Same, organized by genre and not alphabetical within that. Collection is still on the smaller side - I'll add alphabetical organization when it's larger.
I try to separate novels, comic books, and non-fiction (academic and instructional mainly).
After that novels are classified by series, and then I just tey to have everything fit in my two bookcases as best I can.
That only really works if you don't have many series/ you have them in the same colour. I imagine it would be hard to find a series, if book one is orange, book two is blue, and book three is pink.
The system relies on you either knowing the color of your book spines or having a key in like a spreadsheet. But it would be weird if every long series you own had books jumping around all the shelves.
Same here. I have like 7 shelves scattered throughout my house of varying sizes and I pretty much know where everything is so I guess it’s working fine so far 😅
Same! I have two in my bedroom, three in my living room, and 2 (soon to be 3) in my library/study that are just crammed full except for the very bottom shelves (I have cats, it’s easier on my own sanity if the bottom shelves are just empty cause otherwise they either scratch the top of my books or they jump behind them and push them off the shelf. They don’t do this with any shelf OTHER than the bottom, so the bottom is designated cat seating)
I installed inexpensive doors on the bottoms of my bookshelves to successfully mitigate dog access. Lost multiple volumes of multiple series to voracious raptor masquerading as baby dog before implementing.
I have zero method except similar sizing. I usually group author together and the top shelf are for my absolute favorites. Other than that I just have a to read bookcase and rotate stuff in and out. I like having to search each time I go for a new book. It’s kind of like browsing library for myself.
Feng shui'ing your bookcases is a personalized art.
Personally, I organize by non-fiction versus fiction, then by subject matter, then by author, then by hardcover versus softcover.
My wife thinks I'm crazy, but I keep pointing out to her there are much, much worse things I could be into than having an impressive and useful personal library that reflects my interests.
So many people say you could never find a book but I visually know each book by its cover and color. I’ve tried books by author and subject but I read some niche nonfiction whose authors I forget but I can remember the cover instantly. My only issue is I have too many black books and not enough colorful ones. I’m thinking I need more rainbow accessories on the shelves to pull this off more.
I do this for the bookshelf in my kid's room cause they can't read but will remember what color their favorite books are and can then easily find them. It also helps with them putting the books away
Saaaaame. I tried a rainbow shelf for a couple months but it stressed me out because I could never find a book I wanted. I don't remember what colour books are. But I really love how it looks.
This is just my brain but:
No organization = no decisions made, just vibin'. It's the least amount of work and because there's no official system, there's no rationalizing on where to put something. I don't like it but it's consistently messy (and I understand that)
Organized by color = actively deciding to organize based on the most varying aspect of a book. Covers constantly change - if you have multiple versions of a single book, are they spread about based on their colors? It's also stressful for series collections - do you split up books in a series or do you make personalized dust jackets/do some other fix that requires extra work?
Organizing by color also feels hollow, to me, and makes me think of celebrity home tours where they buy up a bunch of prop books that look nice for a photo just to have the nice visual of books on a shelf. Unless your memory works best with color identification (which definitely is true for some people), I just don't understand how you keep track of book locations. It comes across as a system for people who cares about the presentation of their home, not the books themselves (which is okay, just not for me!)
Well said! But you know what's worse? Those psychos who put all books spine-in so you can only see the pages as a decor choice blehhhh!!! Makes me feel unwell whenever I see that
Oh for sure! The only time I don't judge on that choice is if it's a practical one for seeing what books you have/haven't read in a certain time period. But that at least has an end date for flipping the books back to spine-out. Pages out all day every day as the official decor? Plz no
I think it's just because it's obvious to anyone who takes one look at the bookshelf, while there is no visual element that screams "no organization!". Even if you notice that authors are not grouped together, there might be some deeper meaning behind all of it that you just don't get.
And of course it has just become very popular to hate color coordinated shelves and it's a lazy way to signal that YOU are a REAL reader and would therefor NEVER do this ...
Do you want to upgrade your red flag to an even bigger red flag?
Some decor-y people organize their bookshelves so that the spines face inwards, meaning you just see the pages!
Do they though? Honestly, whenever this topic comes up I see the same picture of the same bookshelf and wonder how common this actually is. I have seen countless takes on the color coordinated shelf, but turned around books seem to be rare. At least in order to achieve a more basic beige look. It's more common with people who collect special editions with sprayed edges.
vibes only (real answer: extremely loosely by genre, then sorted by what looks nice next to each other and also what can fit on the shelf. usually authors go together)
not sure I can argue for it being the *best*, it's a hot mess tbh, but it's by far the best for me. I have 5 bookcases, none of which are the same size, and they're all over the place so there's no natural flow to them that makes it easy to sort my books in a way that makes sense to anyone else. I know roughly where everything is and if not I get the browsing experience in my own apartment, so. win-win 👀
However you want and will make you happy, because it will make you happy.
Most of my shelves are organized by broad topics, then by author, then by title within author, except for series, which gets organized in the series order. For graphic novels, I organize them by title.
I try to order by size because I hate it when there's one book that is not part of a collection or anything but happens to throw off the aesthetic of the books together as a whole. Obviously, books in a collection stay together.
All alphabetical by last name; but separated by fiction, non-fiction and then a random mishmash of poetry, coffee table books, textbooks, etc. that I can’t bear to part with.
By color. With half of them upside down, a random sprinkling of fake book boxes, some arranged flat behind existing books so you can't see them, and with swapped covers. If I can't find the book then I don't deserve to read it. 🤣
Fiction subdivided by genre and alphabetised by author in order of date of publication. Hardback and paperback mixed.
Non-fiction subdivided by subject and alphabetised by author. Hardback and paperback mixed.
Large formats following the same guidelines on bottom shelves.
I know where *every* book *should be*. I have several thousand. I only lend duplicates, I never lend out of print books, and I never ever lend my dance-related books, fiction or non-fiction.
No organisation really but I've mostly stopped buying books almost completely. I have many books but know where they all are. I have a seperate shelf where I keep the library books I borrow which is how I access books these days.
Ok, I can't resist. When I was a lot younger, I had a lot of books, and a roommate who was super organized. One day, she was looking at my books (which were in the communal living space) and asked if she could organize them by subject.
I told her no.
A few days later, she asked if she could organize them by alphabetically by title.
I told her no.
In the next few days, she asked me if she could organize them by size, by color, and by page length.
Each time, I told her no.
Then, one day, she came to me and said, "I see, you have them organized alphabetically by the author's last name.
"Yup," I said.
She never bothered me about them again. She just needed to know they were organized.
By favorites! I have kids, so when they were little, I always put my favorite books on the top shelf. That way, god forbid, they color in something or tear out a page, I’m not going to be too disappointed. Honestly, it’s stuck with me now that they are grown. Favorite author’s get their own shelves up high, good books in the middle, books I haven’t read near or on the bottom. It’s not fancy, but my way of paying tribute.
Initially by genre, then by author last name, and within individual authors, in publication order.
Makes the most sense to me, and relatively easy to find things.
I don't have a special way to organize my bookshelf, i prefer to change it based on my emotions but lately i organize all the books in order of height (but some books that i love in another shelf) and i like so much the result!
I separate fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels/comics, then organize by era for fiction (19th century books together, etc.) and subject for non-fiction, then by author. I don't have a ton of physical books, so this is organized enough I can usually find what I'm looking for pretty easily, and organized enough it doesn't annoy me.
Mine are separated by genre, then alphabetically. Where I have more than one title by an author, they are also arranged chronologically, in published order.
Soooo... I have my read and unread books separated.
