Actually, I'd put Drew's book next to Ken Kesey.

...is your book not complementary?

Subby, you have some brown substance on your nose...

Prefers to organize "autobiographically":

slayer199: Actually, I'd put Drew's book next to Ken Kesey.

I'd put it next to this book and watch the sparks fly:

I put books by Hitler and Churchill next to each other.

Drew's not that picky, subster.

Mine are kind of in order by types of book - classics, nonfiction, sci fi/fantasy, etc, but not alphabetically. All books by any one author go together on a shelf, in order if they are a series and otherwise by height. Some strange form of OCD makes me want all the books either level on the shelf or slanting in one direction or another, not all uneven and jaggedy.

How do I file "Touched: the Jerry Sandusky story"?

Alphabetized by author. DVDs alphabetized by title. Music by genre and then year (I like listening through the eras).

/Keeps my mild OCD in check

Before I had too many books relative to shelves I did:

Fiction sorted first by hardcover vs. paperback to match shelf height. Author second. Publication date third. Later sorted into "books I already read" (in the other room) and "books I intend to read" (in my bedroom).

Nonfiction by subject matter trying to keep more closely related books together (like the Hitler+Churchill pair).

Holocaust Agnostic: How do I file "Touched: the Jerry Sandusky story"?

Between Vladimir Nabokov and Lewis Carroll.

Priapetic: Prefers to organize "autobiographically":

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Counterpoint:



As for books, mine are split into fiction (alpha by author) and non-fiction (also alpha by author except bios, which are mixed in alpha by subject). they have to be organized after a lifetime of buying books, otherwise I'd never find anything.

/friends gave me a Kobo for my birthday a couple months ago. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

All of my different bookshelves have a different organizing method.

My Sci-Fi bookshelf is in order (left to right) from author last name and first date published; with the exception of series being kept together even if the author veered and wrote something in between, that stray book will then be put after the series.

My Research bookshelf (and largest book shelf) is in order per each shelf.
Religious Studies on the first and second shelf, starting (left to right) with religious texts: Bible, Apocrypha, The Qur'an, Torah, Ketuvim, Bhagavad Gita, Dhammapada, etc. Followed by various Comparative Religious Studies, from text books to authors such as Campbell, Jung...
Third and forth shelf is Philosophy, organized by period. Earliest to latest.
Fifth shelf is Anthropology, starting with Physical and moving to Cultural and finally Social.
Sixth is Archaeology, organized by location an era, location and era, location and era, etc.
Seventh and eighth are notes.

There're 3 more bookshelves, but you get the idea. (Literary; My writings; then a free for all for cook books, gardening, and such) Each bookshelf also has a placeholder card for people who borrow anything.

Meh, I love my books.

An article for women by women.

When the gf and I first moved in together, I put all of my Bukowski next to her Simon de Beauvoir. It took her a while to notice, but it was awesome when she did.

I do mine by genre, author and publisher in that order. All the straight fantasy in one spot, organized by author, then the publishing company. All the sci-fi in one spot. All the Baen books get a shelf to themselves. Then Horror, novels, philosophy and conspiracy, classics, miscellaneous.

I recently reorganized my library too.

I prefer to organize my books by stacking them in a big pile in the middle of the room. I organize my laundry the same way.

We organize ours by color. Oh you want that cookbook with the banana bread recipe? That's over in "Blue"

PsyLord: I'd put it next to this book and watch the sparks fly:

LMAO. You'd probably start a fire on your bookshelf.

Sadly, these are the only books I own.





Where do they go?

Excellent choice submitter!

I just sent the link off to my fellow librarians

-Kees

I churn books constantly. That way, they eventually get dusted.

I have to agree with the American socialite who said "I hate dirt so much that when the house gets dirty I have to go live in a hotel."

I can also second the practical notion, from Quintin Crisp, the famous Queen, that "after four years the dust doesn't get any thicker".

We got into a little bit of a tiff when we did our bookshelves.

We have three separate areas: nonfiction, fiction and children/ya fiction.

Fiction is alpha by author then chronological.

NF is LOC order. I drew the line at labelling the books with the LOC number on the spine, and he desperately wanted to use his lablemaker.

Sorted by subject or genre then by author then by publication date. The only exception is if the books are a series, then the series is grouped together but its place on the shelf is based on the publication date of the first book in the series.

I've been to a Fark party. I don't think Drew is particularly discriminating when it comes to people he would drink with.

ltdanman44: Sadly, these are the only books I own.


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Where do they go?

On the awesome shelf, obviously.

A local geek tavern opened up (Storm Crow Tavern) and I almost made a mess in my pants when I saw a full collection of CYA books there for patrons to read.

