How do you organize your bookshelves?
Are your shelves cluttered, with books piling up in front of others, leaving no room to even see the titles? Are yours neatly organized by author? By the color of the cover page? What about by title?
I don’t know about you, but the joy that having a crisp, clean, organized bookshelf is like no other!
There are so many ways to organize your collection, and each unique way says something special about the person reading those books. What we read about, and even how we place our books can show a lot about us as people and how we interact with the world, and this is why I have chose to share my shelves with you and my thoughts around organizing my own shelves. I hope these ideas can help you to better optimize your own shelves and gain some insights on your own process!
I chose to organize my bookshelves by the authors last name, and this method I found was the easiest way as this is how I think about my books and authors. When I speak about authors that I have read, I have found that I often speak about them using their last names, “I’m reading a Cussler book right now,” or, “Oh Goodkind has a new book out? I’ll have to go pick that up!” I found that in this respect, having my shelves organized in the same way I think about my authors has helped my process greatly. I am able to think of a last name and immediately know where the book I want is, it’s so easy!
This has been a nice change for myself and my bookshelves, as in the past I have organized my shelves by my favorite authors. This method was interesting, and was actually more of a hindrance. I would place my favorites at the top and then work my way down, placing my least favorites or books I have not read yet at the bottom. Visually, I loved it. I got to see my favorite books and authors all the time, because they were right in front of my face and consequently I never saw the others so I never read them. This organizational method was awful for me as I would not pick up any books at the bottom and I found it hard to find motivation to read as I only got to see my favorites that I have already read.
Having organized shelves is very important to me, I love being able to see all of my books and titles easily without any extra work on my part. This being said, I do I love going into stores where the books are cluttered and stacked up hap hazardously on the shelves and the floor, (Check out my post on this here). It brings a sense of comfort and that old book smell is the most calming smell in the world. For my bookshelves though? It’s a no go. That’s why I go to these stores to have this experience rather than it be my own shelves.
Thoughts? What do yours shelves look like and how do you organize them? Tell me your process!
Every Book and Cranny 
I always organized my books alphabetically, by author, so I could find them quickly. Unread books went on an eye level shelf so I would not forget about them and then I “filed” them after they were read. I loved my books!
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