TSS: New Bookcase!
Happy Sunday, all! I hope everyone’s weekends are going swimmingly! I didn’t have a lot of time to get much reading done this week, but I made up for lost time yesterday, tearing through Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins and finishing up The Likeness by Tana French. Wildly different, but both really great books. (I will be *shocked* if The Likeness doesn’t make my Pick of the Month.)
So, I had a birthday last week. And, as a present to myself, I decided that it was high time to deal with this:
That, give or take the audio and library books, is my 2010 and early 2011 reading. I cleared it off the shelves to make room for incoming TBR books, but oddly enough, the “tub in a corner of the living room” strategy was not sustainable, nor particularly attractive.
Now, that corner looks like this. Those aren’t the same books; the books that went onto my new shelves are all my TBR books. (Well, not *all* of them – there’s a shelf a half of MMP fantasy novels and YA books on the fantasy/YA case, and my nightstand has my “on deck” TBR pile – but most of them, at least.) The tub books went back onto my other cases, and yes, some of them did stay in the tub, which got relegated to a closet. But still, much better, don’t you think?
What about you, readers? How do you handle your ever-increasing library?
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I was just looking at mine today. I’m back to some books on the floor, so I need to get another bookshelf.
bermudaonion – That’s true, this case did let me get all my books off the floor! Except for this month’s incoming books, which always live on the floor until I can take their picture.
I love your new bookshelf. My problem is that I have nowhere left to put another bookcase. I need to weed through the books I have kept to decide if I really need them. But I really hate to part with books that I might want to read again someday.
Kathy – Me too! It’s like saying goodbye to friends!
I love buying new bookshelves and rearranging everything… I haven’t in a while because most of my books are in storage, but hopefully soon I will be able to play around!
Kailana – The rearranging was fun! The new bookcase isn’t in any kind of good order – I guess first by fiction/NF, then by size, then alphabetically within the books that would fit on a given shelf.
I actually just reorganized my books! Sadly I can’t afford any new bookshelves but I fetched out some cardboard boxes and filled them up with books. It looks way less awful than you might think! My room seems so spacious and beautiful now. I should have done this months ago.
Jenny – I should probably do that; I do have some storage space left that into which I could put books. Actually, I should do this for my books that are still at my parents’ house, just so I could have them with me.
I use paperbackswap and bookmooch, which give me the illusion of getting rid of books when in fact I may actually be acquiring more. :) But seriously, I have stacks next to my by and under it. Mainly I try to give away at least a few books each month to keep up with those that are coming into the house. I don’t really have any storage space left (or room for new bookcases).
Alyce – Bookmooch has definitely been a net increase of books for me! But I’m a book hoarder; I don’t like giving away books that I may one day want to read again.
Happy belated birthday! That looks like a lovely shelf and a great present! ^-^
I’ve actually just finished rearranging some of my books today. My shelving’s been threatening to fall down, so I had to take everything off it so dad could add support to them. Of course then I had them all lying around in piles and piles and I couldn’t remember which went where, so I just redid all of the shelves. ^-^ My room and my shelves look all neat and tidy again now!
How I handle the rest… Well, I toss everything I want to get rid of eventually in a big drawer under my bed to free up space and, uhm… Attempt to cut down on my purchases and/or get them electronically. I don’t really have the space for more books. My 2011 TBR-shortlist attempt is on the floor only partially because I’ve a want to put it there. Mostly it’s because it’s the only surface area I can stack that many books that’s left.
I may ask dad to put up another shelf for me where there’s still a little room left for such at some point. (Actually, my walls have more than a little space left for shelving, but most of it would be too high for me to reach and there wouldn’t be much point!)
But mostly, I just try to keep the amount of books I own at the very least constant. (I still need to work up the courage to visit my old school and ask them if they’re interested in taking over some of my YA books for their library. That would clear up a nice amount of space for a bit.)
Shanra – Oh! Under the bed! There’s a whole bunch of space under there that’s not being used for anything other than knitting blocking mats at the moment…
Be warned that “under the bed” isn’t a very useful place to store books, though!
True, but for books that I have just read and want to keep but am not going to be rereading any time soon, it’s no worse than a box in the closet.
Happy belated birthday! Congratulations on the shelving too. I am currently “decorating” in plastic tubs in my living room; two of them right now. Maybe I can turn them into a coffee table :o)
Terri – Functional furniture, great idea! :)
Aren’t new bookshelves wonderful? Except they fill so quickly–my books always manage to expand to fill the space I try to give them. I’m anticipating some bonus money coming in soon, and a new bookshelf is definitely on the list of things I want to buy–and of course it will no doubt swiftly fill with all the books that are ALSO on the list!
Cheryl – I’m pretty sure my books multiply on their own when my back is turned.
I bought a Kindle, then ruthlessly went through the books that wouldn’t fit in my bookcase and gave them away :) Now, I’m almost 100% digital and don’t have worries about fitting any more books in.
Randomize – I have a Kindle, but I’m also kind of a cheap bastard and I hate the idea for paying again for a book I already own, so I can’t do too much purging.