I recently painted my office. I had to move all the books off the bookshelves and everything out of the room.
Furniture is starting to move back into the office. Book shelves first. Now the books. Now the organizing of the books.
I have a strong sense that I should organize the books. I like to keep it simple. Start with basic genres, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama. That’s as sophisticated as I get. Alphabetical within genre.
Half way through the sorting I begin to think that organizing all this really sucks: partially because I can barely remember the order in which the alphabet progresses and partially because I’d rather do anything in the world other than organize. I often think it would be preferable just to give the stuff away than to struggle with organizing.
I like things that are organized. I just don’t want to do it. I would have made a lousy librarian.
I just wonder why I dislike organizing so much. Maybe I don’t like it because I’m so bad at it and it takes way more mental energy than I think it should. But I really think it’s about time. Time spent doing anything but that, even if that something is doing nothing, or as I like to all it, just being, is time better spent.
Time is priority. Priority is time.
Or is it my minimalism? Less possessions less organizing. Or did the dislike of organizing create the minimalism? The chicken and the egg here. I suppose deep analysis of origins here isn’t entirely necessary.
I can purge almost anything but books. Good thing I acquire books at the rate I read, which is very slow.
Fortress of Dissolitude 
Reblogged this on andrewgodsell and commented:
Books and organisation
Joe, I would gladly sort your books out in exchange for you sorting out my mounds of paper! 🙂 Mind you I would probably get sidetracked and begin reading here and there. Why is it there is always something that we detest organising. We would rather walk around it, over it than heaven forbid sort through it. Avoidance. A word that seems to stick to me no matter how hard I try to shake it off. V
Avoidance is right on. I think I need to look into that more.
I really don’t think you want me to sort your papers. I file away my tax returns and receipts in paper bags.
Ha 🙂
My books arent really shelved in any organised manner but I still know where to find what I want! I do have some divisions but nothing too ABC! Unfortunately I keep buying books and dont get around to reading them all.
There is nothing wrong with that. Buying books isn’t always about reading them all. For me it’s about having the right book at the right time. That’s what I tell myself.