Why does everyone sort by author? I just group them by author/series and beyond that I put them wherever I have space. If I were to start sorting my books I'd do it by series (in the correct reading order) and all "single" books by title. I'm more likely to remember the title than who wrote it.

ltdanman44: Sadly, these are the only books I own.


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Where do they go?

Is "The Cave of Time" the one where you have to cook for the giant and can make pancakes or noodles?

Um, keeping your bookshelves organized? Is that the Jim Gaffigan level of white people problems?

Size matters!

How the heck do you maximize shelf space without paying attention to size??!!!! Anyone who puts mass market paperbacks next to big hardcovers is nuts! They're different heights

Now, this gets confusing if you have both paperbacks and hardcovers by the same author, but you must stick to the methodology so as to maximize shelf space and not cause the books on your bookshelves to look all jagged by having short paperbacks next to taller hard covers.

And what about over-sized books, like reference books or some art books? They need space all their own because they tend to be big and tall.

And series -- like those from mass market authors (Dan Silva rocks) -- those should be in chron order because there is an intended order by the author and a sequence to the storylines.

/Just put away books on new shelves
//Too many damned choices
///So many books
////Used to love my Kindle, now I'm a bit mixed

I think a lot of people think they'd like to drink with Hunter S. Thompson. I think the reality is that they wouldn't. Like, at all.

I have Drew's book on one of several 'real' book shelves. I try to organize collections according to my own logic. This typically involves keeping Science, anything Religious, or anything Political from spontaneous combustion though proximation. Same system I employ in order to keep my brain from a'sploding during Presidential elections.

With kids, 6 yr old daughter and 4 yr old son. It dosen't mater what order I put books in, they will pull them, down to read or pretend to anyway

That was the funniest article by a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist about bookshelf organizing that I've read all day. It was also the worst. It was also the only.

Of those three, though, being the worst is what stands out. I like to be grandiose and wordy, but geesh!

i wouldn't have any books, so i'd just let her put her Twilight series and 50 shades books wherever the hell *she* wants

I sure hope this book-voodoo gets Drew the Pulitzer.

Co-worker of my SO got parents a 'House Clean' gift certificate.

The older helper cleaned their library, and lined up all their books by height!

/mixed in all their grandkid's books, too...

Paparbacks first, by height. Hardcovers next, by height. Series by the same author stay together, otherwise there is no particular order.

General books are in the bookshelves in the living room. Cookbooks are in the two bookcases in the dining room. Self help and my favorite "I can't get to sleep so I need something mindless" books are in the bookcase in the bedroom.

Books don't get shelved until I have read them so the unread books are in stacks on top of the living room bookshelves or on top of the bookcase in the bedroom (which is also my nightstand)

ZAZ: I put books by Hitler and Churchill next to each other.

Not sure whether to click Smart or Funny

Alphabetical by Author. Within one Author, organized by subject/series with a collection of essays or stories coming at the start. Fiction and non-fiction separate, of course.

First off, i divide by fiction and non fiction.

Fiction is alpha by author and chronological order, but no splitting up series

Non-fiction is by topic, then alpha by author (i have no series)

There is a great satirical article by an Irish journalist about professional maulers who handle rich people's libraries so it looks like they read their books. Has anyone read this? I can not remember the author but it is hilarious.

I May Be Crazy But...: Alphabetical by Author. Within one Author, organized by subject/series with a collection of essays or stories coming at the start. Fiction and non-fiction separate, of course.

Oh, and books for school, and now work, are kept in a different spot.

Don't need to have some boring academic tome getting between the fun stuff about Viking raids, Texas Naturalists, etc.

No order or organization. I am a bad librarian.

I file them chronologically by date that I finished colouring them.

Books? Are they those papery computers we used to have in school?

Drew's books next to self-indulgent, suicidal alcoholics? OIC what you did there!

Organizes by paperback or hardcover, then by author, and publication date. Also use the color coded dots that people use as price tags at year sales on the upper most spot on the spine of the pulpy paperbacks to indicate genre, not because most of them will be re-read any time soon, but so that I can easily find something to recommend to a visiting friend or family member. There are a LOT more orange (sciencey sci-fi) and green (fantasy sci-fi) dots up there than anything else, although hot pink (slasher/thriller ficition) is catching up lately. Also, I leave the dots off of hard cover "real" literature. If you need a dot to tell that a Sherlock Holmes is a mystery or that a Twain novel is American satire/humor, you can not borrow from my special collection anyway!

Priapetic: Prefers to organize "autobiographically":

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4th post? ***Glares silently, but with obvious anger, hunger, would take some gum if you're offering***