For my read books, they're organized in the same manner as yours (I also read manga, and I've separated it from traditional books, but on the same shelf - so the shelf starts with manga. I own a series that's like 20+ books, and that goes after the manga but before the rest of my read books)
>organized alpha by author, and then for authors that i have multiple titles from i do alpha by title unless it’s a series, in which case I put those in release order.
Then I have two separate shelving units for my unread books. One is in rainbow order and the other is alpha by title. When I read a book from the rainbow shelf, I replace it with a book from the alpha by title shelf 😅
I do it just like you, OP. I like that I always know exactly where something will be, plus I like the variety of having all genres, colors, sizes, etc mixed in together.
Split into fiction and non-fiction. Fiction is alphabetically by author, then within an author, by release date. Non-fiction is further split by topic and history is divided by era, and then alphabetically by author.
Okay, this is exactly why my girlfriend and I have separate bookshelves now. I came home one day to find all of our books organized my color and height. While cool looking, good luck EVER finding the book I’m looking for. This included all books in a series being in different areas of the shelf as well, and it was not a small shelf. I ALWAYS do alphabetical by author’s last name, even if it isn’t as pleasing to the eye.
>Dick: It guess it looks as if you're reorganizing your records. What is this though? Chronological?
>Rob: No...
>Dick: Not alphabetical...
>Rob: Nope.
>Dick: What?
>Rob: Autobiographical.
>Dick: No way.
For example: I have three copies of *Dune*. But they're all in different sections of my apartment. The softcover one is the copy I got off a friend in high school, so it's sitting next to all my old textbooks and English Lit books in a 'when I was still a teenager and happy' section. There are a *lot* of Buffy the Vampire Slayer books in that section.
The other one is a copy I bought myself when I thought I'd lost the *first* copy, so that's in the small bookcase by the window with all the other books I bought because I thought I'd lost a book. There's actually a book in there I bought twice because an old roommate took it to some kind of Goodwill-type place, and then I went to the same one once she moved out and noticed it was the exact same book.
And the third *Dune* copy is the new hardcover, fancy-pants edition with the gold cover and the blue pages. The one that Chalamet was reading on the L that tipped everyone off to him being cast way back when. That one goes with the pretty and expensive books by the bed, so I'm reminded every day that I should be spending my money on more sensible things, like food.
I have sections for old books, for classics, for emergency books to put out if smart people are coming over. Sections for books with pretty covers, books that are thicc (*Shogun* alongside *Lord of the Rings* alongside *The Once and Future King* is like a fuckin' aircraft carrier, I swear to god). And then when I read things they just get shoved back where they look good. That's why *Blue Nights* is sitting in the middle of *Team of Rivals* and *The Truth*. Because they're blue.
top shelf- favorite author, mine and hubby's, separated by lendables (books so highly favored I bought spare copies to lend.)
eye level shelf - all time favorites loosely grouped by genre.
Shelf 3 - runner-up favorites, more current grouped by author and/or series
Shelf 4 - mass market paperbacks grouped by author in chronological order. 2 deep, 2 layers
shelf 5 - nonfiction/humor
shelf 6 - reference/ gifts
Separate bookcase top shelf - books to be read
I only keep books I intend to read again.
Favored children's books have already been moved to the kids room bookcase. which just recently got a major size upgrade
My fiction, which is mostly fantasy, is just grouped by author and series. My non fiction is grouped by topic, and within a topic I put the books in a rough 'reading order' where more difficult or complex texts are after introductory ones, so if I want to learn about a topic I'd start at the left and read right.
I have a tremendous amount of books I haven't read, not even counting all the stuff on kindle. I used to fiend used book stores and I just bought them at a pace my reading couldnt keep up with. One book store in my town sold books that were not in pristine condition for 1-2 dollars. When they had their going out of business sale there were books for 50 cents. The shelf I keep them on cost more than the books its filled with.
Depends on the collection. My craft books are in one room, org by type of craft, then by author. My fiction by author, barely. Due toshelving constraints, pbk and hb are separated, so less than ideal. NF is by dewey - this is force of habit…I’m a librarian. RPG books are by game, then type, then alpha or series order. This puts all my monster books and all my adventures together.
I keep books in a series together on their own little sections of shelf. This is my inner-most system. The next layer is that book cover colors are kept together. The outer system is that all my books are organized by based on how they make me feel. If I'm sad, and I want to feel happy, I can find things like Harry Potter, all my Bibles, Peter and the Starcatchers, etc.
If I'm grumpy about the world and I want to feel like someone gets it I can read Mad Addam, or Good Poems for Hard Times.
If I want to, shall we say, st(r)oke my imagination, I can read any number of historical romance novels.
You get it :)
Library books have a dedicated shelf so they don't get lost, and they are placed by due date.
Generally, I go by genre and then my author’s last name. This has given me some issues since I love weird fusion genres. I also read a lot of nonfiction, so I’m honestly just considering learning the dewey decimal system at this point.
Genre, preference, author, number of books, publication order. I can't alphabetize because they won't all fit and I'm running out of room for more shelves. I only keep the ones I re-read; the rest are relegated to boxes in the attic and garage to await Lawn Sale Season.
I organize in two batches, read books and unread books. Each batch is alphabetical by the author. If I have multiple books by an author, then those are arranged by publication order, oldest to newest. 🙂
I have mine ordered by how much I like them. If I receive a book I like, one has to go and it's obviously the last one on the bookshelf. It's a fairly static collection these days but George Martin and Laurel Hamilton have dropped off.
Split first into fiction/nonfiction. Nonfiction is grouped by subject. Fiction by age (kids books, everyone books, and grown up books) then genre, with my beautifully bound classics on their own shelf. Within those groupings, fiction is sorted alphabetically.
Except for the kids' books. If those are even on a shelf, it's a win. If anyone has a kid book system that doesn't require a full time librarian to keep order, please share your secrets!
One section of books that I’ll never give up and might read again they’re my faves. Cookbooks. Research/educational. My several shelf selection of TBR sooner than later. And the rest, and there are a lot of the rest, are just scattered haphazardly among many bookcases throughout the house. Probably more than I could ever read in a lifetime, but they just make me happy lol…
I'm not sure if this is the best way, but I used to own a console (we sold that off now) full of books, and it had four one foot-tall shelves. I used to take the day off, and, armed with cleaning supplies and dust mops, I rearranged my shelves.
I started off with books I didn't reread frequently, or the ones which I didn't particularly like (people usually give them away), and shoved them at the very back. I tried maintaining a height order-ish (?) because sooner or later I was going to run into a very big problem: Stacking the rest of the books and being able to shut the door safely.
The next thing I did was to try and keep the series together. This ensured that I didn't go through the agony of wading through twenty-five odd books to find the sequel of the book I was currently rereading.
This proved to be a most difficult task. After cleaning out the console and shelving my books accordingly, I took a long nap. Then I made a cup of coffee, and got to rereading my previous favourites💖
Mine and my boyfriends bookshelves are organised based on what books we like the most, so we have some folio editions right at the top, on full show. Then the first few rows of his shelves are Brandon Sanderson and The Wheel of Time while mine are stand alones and series I've loved. Then as you go down, it gets to older books from our teen years or ones we didn't enjoy as much as our favourites etc
Close to none. I have sections for textbooks related to my field, for cook books, one for my favourite novels, and the rest is randomly placed on my main bookshelf and in somewhat nicely arranged piles throughout my study and bedroom, as well as on additional shelves and my desk.
I do mine by genre and then author, then with a lot of inexplicable grouping within genre that makes sense only to me, like, I read these two books at a similar period in my life and they’re mentally linked for me.
Alphabetically by author's last name, then alphabetically by title with series kept together (in order).
