"WORDS ARE, IN MY NOT-SO-HUMBLE OPINION, OUR MOST INEXHAUSTIBLE SOURCE OF MAGIC. CAPABLE OF BOTH INFLICTING INJURY, AND REMEDYING IT." ~ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Pretty, pretty

You know what I define as a perfect day?

The day I get new bookshelves and get to play for hours organizing them!!

Sooooo, they started out like this:
And ended up like this:
And, in case you were dying for more angles:
Unfortunately, I still have lots and lots of books that don't fit on those shelves (not just the pile you see by the side, either). So I'll have to get another bookshelf, or two. Darn it! <----sarcasm

Anyhoo, after trying out a bunch of different organizational methods, I just went with alphabetical by author. So allll my genres are mixed together. Fantasy*, contemp, sci-fi, romance, classic, thriller... YA, adult, MG. I love it! Authors that would never otherwise share shelf space are hugging in my shelves :) Except for the top shelves--those I saved for my super old books. You know, the ones that smell so freaking good? The ones from this post: The Smell of Old Books <---click it to see, I swear the pictures make it almost as good as a scratch and sniff blog post!

Also, my TBR is way smaller than I thought it was--but I've still got a long way to get to the bottom of it!
I need some help deciding what order to read everything in--but we'll save that for a later post :)

PS. School me, readers: should I be using the term bookshelf, or bookcase? Or does it even matter?

*Obvi, I'm a fantasy girl at heart... 

Thanks for stopping by! 
Sara

34 comments:

  1. Wow those are awesome! And I shelve mine alphabetically too. Probably because I'm a little OCD when it comes to those things! And then if I have multiple series by the authors the series go in order of having been read with the books in the correct order too. Which really isn't that OCD, I don't know what people are talking about! ;)

    I really like the slimmer narrow one. I think I could almost make room for that in my over crowded room!

    Where did you get those?

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  2. Very nice bookcases (or bookshelves). I too am an alphabetizer by author - basically. I do have a number of "special collections" that aren't alphabetized though. My recent arrivals and unread YA are still in sort of random piles.

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  3. Love those shelves! I need some new ones, too. Hubs likes them stacked sideways. I have to admit you can cram more books on the shelf that way, but it takes a little getting used to.

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  4. Yeah, I was looking at those stacked ones too. I'm another who alphabetizes by author, then by series in order. I guess the stacking would help some of my bigger, 2-shelf spanning series, even though it would throw off the visual aspect... :D Love those new shelves, though! I'm going to need to replace my big one pretty soon--it's been following me around for years, and the second to bottom shelf is swaying pretty bad.

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  5. How fun! I'm dying for built-in bookshelves! I'm quickly running out of space! And I LOVE old books! I collect them!

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  6. Beautiful bookshelves. The only thing better than books is a home to store them in. *grins* Good luck getting to your to-be-read pile. I swear mine grows every day.

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  7. I love getting new bookshelves (I say both: bookcases and shelves), and it *is* fun organizing them and playing with the books...too bad my system breaks down after a couple months.
    I like to stack my books in both directions on my shelves...for visual interest and to get more books on the shelves and keep series together.

    Yeah...where did you get that skinny bookcase? I could use your method in a corner I have just begging to be used to hold more books.

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  8. Filling empty bookshelves (I say both, too) is a marvelous feeling! Love it. And holy bunny rabbit, that's a big TBR pile. So much love in a pile. :)

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  9. Gorgeous! I'm presently waiting on delivery of bookcases (we recently moved). Nonfiction will be organized by subject. Fiction, though, will be alpha by author. That our living room is not a living room, but a library should hint at how many books we have.

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  10. I love your collection! What do you read the most?

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  11. I love organizing books! I need to get new bookshelves, and I'm sure I'll spend hours setting my books in the "right" order :) Yours are so beautiful now with all those great books in them!

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  12. New bookshelves!!! *swoons*
    And I have all my super-old books on my top shelf, too! :)
    Pretty, pretty, pretty!

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  13. I would have alphabetized them too but within the genres. LOL. How anal are we? Hehehe. So jealous of the bookshelves. Mine at the mo is rather lacking in size and space. Fits most of my paranormal novels, but I have heaps of roller boxes in the cupboard with my fantasy, thriller and mystery novels. So want some new bookshelves to display them. :(

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  14. I like bookcase but whatever.
    I am SO jealous of your shelves!! My books are all piled on one another over my desk, on the tiny collapsible hand-me-down bookcase.

