I have a bit of a problem, and I’m not sure what it says about the rest of my life: I have an extremely messy bookcase. No matter how often I try and tidy it, it always seems to revert back to its original state.
As you can see here, everything is chucked around and in messy piles. This is mainly due to YALC, where I had to uproot everything to take to signings, and also for photographing book hauls and other posts. It makes me cringe to look at it! No matter how hard I try, it’s still a state.
Here is the reality: I cringe every time someone breaks the spine of a book, but I treat my books no better. There are many types of book cruelty, and I’ve cried out many a time because of fallen books from my shelves. Please, just take me to book jail now… I don’t think there’s any hope for me!
Every now and again, I have a very good tidy up and weed the books I don’t want anymore from my shelves, and pretty up the ones I do want to keep. How long does it stay pretty? A week, maximum. It frustrates me to no end, but I can’t seem to stop.
So what am I going to do to try and stop this dreadful behaviour?
I’m going to put each book I take out of my shelf back on as soon as I’ve finished with. No more books hanging about with no purpose!
I’ll be having a very big clean out this autumn of all the books I absolutely do not need to keep, and organising things properly, so they can easily be taken out of their slot and put back in without disturbing the other books.
The hardest one: I will stop buying multiple copies of books, and stop buying books I absolutely know I will not read. I love buying books, but there’s always a downside!
Are your shelves messy like mine, or do they have grace and finesse? Let me know!
I’m a sucker for gorgeous books, I really am. There’s obviously not a problem with this; I do tend to judge books by their covers before I read them, but sometimes something overcomes me and I need to buy more and more copies of books. One is never enough!
If you’ve watched any of my YouTube videos, or seen pictures of my bookcase, you may have noticed some of the multiple copies on my shelves. A question I’m frequently asked is: ‘Why do you have three copies of The Fault in Our Stars?’ That is a very good question indeed. My answer? I have no idea! I just can’t help myself. My first copy was the one I originally read, and I then found another copy in a charity shop for a very good price. I just couldn’t resist! And my final copy was my Grandma’s, which she no longer needed after reading it. I have a best copy, one to lend out, and one I shall be doing something with, which I will tell you all about in a future post.
Recently I also picked up two more of John Green’s books, which I have already read and loved. In my defence, they have been re-jacketed and the new editions are so beautiful and hug-worthy.
The Paper Towns on the left is the older edition, the right the latest. The differences between the two are striking, but I love them both. The earlier version incorporates the idea of the ‘paper towns’ on the maps, whereas I like the paper elements of the latest cover. Both really capture a core part of the book.
The older version of Looking for Alaska is on the left, the latest on the right. I prefer the latest because of it’s simplicity but also because it stands out so well. It’s also very shiny. I do really like the older version, but there’s just something about it that stops me from loving it unconditionally.
A problem I had when I got my new bookcase was if I would be able to fit all of my Stonewylde series into one ‘pod.’ Luckily, they all fit perfectly! This is the series I have the most copies of: in total I have –
3 copies of Magus of Stonewylde
2 copies of Moondance of Stonewylde
2 copies of Solstice at Stonewylde
2 copies of Shadows at Stonewylde
2 copies of Shaman of Stonewylde
The books are my favourite series and have a very special place in my heart. The first three books were originally self-published so have different covers and the content is a little different. I borrowed the first three from the library originally and then bought them when they were published by Orion afterwards, and then I found the first self-published book by chance and was gifted the second and third. The fourth book was originally published in hardback and I also bought it when it came out in paperback, and I have a best of the fifth, and another copy just because it’s my favourite. I’ve met the author, Kit Berry, twice now and so quite a few of my copies are signed, and I must re-read them all soon!
Finally we have the victims to my obsession… Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell!
I originally read an e-ARC in spring 2013 and it immediately became one of my favourite books, and then ordered the US hardback in November because I just couldn’t say no to myself. The US hardback is amazing, and I think I slightly prefer it to the UK paperback, although the paperback contains graphics from Noelle Stevenson, or Gingerhaze, who is behind the cover, and an interview with Rainbow Rowell and bonus Simon Snow content. The paperback is decoration, whereas I know I’ll definitely be re-reading from the hardback, or my e-ARC where I have colour coded everything.
Do you collect multiple copies of books? Let me know your collection below! If you don’t, why not?
