Book Shelf Tour 2019 // FAQ

It is that time of year again where I show you guys my shelves for the year! I seem to be enjoying myself much more than you all. This year things will go slightly different. Instead of the normal introduction I am starting with a FAQ which is this post. From there on out there will be the statistics again and only 4 parts.

Only 4 you say? Yes because I now have 4 shelves and with my normal divide that would mean 8 parts and I thought that was a bit too much. So in each post I’ll be dealing with one shelf. Which is a lot, I know but I don’t want to throw these posts at you for 3 months.

Stats > Part 1 > Part 2 > Part 3 > Part 4

As always these links will be updated once the post has been published.

Organization

How do you shelf your books? (From Inge @ Of Wonderland)
How do you prefer to organize your bookshelves? By genre, author, size, color.. (Jolien @ The Fictional Reader)
Do you order your books on genre or on how much you like them? (Anon)
Do you keep your TBR books separate? (Anon)

These are all kind of the same question so I am grouping them together to be answered as one. I mix a few organization ways. I shelf by author, format, size and the read status.

I try to keep most unread books seperate but they don’t all fit in the TBR book shelf so there are a few scattered elsewhere. I also like to keep all my classics and Discworld books together so there are unread books in there as well.

My read books I order by hardcovers and paperbacks and then by size. However I also have one shelf with mix matched series that I didn’t want to break up. I also have contemporary, mystery and the like on one shelf. And there are a few authors/series who have their own shelf or half-shelf like Harry Potter, Rick Riordan, Terry Pratchett, Jonathan Stroud, The Others and The Realm of the Elderlings.

So basically nobody understands my shelving but me haha.

How do you feel about rainbow shelves? (Anon)

I think they look great. So pretty and colourfull. I don’t think I could ever get away with it though. Getting all the colored spines properly together would probably frustrate me too much.

Does Merijn have his own shelf? (From Inge @ Of Wonderland)

Yes he does. There is half a wide billy shelf that has a bunch of his picture books downstairs up as far as he can reach at the moment. Higher up are a few dvd’s Roald Dahl and other middle grade books I bought for him that I want to read first. Such good reasoning to buy books for.

Editions and Formats

What’s a book or edition of a book you’re still dying to have? (From Inge @ Of Wonderland)

I’m not sure I am dying to have any specific edition. But I do like the collector’s editions of Six of Crows and Shades of Magic. I just can’t quite justify them to myself at the moment. I also would like to have some more Barnes and Noble leatherbound books and some other classic editions.

What book is your proudest possession? (From Inge @ Of Wonderland)

Hmm proudest. That is hard. I think I am just super happy to have my signed hardcover book of The Golem’s Eye. But also with the pretty hardcover of Uprooted because very soon after I got mine it became out of print.

Which do you own more of: English books or Dutch books? (Jolien @ The Fictional Reader)

I think I own more English books but they aren’t that far apart.

How precise are you when it comes to series; do all books have to be the same format? (Anon)

I’d love that but sometimes I just (pre)order the wrong edition and I can’t justify returning it just because it turns out to be the wrong edition. Doesn’t mean I am not forever sad that they don’t match. I always tell myself that once I work again and have all the money I will replace those books. But when I had a job I never did haha.

Book Buying and Unhauling

Do you keep every book you buy, or do you also unhaul books? (From Anon)

I do unhaul books. Not as much or as often as others but I try to at least at the start of every year and before I do my bookshelf tour since I go through every book again.

No matter how large or small our homes are, we eventually run out of space for new bookshelves; so my question is… how close are you to being at the bookshelves saturation point, and how do you see it affecting your book buying? (La La in the Library)

I still have room. There are still shelves upstairs, also in Merijn’s room where I could move around or still unhaul more books. There are a bunch of children’s books that I haven’t gotten rid off just to see if Merijn has any interest in them. If he doesn’t then I am sure a bunch will be leaving the house.

At some point however I will have to make more decisions regarding whether or not I buy a physical book or an ebook. Right now I heavily lean towards physical books but in the future I do think that will change. I just haven’t gotten down what kind of books I would buy as ebooks and what kind of books I’d want to keep physical.

Where do you buy the majority of your books? (Jolien @ The Fictional Reader)

It used to be at the Dutch retail site Bol but in the last 2 years I have been making an effort to buy more at physical book stores whenever we visit them which is something that husband tries to avoid.

Do you keep books you didn’t care for on your shelves because of pretty covers? (from Anon)

I used to but I am getting better at letting books go. I just cannot keep every book.

Misc.

Do you own more read or unread books? (Jolien @ The Fictional Reader)

I own more read books. Go me!

Any books that you bought because of the covers, without knowing ANYTHING about the book itself? (Kathy @ Pages Below the Vaulted Sky)

Oh hmm that is a hard one. Honestly, as a book blogger it is so hard to find books that you haven’t heard anything about. Because there is always something that you’ve heard. A few years ago I purchased The Mysteries. The cover intrigued me and a quick glance at the synopsis interested me. That was all I knew. I did enjoy the story though I have since unhauled it.

How many unread books do you have? (From Anon)

Ah 240+