I genuinely would never find what I'm looking for if I did it any other way. 😅
I did fiction and nonfiction. For fiction I did alpha by author and for non-fiction I did by date (because 95% of it is History.) This has since dissolved into chaos.
Mine are mostly grouped by subject in no particular order. Except for the huge collection of picture books. Those are in alphabetical order of the illustrator’s last name.
I go by author last name. Series are put together in order, and that's about as organized as it gets. I don't make it too complicated, I buy too many books, it's too much work lol
The best way is the way that works the best for you!
I do fiction by author and non-fiction by subject matter. With fiction, if I have multiple books by the same author, I sort them by series or by publication date for singles.
Mine started out organized, by author, then seriers in order. It looked great for a week or two.
Now it is a mess. Books shoved in all over, stacked any which way. No order at all. LOL So I salute you if you can keep it organized.
Do what works for you. I have sections (poetry, YA, classics, biography, books about books etc) and books by the same author together within those sections. However, I am constantly buying new books and having periodic clearances, so the books on top of the shelves won’t necessarily be where they’re meant to be until my next book sortcation. Also, I am very excited about having cleared 2/3 of a shelf for books to be read - it’s lovely being able to view them and choose that way, rather than shuffling 4 piles of books in two different rooms
Favourite authors in the middle band of the book shelf that’s easier to reach. Big books at the bottom. Books that aren’t really part of a series on the top shelf
Genre based, alphabetical by author within that, and then by height within that.
I heard about organizing by color, and since that does appeal to me I tried it, but hoo boy no, that was not okay!
I've always stuck to one of two methods:
1. Completely random. I am so familiar with my books that I can generally find the one I want just by quickly scanning the spines.
2. By genre, with me defining the genres.
For me, there is no "best" way. My preferred way is rather eclectic. I have three bookshelves in my house. The tall one in my bedroom is all fantasy and scifi. Hardcovers with hardcovers, trade paperbacks with trade paperbacks, mass markets stacked on their side. I go for how the shelf looks aesthetically rather than how easy it is to find something.
The tall shelf in my hallway is mostly literary fiction, memoir, non-fiction, thrillers and some classics.
The smaller shelf in my living room is mostly hardcovers and more prestigious titles. This is the only bookcase most visitors see.
There is no best way. Whatever arrangement meets your goals is best. Decorative, easy to find, boastful, etc. Just arrange them according to your priorities. You're not running a library.
Oh gosh. Genre, then age range, then author. Except my fantasy book case, which is more about my favorites being prominently displayed, then everything else by author. Oh, and then my tbr shelves... Am a touch of a chaos gremlin.
I have 1 double stacked fiction shelf and 2 double stacked non fiction shelves which are then organised by colour so rainbow 😊 makes me happy when I look at them
I do it the same as you, alpha by author with alpha by title except for series but with two changes. I have separate shelves for paperbacks vs hardbacks and I have a section dedicated to non fiction.
The best way is whatever way will allow to find what you're looking for in the least amount of time. Whatever that looks like for you. Alternatively, it could be what ever brings you the most joy to look at. Its entirely up to your preferences because its your shelf.
There is no BEST way.
Mine is chaos.. to everyone else. I have my own "filing" system and it completely makes sense to me. I have three areas in my house with book shelves. Bedroom contains books I'm a little embarrassed to display. Y'know, books like Twilight, that blue alien series, John Grisham. Books I read and maybe used to love but now I don't. But I'm not ready to give them up.
My hallway bookshelves has TBR books I want to read, but I'm not super desperate to read YET. They live on the hallway bookshelves. I'm a mood reader, so I'll see a book that looks iunteresting, buy it, but then don't feel like reading it yet. So they all go onto those ones. This book shelf is organized by mood/fantasy. So fantasy together. Romantasy after that. Smut after that. Murdery thriller books, then horror, and so on and so on. But also "books that make me happy" go together. And "books that make me cry" go together. and other moods are in there as well.
Then my main shelves in my reading area are my favorite books and books on my TBR that I'm excited to read. My pretty books (sprayed edges, special editions, first editions).
THEN, All those shelves are organized in order of preference. I group all the same authors together. And then I put my FAVORITES on middle, eye level shelves. and moving outwards with least favorite on the top and bottom shelves. Middle favorites next. Favorits in the middle.
My husband hates it. He'll go to look for a certain book and never find it. He'll tell me what books he's looking for and I can tell you exactly where that book is. I know it's annoying to him, but this works for me and I can't help it.
I group by genre/general category, then subdivided by author or other commonality. I have a shelf dedicated to Japanese and Korean authors (K to the left), another few for Victorian novels, one small one for the Russian ones, ones for modern lit, etc. My favorite authors take two shelves: one modern (Atwood, Kingsolver, Saramago) and one classic (Steinbeck, Vonnegut, etc.). One shelf for reference books relating to my career.
This makes it easier to find what I want.
Mostly alphabetical by author... I separate TV and film novelizations, childrens books, graphic novels, anthologies, non fiction, local history (for my Call of Cthulhu campaign) and "weird shit" (paranormal this, Atalantis that, Occcult whatchamacallit etc. - also mostly in service of my CofC)... With a couple of small shelves of items like gothic romance, Arthurian and unread horror paperbacks... which leads to the shelves of TBR. So, basically a gloss of order on a sea of chaos.
Personally: 2 bookcases. One for completed, one as a personal library. If you only have one bookcase, then seperate top and bottom with new and already finished.
Then I'll go by genre, author, and hardcover/paperback. I hate having that rollercoaster look of large and small books being next to each other
I finally in my early 30s did separate fiction and nonfiction to two different shelves
... other than that, it's entirely vibes based. I like to mix the spine designs and colors up to make them appear elegantly disheveled. I get a lot of compliments on presentation but I won't lie to you- issa bitch to find anything
Whatever is closest directly from where i am sitting on the couch.
I have a bookshelf right above me.
I turn around and chose the path of least resistance.
I change it up every so often, but it's always by subject matter for non-fiction. For fiction a have classics and notable works together, and the others are currently sorted by length (tallest to shortest).
my top bookshelves are reserved for my favorites, the next shelves are for ones i liked but not as much, next is books i bought but haven’t read yet, then my bottom shelves are a mix of books i did not like and massive books i have that seem too heavy to have on upper shelves lol.
its nice for me because the top shelves are close to eye level and i get to look at my favorite books all the time :)
Preferred method: by genre then author’s last name and in series order (if applicable).
There are some exceptions like a Middle Earth atlas is with the Tolkien books.
Current organization: I ran out of space and it’s all chaos. But I’m building larger shelves.
Authors are grouped together by mood and then usually books are organized by size, i have limited room!
So for example neil gaimen's books, then good omens, then Pratchett. And many are sideways because you can stack more that way.
Alphabetically by author's last name, but I don't put multiple books by the same author in any sequence, unless it's a series. Also mixed in I have books on the same subject together, e.g. all my books on Springsteen are under S, all my books about The X-Files are under X.
UK and American literature organized by date, France, Russia and Germany grouped together, but not in order. More modern books are just stuck where they fit
I almost exclusively read audiobooks borrowed from the library (shoutout to Libby) so I don’t have very many physical books, mostly those with sentimental value that I’ve had for a very long time.
I’ve never really thought about it before but looking at my bookshelf now they are organized roughly by size…larger hardbacks toward the left and then smaller paperbacks to the right. I think that looks more orderly than different heights mixed up. Definitely not in any other kind of order other than that.
First by type: fiction, non-fiction, reference books, comics, etc. Then sub-type: science fiction, fantasy, detective noir, american lit, world lit, etc. Then by author, then by book name with any series grouped together.
