How do you organise your bookshelves? (by colour, alphabetically, height?)
There’s a part of me that would like to organise my ‘library’ by colour – and I do think it looks great when I see it in photos – but I can’t help feeling that isn’t treating books with the reverence they deserve! I tend to group all books by the same author together and have a separate shelf dedicated to my book club reads. (I probably shouldn’t admit quite how long it took me to decide whether an Anne Tyler book that was a book club pick should go with the other Anne Tylers or on the book club shelf!)
Do you keep books after you read them or do you read and give them away soon after?
I am not a hoarder by nature but I am terrible at getting rid of books! Ideally, I’d like to keep every book I’ve read and enjoyed – better get a bigger house! I am quite happy to lend books to friends though and am not too obsessive about whether I get them back. When I took these photos, for example, I noticed there’s only one Jonathan Tropper on the shelf even though I know I’ve read every book he’s ever written.
Do you collect series or do you prefer stand-alone novels?
I think I err towards stand-alone novels although I am a huge fan of Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie series.
Which author features the most on your bookshelf?
I would say Anne Tyler who I think is a total genius. But I’m a bit of an author fangirl and there are lots of people with whom I have a ‘you write it, I’ll read it’ relationship. Nick Hornby, Elizabeth Strout, Hilary Mantel, Curtis Sittenfeld… I could go on!
What are three books you currently have on your wish list
I’m not sure I can limit myself to three! I am totally atavistic when it comes to books and always have a teetering TBR pile. But if I must stick to three I’m going to plump for Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler (did I mention I quite like her writing?), Grown Ups by Marian Keyes (because Marian Keyes!) and The Love Square by Laura Jane Williams (because Our Stop was one of my favourite reads of last year).
