Monday, May 24, 2010

Near-Obsession (Yes, I said near. Real obsession would be worse. I'm sure of it.)

Due to my garage sale hobby and the cheap books regularly available there -- and my near obsessive collecting of anything with written words -- my book piles may be tall enough to endanger pets and small children. Well they would be if I didn't have both pets and small children, so instead I overwhelm the house and make many many small piles.

Many.

I have books tucked behind the recliner in the living room. I have books piled on side tables in the bedroom, on the floor and toilet tank in the bathroom. In fact, I don't think we have a flat surface in the house that doesn't have a book or two on it. They're double-stacked on the bookshelves -- don't tell Hubby, that drives him crazy -- and we don't have room for more bookshelves. Unless I want to give up a window or two.... hmmmm. No, that might drive him more crazy than double-stacking.

But really, it's for his benefit.

He likes the books all lined up at the front edge of the shelf, and double-stacking makes that easy. As long as he doesn't dust and find out they don't move back any more. Or side to side either, since the shelves are so stuffed.

Every now and then -- usually when I wonder if my TBR piles actually exceed my have-read piles -- I wonder if I need to work on this. But most of the books go away once I've read them. I don't keep them all! I think I just need to start reading faster. I haven't made it through a single novel this week. There's got to be something wrong with that. And maybe organize so I can remember which piles were TBR and which ones were Keepers.

Goodreads suggests they'll help with that organization thing, but even beginning that task is too daunting to really consider. Maybe once I've made it through a pile or two and passed them on. If I can stop collecting.

What do the rest of you use to organize your reading? Do you use anything? Is your book obsession actualized or only near? Do you keep all of your books?

2 comments:

  1. I had to finally buy a bigger house for my bookshelves. It has tall ceilings, so I could buy extra big bookcases. It took me years, but I finally have the library I always wanted. ^_^

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  2. Oh, the jealousy.

    Our study would be the most reasonable room to push toward library type shelves since it has the fewest windows, but it is a closed in carport and the ceiling on the far wall is barely more than five feet tall. And our house is older too, so all ceilings are a few inches short of 8 feet. But I did get the other important thing I wanted in a house.

    Space. We can have people over without stepping on their toes. (Our first apartment was an 800sqft two bedroom).

    The living room is 300 sqft, the study nearly 400, and there is plenty of space for a large dining table, though the dining room and kitchen are attached.

    Bad part: electric bills.
    Good part: telling the children to play in the study and having relative quiet in the living room.

    This is the workaround for not having a basement -- my northern friends have giant basement rooms where all the toys can hide.

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