I was in the mood for some spring cleaning yesterday! I cracked out my favorite iPod playlist and got going. It's been at least a year since I organized these shelves, and I was just stacking books wherever. They were also all over the floor and my hope chest and my TV stand... ^^;;;
Now they're all nice and organized again. A lot of books got banished to my cubby of doom (which has no order whatsoever and is in the spare room) because I have no place for more bookcases right now...as desperately as I need them!
If, like me, you have too many books, even though it doesn't look as nice, if you stack them sidewise, you can get more on a shelf!!
And if your bookshelves are deep enough, make two rows on a shelf. Sure, you can't see the row in the back, but MORE STORAGE SPACE!!!
Here's how the reorganization came out:
Bookcase #1:
This is my "contemporary" bookcase. It's on a corner between my window in front of a cubby that has junk like empty display cases stored. My dad made this for me when I was a little girl!
On my top row, I have all my "fancy" books with silver and gold. It's cut off from the picture, but my Narnia boxset is on the far left. Most of the books are gorgeous Barnes and Noble Leatherbound Classics with gold edging. I love them so much!!! My Frog Prince takes care of them for me ♥
Then, my favorite author Jodi Picoult gets a shelf to herself, followed by another favorite, Jacquelyn Mitchard, who shares a shelf with Diane Chamberlain and Lisa Genova. The next two shelves are a hodgepodge of books grouped by author. The first of the two is most adult novels, while the second is mostly YA.
(And a couple of propped notebooks from my current writing project are trying to make a cameo here!)
Bookcase #2:
Okay, now we turn the corner (the cubby gives my room a weird extra side) and get TWO bookcases!
Here's the first one, and...well, this used to hold shoes/belts/etc. in my closet. But that stuff can just be thrown in or looped from hangers, right? My books need it more!!!
The top shelf has a jewelry spinner and is often littered with random stuff like hand lotion, nail polish, files, chapstick, rings, etc.
This bookcase is mostly for my "special" books. There are also books in a second row behind the first row that you can't see. The first row is full of classics and various massmarkets.
Rows two and three are books that meant everything to me growing up, some of my all-time favorites. For the longest time, Madeleine L'Engle was my favorite author, and her books fill up a row! The following row is predominantly Philip Pullman and some other beloved books (THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND is literally held together with tape!)
(Again, those silly notebooks from my current writing project are trying to make another cameo!)
Bookcase #3 / Part I:
This is my Billy Bookcase from IKEA, which I bought about three years ago after I'd been blogging a while and my book accumulation was out of control! The Billy is huge and reaches to my ceiling.
(You can see the side of Bookcase #1 and the slant of the side wall, plus part of my jewelry spinner that sits atop Bookcase #2 here to put the size of this monster into perspective!)
Need more perspective?
Since the Billy is screwed into the wall, I can stack it with heavy hardcovers!!! This is basically my "fantasy" bookcase.
These are all double-stacked...but I am going to be lazy and not take a picture of the back rows. Too much work!
The topper is full of my mermaid novels. I'll have to fuss with it a little this summer when new books come out!
The first real shelf is filled with mythological novels. There's a little room right now for extra stuff since I banished mermaid stuff to its own row. There's also a spot waiting for BLOOD OF OLYMPUS in October. The Percy Jackson books are going to fit one row perfectly. I would have been sad to see them split up!
Below that, I have a row of mostly hardcover fairy tale novels. Some of my favorites are in the front so I can grab them easily! It breaks my heart to hide beloved authors like Robin McKinley and new favorites like Merrie Haskell, but I can't help it!
Next, we have two rows of fantasy novels (you'll see the second in the next picture!). This row has some of my most favorite novels. The first row is reserved for Rae Carson/Leigh Bardugo/Kristin Cashore. You can see that I have a few jackets on the top perched oddly; I've loaned these books out to people, so they're just chilling right now!
Bookcase #3 / Part II:
Here, we have another row of fantasy novels! I stocked up on the Maria Snyder books I didn't have last month at a signing, and all my books take up their own little row now!
The next shelf is full of my dystopian novels. I left a little room for the copy of THE OFFERING that's currently hiding from me, Kat Zhang's upcoming conclusion, and the next Lauren DeStefano book. After that, I'll have to reorganize again! I actually banished a lot of books from this shelf to the cubbies!
