HALLIE EPHRON: This picture (it ran in my local paper) caught my eye... Someone’s idea of home decorating with books?
As a decorating idea, I give it two thumbs down. But, to be fair, this is a house which is rented – the people who flipped the books didn’t acquire them. Books are so personal, So I suppose this is a way to live with someone else’s collection of books.
Still, It reminds me of a restaurant meal I had somewhere in Ohio – scallops (4 of them) served with a mound of naked spaghetti. And it needed salt. And pepper.
I do think how you display (or don’t) your books is a bit of a Rorschach. So today’s question: How do you shelve (or not) your books, and what does it say about you?
- On shelves or in stacks on the floor?
- Spine out or spine in?
- Sorted by category? In my house there are shelves of books about New York City, and shelves about birds, and shelves of illustrated chidren’s books, and shelves about cartoons and illustration, and of course shelves of crime fiction and other shelves of how-to-write books.
- Randomly organized or alphabetized? How anal are you? My fiction is all shelved by author. And I have several bookcases devoted only to crime fiction. I save the books I've loved.
- Any under glass? I keep the ones have resale value under glass. Especially illustrated children's books or signed firsts.
- Stacks in the garage waiting to go to Goodwill or your library's resale shop?
What does the way you keep your books say about you?
Definitely not stacked on the floor or in the garage; my bookshelves may look haphazard, but books are loved here. So, shelved, spines out . . . not necessarily sorted by category and definitely not alphabetized [although I do try to keep books by the same author together], so mostly random . . . .
ReplyDeleteHow timely ! I’m currently reading The Plot and the pendulum with a character who has a giant book collection ( two thousand books!!!). I shelve books by authors. I shelve books in the categories of current reads, to be read soon And books to be written about on Instagram, which I’ve been meaning to do soon!
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