Isolation Organisation

Saturday dawned dreary and rainy and was also day five of my seven day isolation. I felt almost 100% better and I was bored so I had to find something to do. I got the brilliant idea to completely reorganise all the bookshelves in our bedroom to make it easier to find the books I want to read. So I just dove in and got started.  If books aren't your thing just skip this post entirely.

Some "in progress" photos of the job. The books in the top shelf on this small bookshelf did NOT have to move because six of the books are books I'm keeping because I will read and re-read them in the future, and the other two are books that I've read once but want to read one more time before I decide if they are staying or if I need to pass them on because I'm not going to read them again. 

Otherwise, I unloaded all the books onto the floor (as shown in the right hand photo) and got started with my ideas on how to better organise them.

Yes, these photos are basically the same... the left-hand photo taken with the camera on my phone and the right-hand photo taken with my DSLR camera. I use most of the shelves in my wardrobe/closet to store books as well. So I pulled all the books out of these shelves as well.

Two more "in progress" books, again one taken on my phone and one on my camera, showing my three bookshelves and the progress of this project.

This photo has me realising that my photos are out of "chronological" order - but such is life. This was the beginning of my "unloading" of the books from the shelves to the floor.

My organisation of the bookshelves in the wardrobe - and I LOVE that they are very deep because I can double shelve the books. So the back row on this first shelf contains all my Colleen McCullough books and my Bryce Courtnay books. It is WONDERFUL that I've been able to buy all these books at our local Salvation Army store for next to nothing. These books take me a LONG time to read hence why they can live in the back row as it will take me a long time to work through this row.

The front row of this shelf contains (mostly) other authors that I have numerous books of: Maeve Binchy, Kate Morton, Alexander McCall Smith and then a couple of random book that I didn't have room for elsewhere... My organisation ideas didn't work QUITE as smoothly as I hoped but as I read more books and pass them on, I'll have more room and can organise them a bit more.

The second shelf in the wardrobe is also doubled shelved - again because these are books that will take me awhile to work through so it isn't a huge drama that I can't see all the books all the time.

This shelf contains all my books that are autobiographies, biographies, or other true stories. I didn't actually realise how many of these books I own until I started this project and I'm now keen to read all these books.

There are only TWO books on this shelf (far right side) that may not stay. "Talk Before Sleep" and "Gifted Hands" as I may not be interested in reading them again. I have to think about them for awhile though (and possibly re-read them both) before I make my final decision.

The final shelf in the wardrobe contains our classics or near classics. Some of these books on this shelf have already been read and others haven't. It is quite possible this shelf will end up double shelved as well as I have classics currently housed on different shelves in other parts of the house - usually because we are going to read them soon - and once we finish them they'll move here.

This shelf is the least accessible shelf in my bedroom and I had to think for a LONG time about what the best books would be to put here. I finally came up with the brilliant answer... the books that I've read to some combination of the boys that I won't read to Munchkin for at least a year or longer. Thus they don't need to be moved for awhile and it is fine for them to sit where I can't really reach them. There is still some space here and I will continue to add our Series of Unfortunate Events books and Harry Potter books as I finish reading them aloud.

The next few photos work from the bottom up of this bookshelf as the photo above is the bottom shelf and then I worked up from there.

The next shelf up contains books that are considered middle grade (or slightly older) books but that my boys haven't been interested in, or that I haven't read yet. Then there are three on the far right-hand side that don't quite fit this category... James Harriot's "Every Living Thing", "Christy" by Katherine Marshall (I've watched the television show but never read the book) and "The Hope" by Herman Wouk

The next shelf up contains my Christian books - so really "Christy" by Katherine Marshall should be on this shelf and it will move there when I have room. All of the books on this shelf were given to me by a dear, dear friend of mine. The two books on the far right side are books that she gave me (new) as gifts for a couple of birthdays. The rest of the books on this shelf were books that she owned and passed on to me when she moved house WAY back when I was pregnant with Munchkin. There are MANY other books she passed on to me that I have read and passed on to friends, and I've enjoyed all of them, so I'm looking forward to reading all of these as well.