The bottom row is dominated by Tamora Pierce (the author who fueled my love of high fantasy), Terry Goodkind (A year or two ago, I got most of his books used--in hardcover!--for $2 each!), and Patricia McKillip (I'm still reading most of this...I bought a huge lot used on ebay after Sarah J. Maas recommended her a few years ago!). There are some awesome authors hiding in the back, too, such as Sherwood Smith, Megan Whalen Turner, and Neil Gaiman!
You can kind of see the edge of a row of books on the floor to the right of the bookcase between it and my jewelry armoire. It's for my Broadway books, stuff by the legendary Stephen Sondheim, as well as actors such as Bernadette Peters, Anthony Rapp, Patti LuPone, etc. I didn't feel like moving my little table stool and the books sitting atop it (all read and awaiting reviews).
Bookcase #4:
Let's turn the corner one more time! This bookcase is around the corner between my jewelry armoire and my vanity. My dad made this for me when I was little. It can't take a lot of weight, so it's filled mostly with paperbacks. When I add hardcovers, I have to make sure to keep it balanced, or else everything tumbles!
This is my "fairy tale" book case. I have favorites Gail Carson Levine and Shannon Hale on the top shelf. Jane Yolen and Juliet Marillier take up most of the second shelf. There's a row of the Simon Pulse Once Upon a Time books hiding behind the massmarkets here!
The third shelf is dedicated to Mercedes Lackey, with some Jim Hines wedged in (someone borrowed the first book...I need to get it back!). The fourth book is mostly tradepaper and hardcover since it weights the bookcase down. I have Carolyn Turgeon, Jessica Day George, Melanie Dickerson, Sophie Masson, Lili St. Crow, and Christoper Healy here!
The bottom row has my hardcover monsters of the annotated Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, then a bunch of tale collections and fairy tale anthologies!
To the right of this bookcase wedged between it and my vanity, we have all of my children's picture books/art books/"guide" books/etc. on fairy tales and mermaids!
You can also see a clump of books on the left of a little pile of books that I've read but haven't reviewed yet trying to sneak in a cameo!
Do you organize your bookcases a special way? Do you group them by author/theme/genre/etc? By color? By format? I'd love to see photos if you have them!
As you can see, I did a lot of work making things presentable again! Time for a break...and some food!!
Now they're all nice and organized again. A lot of books got banished to my cubby of doom (which has no order whatsoever and is in the spare room) because I have no place for more bookcases right now...as desperately as I need them!
If, like me, you have too many books, even though it doesn't look as nice, if you stack them sidewise, you can get more on a shelf!!
And if your bookshelves are deep enough, make two rows on a shelf. Sure, you can't see the row in the back, but MORE STORAGE SPACE!!!
Here's how the reorganization came out:
Bookcase #1:
This is my "contemporary" bookcase. It's on a corner between my window in front of a cubby that has junk like empty display cases stored. My dad made this for me when I was a little girl!
On my top row, I have all my "fancy" books with silver and gold. It's cut off from the picture, but my Narnia boxset is on the far left. Most of the books are gorgeous Barnes and Noble Leatherbound Classics with gold edging. I love them so much!!! My Frog Prince takes care of them for me ♥
Then, my favorite author Jodi Picoult gets a shelf to herself, followed by another favorite, Jacquelyn Mitchard, who shares a shelf with Diane Chamberlain and Lisa Genova. The next two shelves are a hodgepodge of books grouped by author. The first of the two is most adult novels, while the second is mostly YA.
(And a couple of propped notebooks from my current writing project are trying to make a cameo here!)
Bookcase #2:
Okay, now we turn the corner (the cubby gives my room a weird extra side) and get TWO bookcases!
Here's the first one, and...well, this used to hold shoes/belts/etc. in my closet. But that stuff can just be thrown in or looped from hangers, right? My books need it more!!!
The top shelf has a jewelry spinner and is often littered with random stuff like hand lotion, nail polish, files, chapstick, rings, etc.
This bookcase is mostly for my "special" books. There are also books in a second row behind the first row that you can't see. The first row is full of classics and various massmarkets.
Rows two and three are books that meant everything to me growing up, some of my all-time favorites. For the longest time, Madeleine L'Engle was my favorite author, and her books fill up a row! The following row is predominantly Philip Pullman and some other beloved books (THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND is literally held together with tape!)
(Again, those silly notebooks from my current writing project are trying to make another cameo!)
Bookcase #3 / Part I:
This is my Billy Bookcase from IKEA, which I bought about three years ago after I'd been blogging a while and my book accumulation was out of control! The Billy is huge and reaches to my ceiling.
