How to Sort Your Books

Introduction to how to Sort Your Books

Start by dividing all your books by genre, i.e., drama, history, novels etc. Then subdivide them by sub-genre, i.e., SiFi, classics, crime fiction etc. Continue dividing your books by period so you have all your 1950s crime fiction in one place. Now divide further by author in alphabetical order. Finally, arrange individual books under each author in chronological order. Are you still with me? Of course not! The above is far too complex for anyone to remember how to implement and to implement it consistently within your library.

Conversely, you could throw your books randomly on the shelf, but will you ever find your books if you need one quickly? There has got to be an alternative to the above. In this article, I will outline the pros and cons of different methods of sorting books as well as reveal how I do it.

Alphabetisation

Alphabetisation is one way of arranging your books. This method allows you to sort your books by the author’s last name. It is a simple yet effective way of sorting your bookshelves and works particularly well if most of your books belong to one genre. Sarah Crown and John Crace in a 2009 Guardian article entitled: Bookshelf etiquette. How to arrange your books call it banal:

‘Alphabetisation is the most banal approach to book shelving going: who wants their living room to look like a lending library?’

I would call it practical.

Arranging books by colour

Arranging your books by colour has become extremely popular as of late. If you scrawl through Instagram, you see endless photos of someone’s bookshelf with all red books, followed by all blue books and so on. While this might look pleasing to the eye, I am not convinced it is suitable for quickly finding any of your books. It might work for those of us with few books, but not for those with large libraries.

Arranging your books by height and size

Arranging your books by height and size is another popular method of sorting your books. As in the last example, it might look nice, but does it guarantee ease of finding a book? Again, there could be practical reasons for sorting huge books or tiny ones on a separate shelf to save space by adjusting row heights.

Contemporary or Classic

In her blog post 12 Clever Ways to Organise Your Book Collection, Paige Smith suggest that you could sort your books by Contemporary or Classic writing. This method works well for anyone who reads a lot of literature, but I don’t think it does for those who read fiction and nonfiction. For example, would you really separate E.H. Carr and E.P. Thomson from contemporary historians as a historian? I wouldn’t.

Group unread books together

Group together with the books you haven’t read yet. I believe you should always keep the books you haven’t yet read separately from those you have. This ensures you read all the books you buy, preventing your shelves from cluttering. As a general sorting strategy, I am not so sure, however. You will have, for example, 20 books on one shelf that you haven’t read and several hundred randomly placed on the remaining shelves.

Sort by genre or subject

Organising books by genre or subject is an excellent way to sort your books if you like to read widely on many different topics. For example, you can quickly find your cookery books or travel guides. However, this method could be problematic if you have hundreds of books on one subject.

Sort books by condition

Organising books by the condition of their covers are another way Paige Smith suggested in her blog post 12 Clever Ways to Organise Your Book Collection.

‘This is another way to limit visual clutter on your bookshelves. Keep your torn, tattered, and weather-faded books all in one place, and your books with beautiful, well-kept covers in another.’

The above might look attractive, but that’s about it. I can’t see this being very practical for finding books.

Organise by how books make you feel

Some people organise their books by how they make them feel. Personally, I find this a stupid way of arranging books. Firstly, if you don’t like a book, part with it, secondly does a book always make you feel the same way when reading it? I have re-read many of my books but have not felt the same way about them every time. You change over the years; your reading habits change, and so do your feelings towards books. So stay away from this method!

Organise books chronologically by when you got them

Some of us organise our books by the date they got them. To me, this is akin to not sorting them at all. Can you remember when you got each book and therefore find each book? Some books might have been so unique or the occasion you got them so special that you remember it clearly, but others you randomly picked up in a bookshop while waiting for your friend to turn up, and you won’t.

Fiction vs Non-Fiction

Separating fiction and nonfiction is a no-brainer. Would you like Ali Smith Like a lesbian novel next to Lawrence Stones’ The Family Sex and Marriage’ a history book on Early Modern Family relations?

Separate your hardcovers from your paperbacks is another visually pleasing way to sort your books. It will make your bookshelves look cleaner and more streamlined, but it will not aid in finding books.

The Mom, Dad, Baby Method

The Mom, Dad, Baby Method is a way of sorting books if you live in a household with multiple occupancies. In this method, each household member gets their own shelf and puts their own books on it.

Conclusion and How I sort my books

I sort my books differently from all of the above; I first sort all my books by genre. So, for example, I have German Literature, English Literature, History, Politics, Feminism, Tea, Music, Productivity, Travel and various others. Then, within each genre, I sort my books alphabetically. This way, my books are sorted enough to find them easily, yet not sorted to the extent that they become impossible to maintain.

To get further ideas on how to get organised and more productive, check out my other posts here.

Need help with getting organised, contact me here, and I’d be delighted to work with you.