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Bookcase Showcase: Clover from Fluttering Butterflies

Hello all! Thank you to Kirsty for having me here today!  I'm Clover from Fluttering Butterflies (http://www.flutteringbutterflies.com) and I'm a little nervous showing you all my books, actually.  Kirsty's shelves are all so tidy and mine really, really aren't!  No judgement, right? :) Please excuse the terrible quality photos, I was using my camera phone in really poor lighting conditions! 





I'm going to start with the neatest bunch of books first and work my way down to the messiest.  This is what my bedside table currently looks like.  The stack of books there are always changing.  What I like to do is make a shortlist of books I'd like to read next (including books sent to my for review, books I've borrowed through friends or UK book tours or just other books I'd like to read in the near future) and this pile of books can change on a daily basis depending on my mood.  What you can also see there are my university textbooks and my (precious) blogging notebook, where I keep all of my to-do lists, blog ideas and schedules for the month. 



Next up, we have this little bookcase that sits in the middle of my stairs.  It's the home to a combination of both old photo albums as well as my really large collection of Robert Sabuda pop-up books.  Having two small children in the house, I really needed to find some place where grubby little hands couldn't destroy my beloved pop-up books and that place seems to be on my stairs. Go figure.  Sadly, I'm running out of space, and if you squint, you can probably see the zebra skin drum sitting next to the bookcase.  The drum is where I'd normally keep my library books and behind the drum, there are yet more Robert Sabuda books!  I really need to find a bigger place to house these books. 



 Now we're into the garage, where my main bookcases are held.  My two boys always keep a stack of picture books on their bedside tables in each of their rooms (with the eldest having his own little box of books that N made for him) as well as books in the living room.  In the garage, we keep everything else and rotate these books on a regular basis.  Every time new books come out, the boys feel like it's Christmas and their birthdays all rolled into one!  I must admit, only some of these books are from mine and N's childhoods that we'd like to pass on and the majority were bought especially for them. 

There is a small amount of order here - the picture books are grouped together, the board books together. Books by the same author (Dr Suess, Roald Dahl) try to share the same space.  There's a bunch of books on that top shelf of story collections.  I don't know if you can see, but piled in front of this bookcase is an overflow stack of my YA books that need to be taken up to the loft.


Opposite the children's bookcase are my two main bookcases.  I have to share with N and there is precious little space here, so forgive the almighty mess of it all!  This picture shows the top three shelves of the left bookcase.  The top shelf are my adult books that haven't yet been read.  They were once in alphabetical order, but I keep pulling books out and putting them in different piles.  You'll see another book shelf dedicated to adult books below.  There are so many of them that it is absolutely necessary to double stack.  All of these books are unread.  I keep the books that I have read in my loft and my loft is so unbearably messy that I refuse to show photos of it!!

The same goes for the two YA shelves below that.  I usually do alphabetise books, but when I make my shortlists of books I'd like to read, I generally pull a lot of books off the shelves and put them into these piles.  The two piles on the right handside of these shelves are two shortlisted piles of books that I've created but which didn't make it to my bedside table!  The pile on the left-hand side don't fit on the shelves and are double-stacked with some borrowed books on top (to make sure I remember that I have them!). 


I'm going to skip ahead now and show you my messiest photo.  Remember, these shelves are in my GARAGE where I keep a lot of rubbish that doesn't belong anywhere else.  So a lot of crap does end up on my shelves.  This photo is actually taken in such a way that you don't see the mounds of debris in front of the bookcases all lined up in bags and ready to be given to charity/the dump.  On these shelves are mostly reference books.  Some non-fiction books, some of N's computer books. Some fancier looking books that other people have given us.  One of the great collections of books that N has accumulated over the years is a great collection of fairy tales/myths from different countries and cultures that I'd love to explore on my blog sometime.  You can barely see them, but on the right-hand side, I have the entire Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon as well as the Spook's Apprentice books by Joseph Delaney, both of which I won in blog giveaways. 


And finally, here is a photo of my 'Overspill shelves'  That top shelf are more adult books, double-stacked (with no real order).  The second shelf is a dedicated N shelf, where he keeps his few books.  I've barged in and used some of his space to keep my hardback books.  (And some Sesame Streed DVDs apparently!)  Behind the Outlander books, the LOTR books are some of my childhood hardbacks, most notably my Frances Hodgson Burnett collection.

Other places in the house which contain books?  The kitchen has an entire shelf dedicated to cookbooks, the spare room upstairs (where the main computer lives) where I always keep a few different stacks of books, to the great annoyance of my husband and the loft, which I've mentioned is where I keep the books that I've already read.  I have a great many books up there, some of which will remain in my permanent collection (signed books, much loved books, childhood favourites) as well as those which I've read and will no longer read again for which I will eventually giveaway or donate to my local library. 

And, I think that's it!  I hope you've enjoyed seeing my collection of books! 

Comments

Mel said…
I like cluttered shelves - it makes it seem like they're actually used and not just for display! Afterall books are meant to be read not just looked at! I love that you encourage your boys to read - get them while they are young! :)
KelliumSims said…
I agree with Mel :) Clutter bookcases look awesome. It's always a heack of a lot more impressive than one that is over worked on.

Your camera phone is pretty good by the way, mine is a lot worse :p
Carmen said…
Yep mine look like that too! But I only have one book shelf and I have to share that with the OH so books are starting to stack on the floor. With so little space it's rare a book gets 'keeper' status so they either are giveaways on my blog, donated, sold to fund more book buys or swapped.

So jealous of all your shelves *g*
haha! 2 out of my 5 book shelves look as cluttered as yours and l love both tidy and cluttered shelves! =)
So many books
Sarah said…
I'm glad I'm not the only one with ridiculous amounts of clutter on my bookshelves :o) I wish I could have neat and tidy shelves like some people do but I doubt it will ever happen LOL. It looks like you have a fantastic collection of books though - I'd love to come & raid your library!
Jules said…
I always love being nosy about where people write or keep there books. It looks like you have some great shelves with some excellent books!:D

Jules
Yay, bookshelves which look like they're being used (and can I say I think they're more organised than mine!)

Great post :D
Kat Salazar said…
Yay crowded bookcases! If I get any more paperbacks stacked into my house I'll have to sleep outside!
I'm with the rest of you, YAY for crowded bookshelves.

Thanks for being so nice everyone :) And thanks to Kirsty for having me!