(You can see the side of Bookcase #1 and the slant of the side wall, plus part of my jewelry spinner that sits atop Bookcase #2 here to put the size of this monster into perspective!)
Need more perspective?
I totally need a stool to reach the highest shelves!!!!
Thankfully I found a cute one, right???
Since the Billy is screwed into the wall, I can stack it with heavy hardcovers!!! This is basically my "fantasy" bookcase.
These are all double-stacked...but I am going to be lazy and not take a picture of the back rows. Too much work!
The topper is full of my mermaid novels. I'll have to fuss with it a little this summer when new books come out!
The first real shelf is filled with mythological novels. There's a little room right now for extra stuff since I banished mermaid stuff to its own row. There's also a spot waiting for BLOOD OF OLYMPUS in October. The Percy Jackson books are going to fit one row perfectly. I would have been sad to see them split up!
Below that, I have a row of mostly hardcover fairy tale novels. Some of my favorites are in the front so I can grab them easily! It breaks my heart to hide beloved authors like Robin McKinley and new favorites like Merrie Haskell, but I can't help it!
Next, we have two rows of fantasy novels (you'll see the second in the next picture!). This row has some of my most favorite novels. The first row is reserved for Rae Carson/Leigh Bardugo/Kristin Cashore. You can see that I have a few jackets on the top perched oddly; I've loaned these books out to people, so they're just chilling right now!
Bookcase #3 / Part II:
Here, we have another row of fantasy novels! I stocked up on the Maria Snyder books I didn't have last month at a signing, and all my books take up their own little row now!
The next shelf is full of my dystopian novels. I left a little room for the copy of THE OFFERING that's currently hiding from me, Kat Zhang's upcoming conclusion, and the next Lauren DeStefano book. After that, I'll have to reorganize again! I actually banished a lot of books from this shelf to the cubbies!
The bottom row is dominated by Tamora Pierce (the author who fueled my love of high fantasy), Terry Goodkind (A year or two ago, I got most of his books used--in hardcover!--for $2 each!), and Patricia McKillip (I'm still reading most of this...I bought a huge lot used on ebay after Sarah J. Maas recommended her a few years ago!). There are some awesome authors hiding in the back, too, such as Sherwood Smith, Megan Whalen Turner, and Neil Gaiman!
You can kind of see the edge of a row of books on the floor to the right of the bookcase between it and my jewelry armoire. It's for my Broadway books, stuff by the legendary Stephen Sondheim, as well as actors such as Bernadette Peters, Anthony Rapp, Patti LuPone, etc. I didn't feel like moving my little table stool and the books sitting atop it (all read and awaiting reviews).
Bookcase #4:
Let's turn the corner one more time! This bookcase is around the corner between my jewelry armoire and my vanity. My dad made this for me when I was little. It can't take a lot of weight, so it's filled mostly with paperbacks. When I add hardcovers, I have to make sure to keep it balanced, or else everything tumbles!
This is my "fairy tale" book case. I have favorites Gail Carson Levine and Shannon Hale on the top shelf. Jane Yolen and Juliet Marillier take up most of the second shelf. There's a row of the Simon Pulse Once Upon a Time books hiding behind the massmarkets here!
The third shelf is dedicated to Mercedes Lackey, with some Jim Hines wedged in (someone borrowed the first book...I need to get it back!). The fourth book is mostly tradepaper and hardcover since it weights the bookcase down. I have Carolyn Turgeon, Jessica Day George, Melanie Dickerson, Sophie Masson, Lili St. Crow, and Christoper Healy here!
The bottom row has my hardcover monsters of the annotated Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, then a bunch of tale collections and fairy tale anthologies!
To the right of this bookcase wedged between it and my vanity, we have all of my children's picture books/art books/"guide" books/etc. on fairy tales and mermaids!
You can also see a clump of books on the left of a little pile of books that I've read but haven't reviewed yet trying to sneak in a cameo!
Do you organize your bookcases a special way? Do you group them by author/theme/genre/etc? By color? By format? I'd love to see photos if you have them!
As you can see, I did a lot of work making things presentable again! Time for a break...and some food!!
WHOA. You are making my collection look reasonable. I currently have 1 large bookcase ($10 at a garage sale), 1 small bookshelf (used to hold my yearbooks, but ain't nobody got room for that), a "bookcase" cobbled together by a shoebox lid and laptop boxes andddddd a "bookcase" that is literally the bag I received when I purchased my last haul.
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