It depends on what you want and what works for you. How much you care about looks, vs findability, vs random inspiration will all impact your preferences.
I try and keep all of an author together where I can. I keep specific publishers all together. Vaguely genre grouped. It’s pretty random overall though.
I reorganized yesterday. I do alphabetical order by author, so I can keep all their books together. I separate them by fiction non fiction and I'm an editor, so I have a specific section for reference texts. CMoS, dictionary, etc. I like it to be simple and easy to find. Categories are too broad because a lot of books have genre overlap. After reading more replies I think I should rearrange for order of publication.
I tried genre based and alpha on author within each genre, but then I got too many of one genre and refused to put it on the shelf of another genre so i had to stack them horizontally on top. And then eventually I had to mix genres bc of shelf space and took books out that didn't fit back in and it all became a jumbled mess.
Alphabetical by author surname, if there are multiple books by the same author then sub organise alphabetical by title, if there is a series usually a series will have an overall name so a series is kept together in chronological order and organised within the same conditions as author surname then book series title 😂 yes I put a lot of thought into how I organise my own books and spent a long time arranging them when we moved house
Non fiction gets its own shelf and is organised by category
It's going to depend on you and what's easiest for you in this point in life, which will also be dictated by what's in your bookshelf. In my uni days I did alphabetical. These days I do category. A while I tried to keep alphabetical within category, but it got too annoying so I dropped that. These days I honestly check very little outsdie of the cookbook & fitness sections, because of the stuff I read on the regular I have in my e-reader which again has its own categories, but it's a different kind of bookshelf that one.
I do mine by non fiction/fiction and then last name alpha! I do have a shelf and a half for fantasy though to group my LOTR, GoT, HP, and Maas books together.
I have those floating shelves and like to organize them by genre and vibes. My favorite is one that's just vampire books with a Bram Stoker Funko Pop sitting on top with this coffin Squishmallow. :)
I’m a genre based organizer, with exceptions: I have a bookshelf for my favorite series (which I also display merch with) that span multiple genres, as well as a bookshelf of all indie books I own which also span multiple genres. Within genre, I just shelve series together based on what looks nice on the shelf🤷🏼
Same as you. Alphabetical by authors last, then first name. Then books alphabetically unless they are in series. Otherwise, it might be pretty but it takes time to find something.
I have separate shelf only for coffee table books and college text books. And those are arranged by size.
By type of book, then genre/subject matter for the most part:
Non-fiction is by subject because I don't read alot of it, but what I do read I have multiple books that have the same subject matter.
Fiction is by genre/subject. It just depends on how many books I have of each genre. For example, I have a lot of Fantasy so it had to be subdivided into: historical fantasy, superheroes, grim reaper/death, magical school, D&D vibes, etc. But I also have smaller shelves that I put longer series on one shelf or multiple books by the same author.
Comics are basically by hero.
And finally, manga is mostly by subject. For example: magical girls, vamps, gender, issekai, sports, cats, etc. With exceptions made for keeping together CLAMP, One Piece, MXTX, and my colored manhwa.
I go by reading priority. The books i finished are at the bottom, the books i don't plan on reading soon somewhere in the middle of the shelf and at the top: my current tbr, if they have good rating and so i wanna get to them faster, fav genre etc.
It really helps considering i changed my reading preferences after last summer as then i got to those well written stories and started gaining more experience which means i'm more pretentious too😅.
Having what i know i'd like best in a special place on the shelf makes it easier to pick my next read. I know where to look and it motivates me by just ignoring what i may never get to😅. Oh and, i always keep the series' together.
4 sections for me. Cookbook, game books, political books, everything else.
Cookbooks are in near kitchen. Game books and political books are in my office. The rest are in living room.
By spine color. Size and being part of series might have an effect. I used to organize alphabetically - first by author and then book name - but honestly as I don't have hundreds of books and I am the only one using them, arranging by color works the best and looks really nice.
Mine are just separated by read and not read. Books being added to the end of the read section once I’ve finished them, and the unread section being the order I plan on reading them (highest and leftmost being the next one)
Genre-> topic -> sub topic -> whatever
On my shelf this might look like
History-> Rome, Greece, pre Colombian America -> whatever
Science -> physics -> astrophysics or quantum physics -> whatever
Separated by fiction / non-fiction. Alphabetized by author, then by title, and if it's a series, I use the title of the first book (not the title of the series) then in release order.
I organise it first by serie. After, I'm trying to make the size and color balance overall. The middle shelf, the one at eyes level, have my favorite books.
All to sat that I sort it out by feeling.
Genre based for me
I do shelves by genre, but then pretty much exactly how the OP does theirs per genre.
Same, organized by genre and not alphabetical within that. Collection is still on the smaller side - I'll add alphabetical organization when it's larger.
Hard yes. I have quite a few books and it makes browsing for what I fancy that day very easy and pleasant.
I’m a chaos gremlin; the only organization my bookshelves have is I store series together. The rest is haphazardly shoved wherever it fits
Same here! All my series are together, & after that, "if it fits, it sits!"
I try to separate novels, comic books, and non-fiction (academic and instructional mainly). After that novels are classified by series, and then I just tey to have everything fit in my two bookcases as best I can.
Ehh not as crazy as the people out there organizing by colour.
Mine used to be colour coded but we had to expand and get another bookcase and switched to a genre based system. I miss the colour system every day
That only really works if you don't have many series/ you have them in the same colour. I imagine it would be hard to find a series, if book one is orange, book two is blue, and book three is pink.
The system relies on you either knowing the color of your book spines or having a key in like a spreadsheet. But it would be weird if every long series you own had books jumping around all the shelves.
Same here. I have like 7 shelves scattered throughout my house of varying sizes and I pretty much know where everything is so I guess it’s working fine so far 😅
Same! I have two in my bedroom, three in my living room, and 2 (soon to be 3) in my library/study that are just crammed full except for the very bottom shelves (I have cats, it’s easier on my own sanity if the bottom shelves are just empty cause otherwise they either scratch the top of my books or they jump behind them and push them off the shelf. They don’t do this with any shelf OTHER than the bottom, so the bottom is designated cat seating)
I installed inexpensive doors on the bottoms of my bookshelves to successfully mitigate dog access. Lost multiple volumes of multiple series to voracious raptor masquerading as baby dog before implementing.
This is the way
Haphazardly generally, but with many books by one author arranged chronologically, short story collections to the right.
By genre, then alphabetically by author then publication order
Publication order. I already do the other two. I have some small rearranging to do. :)
there is a caveat on the publication order. Series stay together even if other books had been published in the middle
Looking @ you, Mercedes lackey
I organise based on vibes :D Books that I like together, books that I liked less, together and a bit hidden away. Then by height.
This is how I do it! Drives my fiancee crazy
Grouped by genre, then author.
I have zero method except similar sizing. I usually group author together and the top shelf are for my absolute favorites. Other than that I just have a to read bookcase and rotate stuff in and out. I like having to search each time I go for a new book. It’s kind of like browsing library for myself.
This is an adorable way of looking at it, I’m obsessed 🥹
Feng shui'ing your bookcases is a personalized art. Personally, I organize by non-fiction versus fiction, then by subject matter, then by author, then by hardcover versus softcover. My wife thinks I'm crazy, but I keep pointing out to her there are much, much worse things I could be into than having an impressive and useful personal library that reflects my interests.
I organize by color because it looks cool and guests comment on it.
So many people say you could never find a book but I visually know each book by its cover and color. I’ve tried books by author and subject but I read some niche nonfiction whose authors I forget but I can remember the cover instantly. My only issue is I have too many black books and not enough colorful ones. I’m thinking I need more rainbow accessories on the shelves to pull this off more.
