Please settle an argument, am I odd?

[sashh]

So my carer has just come into my office and made a remark about my 'eclectic' book collection.

I responded that they are organised by Dewey-decimal system.

He claim this is odd.

In order not to drip feed my cookery books are in the living room and in spine colour order and fiction is kept on my kindle.

I do not think I am odd. I think it is completely sensible to have text books organised this way.

Books (and we have 1000 s in our house, due to both being book worms, both have had several different academic careers, have vastly different hobbies and outside interests, and both being over 60)

are arranged by DD in the study, the sitting room and dining room, but a few shelves are arranged in a different way in our respective bedrooms, usually there are shelves of unread books which are there in the order of when either of us got given them.

Or, my personal bedroom main bookshelf is arranged by favourite author, in order of timeline of the story, rather than than DD or publication date.

Once read, they are catalogued in DD, and shelved in the appropriate place, elsewhere.

It's how libraries do it, for a reason. It works!

OP, you are not odd! You do you, and it is fine

Oh I love the way PerspicaciousGreen organises her books. I have all my reference/non fiction in sections - cook books in the kitchen, garden books in the conservatory, music books and scores in the case by the piano, etc etc. Fiction is meant to be alpha by author but atm we are moving shelves around so they're all just where there's a space, or in piles on the floor/up the stairs/anywhere there's floor space.

No love for LC?

I’m finding this thread strangely intriguing. I’d love to see your book shelves! Any photos? I’ve always thought it would be nice to have a hone library, but I just rarely buy/use books now.

I have a big collection of children’s fiction and non fiction in my classroom. Fiction is by author name, non-fiction has a simple DD system.

I don’t have many books at home though. I have some lovely vintage sewing/embroidery/knitting type reference books in my study that I inherited from a family friend who knew I would like them. I must admit, I like the idea of them more than anything and rarely open them because the internet is quicker when I need to know something. I also have a handful of academic/teaching books in there; but I rarely open them as they’re now quite outdated and the online libraries are far more effective and relevant.

DH has a couple of cases of assorted books he barely touches, (I think they’re mostly sentimental value) in his study. Occasionally he might buy a nice art/photography book. We have a guide book section in there too, most of them become outdated a couple of years after the holiday, but I like the ritual of getting a guidebook when booking a trip and we seem to just hold on to them.

I have about 20 cook books in the kitchen. I love a cookery book, these do get used regularly.

When I first left home, I rarely kept fiction books after reading because I didn’t have space. Now, I could probably find some space if I wanted, but we’re both now in the Kindle habit and actually it’s much more convenient.

Why is it odd? How does your carer think people find books in libraries?

I guess it's unusual to arrange your books like a library would. Most people would just group things that were similar together without considering exactly how - the books belong to them so they know what they have. It was rude of him to say it was odd though.

@Andylion

No love for LC?

I did study it at library school, but it seemed much less flexible and intuitive than Dewey.

Ours are in rough collections, non fiction divided into travel, cookery, art, biographies, crime, those related to our areas of study/work, then a fiction bookcase. Within each category they are alphabetised by author surname and by book title within that, DS has a bookcase in his room organised the same way and a small push along truck come bookcase downstairs which is basically just organised by character, Paddington, Thomas, Peter rabbit etc. DH thinks I'm a bit mental but does now appreciate being able to find the book he's looking for very easily.
I don't understand people who do it by colour or size, I don't think I want book x oh yes I remember it had a yellow spine I'll look in the yellow section. I suppose it depends how many books you have, we have hundreds so it's not a case of a quick glance at a shelf.

If you have a lot of books then it’s weird not to organise them so you can find what you’re looking for and DDS is totally valid for that. I find cross-genre spine colour organisation weird for this reason because it would be too hard to find anything. I have mine organised by genre and classics/literary fiction are in chronological order. I think it’s cool to look at the shelves and be able to see the development of literature from Homer to the present day.

Well I think you order books whichever way works for you. Saying someone's way of doing something is 'odd' is very rude IMO.

You asked, so my answer is, yes you are odd.

I arrange my non-fiction books by general subject matter and then by height.

Yep my carer does this, apparently that is not strange or odd,

@RustyBear I have found my people.

Just to answer a couple of questions there were a few words spoken between 'eclectic' and Dewey Decimal that I didn't think were relevant but they obviously were.

And yes my carer does know what eclectic means, as do I.

DD means my computer science books are no where near my maths books so if you don't know DD they can look as though they are not organised.

Neither if us were being rude, he regularly threatens to defenestrate me and I threaten him with making shortbread or hiding spam (long and not particularly funny unless you were there stories).

@emilyfrost

I think it’s odd. Most people don’t organise their books they just shove them on the bookshelf 🤷‍♀️

I'm obviously odd then - mine are alphabetised by author's surname then date of edition, so for example my M Atwoods all sit together as do my S Waters with their earliest first/ most recent last.

-surely this is normal?

A friend shelves hers by colour, now that's bonkers .

Ooos forgot to say YANBU. Because if you are, I am.

Nonfiction by subject, cooking in the kitchen if used a lot the rest are with non fiction, fiction by author and books I disliked are put the street shared library box/house thingy so they can find someone who doesn’t think they are a steaming pile of shit.

What sort of monster just shoves them on the shelf?

Your not odd OP, just know how to use a good library system.

Of course it isn't odd.

Tell him to keep his opinions to himself.

Dh organises his music by a star system.
So 5 stars he really loves and 1 he thinks are crap (or it’s mine so same thing to him)

His computer crap is stored in plastic storage bins by use and frequently of breaking.

His books are the ones with the pristine spines in the computer and sports shelf section.

Nope

I do not use the Dewey Decimal system, however, I do use a system that makes perfect sense to me. Furthermore, my fiction books are arranged according to genre, then sub-genre, and alphabetically by author. Series of books have a label. If I only collect one series by an author, it is a simple numbered label with the book's position in the series. If I collect more than one series by the same author, there is an abbreviation of the name of the series and the number of the book in that series.

I do this because there are over 1100 books in my home, and I add anywhere from 20-50 a month, generally on the lower end. Not to organize them would lead to madness and utter frustration.

LOL, I also have a library software system that tracks what I want, what I have, what I have and have not read of what I have, and if a book has been borrowed (who, and contact info), and when I expect it back.

If I had 50 books, I might think this unusual. With over 1100, it becomes necessity.

@BlueDahlia69

Nope

OH...must add...I ONLY keep books that I plan to reread at some point. The ones that I have read and don't like enough to read a second time, I donate. There is a local group that takes books to hospitals, convalescent centers and prisons.

DAMMIT...I quoted the wrong person! I meant to quote myself!

There's nothing wrong with organising your books. Mine are all in order too. I don't find it odd.

I had the dilemma of fiction and non -fiction too, to separate or not? In the end George Orwell decided it; I just couldn't do it - I love his non-fiction the same as his fiction, they have to stay together, they're a family :)