy books I can't get for free on my Kindle. But they're beautiful and I want them and yes, someday, I'll just go ahead and buy the lot!

[Debra]

I have not order I just place them in the book shelf and grab at random. My kindle is ordered by the date of purchase.

[Sarah]

I use to have my book shelves organized by author till I moved a couple of times and added way more books to my house then I have bookcases. lol Now its more like oh look there is a free spot on that shelf lets put you here now. Makes it harder to find a book when I want to read it. lol

[Anne]

Corynne wrote: "I don't have separate shelves on Goodreads besides what I have already read and what I want to read. This makes trips to the bookstore much more organized. At home, I organize my bookshelf by page ..."

Wow i never thought about that ! That is an awesome idea, reading a book that is set exactly in the same season as when you're reading it !

[Anne]

Elizabeth wrote: "Wow, what a cool system Corynne - page length and season! That seems so poetic somehow :)

I'm like you Michelle - my books are organised for aesthetic rather than practical purposes. At the moment..."

I tried to organize my books by color once but i had so much white covers it was depressing :p Your shelves are gorgeous like that !

[Anne]

My shelves are organized by theme : SF/Fantasy then normal books, older ones with brown covers and japanese comics. I put the books from a same author together but i don't organize by author's name at all. I put the ones I prefer in the front and hide the other ones behind.



I've got a little shelf for foreign language books (english and japanese) then artbooks with comic books and image albums for kids.

The books to read are along my bed and organized in the order i want to read them. This year I've got nearly all 52 books from the challenge organized by the week I'll be reading them.

I have some books on my ipod, especially the ones I can't find in my library or that don't exist in french.

The books i currently read are on my bedside table or on the table in my living room then in my bag. I take the bus to go to work so it helps to read a lot.

And I don't organize books on Goodreads apart from the classic read/currently reading/wants to read.

[Cait]

Mabomanji wrote: "My shelves are organized by theme : SF/Fantasy then normal books, older ones with brown covers and japanese comics. I put the books from a same author together but i don't organize by author's name..."

I love all those old books at the bottom. I love older books, they just look so beautiful compared to average modern paperbacks. I always wonder where they've been and whose bookcases they've sat on before mine.

[Anne]

Cait : I love older books too ! these are actually books my grandmother had and they all have my grandma's signature in them. I love libraries with old books it's like they are full of secrets.

[Cait]

Mabomanji, that's lovely that they belonged to your grandmother. I always used to buy the ones that had inscriptions in when I found them in charity shops, it made me sad that someone had bought them as a gift for someone else and they were sitting all unloved now. :-)

[Francesca]

Mine is just organised by author so all the same authors works are together! All the books I have where I only have one book from a certain author are then organised into genre! If I own a series of books or books that are all about the same topic or same kind of thing then they all go together!

The book/books I'm currently reading sit on my bedside table! I don't bother carrying books in my bag with me as I can't read while I'm on transport (it triggers my travel sickness) and I generally don't sit down and read while I'm out!

[Renee (Larimel)]

Britteny wrote: "I wish Kindle had a way to organize books!!!"

There is a way to organize books on your Kindle Britteny. Just add categories from the menu and then move your books from the main library to the categories you've created. That is how I organize the Ebooks on my Kindle. Each category is a different genre and of course there is a category for the ones I just can't place in a genre. Some genres have multiple categories like Medieval Romance and Modern Romance. I also have categories for each course that I am doing at university.

Unfortunately my bookshelves at home are not so organized. There are so many books in them that that would be impossible without giving up most of my books (which I cannot do just yet)☺

I've started adding all my books to Goodreads so I can have some kind of order but so far I've only gotten through my ebooks. Once I start going through my bookshelves I'll just end up reading.