The Last Conformist
Irresistibly Attractive
@Eli: Unless I can pay for it, I can only enter 200 books? 
Of books and bookshelves ...
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The Last Conformist said:
My books are arranged in authors usually and no sense after that, I know where they live. I ran out of space ages ago and now the front of the shelves are stacked with books, but it all makes some sort of wierd sense.
Actually I'd say the opposite of TLC read the first two first The Colour of Magic and The light Fantastic, Then maybe Mort and Sourcery and then maybe the later books, I'd go with chronological order, It will give you more insight into the widening aray of characters, rather than stumbling across characters for the first time and not really knowing their background from earlier works. But to be perfectly honest all the books stand alone fairly well.
My oldest book a bible from the early 20th century has pride of place near my bed and isn't on the book shelf, simply because I like looking up some of the quotes of scripture in this forum. Or occasionally trying to find something that peaked my interest when I looked at it way back when.
The Last Conformist
Irresistibly Attractive
It may or may not surprise my theistic fellow debaters to learn that I have a small collection of bibles.Babbler said:
My books are about half-half paperbacks and hardbacks - probably a few more of the later. They're mostly in good condition, being bought "fresh", but some, bought at 2nd-hand places, are rather worn. One softback, which I made the mistake of lending to a careless friend, is badly badgered.
Most I've bought myself (incl all the textbooks; one of the largest categories in the above scheme), many are gifts from friends and family, some I've gotten as freebies in various contexts. One German-Swedish dictionary was accidentally "acquired" from HS - don't tell anyone!
The Last Conformist said:@Eli: Unless I can pay for it, I can only enter 200 books?
Yeah. I also found it weird at first and was very surprised to discover how many people actually do pay. I guess that for people who bought hundreds or thousands of books 25$ for a lifetime account isnt much.
So far I have only 96 so it's not a problem, but I love the site so much that I intend to pay up when I reach the limit.
(Upon rereading the post I felt that it has an advertisey feeling to it. Sorry about that)
The Last Conformist
Irresistibly Attractive
Well, it places someone like me in something of a bind - I'll hardly pay for it unless I know I like it, and trying it out for free seems of limited interest if I can't enter my entire collection.Eli said:
The Last Conformist said:
I agree. In principle the one-year option covers this, but people are unlikely to pay any sum if they're not sure of the return. The only way around it is to hope for a server crash that causes you to lose a few books and receive a one-year subscription for free as a compensation.
That was my dumb luck to have such a thing happen, which didnt help me at all since my collection is too small.Or you can use a free cataloguing software with no size alimit and use the export feature to easily export 200 books to LT. This way, if you dont like it, you still have your entire collection catalogued, just without the social stuff.
Corlindale
Emperor
My books are not particularly organized. I have a bookshelft divided into 18 different "rooms", so there's plenty of potential for organization, I just don't get it done. I do try to keep series together, and maintain some kind of distance between fact and fiction, but mostly I arrange my newly purchased books after the classic "whereever there's room"-principle. I do have one shelf devoted to Pratchett, though.
Cheezy the Wiz
Socialist In A Hurry
I arrange my books by author, as this by itself usually categorizes them into fiction/nonfiction. Another way is by size of the book, but this is for aesthetic purposes, i put the large books in the corner, as my shelves usually run to a corner on the wall, and then the smaller books ( im referring to large and small as in the facade of the book not necesarrily how many pages they are) out on the end by the book holder thingy
Esox
In Search of Inspirado
I sort books by height. Mine is not the Library of Congress, so finding an author is never a chore. But if things don't match... 
ummmm........
Extremely normal.
I sort books mostly by order of use. Books I've used in the last year go along one wall, and books I've not used in the past year go along another. If books stay on the second wall for too long, they are given away. I used to be a real pack rat about books, and I still have a few from ten or twenty years ago, but mostly I don't think it's useful to keep a book I don't use. A few books are kept in other places, like computer books near the computer and reference books are all kept together. Books I haven't read once yet are also separated, but that stack is usually kept fairly small.
To answer the theme of the OP, I'd say organize them by relative greatness, since that's how I organize my movies, and I seem to value my movies like you value your books . . .
To answer the theme of the OP, I'd say organize them by relative greatness, since that's how I organize my movies, and I seem to value my movies like you value your books . . .
Take a wild guess.Eli said:Always a pleasure.
What's your username?
I've only entered the ones in front of my computer since I'm busy prepping for math exam tomorrow so you'll only see around ten books at the moment.
ps. username is zuffox, in case you hadn't figured it out.
MrCynical
Deity
I'd agree with TLC that The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic are not a good place to start. Neither of them are up to the standards of the later books, and you don't really need any knowledge of them to read the later ones.
I'd start with Guards! Guards!, which is where I started, as it's a nice intro to the city watch characters, and needs no prior knowledge, even though I think it's the 8th(?) in the series. Wryd Sisters would also be a decent starting point, or maybe Mort. I'd certainly read at least these before you go for the Colour of Magic or Light Fantastic. None of these have characters which you need to know from earlier books (OK, there's one major character in Wyrd Sisters that appears in the earlier book Equal Rites, but I wouldn't recommend reading that until you've read plenty of others).
The Last Conformist
Irresistibly Attractive
Oddly enough, the first Discworld book I read was The Light Fantastic, followed by The Colour of Magic and Wyrd Sisters. That's definitely the wrong order to read LF and COM in ...
It's interesting that there seems to be a consensus that Guards! Guards is the place to start.
It's interesting that there seems to be a consensus that Guards! Guards is the place to start.
Corlindale
Emperor
I'll agree with the Guards! Guards! suggestion as well. I've been reading Discworld in a completely weird order, and while that is certainly possible I cannot recommend it. From that book you might eventually proceed with the other books about the Watch; Men At Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant and Night Watch. All of these are quite good, except TFE which I found a bit boring. Jingo is the best of them, IMO.
Interesting Times is also very good, but it might be best to have read some of the other books about Rincewind before that one, though I'd only read The Colour of Magic when I first read IT, and still enjoyed it a lot.
Interesting Times is also very good, but it might be best to have read some of the other books about Rincewind before that one, though I'd only read The Colour of Magic when I first read IT, and still enjoyed it a lot.
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