apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I say, keep books organized by the subject BUT dress them in uniform dust-jackets if you care how they look on teh shelf!

Interior Decorators and set designers have been buying books by the yard/color for decades...

I don't get the point of displaying books you don't read either. Though I do know people who have pianos and can't play them.

Books tell you what kind of person reads them. I guess these tell visitors "I like books that look good on the shelves".

I read an article a year or two back [in the NYT maybe?] about some store [I think it was the Strand?] that will curate a collection for you based on your criteria -- so size and color, yes, but also taking into account your hobbies, family history, profession, whatever. Not that that makes the endeavor any less ridiculous, perhaps even more so...

It is the Strand... they also sell books by the foot. I find it all very bizarre.

Reminds me of Gatsby, with his uncut books. Seems kind of... boring, and tragic. I mean, a home should be more than a set stage.

I am an avid reader and have been using the LA Public Library for years to get my "read on." I do buy a book every now and then and once I am done I pass it on to family or friends. I don't ask for it back but do ask that once they are done they pass it on to someone else. Share the wealth

I like the blue ones and the green ones.

Weasel Dearest is Mr. Dangerous

I recall a previous thread where a decorator wanted to buy books to fill a customer's library, and many people went nuts at the idea of someone having a library full of books that they didn't/wouldn't read.

If someone likes the look of nicely bound books, who cares that they have books that they didn't read? I have several items that I own for aesthetic -- not practical -- purposes (e.g. vase), and I've been tempted to buy cool looking books (e.g. 1900s print of the history of the Freemasons that had gorgeous gold scrollwork and glphys all over the cover). I don't see why books should be exempt from aesthetic appreciation.

Errr, "glyphs" -- not "glphys".

Oh, I appreciate a handful of cool books on an aesthetic level too, ami, but purchased by the yard to fill a library, they're just like wallpaper.

I guess I'd be less bothered if the people doing this actually do read and just buy SOME books by the yard, though that might be an arbitrary distinction.

Buying tons of books you will never open is like having a music room when you can't play any instruments. Why have a wall of bookcases or a library in the first place if you're not a reader? Poseurtastic.

It would drive me nuts to have my books organized by color. How would you ever find the book you were looking for? "Oh, yeah, I forgot, Poe is in the red section." One of my favorite books on book collecting and reading is Anne Fadiman's "Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader." There's a terrific chapter on how she and her husband kept their book collections separate for years (and organized in starkly different ways) and how she finally knew they were committed to the relationship after 8 or so years when they decided to merge their collections.

Buying books for show, to give the appearance that one is well-read, is pretty pathetic...

Maybe buying a few to balance out a book/display case (in which case it's great to be able to get pretty books in the right colors)... but if you need to fill a library with books you'll never read, then you really don't need a library in the first place. Most people's homes tend to be a reflection of their personality and having walls of books you aren't interested in just screams "fake!" to me.

Maybe if you have the books by the yard, you'll eventually pick one up and read it some lazy Sunday morning? I definitely have books that I bought for rather aesthetic reasons (interesting title, unique cover) intending to read them one day.
If I had the opportunity to inherit a large collection of hard cover books and didn't know the topics, I'd say yes, because I'd be that much closer to reading them one day.

While I would personally never buy books simply for decoration, as I am an avid reader and have plenty of books that I love and cherish as it is, I can see the appeal in having a home library filled with attractive books.

Books aren't just for reading. Many of them are quite intricate, real works of art. A book can be like a painting. Do you need to have extensive knowledge of Leonardo da Vinci to enjoy his work? Do you need to know about the methods and mediums he used to enjoy his paintings? No. In the same way, I don't think you need to have read a book to appreciate the way it looks - the kind of material it was bound in, the typeface, the smell, the weight of it in your hands. The expert craftsmanships that has gone into some books is really something that should be appreciated as an art form.

If people only kept books around that they had actually read I daresay the world would be in much shorter supply of them, which would be a real shame.

I don't see much point in having a bunch of books that are not for reading, since I barely have enough shelf space to house the books I do read, and I have plenty of other things to put on shelves if I run out of books. That said, I have plenty of books I've started to read, but never got around to finishing. I also have many books I intend to read one day but haven't started yet. Unfortunately, they aren't as pretty as the ones in the photos above.

