The title of this blog is a lie.
I recently moved and even with two new bookshelves, I have an overflow of books.
And because my laptop decided to have a display malfunction, I won’t have a laptop for a week-ish. Which means I’m writing this from my phone, and I hate it. This is also my excuse for showing up with this crap blog today.
Anyway, I’ve gotta lot of books. I love having them, so no need to tell me I should get rid of them. Physical > Electronic.
Here’s the before:
During the process of sorting through these I went in and out of two lines of thought. One, I felt like I had way too many books I hadn’t read. Two, I felt that I didn’t have all that many books…and needed more.
Everyone knows moving books is one of the worst parts of moving, so I moved them in sections. (I moved a few blocks away…so it really wasn’t an issue for me.)
Here’s my fiction, short stories, plays, and poetry:
My “collectors” books are hidden behind the bottom half. When I do buy old books I try to buy the ones that are at least 100 years old.
Then on the other side of my room is a portion of my nonfiction:
At the bottom there you can glimpse a piece of my hoarder heart. Half of that section is all my notebooks from college and the other is notebooks from my teenage years. (Basically, all my embarrassing angsty writing.)
Here’s what’s left:
Where I’ll put them, I don’t know.
If you’re inclined to know how I organize my books, I’ll tell ya.
I organize by genre, then divide within those. My fiction is split up into these sections:
Recognizable classics, regular fiction that I haven’t read, regular fiction I have read, classic poetry, poets that aren’t dead yet, plays, and prose about poetry. Books by the same author are only together if they are in the same split.
Nonfiction is split up:
Biographies, autobiographies, nonfiction about culture, war nonfiction, and prose.
I had people suggest to me that I should put my books in storage or leave them packed up. However, I don’t see the point in having books if you can’t enjoy them.
Total:
414, not including the tub of books still at my other house.
So, I’m going to google and look this up, but I have a question for you. I’m writing my memoir. After my stent in the cocaine world and being a manic-depressive, I’m wondering what genre I’d classify my memoir as when it’s done.
It’s working title is “Stricken, By Design: Memoir of a Bipolar Drug Addict”. I’m not sure how to categorize this work when it’s done and I send it to an agent.
Any ideas???
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I’m not really sure! Sorry! I would just think the genre would be memoir. š
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Haha, yeah, me too. I looked it up to see the difference between autobiography and memoir. So yeah, it fits that. š Thanks for the help!
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Kudos for making progress on the book moving and a BIG kudos for typing a whole blog post on a phone!
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Haha, thank you!
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Wow, your bookshelves are so much more organized than mine! I love your new bookshelves. They look so classic but stylish at the same time.
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Thanks! I like them a lot, but the doors get in my way š
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I have to say Kudos for writing this post on your phone as well. I know that can be a pain. I have quite a few books myself and most of them are read. I also agree books shouldn’t be packed away where you can’t enjoy them. I tend to reread some of my favorites when I’m feeling down. Great post!
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Thanks! I love rereading my favorites as well….although I will say a large portion of my books are currently unread š
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Reblogged this on carversindile.
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When you are my age you will have to rent a storage unit. My biggest category is books bought for research on novels I haven’t written yet.
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Stop it! I love those bookcases and I need to NOT love bookcases! As I near retirement I’ve been downsizing, and my books are probably the hardest to part with. I did get rid of some several years ago when I had to do major moves several times within a short period, but I still have a lot. And I do keep favorites in physical form. I do have more electronic books now, so I can read when having a physical book isn’t so easy (and to take up less space with books I don’t read much), but REAL books are the best!
My biggest problem in downsizing is that many of my books aren’t ones that others want (to buy or be given). š¦
If there’s room, there’s always box storage for books under your bed, in your closet or in a box that you throw a cloth over and turn into an apparent table…
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Lol! Yes, they are great bookcases. Every once in a while I’ll go through my books and sale what I give up. However, I only give up the books that I didn’t like or didn’t complete. haha!
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I love the new bookshelves!! And your organizing! My books go in order of what I love and want to be able to access the quickest. š
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Haha thank you!!
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Just got done moving books myself, between me and my wife, plus all my notebooks, there were 5.5 bookcases that are same as 95% full. Good times.
Now to sort out where to put a new bookcase when we fill the ones we have.
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I’m currently in process of moving my books and realized I’m going to need multiple new bookshelves. Since I prefer actually holding a book as a apposed to reading words on a kindle or Ibooks.
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I ended up buying two more bookcases after I posted this š they are now filled, so I have begun layering books on top. I love physical books, too. I really only use the Kindle app as a last resort.
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Totally get that š
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