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  15. I have bookcase envy. Or maybe bookshelf envy, I think I use the two interchangeably.

    I shelve by genre, but right now, my novels are all crammed wherever they'll fit, because they're in a case that's way too small for them.

    All my non-fiction/art history books (the expensive ones, lol) get pride of place on my large books shelf, and I have so many there's just no room for novels!

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  16. Ooo...this is what I'll be doing with my weekend. Though, in my case it's not new bookcases (I've used up every possible space in my house). It's packing up some of my old books from college and books I'm just not using right now (they'll be stored carefully in bags and packed into boxes in my garage) to make room for all the teetering piles of books all over my loft. My skin itches just thinking about the hives I'll get from the dust, but it'll be so pretty when it's done. :)

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  17. Oh, nice bookcases! I'm envious. Where did you get them?

    I shelve by size in the main part of my house, and by category in my office (YA, MG, writing books, reference books, mythology and folklore, autobiography, plays, poetry, etc.) I tried doing it alphabetically by author, but my husband and kids just couldn't stick with it (I know - HOW could anyone POSSIBLY have trouble with an alphabetical shelving system? HOW?!?)

    I think the whole unit is a bookcase, while one level is a bookshelf, but I could be making that up.

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  18. Great job on the book cases/shelves. I don't think the term matters. I'm pretty sure both are right.

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  19. I think bookshelves and book cases can be used interchangeably. :) New bookshelves are tons of fun. You're making me want to go reorganize mine! Good luck with your TBR pile :)

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  20. I'm so jealous! I have to share space with everyone else, so only end up with a couple of shelves. Which means that I have books in piles all over my house and end up giving them away way too soon. Except those precious ones I can't part with. You know?

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  21. Oooh, I'm drooling! I want, I want! :) My books are all piled in my room right now. Sigh... someday...

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  22. AHHHH. ZOMG. Sara, those are BEAUTIFUL. *hearts* Most of my books are staked against the wall. *shrugs* I'll get bookshelves some day.

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  23. Gorgeous new shelves! I'm jealous! I got a tiny new one awhile ago, but it isn't nearly enough. My place is just too small. I'll just drool over yours. :-)

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  24. Thought my TBR was large. Doesn't even compare to yours. Love the new bookcases. :)

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  25. Mmmm...bookcases. Love it. So pretty. We sold several bookcases before we moved to the UK, bought new ones there, sold those, and now have only a couple. Needless to say, we have mountains of books all piled up waiting for more bookcases. One of these days...

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  26. Nice, love them! I love dark wood. I bought 2 shelves to organize our office *sigh* someday. It's a mess. My TBR pile isn't quite as big (yours is very impressive).

    Enjoy your weekend ;o)

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  27. Nice! I love the look of books on shelves. So cozy, especially at this time of year. - G

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  28. Oooh. Preettty. *sighs* I love book shelves. I desperately need another one...or three.

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  29. They are pretty. I am lucky that I don't have to worry about my own bookshelves. I donate all my books to the library where I can go and get them again anytime that I want. I feel good about myself at the same time because my house can't hold all the books and I give some of the community the opportunity to read some of the books that they may not get to read otherwise because we are so small and so is the libraries budget. I just completed their set of Hunger Games and gave them Paranormalcy.

    Next month, when I'm done reading them, they will get Hush, Hush and Crescendo. I hate parting with them, but love how it makes me feel to share them.

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  30. Such a nerd XD That bookcase is soo nice <3

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  31. Oh I love your shelves! I need new bookshelves desperately too... MJ promised to make me some for the living room, and I plan to put another bookcase in our office (for writing and reference books) and a bunch in our rec room. But until then, there are books piled everywhere and in boxes - it's very sad!

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  32. I have a serious case of the jealousies right now! Those bookshelves turned out lovely! I have two months until we move into our new apartment so I have to wait... where are my books at now? A HUGE CONTAINER... they aren't even sitting out for the world to see their beauty... give it time, pictures will come. :)

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  33. Wow, those shelves filled up quickly!

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Yay! I love when you have things to add :)