As for color-based organization, it might not be for everyone, but I actually almost always remember the colors of books I've read, so it's actually very easy for me to find books when they're organized by color. For instance, I can picture all my V.S. Naipaul books with their light blue covers, with the exception of Magic Seeds, which has a maroon hardcover, and A Way in the World, which is black. So Magic Seeds and A Way in the World are on totally different shelves than all my other V.S. Naipaul books, but this is not a problem because I know that they're in the red/maroon and black sections. The only problem is with books that I haven't started reading at all, because I might not remember what color the covers are.

Books can definately be works of art.

Though I agree that I'm not sure about buying them solely to look good on a shelf, if you don't also love reading them.

I'm a book freak. I also tend to sell or donate books once I'm done with them, unless they are super-important. As it is I have 4 7-ft bookshelves full, and that's WITH constant pruning.

My ideal would be purchasing books that are both a work of art and are also a book that I'm really interested in owning. So, for example, if I decide that I really want War & Peace to remain on my "permanent shelves, I'd discard my tatty paperback and pick up a really cool old edition, that sort of thing.

Though I don't really get the organizing by color theme -- whatever works for individual libraries!

I tried colour-organizing my books, and it was a disaster! couldn never find the book I wanted to read, and they looked a mess as they were all different heights and sizes. An interesting book/design anecdote: when designer David Hicks decorated Vidal Sassoon's house back in the 60's/70's he covered the hairdresser's books in white paper-partly for aesthetic reasons, but also because Sassoon had dreadful taste in books!

But isn't a coffee table book bought for show?

That's just sad.

Adding onto myself...if owning and displaying a book you don't plan on reading is pathetic/bizarre/poseurish, then that logic would dictate owning and displaying a quilt you don't plan on using is also pathetic. Because I don't read I shouldn't have books in my house? I don't paint either, so I shouldn't hang paintings on the walls? Why is it that books bring out such strange attitudes?

Oy. Just another example of how increasingly our culture is based on superficial appearances of things standing in for the actual having/doing of them.

Gives an even more deeply nuanced meaning to the adage about judging a book by its cover, n'cest pas - in terms of the "book" itself as well as the owner of said decorative books!

Maybe faux books are ultra new age in a time when resources are becoming scarce? Did faux bois originate in Europe when they began running out of timber there???

Hmmm.....

I just want to know where to apply for a job where you get to buy books for other people! Personal book shopper!? My idea of heaven.

i think there is a real distinction between buying books for show by the yard, and arranging your books that you read and love by color.

i keep my book collection manageable... i'm in my early 20's and still very transient, so i keep a lot of books in my childhood bedroom, utilize my local library, and give away books that i've bought but know i will never reread, because i didn't completely love them...

some of my books are in our living room, some are in the kitchen, and the ones the fill up a portion of my expedit are arranged by color... it is a small enough group of brightly colored books, i can easily locate what i'm looking for.

i don't really see what's wrong with arranging by color if they're books you love.



then again, likening the books as decoration to wallpaper.... if you have a big wall of shelves, what's wrong with buying books by the yard for aesthetics? it's probably more cost-effective than tearing down the shelves and wallpapering, or buying whatever aesthetic pieces to fill them.

fivebyfive said: "One of my favorite books on book collecting and reading is Anne Fadiman's "Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader." There's a terrific chapter on how she and her husband kept their book collections separate for years (and organized in starkly different ways) and how she finally knew they were committed to the relationship after 8 or so years when they decided to merge their collections."

That's a very interesting quote, and right on the money. My Ex and I never merged our books or albums.

What are some ways people organize their books? I'm thinking about organizing mine sometime soon.

I've thought about arranging books by color, but many of the spines don't have a predominant cover, at least not with the book jacket. Maybe this says something about the taste level of what I read, but whatever. I arrange books by size: paperback vs. hardback, college textbooks etc; by genre; and by author/series.

I wouldn't mind being able to pick and choose among classics to buy in matching leather aqua colors but I wouldn't want an entire set of books I'd never read or refer to just because they match.

I read my books.

I do, however, own an oven ... a non-working facade would be just as useful and could be dressed up real fancy-like.