With a new office space comes new organization

As the kids and I are getting organized and settled into our new apartment, I'm excited about setting up my new office space. Along with that, I'll be happy to get all my books from my mom's house and put them in my new home.

I've always organized my bookshelves alphabetically by the author's (or editor's) last name. It's worked well, and I've always been able to find the books I need when I need them. But now I'm going to have a lot more books. Not a scary amount, but a lot. So I'm faced with the decision of how to organize the books on the shelves. Do I continue with the tried-and-true alphabetized by author method, or shall I venture into the more library-y* method of organization. I'm considering keeping my novels alphabetized by author, then breaking everything else into categories (anthologies, poetry/plays, non-fiction) and alphabetizing within those categories.

What do you think? How are your books organized at home? (Or at work, for that matter....)












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*I like to add "y" to random words to transform them into descriptors. It works. It may be awkward sometimes (like library-y), but I'm a writer, so I claim I can do it.

Personal Libraries: what do your bookshelves say about you?

One of my personal goals over the next few months is to get more organized, particularly in my home office area. We have a baby coming this spring, and I want to get as much done before she arrives as I can.

Image: Paul / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As part of my office re-organization, I'm taking a critical look at the books I have, and deciding what I can donate or pass on to someone else. ::coughcough::RogerHall::coughcough:: I have lots of books I love and refer back to often, but do I really need to keep that book that I hated so much I could barely finish? Probably not.

So as I was looking at the titles lined up behind my desk (alphabetically by author's last name, of course), I realized that what I have tells you something about me: my reading tastes. (All the more reason to get rid of books I don't like, I suppose.)

As the book world moves more into the digital age and libraries are concealed on screens, I think it's even more important to be aware of the physical books you have. After all, people may or may not make judgments about you based on what they see on your shelves. Think about it a moment. If you look at a bookshelf lined with Norton Anthologies and texts on literary theory, your thoughts of that person will likely be different from someone who has every title by James Patterson and Janet Evanovich.*

Like it or not, people have opinions about books, and when they see you with a particular book, they're likely to attach that opinion to you, as well. If you see someone with a book by an author you admire, how would you interact with that person? Especially in comparison to seeing a book by an author you consider a hack?

Now, as I say this, I know there are people in this world who have books simply because they want to create a particular image of themselves. (Yes, I'm talking to someone who has a copy of Anna Karenina and Moby Dick but hasn't read them and never plans to. You know who you are and what I think of you.) I'm not of the mind that you should only own books you've read (what would be the point?), but I also think you should be honest in your purchasing.

Writers are artists, and by buying their books, you're telling people you support their work. Whose work do you want to support? Whose art do you want displayed in your home?

Since Hubby and I are still getting our new apartment sorted and arranged (and lots of my books are still at my mother's house), most of my titles are about writing (freelancing, creative writing, AP stylebook, etc.), as well as A. S. Byatt and Jasper Fforde. I don't know what, exactly, that says about me.

What are your prominent titles? What books will you never part with? What books would you be glad to be rid of? What do your bookshelves say about you?

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*no judgment here

Waiting by the door....

I ordered a copy of Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau (translated by Barbara Wright) last week. According to the handy-dandy UPS tracker, the package is on its way from Altamonte Springs to my front door.

Where I am waiting. Refreshing the UPS tracker every few minutes, and watching the dog for her reaction to hearing a truck driving down the street.

Another Small Shop Says Goodbye

Anyone remember the movie You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan? It was sort of a modernized Sleepless in Seattle, in which Ryan's character owns a little children's book shop that's being threatened by the recent opening of a large discount book store owned by the family of Hanks's character. It was that literature element that drew me into the movie (and the adorable golden retriever!).

It made me sad that Ryan's book shop was closing. I love little hole in the wall book shops with loyal customers, comfy couches, and the distinct smell of old paper, ink, and furniture polish. And as much as I was saddened by the story of the shop closing, I thought it was just something that happened in movies and stories to get people like me all riled up.

Unfortunately, in this case, art imitates life.

Business and Pleasure

Dana Hunter checking in here... I've been a horrible slacker lately, and I don't even have a new baby as an excuse. Okay, granted, The Stench from the new memory foam mattress topper was keeping me up nights for a while there, but it didn't have to be fed every two hours... And while I'm out of shape, a two-mile hike to Franklin Falls isn't enough to justify terminal laziness afterward. Did take a while to sort through the 100+ photos, though.

Further excuses? I've got 'em! In celebration of Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, I'm actually reading the Origin. Put it like this: if you survived Charles Dickens and you like science, the Origin's easy reading. It continually astonishes me how much Darwin was able to figure out even though genetics, plate tectonics, radiometric dating, and all of the other incidental extras that support evolution weren't even a glimmer on the horizon. Those 19th century scientists were no fools. And they wrote beautifully.