Finally the top shelf of this bookshelf is a "reference" and "mixture" kind of shelf as you can plainly see that not everything on this shelf are books that you would read. On the left-hand side are some textbooks (math) that we'll need later in the year (Monkey only has two chapters left in his Year 7 maths book). The middle few books are information type books and then my David Gillespie books which I wouldn't read to any of the boys at this stage yet. The next three books are self-explanatory... and on the far right side of the shelf are my "notebook" of checklists and to-read book lists and some adult colouring books.

Finally we come to the short bookshelf that I use as a night-stand next to my bed. We'll start at the top with this bookshelf. I'm SO happy with how clean and tidy the top of this bookshelf is now. I had some other stuff here (boxes of stuff I am storing) and it just made it feel cluttered and messy to me. I'm SO much happier with this layout now. 

The NINE books to the right hand side of my water bottle are the books that I am currently reading. YES! I am reading nine books AT ONCE! There are lots of people who cannot fathom reading that many books at once, and admittedly this is stretching me at the moment, but I MUST read more than one book at once and I'm actually physically incapable of only reading ONE book at a time. I get bored reading just one book. I am not always in the mood for one book either so I need choices. I also may not always have the same amount of time to read each night and some books (Bryce Courtnay) have REALLY long chapters. I HATE stopping in the middle of a chapter so if I only have a small amount of time to read I need a book with much shorter chapters.

This is the ninth book that I've added very recently to my "currently reading" stack. I heard about the book in THIS podcast (click on the word THIS for the link) and asked a good friend of mine if she had read the book. She had, she said she loved it, and she highly recommended it for ANY family that reads aloud to their children. Sadly, my library doesn't have the book and isn't likely to order it and I mentioned this to her... and so the book magically appeared on my front veranda/porch yesterday afternoon and of COURSE I had to start it immediately.

I highly recommend this book to ANYONE who reads aloud to the children or knows they want to read aloud to their children in the future, or if you want to read aloud but don't know if you can. You CAN and should read aloud to your children - of ALL ages - and though I've only read the first chapter so far, I KNOW I'm going to love this book so much. I'm so thankful that my friend recommends great books to me AND spoils me occasionally by gifting me with some of them.

This next shelf down is likely to change quite frequently. On the left-side is my box set of the Anne of Green Gables books. I'm currently reading book #3 so I want the box set close to me so I can start the next book easily as I finish each one. Next (to the right of the Anne books) are my "self help" or "improvement" or "parenting" style books that I want to read. Finally, the remaining books are books that are authors I know and love and have read other titles by,  so I know the books will be enjoyable and easy to read.

Next shelf down is what I call my "book list" shelf. The books on this shelf are either titles that are on book lists, or are other books by an author that I've read from a book list. Most of these are either from Oprah's book list or Barack Obama's numerous book lists. I'm so excited to read all these books.

Finally, the bottom shelf of this "nightstand" bookshelf are my MUST KEEP (except possibly one) books that I will read and re-read through all the days left of my life. From left to right... the Narnia series (which I've read once to myself and once aloud to each boy), the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and finally, the Matilda Saga books by Jackie French. These are the books that I would run into the house if it is was fire to rescue and take with me!! 

The final book (on the far right side) MAY join the MUST KEEP books, or it may get passed on. I loved "Tara Road" when I read it the first time many MANY years ago.. but the fact that I've NEVER re-read it since tells me that I may not read it again.

In contrast, as I've already mentioned, I've read the Narnia series four times already, the Little House books numerous times as a child (and once aloud to the boys), ** side note I've had to replace my Little House box set because the set as I had as a child LITERALLY fell apart I read it THAT much ** and some books in the Matilda Saga have been read 8-9 times already and this series of books is my "escapist" set... the books I turn to when reality is just too difficult to deal with at the time. In hindsight I should have taken the first book of this series (the one I've read the most number of times) to the hospital with me when Munchkin had his appendicitis. I would have handled the stress and anxiety of the situation SO much better if I had!!

Finally, some AFTER shots of the area after I had completed my mammoth organising project. I'm pretty pleased with the result and my side of the bedroom looks really nice and tidy now. More importantly, my books are organised in such a way that it will be MUCH easier for me to choose a new book whenever I finish one of the nine I'm currently reading.

Two shots of the finished shelves in the wardrobe... DSLR camera on the left and phone camera on the right.