I did this to all my parents’ bookshelves when I was about 8. For the next 45 years they blamed me every time they couldn’t find a book.
“I’d like to buy a book, please” “What are you interested in?” “A blue one!”
My wife does this to our books and it drives me nuts.
- “Where’s The Art of War?”
- “It’s in the black section”
One year her mom and I reordered them by author last name while she was away on a work trip. Took her 5 seconds upon returning home to notice it was different and she was furious.
Put yourself in her shoes. If she derives joy from a colorful sorting of the books, it’s likely any other sorting would cause some annoyance/anguish (however minor). She would feel this way each time she laid eyes on the bookshelf.
On the other hand, a colorful sorting would only negatively affect you when you are actively looking for a book. I’m guessing that’s far less often than she merely looks at the bookshelf.
A compromise could be that she sorts the books by color and then by authors name. Not the most efficient sorting method for finding books, but would save a considerable amount of time compared to no author name sorting at all.
Edit: alternatively, a quick Google image search of the book name would tell you all you need to know to quickly find it in a colorful sorting.
it’s ridiculous and insane.
I know, right. It’s crazy to me that people need to actually read the spine of a book they own in order to know what it is. Like, don’t you know exactly what it looks like? It’s your book. In a personal library, it makes sense to group books by how similar they look.
In a personal library, it makes sense to group books by how similar they look.
you do you, crazy man. keep telling yourself this shit makes sense lol
Or book jackets. That’s what I’d do. Gives an opportunity for creative outlet, too!
This is the smartest solution. Order and aesthetics simultaneously!
On the other hand, a colorful sorting would only negatively affect you when you are actively looking for a book.
No, unfortunately, it would remind me every time that I looked at it that I had somehow married someone who thought this was acceptable.
“Meh, who ‘reads’ books? It’s pretty!”
Store shelver probably.
“The books are all broken, none of them connect to social media.”
One of my favorite stories is from 2011:
“A magazine is an iPad that does not work.”
That baby is now 13, maybe 14 years old.
At least 14, maybe 15 - because it was 1 just a bit over 13 years ago (I’m sure if the baby was nearly 2, it would’ve been labeled as such)
They just focus on the dollar value
Reminds me of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMGJLZDLpUg
mildly satisfying and infuriating at the same time!
Wildly Satisfuriating.
My life IRL
This is a far more rational order than the chaos that is our bookshelves:
And that is after significant weeding.
We did try with the paperbacks, but we decided “fuck it” after a while.
Putting the wooden doll up one shelf with the other humanoid figures would be a good start.
It took me a while to figure out what you were talking about. That’s not even supposed to be there. That’s my daughter’s. I have no idea why she decided to put it there apart from the aforementioned “fuck it.”
I might be weird, but I like the look of a full but chaotic bookshelf.
Nothing like drinking a hot tea on a stormy afternoon and curling up with a good book of orange!
A nice blue book on a hot days is quite refreshing
Wait until your mood turns dark.
Perhaps a forbidden and zesty dark purple tome.
Finally! Something mildly infuriating!
Interior design suppliers let you place orders like “6 feet of purple books.”
One of the last renovation shows I watched just put the books backwards for a “clean look”
Wait what? Can you even do that? A clean look? What!?
Most designers are from over function.
I just looked at that books by the foot website and their example of reversed books is really gross looking. I’d rather have all white books than have them reversed. It just looks closer and gross.
Booksbythefoot
Could it be… Aesthetics?
baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarfffff
I think that is mildly satisfying. To be fair: I haven’t seen a single book shop sorting the books alphabetical. A book shop isn’t a library.
I’ve never seen a place selling books not have them organized alphabetically! They might not be libraries but they have an interest in their customers being able to find what they’re looking for
Sorted by genre, then alphabetically.
Yup, just like a library
But you can’t deny they’re not libraries.
no, they’re in the business of selling BOOKS, not swatches of colour for the fuckin’ shelf.
"Hi I’m looking for a copy of HG Wells’ “The Time Machine”
“what colour is it?”
“ah. nevermind. fuck this place.”
A book shop isn’t a library.
I don’t get what you mean by this. Customers can go into both looking for something specific or seek out a particular author. If there’s no logical ordering how can customers find what they’re looking for?
i love it. searching through old books at a resale shop is a great setting for randomness to explore
I’m in the mood to read something orange today.
What’s an Op Shop?
It looks like a charity shop that I would see around here. They also organise clothes by colour which makes more sense but still, I’m only looking for my size and in a charity shop the clothes are all random so availability is more important.
An Op Shop is Australasian slang for a thrift store/charity shop. Not to be confused with Opshop, a New Zealand rock band formed in 2002.
It’s apparently what they call a thrift store in Australia and New Zealand. They sell used goods for charity.
It’s a shortening of opportunity shop