Speaking of writing beautifully, I'm also in the midst of Marcia Bjornerud's Reading the Rocks. I didn't intend to be. I was saving it for later, but one night when my elderly laptop was coming online at its usual glacial pace I picked the book up to peruse the introduction - and I am lost inside. She's not only an informative writer whose prose flows like water over Franklin Falls, she's snarky. I am a sucker for snark.

Go to your bookstore. Read the Prologue. We'll see how many of you manage to walk out without buying the book afterward. If you've ever wanted a fun, easy and accurate primer on geology, darlings, this is it.

Those are just a few of my many excuses. But enough about me. Let's talk about you.

Specifically, let's talk about all those times you've wondered if you could make some bucks through blogging. DarkSyde at Daily Kos knows exactly where you're coming from:

You’re returning home from Netroots Nation 2009 all fired up, or maybe you couldn’t afford to go this year, and the thought enters your mind: wouldn’t it be great if I could get paid, just a little, to support or justify my blogging habit? The reality is there are millions of blogs out there, the vast majority receive precious little attention, let alone enough page visits to interest advertisers. But don't let that stop you. The demand for quality online content is growing and the medium is still in its infancy.

Okay, so maybe you weren't coming from Netroots Nation or ever planning to go, or have no earthly idea what Netroots Nation is, but it doesn't matter. All of us have had our moments where we've wondered if all this blathering on blogs could really pay off. DarkSyde has some good suggestions that any blogger can use, even those who haven't got a political bone in their bodies.

All work and no play, etc. etc. So let's have some fun. If you've ever attempted to read The Brothers Karamazov, you'll appreciate the Onion's announcement:

LOS ANGELES—Executives at Paramount Pictures announced Monday that production had finally wrapped on The Brothers Karamazov, a new film adaptation that concludes at the precise moment most readers give up on the classic Russian novel.

The 83-minute film, which is based on the first 142 or so pages of Fyodor Dostoevsky's acclaimed work, has already garnered attention for its stunning climax, in which the end credits suddenly appear midway through Katerina's tearful speech about an unpaid debt.

"We are very excited to be able to bring several chapters of this timeless masterpiece to the big screen," Paramount CEO Brad Grey said of the movie, which was shot, on and off, for two years. ...

Heh. Kind of makes me want to read Crime and Punishment again...

Right, then, it's out of the cafe and back in to the cantina for me. While I'm tending bar, feel free to share snippets from the books currently occupying your attention. Or share your favorite excuses for avoiding serious work. We've all got 'em!

Book Commercials

Have you seen the intensely dramatic commercials for books by authors like James Patterson?  Usually, when I see a new one, I first think it's a commercial for a new movie or television show.  Don't believe me?  Check this out:

Yeah.  I know.

I haven't decided how I feel about commercials for books.

There's part of me that thinks it's pretty cool.  (Can you imagine seeing your book advertised on TV?)  And it could be a great way to get a name out there that may not be picked up off the bookshelves as quickly.

Then again, I've only seen commercials for James Patterson.  Not up-and-coming writers.  I'm sure there's logic in that--they have the budget to put the commercials together--but where does that leave other writers?  Can someone less known, like Simon Read, compete with the commercials put out by the Patterson people?  (Incidentally, I'd love to see a commercial by the Read people!)  And what can other writers do to combat the attention drawn by these commercials?

Generally, more people watch TV regularly than read regularly.  So perhaps the Patterson people are simply reaching out to a wider demographic.  Perhaps more in the publishing industry will begin to follow this trend, and will even the playing field a bit.

On the other hand, I've been hearing bad news coming from the industry lately, so I don't know that something like this is really feasible for many writers/publishers/agents.

What do you think about these commercials?  Do they make you want to read Patterson?  Do they make you want to avoid Patterson?  Whose commercial would you like to see, and why?

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Photo source

Off the Page and onto the Screen

One of my favorite children's books is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.  There were many times during childhood I wanted to escape my bedroom to a wilder place.  Sendak's story let me do that.  As a child, all I had to do was flip through the pages of the book and I didn't have to think about school or annoying siblings or anything else.  For a brief time, I was free to be wild with only the limits of my imagination.

And now, to bring me back to my childhood, as well as inspire the wild child in all of us, Where the Wild Things Are is hitting the big screen!  I'm ecstatic about this, and can't wait to see what modern film technology can do with a story about a boy's imagination.

I don't know about you, but on October 16th, I'll be in line for the adventure!