Haha this is why I don’t organize by color! I could definitely find it but at least half my books are grey or black😂
I do this for the bookshelf in my kid's room cause they can't read but will remember what color their favorite books are and can then easily find them. It also helps with them putting the books away
Yesss I used to have mine by author or genre but this time after we moved I switched it up and now I have a big rainbow bookshelf.
I tried that, but I could never find the books I wanted when I went to grab them. I love the look, hate the reality.
Saaaaame. I tried a rainbow shelf for a couple months but it stressed me out because I could never find a book I wanted. I don't remember what colour books are. But I really love how it looks.
My biggest red flag is people who organize books by color
I don't understand why this bothers some people more than having no organization at all.
This is just my brain but: No organization = no decisions made, just vibin'. It's the least amount of work and because there's no official system, there's no rationalizing on where to put something. I don't like it but it's consistently messy (and I understand that) Organized by color = actively deciding to organize based on the most varying aspect of a book. Covers constantly change - if you have multiple versions of a single book, are they spread about based on their colors? It's also stressful for series collections - do you split up books in a series or do you make personalized dust jackets/do some other fix that requires extra work? Organizing by color also feels hollow, to me, and makes me think of celebrity home tours where they buy up a bunch of prop books that look nice for a photo just to have the nice visual of books on a shelf. Unless your memory works best with color identification (which definitely is true for some people), I just don't understand how you keep track of book locations. It comes across as a system for people who cares about the presentation of their home, not the books themselves (which is okay, just not for me!)
Well said! But you know what's worse? Those psychos who put all books spine-in so you can only see the pages as a decor choice blehhhh!!! Makes me feel unwell whenever I see that
Oh for sure! The only time I don't judge on that choice is if it's a practical one for seeing what books you have/haven't read in a certain time period. But that at least has an end date for flipping the books back to spine-out. Pages out all day every day as the official decor? Plz no
I think it's just because it's obvious to anyone who takes one look at the bookshelf, while there is no visual element that screams "no organization!". Even if you notice that authors are not grouped together, there might be some deeper meaning behind all of it that you just don't get. And of course it has just become very popular to hate color coordinated shelves and it's a lazy way to signal that YOU are a REAL reader and would therefor NEVER do this ...
Do you want to upgrade your red flag to an even bigger red flag? Some decor-y people organize their bookshelves so that the spines face inwards, meaning you just see the pages!
Do they though? Honestly, whenever this topic comes up I see the same picture of the same bookshelf and wonder how common this actually is. I have seen countless takes on the color coordinated shelf, but turned around books seem to be rare. At least in order to achieve a more basic beige look. It's more common with people who collect special editions with sprayed edges.
Yeah its unhinged to me. If I see I bookshelf like that I automatically assume you don't read you just like the aesthetic
Why can’t people just like looking at a rainbow lol
Well then I guess you’re very comfortable with often assuming wrong
Believe me, people who don't read do not have enough books to do this.
My Husband HATES that I have them arranged by color but I weirdly can find them this way and I think it looks better. Definitely not for everyone
It works great as long as you're visual in terms of organization preference. I find it really practical.
I collect one particular author, and I organized his books by publication date. All my other books are by genre or subject matter.
vibes only (real answer: extremely loosely by genre, then sorted by what looks nice next to each other and also what can fit on the shelf. usually authors go together) not sure I can argue for it being the *best*, it's a hot mess tbh, but it's by far the best for me. I have 5 bookcases, none of which are the same size, and they're all over the place so there's no natural flow to them that makes it easy to sort my books in a way that makes sense to anyone else. I know roughly where everything is and if not I get the browsing experience in my own apartment, so. win-win 👀
However you want and will make you happy, because it will make you happy. Most of my shelves are organized by broad topics, then by author, then by title within author, except for series, which gets organized in the series order. For graphic novels, I organize them by title.
I try to order by size because I hate it when there's one book that is not part of a collection or anything but happens to throw off the aesthetic of the books together as a whole. Obviously, books in a collection stay together.
Author/series/release date.
Organized. If only I had few enough books to dream of a system of organization.
All alphabetical by last name; but separated by fiction, non-fiction and then a random mishmash of poetry, coffee table books, textbooks, etc. that I can’t bear to part with.
By color. With half of them upside down, a random sprinkling of fake book boxes, some arranged flat behind existing books so you can't see them, and with swapped covers. If I can't find the book then I don't deserve to read it. 🤣
“If I can’t find the book then I don’t deserve to read it” This is chaotic evil, you cannot convince me otherwise 😂
Fiction subdivided by genre and alphabetised by author in order of date of publication. Hardback and paperback mixed. Non-fiction subdivided by subject and alphabetised by author. Hardback and paperback mixed. Large formats following the same guidelines on bottom shelves. I know where *every* book *should be*. I have several thousand. I only lend duplicates, I never lend out of print books, and I never ever lend my dance-related books, fiction or non-fiction.
By genre and color
No organisation really but I've mostly stopped buying books almost completely. I have many books but know where they all are. I have a seperate shelf where I keep the library books I borrow which is how I access books these days.
Ok, I can't resist. When I was a lot younger, I had a lot of books, and a roommate who was super organized. One day, she was looking at my books (which were in the communal living space) and asked if she could organize them by subject. I told her no. A few days later, she asked if she could organize them by alphabetically by title. I told her no. In the next few days, she asked me if she could organize them by size, by color, and by page length. Each time, I told her no. Then, one day, she came to me and said, "I see, you have them organized alphabetically by the author's last name. "Yup," I said. She never bothered me about them again. She just needed to know they were organized.
By colour because it pisses people off
I can't get into the spine colour no matter how nice it looks. I have mine set up by genre and then organized there by the author
By “genre” and wherever they physically fit best to pack the maximum possible number of books on the shelf.
I organize by topic in a way that makes sense to me. Folklore bleeds into Mythology, Mythology into Religion, etc.
By favorites! I have kids, so when they were little, I always put my favorite books on the top shelf. That way, god forbid, they color in something or tear out a page, I’m not going to be too disappointed. Honestly, it’s stuck with me now that they are grown. Favorite author’s get their own shelves up high, good books in the middle, books I haven’t read near or on the bottom. It’s not fancy, but my way of paying tribute.
Initially by genre, then by author last name, and within individual authors, in publication order. Makes the most sense to me, and relatively easy to find things.
My wife is an interior designer so my bookshelf is arranged by color. Yes it drives me nuts.
I don't have a special way to organize my bookshelf, i prefer to change it based on my emotions but lately i organize all the books in order of height (but some books that i love in another shelf) and i like so much the result!
For classics I organize them by the publishing date and for all my other books I organize them by country or genre.
I separate fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels/comics, then organize by era for fiction (19th century books together, etc.) and subject for non-fiction, then by author. I don't have a ton of physical books, so this is organized enough I can usually find what I'm looking for pretty easily, and organized enough it doesn't annoy me.
Mine are separated by genre, then alphabetically. Where I have more than one title by an author, they are also arranged chronologically, in published order.
Soooo... I have my read and unread books separated. For my read books, they're organized in the same manner as yours (I also read manga, and I've separated it from traditional books, but on the same shelf - so the shelf starts with manga. I own a series that's like 20+ books, and that goes after the manga but before the rest of my read books) >organized alpha by author, and then for authors that i have multiple titles from i do alpha by title unless it’s a series, in which case I put those in release order. Then I have two separate shelving units for my unread books. One is in rainbow order and the other is alpha by title. When I read a book from the rainbow shelf, I replace it with a book from the alpha by title shelf 😅
I have a relatively small collection by choice and I organize by size as best as I can. Comics and novels are mostly separated.
