Shelfies Pt. 1

One type of video that I always like on Booktube is a good bookshelf tour.  I like seeing how other people organize their shelves and what books they have added to their collection.  Plus, just seeing all those books is a beautiful thing.

Not everybody is into collecting books, and, for a long time, I wasn't.  I only kept a small amount, and the rest I would send to friends, donate, or take to a used book store for credit.

Now, however, I feel very passionately about building up a comprehensive library.  I want books that reflect who I am lining the walls of my house.

As someone who has read voraciously since childhood, a lot of memories are marked by what I was reading at that time.  My shelves are the equivalent of a picture album of my life thus far.  If someone asks about my original Harry Potters, I can tell them that my father preordered each one for me in the years after he left, even though I never saw him.  Siddhartha I read while I was trying to figure out what to do when I graduated from high school.  My illustrated copy of Life of Pi was given to me by a roommate who owned an 8-foot long albino python.  My books make up the timeline of my life.

 I also want to nurture a love of learning and reading in anyone who comes through my front door.  I don't intend on hoarding books that will never be read.  I long to share them with others, especially my children (when I have them).

Having said all this, I also understand people who choose not to collect books.  And this is not an attempt to brag or show-off.  I merely want to share what I love, much like I do in real life.

Having said all that, let us begin!

This was my main bookshelf for quite awhile, and you can see the stress it went through by its bowed shelves.

The top shelf has guitar music, some of my finished journals, a bunch of Bible studies, and some of my philosophy books from university.  There is also a set of Baoding balls.

The shelf below that is guarded by nerdy Domo, a gift from my god daughter.  That shelf is almost completely adult contemporary with a few memoirs on the left side.

Below that is nerdy Hello Kitty's shelf.  My high school yearbooks take up way too much space.  My Calvin and Hobbes books are next to that, and then a bunch of children's and middle-grade books with a few YA thrown in.

The fourth shelf is pretty random.  In addition to some Asian history and reference books, there is some sci-fi, more YA, mystery, and a few literary journals.

The bottommost shelf is filled with my husband's carpentry books and my Mandarin and Japanese language study books.  Boring, I know.

A few of my favorite books from the top shelf are Anthem, by Ayn Rand, The Question of God, by Armond Nicholi, and a textbook I have on Asian philosophy.

This second shelf is my favorite on this bookcase.  Jhumpa Lahiri's novels are some of my favorites, as well as Cormac McCarthy's The Road.  I also really like Margaret Atwood's writing, but the only book of hers that I currently own is The Blind Assassin.  As far as the memoirs go, I truly love Anais Nin's diaries.  Her writing is so beautiful and passionate.  I get lost in her life.

My Roald Dahl books are some of my favorite in my children's book collection.  I grew up reading all of his books, and I can't wait to read them all to my children.  I also really love E.B. White's books, and I remember reading all of them to my little sister growing up.

My Asian books are my love.  I have a passion for learning about the culture and the language.  This part of my collection is painfully small, though, so I intend on bulking it up very soon.  My collection of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker books is also a joy of mine.  I love his hilarious writing style.  And those literary magazines on the right will stay with me forever because they hold my first published works in them.


Right next to that bookshelf is a small one that holds all of my Great Books hardback collection.  This is an incredibly beautiful set that includes works from classic authors throughout time, from Homer to Aquinas to Dostoyevsky.  There are 60 volumes in this collection, and they make an amazing addition to my library.

On top of that shelf is a stack of recently acquired books that I want to read in the near future.

So, those are two of my bookcases.  I'm not very good at categorizing books, so they may seem kind of mixed, but it works for me.  My collection is added to constantly, so my organization is in constant fluctuation, as well.

I still have two more shelves, so watch out for those in a upcoming blog post.

How do you organize your collection?  Tell me down below, and post a shelfie!

Have a great day!