We are readers. Books grace our shelves and fill our homes with beauty; they dwell in our minds and occupy our thoughts.

-Anne Bogel, I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life

One of my favourite books (and I have many) is entitled I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life, by Anne Bogel. One of the chapters in this short and exquisite work is appropriately called ‘How to Organize Your Bookshelves’.

As I read this chapter I couldn’t help but laugh out loud, for I have implemented many of the suggestions on my own bookshelves. Currently, my books are organised via categories, alphabetically by author, and then alphabetically by title. Not only this, some are standing up (as seen in libraries) while others are lying down in stacks to break up the monotony of the shelves (and sometimes the series lying down take up less space than they do standing up, so yay! more room for more books!).

In a previous post I talked about being a lover of the ‘little things’ in life, and one of the things I failed to mention was that I love seeing bookshelves full of books. I have found that, for the most part, I don’t care where the bookshelf is located or how the books are arranged. The very fact that they are there, waiting to be read, waiting to be held and their stories discovered, waiting to spark the imagination of someone young, old, or middle aged makes me happy.

(Still, as lovers of books we may as well have fun with the organising of the shelves, mayn’t we?)