I do it just like you, OP. I like that I always know exactly where something will be, plus I like the variety of having all genres, colors, sizes, etc mixed in together.
I organize by size and genre
Alphabetical order by writer. It’s just easier to find books that way.
I use a rough Dewey Decimal system, because it leads to discussions of the logic behind the system, where applicable.
Split into fiction and non-fiction. Fiction is alphabetically by author, then within an author, by release date. Non-fiction is further split by topic and history is divided by era, and then alphabetically by author.
Alphabetically, to be able to easily find what you’re looking for. Only reference & text books separate, grouped by subject.
By author, in date order but it’s so annoying when books are different sizes.
Thank you! There really should be a regulated standard size for books, so they can stop messing up the flow of my bookshelf! 😂
Okay, this is exactly why my girlfriend and I have separate bookshelves now. I came home one day to find all of our books organized my color and height. While cool looking, good luck EVER finding the book I’m looking for. This included all books in a series being in different areas of the shelf as well, and it was not a small shelf. I ALWAYS do alphabetical by author’s last name, even if it isn’t as pleasing to the eye.
>Dick: It guess it looks as if you're reorganizing your records. What is this though? Chronological? >Rob: No... >Dick: Not alphabetical... >Rob: Nope. >Dick: What? >Rob: Autobiographical. >Dick: No way. For example: I have three copies of *Dune*. But they're all in different sections of my apartment. The softcover one is the copy I got off a friend in high school, so it's sitting next to all my old textbooks and English Lit books in a 'when I was still a teenager and happy' section. There are a *lot* of Buffy the Vampire Slayer books in that section. The other one is a copy I bought myself when I thought I'd lost the *first* copy, so that's in the small bookcase by the window with all the other books I bought because I thought I'd lost a book. There's actually a book in there I bought twice because an old roommate took it to some kind of Goodwill-type place, and then I went to the same one once she moved out and noticed it was the exact same book. And the third *Dune* copy is the new hardcover, fancy-pants edition with the gold cover and the blue pages. The one that Chalamet was reading on the L that tipped everyone off to him being cast way back when. That one goes with the pretty and expensive books by the bed, so I'm reminded every day that I should be spending my money on more sensible things, like food. I have sections for old books, for classics, for emergency books to put out if smart people are coming over. Sections for books with pretty covers, books that are thicc (*Shogun* alongside *Lord of the Rings* alongside *The Once and Future King* is like a fuckin' aircraft carrier, I swear to god). And then when I read things they just get shoved back where they look good. That's why *Blue Nights* is sitting in the middle of *Team of Rivals* and *The Truth*. Because they're blue.
Tetris style. Things go where they fit.
top shelf- favorite author, mine and hubby's, separated by lendables (books so highly favored I bought spare copies to lend.) eye level shelf - all time favorites loosely grouped by genre. Shelf 3 - runner-up favorites, more current grouped by author and/or series Shelf 4 - mass market paperbacks grouped by author in chronological order. 2 deep, 2 layers shelf 5 - nonfiction/humor shelf 6 - reference/ gifts Separate bookcase top shelf - books to be read I only keep books I intend to read again. Favored children's books have already been moved to the kids room bookcase. which just recently got a major size upgrade
My fiction, which is mostly fantasy, is just grouped by author and series. My non fiction is grouped by topic, and within a topic I put the books in a rough 'reading order' where more difficult or complex texts are after introductory ones, so if I want to learn about a topic I'd start at the left and read right. I have a tremendous amount of books I haven't read, not even counting all the stuff on kindle. I used to fiend used book stores and I just bought them at a pace my reading couldnt keep up with. One book store in my town sold books that were not in pristine condition for 1-2 dollars. When they had their going out of business sale there were books for 50 cents. The shelf I keep them on cost more than the books its filled with.
I always organise my genre, sometimes alphetically ordered authors, within genre!
Mine is by color and size
Genre based, I couldn't imagine doing it by colour and beautiful as that would be.
By genre, then by topic for non-fiction. Fiction by author's last name.
Depends on the collection. My craft books are in one room, org by type of craft, then by author. My fiction by author, barely. Due toshelving constraints, pbk and hb are separated, so less than ideal. NF is by dewey - this is force of habit…I’m a librarian. RPG books are by game, then type, then alpha or series order. This puts all my monster books and all my adventures together.
I do my fiction by author’s country of origin then last name.
I keep books in a series together on their own little sections of shelf. This is my inner-most system. The next layer is that book cover colors are kept together. The outer system is that all my books are organized by based on how they make me feel. If I'm sad, and I want to feel happy, I can find things like Harry Potter, all my Bibles, Peter and the Starcatchers, etc. If I'm grumpy about the world and I want to feel like someone gets it I can read Mad Addam, or Good Poems for Hard Times. If I want to, shall we say, st(r)oke my imagination, I can read any number of historical romance novels. You get it :) Library books have a dedicated shelf so they don't get lost, and they are placed by due date.
However I get all of them on the shelf lol
You guys are organising your bookshelves?
Generally, I go by genre and then my author’s last name. This has given me some issues since I love weird fusion genres. I also read a lot of nonfiction, so I’m honestly just considering learning the dewey decimal system at this point.
Genre, preference, author, number of books, publication order. I can't alphabetize because they won't all fit and I'm running out of room for more shelves. I only keep the ones I re-read; the rest are relegated to boxes in the attic and garage to await Lawn Sale Season.
Single books are colour coded. Series are alphabetical
I organize in two batches, read books and unread books. Each batch is alphabetical by the author. If I have multiple books by an author, then those are arranged by publication order, oldest to newest. 🙂
I have mine ordered by how much I like them. If I receive a book I like, one has to go and it's obviously the last one on the bookshelf. It's a fairly static collection these days but George Martin and Laurel Hamilton have dropped off.
Split first into fiction/nonfiction. Nonfiction is grouped by subject. Fiction by age (kids books, everyone books, and grown up books) then genre, with my beautifully bound classics on their own shelf. Within those groupings, fiction is sorted alphabetically. Except for the kids' books. If those are even on a shelf, it's a win. If anyone has a kid book system that doesn't require a full time librarian to keep order, please share your secrets!
One section of books that I’ll never give up and might read again they’re my faves. Cookbooks. Research/educational. My several shelf selection of TBR sooner than later. And the rest, and there are a lot of the rest, are just scattered haphazardly among many bookcases throughout the house. Probably more than I could ever read in a lifetime, but they just make me happy lol…
I'm not sure if this is the best way, but I used to own a console (we sold that off now) full of books, and it had four one foot-tall shelves. I used to take the day off, and, armed with cleaning supplies and dust mops, I rearranged my shelves. I started off with books I didn't reread frequently, or the ones which I didn't particularly like (people usually give them away), and shoved them at the very back. I tried maintaining a height order-ish (?) because sooner or later I was going to run into a very big problem: Stacking the rest of the books and being able to shut the door safely. The next thing I did was to try and keep the series together. This ensured that I didn't go through the agony of wading through twenty-five odd books to find the sequel of the book I was currently rereading. This proved to be a most difficult task. After cleaning out the console and shelving my books accordingly, I took a long nap. Then I made a cup of coffee, and got to rereading my previous favourites💖
Mine and my boyfriends bookshelves are organised based on what books we like the most, so we have some folio editions right at the top, on full show. Then the first few rows of his shelves are Brandon Sanderson and The Wheel of Time while mine are stand alones and series I've loved. Then as you go down, it gets to older books from our teen years or ones we didn't enjoy as much as our favourites etc
I organize by genre. Makes it easier to find stuff and saved more time when organizing
Close to none. I have sections for textbooks related to my field, for cook books, one for my favourite novels, and the rest is randomly placed on my main bookshelf and in somewhat nicely arranged piles throughout my study and bedroom, as well as on additional shelves and my desk.
