Of books and bookshelves ...

[Elrohir]

By type.

History is one section, Sci-Fi another, Political/Educational yet another, and so on. Within each section I arrange the books together, in order, if they belong in a series (Star Wars books, for example, would all go together regardless of author) but if they aren't in a series, then I just put them wherever. (If I have multiple books by one author, I arrange them by author)

This system works pretty well, although since I store some books on my big bookcase, and some in the shelves in my closet I have multiple sections for each genre. But I can remember generally where everything is; I only have a couple hundred books. You can never have too many.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Heinlein has his own shelf, and a few others cover quite a space too

Somewhy, I'm unsurprised you're a Heinlein fan.

The author taking the most place in mine is Pratchett, at almost an entire shelf.

 

[Rambuchan]

Yeah. It's that old book smell and I just cant stand it. The problem is that my new books smell that way too, even though they're in a great condition. I think the few old books I have infected all the rest with their smell.

I used to keep them on open shelves but then decided that the high moisture is the cause of the smell problems, so I tucked them into shelves closed by glass. Now they stink even harder because there is no ventilation.

Hilarious choices of words here. Very funny. It seems like a cool, dark, well ventilated place is where to keep books in hot climates.

But it may be too late now, they could all be 'fully infected' by now and 'smelling too hard' to save.

 

[jonatas]

Also, do you have any special bibliophile treasures you're proud of?

I have a signed Jose Saramago book. I met him in person.

I also have a Complete Works edition of T.S. Eliot, which although not valuable monetarily, is of great value to me. I like the typesetting, in fact I can't read his poems in any other book. It just feels wrong. Plus I have had it since I was young and read it to the point of exhaustion. Haven't touched it in years, but it occupies a special place in my heart. Unfortunately I left it on another continent.

 

[IglooDame]

Somewhy, I'm unsurprised you're a Heinlein fan.

The author taking the most place in mine is Pratchett, at almost an entire shelf.

On the other hand, I neither own nor have read a single Ayn Rand book.

Can you recommend to me a Terry Pratchett lead-off book, by the way?

 

[Eli]

Hilarious choices of words here. Very funny. It seems like a cool, dark, well ventilated place is where to keep books in hot climates.

But it may be too late now, they could all be 'fully infected' by now and 'smelling too hard' to save.

Not "too hard to save", but pretty annoying if you dont like the smell. Hmm, maybe I should spray them with something?

Also, do you have any special bibliophile treasures you're proud of?

The only thing worth mentioning is a ~135 years old bible that belonged to my great-great-grandfather.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Can you recommend to me a Terry Pratchett lead-off book, by the way?

The books come in some sort of chronological order, so it perhaps makes the most sense to read them in order of publication. However, the first two books - The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic - are widely considered among the weakest in the series, and most of the books read very well as stand-alone works, so you might want to plunge straight into the middle of it all.

Guards! Guards! might be good place to start - a jolly good read, and the first appearance of many recuring characters.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

My books are sorted by "size" in the sense of "where they will fit", as I have more books than shelf space. Most can be lumped under religion, history, science, or fiction (mostly Tolkien or Tony Hillerman). The most unique book I have (although it has not yet been shipped) is a signed and sketched copy (one of about 300) of Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management, the first book by webcomic Howard Tayler. Which I don't think anyone here has heard of.

 

[Godwynn]

I just sort them together to whatever looks nice. I put books of similiar heighths together.

I'm obessessive compulsive like that.

 

[Che Guava]

I have a signed Jose Saramago book. I met him in person.

Good gravy! Just to warn you now, if I find out where you live, I'm coming for it!!

THat must have been quite an experience. WHat book did you get him to sign?

 

[jonatas]

Good gravy! Just to warn you now, if I find out where you live, I'm coming for it!!

THat must have been quite an experience. WHat book did you get him to sign?

I don't live too far from you atm

The book was one of his most recent ones "O Homem Duplicado". He was on a book tour and I saw him in a monastary in a small town in southern Portugal. He was a nice guy, very intellectual. He was something to see in person.

 

[Narz]

I just throw 'em together.

Usually by size.

And I keep my chess books together.

I have almost two dozen. Though I haven't actually looked thru one in ages and it shows.

I rarely read the books I have (since I've already read them all at least once, most likely two or three times). Mostly I keep them to share with others. Mostly I read books from the library.

 

[Xenocrates]

i have a few nice books including Humboldt's Travels through America, which was one of Darwin's favourites.

I just put them on the shelves where they seem to fit. I can't think of a better way!

 

[mrtn]

I have my fiction in alphabetical order, except the ones that are too tall for a normal shelf.

The authors I have most of are Terry Pratchett and Harry Turtledove.

@Igloodude: Start with Guards! Guards! if you want to start reading about "cops", start with Wyrd Sisters if you're more into witches and Shakespeare. I'd guess the first one is more up your alley.

 

[Till]

I tend to keep my uni books together. Everything else distributed all over the house i live in and my family's house on the other end of the country...

 

[jameson]

My bookshelf shows some traces of having once been organized along the fiction/ non- fiction split lines, with both having been sorted alphabetically without regard for language.

I might put them back properly when I move house again .

 

[sanabas]

My bookshelf is fairly disorganised. It has the first two boxes of books that I unpacked last time I moved house, in no particular order. Some series and/or authors (Heinlein, Gaiman & Neal Stephenson I can see from here) are together, some of the books I reread a lot are at the front, but that's about it. The other 10 or so boxes of books are even less ordered, and occasionally get dug through because I'm searching for something. One day I'll move somewhere with more bookshelf space than I have books to put in them, and actually organise all of them. But since getting more shelf space requires spending money that could also be used in a second-hand bookshop, it's not happening any time soon.

 

[The Last Conformist]

12ish boxes of books? That sounds like alot ...

 

[Eli]

Btw, does anyone here uses LibraryThing to catalogue his books?

If you dont, you should beware. It's hellishly addicting.

 

[Babbler]

I don't have a bookcase, expect two small shelves on my bed. I have sort of sorted it (ha); with the books ranging, from left to right, novels and other fiction , history, science, philosophy and ending with the Bible. The top shelf has unsorted book lying on their sides.

The rest of the books are on my dresser, in stacks of three, also semi-sorted by subject and size. My bother has a book shelf, it kind of bare and unused. He also has a bedside shelf, which store some other books, like his unread copy of The Lord of the Rings, the barbarian.

My father has his books on several case throughout the, most holding the math books, with so books of general interest scatter about (eg, a copy of the Illad).

My books are generally cheap paperbacks, or second hand, or both (There is a good question: what is the condition of your book collection, and how did you acquire it?). The is a copy of the World Book encyclopedia from 1980 (second hand), with yearbooks for much of the 80's, some textbooks in mostly good condition (expect the physics paperbacks) and a book (on Alexander the Great) from 1900.