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Okay debate time!!! What is the best way to organize your book shelf? 📚 1. Color code 2. By genre 3. Alphabetically by book title 4. Alphabetically by Author - sincerely a girl with OCD and a new bookshelf!😂❤️
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Anonymous 13w

Personally I have mine in the order I plant to read them, and for the ones I’ve already read they’re by size (larger on bottom), series together, etc

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Anonymous 13w

Alphabetically by author, separated by various categories (favorites, tbr, or genre), unless it’s graphic novels which are by title

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Anonymous 13w

Genre and then author’s last name

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Anonymous 13w

I have mine separated by where the author is from (American lit, Russian lit, etc.) and then by publication year!

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Anonymous 13w

in the order that i read them

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Anonymous 13w

by size but i try to keep authors together but for some i have those tiny paperbacks and massive hardcovers so they are on separate shelves 💔

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Anonymous 13w

from broad category to specifics within category: genre/topic -> alphabetically by author -> alphabetically by book title or by series number color may look nice but how tf can you find anything if you don't remember the color of the front cover? seems like it will only be useful in rare instances but not as the basis of an organizing system

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Anonymous 13w

2 and alphabetically within genre

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Anonymous 13w

i have mine by color within genre unless there’s a sequel or series then i put those together

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Anonymous 13w

The real question here is how you decide on a genre? A lot are clear cut but when they aren’t then what?

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Anonymous 13w

I do it by series and if they are stand alone then I try to match authors

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Anonymous 13w

Genre, then by author (but not alphabetically), then by color as much as possible

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Anonymous 13w

Don’t have OCD so ig it depends specifically on how your symptoms manifest and what your intrusive thoughts are (OCD doesn’t sound fun tho so I wish you the best!!) but I put way too much stock in how my bookshelves are organized (idk if I could function if someone messed them up) and I have super strong opinions

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Anonymous 13w

alphabetically because i 🫶🏻 alphabetizing

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Anonymous 13w

I used to separate by genre and alphabetize but it was so much work and I had to move everything every time I got a new book. Now I sort by having all my favorites in the middle shelf and branch out from there, series’ are together and it allows for nicer displays as I can just pick what fits/looks nice over what is the next in order

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Anonymous 13w

Roughly by genre and then just by vibes honestly, but I keep series/authors together for the most part

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Anonymous 13w

Size and color!

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Anonymous 13w

mines color coded

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Anonymous 13w

ugh i’m about to have to reorganize my shelf 😭😁

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Anonymous 13w

mine are alphabetically by author & in timeline/release order of their books

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Anonymous replying to -> #7 13w

*alphabetically by author

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Anonymous replying to -> #13 13w

In my mind, books need to be categorized by genre and subcategorized by vibe (authors grouped together obvi). I’m a mood so I need to be able to pinpoint what I want to read and have all the applicable options in one place

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Anonymous replying to -> #13 13w

So for example, I have my nonfiction shelf. One shelf of biographies organized by subject locality (ie American, British, German, etc) and subcategorized by time period. A second shelf of memoirs with the same categorization. One shelf of history- American history by time period and then non-American history (I unfortunately don’t have a large selection of these). And then one science shelf that I have a more or less continuous gradient from genetics/biology to anthropology/sociology to physics

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Anonymous replying to -> #13 13w

Fiction shelves I have a mystery/thrillers shelf organized from fluffy to gritty/dark and then a shelf for John Grishom. I have a Stephen King shelf organized by subgenre, typically fluffy to gritty, and then the few other horror-ish novels I have. My fantasy/sci-fi shelf is my least organized, I just go by my personal feeling about the author. And then general fiction I sort both by feelings/excitement about the book and diversity of the author/contents

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Anonymous replying to -> #13 13w

Alphabetical by author’s last name is acceptable imo, and/or size if space is an issue, but alpha by book title is atrocious and chaotic (splitting series and authors is anathema) and by color looks pretty but is organizationally useless imo (plus you’ll still be splitting authors and series)

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Anonymous replying to -> #13 13w

but anyway those are just my opinions! let us know what you end up with (and best of luck with the OCD journey, my best friend has it and I don’t wish it on anyone 🫶🏼)

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