This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:
Do you have enough shelves for all your books?
This is one of those very important questions that any book hoarder collector has to ask themselves regularly. Possibly frequently. As the meme says, it’s not a matter of too many books, it’s not enough shelves.
We have shelves in almost every room of the house–and one hallway. Some of these shelves could be replaced by taller versions. Some could be filled more efficiently/to greater capacity. Nevertheless, we’re running out of places for shelves. This is going to be a problem–possibly as soon as 2026.
But right now? I do happen to have enough space for my books and a little room to grow. This is not a phenomenon that I’m all that familiar with, honestly. But I’m enjoying it. There’s a bookcase that serves as my physical TBR stack (with a shelf of “you need to write about these soon”), a few Non-Fiction cases, more Fiction cases, a couple that are for my wife’s books, a little bench/shelf unit for the grandchildren’s books. The TBR unit is overflowing (sadly), the Non-Fiction has a little room for growth, the Fiction cases are really close to filling, but my wife’s cases are in real danger of hitting the limit. Oh, I’ve got a couple of those corner shelf units, too. They’re not bad, but not particularly large or helpful–I think I could fit a handful onto one of them. The grandchildren’s shelves are about half full–so that’s promising.
Okay, thinking about it in those terms make me think I have less breathing-room than I initially thought. 2026-me definitely has a problem, and had better start coming up with some solutions.
Remember, as the meme/tshirt/poster says:
How about you, reader? Do you have enough shelf space?
Carol
Sadly, I lovingly re-homed all my physical books and read entirely digitally these days. I miss my books like I miss dear friends who’ve moved away..,but…my daughter and grandson moved in with us and we gave up two bedrooms, one of which was my library. My favorite thing to do at someone else’s house is pursue shelves!
HCNewton
Sounds like it was for a worthy cause, but man…that’d be tough.