Genre and then I just group by author but it's not alphabetically, usually more aesthetic appeal
I do mine by genre and then author, then with a lot of inexplicable grouping within genre that makes sense only to me, like, I read these two books at a similar period in my life and they’re mentally linked for me.
I would need to have a book shelf first to answer this question. 😭
Alphabetically by author's last name, then alphabetically by title with series kept together (in order). I genuinely would never find what I'm looking for if I did it any other way. 😅
I did fiction and nonfiction. For fiction I did alpha by author and for non-fiction I did by date (because 95% of it is History.) This has since dissolved into chaos.
Genre and then alphabetical by Author.
Mine are mostly grouped by subject in no particular order. Except for the huge collection of picture books. Those are in alphabetical order of the illustrator’s last name.
Genre first, and then within that alpha by author (same rule you have for series too)
Book format first and foremost. All my mass market paperbacks are together, TPBs, hardcovers, etc… then from there it is series and author
I go by author last name. Series are put together in order, and that's about as organized as it gets. I don't make it too complicated, I buy too many books, it's too much work lol
The best way is the way that works the best for you! I do fiction by author and non-fiction by subject matter. With fiction, if I have multiple books by the same author, I sort them by series or by publication date for singles.
Mine started out organized, by author, then seriers in order. It looked great for a week or two. Now it is a mess. Books shoved in all over, stacked any which way. No order at all. LOL So I salute you if you can keep it organized.
Do what works for you. I have sections (poetry, YA, classics, biography, books about books etc) and books by the same author together within those sections. However, I am constantly buying new books and having periodic clearances, so the books on top of the shelves won’t necessarily be where they’re meant to be until my next book sortcation. Also, I am very excited about having cleared 2/3 of a shelf for books to be read - it’s lovely being able to view them and choose that way, rather than shuffling 4 piles of books in two different rooms
I organize by genre, and then within genres I organize by author.
Favourite authors in the middle band of the book shelf that’s easier to reach. Big books at the bottom. Books that aren’t really part of a series on the top shelf
Genre based, alphabetical by author within that, and then by height within that. I heard about organizing by color, and since that does appeal to me I tried it, but hoo boy no, that was not okay!
Alphabetical by author, earliest to latest for same author.
I've always stuck to one of two methods: 1. Completely random. I am so familiar with my books that I can generally find the one I want just by quickly scanning the spines. 2. By genre, with me defining the genres.
Whichever one I read or picked up most recently goes on the top / on the end.
By genre, and authors name alphabetically. And then some shelves are random displays for authors or series!
Aesthetically by Category then Alphabetically by Author then Aesthetically
genre then author.
For me, there is no "best" way. My preferred way is rather eclectic. I have three bookshelves in my house. The tall one in my bedroom is all fantasy and scifi. Hardcovers with hardcovers, trade paperbacks with trade paperbacks, mass markets stacked on their side. I go for how the shelf looks aesthetically rather than how easy it is to find something. The tall shelf in my hallway is mostly literary fiction, memoir, non-fiction, thrillers and some classics. The smaller shelf in my living room is mostly hardcovers and more prestigious titles. This is the only bookcase most visitors see.
There is no best way. Whatever arrangement meets your goals is best. Decorative, easy to find, boastful, etc. Just arrange them according to your priorities. You're not running a library.
Oh gosh. Genre, then age range, then author. Except my fantasy book case, which is more about my favorites being prominently displayed, then everything else by author. Oh, and then my tbr shelves... Am a touch of a chaos gremlin.
By colour ofcourse 😋
I have 1 double stacked fiction shelf and 2 double stacked non fiction shelves which are then organised by colour so rainbow 😊 makes me happy when I look at them
Where it fits it sits. I also alternate the titles so you have to do the night at the roxbury to read them
I do it the same as you, alpha by author with alpha by title except for series but with two changes. I have separate shelves for paperbacks vs hardbacks and I have a section dedicated to non fiction.
Alphabetical by author, if multiple by author we go by publication date. I’m a librarian it’s the only way I know and want.
The best way is whatever way will allow to find what you're looking for in the least amount of time. Whatever that looks like for you. Alternatively, it could be what ever brings you the most joy to look at. Its entirely up to your preferences because its your shelf. There is no BEST way.
Mine is chaos.. to everyone else. I have my own "filing" system and it completely makes sense to me. I have three areas in my house with book shelves. Bedroom contains books I'm a little embarrassed to display. Y'know, books like Twilight, that blue alien series, John Grisham. Books I read and maybe used to love but now I don't. But I'm not ready to give them up. My hallway bookshelves has TBR books I want to read, but I'm not super desperate to read YET. They live on the hallway bookshelves. I'm a mood reader, so I'll see a book that looks iunteresting, buy it, but then don't feel like reading it yet. So they all go onto those ones. This book shelf is organized by mood/fantasy. So fantasy together. Romantasy after that. Smut after that. Murdery thriller books, then horror, and so on and so on. But also "books that make me happy" go together. And "books that make me cry" go together. and other moods are in there as well. Then my main shelves in my reading area are my favorite books and books on my TBR that I'm excited to read. My pretty books (sprayed edges, special editions, first editions). THEN, All those shelves are organized in order of preference. I group all the same authors together. And then I put my FAVORITES on middle, eye level shelves. and moving outwards with least favorite on the top and bottom shelves. Middle favorites next. Favorits in the middle. My husband hates it. He'll go to look for a certain book and never find it. He'll tell me what books he's looking for and I can tell you exactly where that book is. I know it's annoying to him, but this works for me and I can't help it.
I group by genre/general category, then subdivided by author or other commonality. I have a shelf dedicated to Japanese and Korean authors (K to the left), another few for Victorian novels, one small one for the Russian ones, ones for modern lit, etc. My favorite authors take two shelves: one modern (Atwood, Kingsolver, Saramago) and one classic (Steinbeck, Vonnegut, etc.). One shelf for reference books relating to my career. This makes it easier to find what I want.
By color of the spine
Everyone is different, so not every way will work for everyone. I organize by fiction and non-fiction/subject, and then by author.
Mostly alphabetical by author... I separate TV and film novelizations, childrens books, graphic novels, anthologies, non fiction, local history (for my Call of Cthulhu campaign) and "weird shit" (paranormal this, Atalantis that, Occcult whatchamacallit etc. - also mostly in service of my CofC)... With a couple of small shelves of items like gothic romance, Arthurian and unread horror paperbacks... which leads to the shelves of TBR. So, basically a gloss of order on a sea of chaos.
Genre then author, and series are put in publication order. People who do it by color should be shunned. I have strong feelings about this.
Personally: 2 bookcases. One for completed, one as a personal library. If you only have one bookcase, then seperate top and bottom with new and already finished. Then I'll go by genre, author, and hardcover/paperback. I hate having that rollercoaster look of large and small books being next to each other
Genre, and then in the genre by author, and then for the author by the internal timeline (I mostly read series)
I finally in my early 30s did separate fiction and nonfiction to two different shelves ... other than that, it's entirely vibes based. I like to mix the spine designs and colors up to make them appear elegantly disheveled. I get a lot of compliments on presentation but I won't lie to you- issa bitch to find anything
I organize my books based on how much i loved them.
Whatever is closest directly from where i am sitting on the couch. I have a bookshelf right above me. I turn around and chose the path of least resistance.
