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After my mini-rant against color-coding bookshelves last week, you guys had the best responses.

The first thing I’d like to say, is that you’ve convinced me it’s normal for people to feel very particular about their bookshelves.

A little tip for you: Don’t ever “help” a booklover by organizing/rearranging/moving their book collection while they’re sick, travling, or in the hospital.

It will not be appreciated.

The second thing is that there are a LOT of ways to organize bookshelves.

The vast majority of you organize by some combination of genre and author, which is what I do as well.

But then there are some other trends:

 

HEIGHT:

This one surprised me.

  • “I organize my books by authors, then size.” – Kitty
  • “I  admit to organizing my closet by color but I’d never do my books like that…I do however organize them by height” -Cheryl
  • A large number of you separate paperback and hardback books onto their own shelves

At least it surprised me until I realized how much I hate when that one poor skinny paperback is sandwiched between two heavy-enough-to-stop-a-charging-rhino tomes and lost forever.

 

WIDTH:

  • “I have sorted my books by height before . . . and they’re currently sorted by page count.” -Denae

Hmm. I’m not sure I’m sold on this one, Denae. It’s got my brain all in a tizzy of where I’d put what.

 

FAVS:

  • “I put the series together and then based on my favorites and interests.” -Alena

I love this idea. I think my favorite books should all be friends. I think Elizabeth Bennet and Lucy Pevensie would adore each other.

 

UNREAD:

  • “The bottom rows…are for unread books” – Kerstin

This is a really good idea. Actually, I should keep a shelf for library books. Then they wouldn’t get buried under my daughter’s books on the side table and I might remember to read them before they’re due…

 

DESPERATION:

  • Books are organized by Author, then Series and finally by “Where can I squeeze this one in?” -Grumpylo

The struggle is real. (And Grumpylo earns an extra point for the best name.)

Thanks for all the cool pictures of your bookshelves and letting me into the madness of your minds where book organization lives!

 

Did I miss any good organization methods?