For todays challenge, I'm supposed to show you my bookshelves, either real or virtual. Since I don't actually organize books on any single Kindle (my organization there is done by sending different books to different reading devices since I have 5 of them total not counting my phone) so taking screenshots or photos of those would just be showing you my most recently downloaded items, and that doesn't feel like it fits the spirit of this challenge. I have several bookcases though, with a bit of organization to them, so I'm using those. This challenge actually makes me a little sad because I don't have my physical shelves organized exactly how I would like them, I did at our last house, but haven't taken the time to organize them here yet. Without further ado, here they are!
Here are three of my bookcases. The far left is almost entirely full of board games, except for the bottom shelf, which contains my religious books, an entire shelf of assorted religious books including three bibles, one is just the New Testament, but in English, German, and French that I stole from a hotel room because that is just too cool and I'm a horrible person, a Book of Mormon, a copy of the Q'uran, The Satanic Bible, and just some other religion based books. I also have that completely empty shelf on the right bookcase. I just emptied it tonight and moved those books to another shelf that my husband freed up by moving all of his computer books to our DVD bookcase in the living room. There was a reason for the move. As you can see, I like to display some knick knack type items on my bookshelves in front of my books, although that is largely because I needed somewhere to put them.
Here are my other four bookcases, although the one on the left hardly counts at the moment because it's got assorted boxes and random kid crap on it. It's also the shelving I use to try to keep my sons homeschooling stuff at least a little organized (I've pretty much failed at keeping that stuff organized though.) I'm also taking up an entire shelf with Halloween candy, because it's the only way to keep it mostly out of the kids reach (they're smart enough to move a chair over and then my son can reach the buckets for them, but they don't do that often). The boxes that are in the way are electronic crap of my husbands.
Since I have quite a few bookcases and getting pictures of them makes it fairly difficult to see the shelves contents, I've also taken some closer shots to showcase what little organization I've employed so far in this house. Our first shot is my two favorite shelves. Yes, the top shelf is completely full of Stephen King books, that should not be a surprise since I'm such a huge fan. The shelf underneath that has my Harry Potter collection, and I have more than one copy of each of the books, although not all of my copies made it to Germany with us (I left some at my parents house when we moved to help keep our moving weight lower). Also sharing my Harry Potter shelf are signed copies of Bully, Until You, and Rival by Penelope Douglas, The Bondage Club, The Satyr's Curse, and The Satyr's Curse II: The Reckoning by Alexandrea Weis, and Destiny's Wings by D.S. Schmeckpeper. It also has a pair of wooden clogs from Amsterdam on display.
These three shelves are like my "non-fiction" or reference section. They feature several political books (which are super easy to find at my local base thrift store) for both sides. You may be able to see that I have The Audacity of Hope by President Barack Obama right next to Decision Points by President George W. Bush. That shelf also holds my copy of The Good Soldiers which is about my husbands former unit during their first deployment to Iraq. I have yet to be able to bring myself to read it. I tried to read it during his second deployment and about twenty pages in I realized that was a horrible idea, and stopped. He's out of the Army now though, so reading it now should be much less troubling. The bottom shelf, holds a copy of Grey's Anatomy, a book on Sextrology, and a book on Vampires, among other books.
These four shelves hold all of the books that I have won in Goodreads First Reads giveaways that I have yet to read. I keep them all together so that when I'm choosing a new physical book to read, I know where to look. Probably about thirty percent of them are signed by the author. The bottom of those four was just recently moved from that now empty shelf in my first picture. The framed picture is my son's first photo with Santa. I remember the photographer trying really hard to get a picture of him looking at the camera, but he started crying when he did that. I personally think him looking at Santa is way more precious because it looks like he is actually talking to him and telling him what he wants.
And the last photo. This is supposed to be my "Classics" section, although it has been slightly diluted with a few stray books thrown in. I have gems such as Le Morte D'Arthur, Les Miserables, and War and Peace. Most of these books were purchased at my local base thrift store, usually at ten cents a piece. That's probably the biggest benefit of being a bookaholic stationed overseas, because most families when moving and trying to make weight are perfectly willing to donate books since they can make a big impact on your overall weight, and they're just not as attached to them as I am. So the thrift store frequently has more books than they have room to display them, which means they put them on sale often, usually 10 for a dollar in order to move them off the shelves. I am far less picky about what books I'm buying when they're ten cents a piece and during those times still frequently spend five to six dollars on books. As civilians our moving allowance is more than double what it was while my husband was in the military, which means I don't have to worry about getting rid of any of my precious books when we move back stateside.So there you have it. A look and incredibly detailed explanations of my bookshelves. I have a feeling you didn't even read most of this post, and that's okay, sometimes I like to talk just to hear my own voice (which is good because I do so much of it during the day at home with the kids). So how do you organize your shelves? - Katie
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