I change it up every so often, but it's always by subject matter for non-fiction. For fiction a have classics and notable works together, and the others are currently sorted by length (tallest to shortest).
my top bookshelves are reserved for my favorites, the next shelves are for ones i liked but not as much, next is books i bought but haven’t read yet, then my bottom shelves are a mix of books i did not like and massive books i have that seem too heavy to have on upper shelves lol. its nice for me because the top shelves are close to eye level and i get to look at my favorite books all the time :)
Preferred method: by genre then author’s last name and in series order (if applicable). There are some exceptions like a Middle Earth atlas is with the Tolkien books. Current organization: I ran out of space and it’s all chaos. But I’m building larger shelves.
Thousands and thousands of books, like me? DEWEY library method. You can find any book.
Authors are grouped together by mood and then usually books are organized by size, i have limited room! So for example neil gaimen's books, then good omens, then Pratchett. And many are sideways because you can stack more that way.
Nonfiction: Dewey Decimal and I have a spreadsheet to keep track. Fiction: alphabetical by author or title if there is no author
Alphabetically by author's last name, but I don't put multiple books by the same author in any sequence, unless it's a series. Also mixed in I have books on the same subject together, e.g. all my books on Springsteen are under S, all my books about The X-Files are under X.
UK and American literature organized by date, France, Russia and Germany grouped together, but not in order. More modern books are just stuck where they fit
I almost exclusively read audiobooks borrowed from the library (shoutout to Libby) so I don’t have very many physical books, mostly those with sentimental value that I’ve had for a very long time. I’ve never really thought about it before but looking at my bookshelf now they are organized roughly by size…larger hardbacks toward the left and then smaller paperbacks to the right. I think that looks more orderly than different heights mixed up. Definitely not in any other kind of order other than that.
First by type: fiction, non-fiction, reference books, comics, etc. Then sub-type: science fiction, fantasy, detective noir, american lit, world lit, etc. Then by author, then by book name with any series grouped together.
It depends on what you want and what works for you. How much you care about looks, vs findability, vs random inspiration will all impact your preferences.
I do mine by genre/sub genre. It can get a bit tricky though sometimes, because I have far more Fantasy and Sci-Fi than anything else.
Chronologically by publication date because it lets you see literature evolve through the ages.
I try and keep all of an author together where I can. I keep specific publishers all together. Vaguely genre grouped. It’s pretty random overall though.
I reorganized yesterday. I do alphabetical order by author, so I can keep all their books together. I separate them by fiction non fiction and I'm an editor, so I have a specific section for reference texts. CMoS, dictionary, etc. I like it to be simple and easy to find. Categories are too broad because a lot of books have genre overlap. After reading more replies I think I should rearrange for order of publication.
By genre and then alphabet of authors first name Example: fantasy,Chloe gong next would be fantasy, Danielle L. Jensen
I tried genre based and alpha on author within each genre, but then I got too many of one genre and refused to put it on the shelf of another genre so i had to stack them horizontally on top. And then eventually I had to mix genres bc of shelf space and took books out that didn't fit back in and it all became a jumbled mess.
Chronological. I put the last book I read to the right and so on. If I'm looking for a book a know when I read it and when to look
Alphabetical by author surname, if there are multiple books by the same author then sub organise alphabetical by title, if there is a series usually a series will have an overall name so a series is kept together in chronological order and organised within the same conditions as author surname then book series title 😂 yes I put a lot of thought into how I organise my own books and spent a long time arranging them when we moved house Non fiction gets its own shelf and is organised by category
Author then publication date.
It's going to depend on you and what's easiest for you in this point in life, which will also be dictated by what's in your bookshelf. In my uni days I did alphabetical. These days I do category. A while I tried to keep alphabetical within category, but it got too annoying so I dropped that. These days I honestly check very little outsdie of the cookbook & fitness sections, because of the stuff I read on the regular I have in my e-reader which again has its own categories, but it's a different kind of bookshelf that one.
Author, but their first names.
I do mine by non fiction/fiction and then last name alpha! I do have a shelf and a half for fantasy though to group my LOTR, GoT, HP, and Maas books together.
I have those floating shelves and like to organize them by genre and vibes. My favorite is one that's just vampire books with a Bram Stoker Funko Pop sitting on top with this coffin Squishmallow. :)
I’m a genre based organizer, with exceptions: I have a bookshelf for my favorite series (which I also display merch with) that span multiple genres, as well as a bookshelf of all indie books I own which also span multiple genres. Within genre, I just shelve series together based on what looks nice on the shelf🤷🏼
By genre, alphabetical by author… although as my bookshelf gets more and more full it’s not very organized at all anymore
Genre for me, then by alphabetically by author!
Top two shelves were always paperbacks, the remaining were for hardcovers. From left to right, it was favorite author and publication date.
Same as you. Alphabetical by authors last, then first name. Then books alphabetically unless they are in series. Otherwise, it might be pretty but it takes time to find something. I have separate shelf only for coffee table books and college text books. And those are arranged by size.
By type of book, then genre/subject matter for the most part: Non-fiction is by subject because I don't read alot of it, but what I do read I have multiple books that have the same subject matter. Fiction is by genre/subject. It just depends on how many books I have of each genre. For example, I have a lot of Fantasy so it had to be subdivided into: historical fantasy, superheroes, grim reaper/death, magical school, D&D vibes, etc. But I also have smaller shelves that I put longer series on one shelf or multiple books by the same author. Comics are basically by hero. And finally, manga is mostly by subject. For example: magical girls, vamps, gender, issekai, sports, cats, etc. With exceptions made for keeping together CLAMP, One Piece, MXTX, and my colored manhwa.
Nonfiction by subject, fiction by author & series.
I do it by size.. Visual appearance for me is important
Genre all the way
I go by reading priority. The books i finished are at the bottom, the books i don't plan on reading soon somewhere in the middle of the shelf and at the top: my current tbr, if they have good rating and so i wanna get to them faster, fav genre etc. It really helps considering i changed my reading preferences after last summer as then i got to those well written stories and started gaining more experience which means i'm more pretentious too😅. Having what i know i'd like best in a special place on the shelf makes it easier to pick my next read. I know where to look and it motivates me by just ignoring what i may never get to😅. Oh and, i always keep the series' together.
4 sections for me. Cookbook, game books, political books, everything else. Cookbooks are in near kitchen. Game books and political books are in my office. The rest are in living room.
By spine color. Size and being part of series might have an effect. I used to organize alphabetically - first by author and then book name - but honestly as I don't have hundreds of books and I am the only one using them, arranging by color works the best and looks really nice.
Mine are just separated by read and not read. Books being added to the end of the read section once I’ve finished them, and the unread section being the order I plan on reading them (highest and leftmost being the next one)
Top two shelves are my favorite books (soon to be three heh) and the rest I organize by genre.
I organise them by language, then author, then title
I like by genre, but my wife likes by colour. lmao it's so hard to find anything.
I have a section for my favorite series and books and then I just kinda stick all the series together in ranking order
Genre-> topic -> sub topic -> whatever On my shelf this might look like History-> Rome, Greece, pre Colombian America -> whatever Science -> physics -> astrophysics or quantum physics -> whatever
I organize my bookshelf alphabetically... ..Based on the third word of the last prime numbered page in the book 😈
Separated by fiction / non-fiction. Alphabetized by author, then by title, and if it's a series, I use the title of the first book (not the title of the series) then in release order.
I shelve them by series order. Outside of that alpha by author.
I just make it colourful. And yes, series stay together.
By color is the only way
I organise it first by serie. After, I'm trying to make the size and color balance overall. The middle shelf, the one at eyes level, have my favorite books. All to sat that I sort it out by feeling.