Thursday, December 22, 2005
Going OCD On Books
Partly because a couple times recently I couldn’t find books, and partly because I couldn’t work at my desk due to the smoke (we determined for a fact that major leakage comes into my office, independent of the kitchen, because when I closed the door for a little while, it became so bad the smoke was visible), I went all OCD last night and attacked the book organizing project. I’ve kept resisting the compulsion to do it.
Then I got deeper into it than planned.
So it is that the top of the tall bookcase nearest my desk holds a stack of Greg Bear, a row of Robert Jordan and Vernor Vinge, and a stack of Ayn Rand (who will probably have to move because I know I didn’t find all hers yet and the stack is more than tall enough already). The top shelf is all Terry Pratchett and some Jeffrey A. Carver, with a few Spider Robinson and Rick Cook stacked on top. I’ve also stacked duplicates on top. For instance, we have 25 Pratchetts, but 5 are duplicates, including two spare copies of The Light Fantastic. Don’t ask me. The second shelf down is Tad Williams and James P. Hogan, with a few Terry Goodkind tentatively stacked on top. Tentatively because I thought I had more than four, and even those four are thick. Of 20 Hogans, there are 4 duplicates, 2 of which are The Proteus Operation, which is one of my all time favorite books. Third shelf down is Jack L. Chalker, Arthur C. Clarke, and Allen Steele. Hmmm… I just realized I have been at conventions with five of the authors I’ve mentioned, talked with two of them, and in the case of Hogan, been responsible for his being at the convention. Also, these are only paperbacks I’ve sorted. I have hardcovers by some of these authors.
Anyway, another of the tall bookcases in my office now has a shelf full of Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, and Zenna Henderson. Heinlein rates 32 books, with 9 duplicates. Yeesh.
Another tall bookcase in the office now has a shelf of Larry Niven and/or Jerry Pournelle, Ben Bova, David Brin, and Gregory Benford. On top of the row I have stacked some Gordon Dickson and two of the three (the other is around here somewhere) books in the Tripods trilogy by John Christopher. Which seems to be perpetually rumored to be getting filmed.
In the bedroom I so far have all Piers Anthony across part of the combined top shelf, and have C.J. Cherryh segregated. I have started stacking Anne McCaffrey and Isaac Asimov to go in there, as there is already a concentration on those shelves. A lot of Robin Hobb is in a box in the bedroom, so I started adding other Hobbs to that to organize it. In the office I have preliminary piles of Kim Stanley Robinson, Orson Scott Card, David Eddings, Frederik Pohl, James Patterson, and Christopher Stasheff. On the antique bookcase, I moved around the Michael Chrichton so it would all be adjacent, but haven’t combed the place to see if there’s more to move there.
A good start. Most of the major names and favorites of mine are segregated, subject to finding books I missed seeing, and organizing hardcovers too.
This isn’t as OCD as it could be. I’ve been known to shelve everything alphabetically by author. And then sometimes by title. I did put some series together, and even in publication order, but that’s as far as I went.
There you have it, a great post for inspiring discussion of compulsions, books and authors, and even how you shelve your books. Have at the comments.