The conundrum of book shelving

[herewiss13]

I've got 18 shelves devoted to fiction. I have nearly 27 shelves worth of fiction. This isn't _quite_ as bad as it seems because several of my shelves are spaced so I can double stack paperbacks, one atop the other, and I still actually have some room to spare.

My quandary comes from how to then _organize_ all these books. Currently I've got three book cases with random series lumped together and 1 bookcase basically dedicated to stand alones (and some but not all duologies) in alphabetical order.

If I were to put _all_ duologies on that shelf along with any non-series books, I wouldn't have enough room. If I were to take all duologies out and shelve them among the other trilogies and series, I'd leave too much space.

And I can't just shelve the whole thing alphabetically because I have _just_ enough hardcovers to completely throw off that double-stacking thing. One or two sticking through into the "shelf" above would be ok (I've actually got a couple of those already), but a line of 4-5 hardcovers in a row from some series jutting up in the above sequence would really disrupt the flow.

Coupling this with the quandry of omnibuses (they take less linear space, but can't be double-stacked) and I'm left with some serious organizational pondering...

Thoughts?

Comments

[french-horn.livejournal.com]

i think you should scrap the whole "shelves" idea and build a fort out of them!!!

[herewiss13.livejournal.com]

That does rather defeat the questions of accessibility and organization. Hard to read a book when it's your cornerstone.

Speaking of books, how goes Sandman?

[oilsdragon.livejournal.com]

You could try what I used to do, and sort them alphabetically (or whatever) but put the hardcovers on a separate shelf, so they don't mess up your tidy organization.

I have the same problem (though I've counted neither the books, nor the shelves) and that seems to work for me :)

ETA: Just counted. 13 shelves, not including the piles scattered around my room and the smaller bookshelf of classics in the corner :D

[herewiss13.livejournal.com]

It's an idea...except I have series that are spread throughout HC and PB versions. Segregation might still work, though...I'll have to give it some thought. Thanks!

[ase.livejournal.com]

I was going to recommend an HC/pb alphebetization scheme, but I see you've responded to that elsewhere. Alternatively - heresy - weeding a bit?

Though seriously, on the double-shelving thing. If your shelves are deep enough, or if you don't mind your books starting to resemble a jigsaw puzzle, you might still be able to get away with it.