And here are some pictures of the completed sort-out!
This is the bulk of the fiction – sadly I had to double stack, but at least there aren’t piles of books on top of each other, as there were before… it’s important all my books are in a logical order, because Our Vicar and Our Vicar’s Wife are frequently asked to find a book and post it to Oxford!
Thanks for all your tips about LibraryThing and other cataloguing websites – I’m a little tired after this sort out, but might transfer it over at some point… I do have a LibraryThing account, but was surprised at their miniscule limit for the free account. What do they think I am?!
And to answer a couple of questions from yesterday – yes, I did get rid of some books! They’ve gone to Honeypot, the church bookshop thing Our Vicar’s Wife runs. Mostly duplicates, it must be said, but I was more ruthless with one or two…. And Peter asks simply “Why?” Hmm. Partly because Our Vicar and Our Vicar’s Wife bought me the filing cards and told me I should do it, partly because I like having the records, and partly because it might stop me buying books I already have! Because my collection is split between two different places, sometimes it gets tricky to remember what I have…
I’m so impressed with your sort out, Simon. I recently had a huge and desperately needed cull of my own library as I’d run out of room. Now I’m finding that I’ve chucked out far too many precious books, and I’m having to source them, and buy them all over again. Including my H.E.Bates collection! What an idiot!
Lovely, Simon! There’s something about rows and rows of books on shelves that gives one a warm, fuzzy feeling! Of course as soon as I see photos like this I squint madly to see what titles are on offer. Sadly (happily?!) I share your problem of the double parking on shelves, but there are only so many available walls in the house!
It looks fab and makes me want to drop everything and have a book sort! Sadly, I am waiting until we install several more shelves as even double-stacking won’t help right now…
Wonderful!
To me, our kid, this has all the hallmarks of an extreme procrastination technique… Unecessary and extensive “tidying” and “sorting” are common activities for those hiding from revision, essay-writing, or perhaps a reading list…
xx
Your organization is impressive! We are spatially challenged as well, but it’s a work in progress. :)
Also, to me, Library Thing is nice as a social connection (who else has this random book?), but I can’t imagine using it for my primary cataloging needs.
That is a lot of books !! :-)
Your piles remind me of a funny story. I love an opportunity to tell it! (giggle)
My son was in The US Coast Guard, stationed in Port Angeles, Washington. He and his wife have a lovely book collection. I consider it my job here on the Earth to leave each of my progeny with a complete library, afterall. Digressing… anyway…another Coastie stopped by with a girlfriend. She looked up and down at the shelves of books, and said to my son, “Boy! You must REALLY know how to read!”
How are they sorted? By genre?
Some people want diamonds or designer shoes…I want all my books in one place, on specially built shelves. :-)
I do love your blog. And I am so impressed by your firm sort-out: I’m hopeless at culling my collections. Do you find that your books breed when your back is turned? You dispose of dozens of volumes yet, in the night, you hear ominous rustling and the next day there seem more books than there ever were.
PS: You have EXACTLY the same copy of Duff Cooper’s “Old Men Forget” as me!
What lovely bookshelves–so neat and orderly. I wish mine were half as organized! At the moment I don’t even have enough shelf space to hold all the books!!