I don’t typically write columns that provoke angry mail because my skin is thinner than cellophane.
But this week I’m sticking my cowardly neck out to discuss a topic that will disturb you. It disturbs me.
The subject is . . . book jackets.
Now, I’m aware this topic can generate more fuss than which way to hang the toilet paper (paper coming over the top, people).
For someone who loves books and design, book jackets pose a Shakespearean dilemma: To leave the jackets or not leave the jackets? That is the question.
I faced it last week. My reading loft, a small book-lined retreat, had reached such a state of chaos that I either had to overhaul the space or commit arson. So I pulled all the books off the floor-to-ceiling bookcases, then tried to impose a new order.
I asked questions that perplex serious book lovers everywhere: Should I separate hard and soft covers? Fiction from non? Sort by author or by size? And, most painful, should I scrap the jackets?
Like many of my book jackets, I was torn. Book purists, readers and writers generally are in favor of jackets. As a reader, I like to peruse jacket flaps. They’re a book’s way of shaking hands. As an author, I know what goes into creating jackets and that they offer protection from people who read while eating French fries.
Design purists, however, say once a book arrives in your home, it looks better sans wrapper. In a bookstore, the jacket’s job is to stand out and shout, “Pick me!” At home, you don’t want a bunch of commercials vying for your shelf. You want books to blend, be quiet and get along.
Unjacketed, books look more venerable and studious, less like Madison Avenue and more like Harvard.
As I set to work reordering my reading retreat, I reflected on my failed attempts at book organizing. When I first moved in, I arranged books alphabetically by author, combined hard and soft covers and kept jackets on those that had them. I could find any title in less than 30 seconds, but the shelves looked like a hodgepodge.
So, four years ago, I hired a design team to professionally reorganize the shelves.
I know what you’re thinking: “You paid people to put books on your shelves?”
I did.
The pros separated hard and soft covers, arranged books by size and color, and tried to talk me out of the jackets. (No! A heart can stand only so much.)
When they finished, the space looked much better, but finding a title was like looking for a pearl in a pea gravel pile.
“Mom, I need to read ‘The Great Gatsby’ for English.”
“We have that!” I’d go look, as if slogging through stacks at the Smithsonian, then emerge dusty, discouraged, empty handed. “It’s somewhere.”
“I could be done with it by the time you find it.”
So this time, I again weighed form and function arguments, and did this: I separated hard from soft covers, and fiction from nonfiction, and organized alphabetically by author (not size and color). I purged books I would never need again. (No point saving “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” for my daughters. By the time they have babies, you’ll be able to give birth online.)
And, in an offering to the design gods, I ditched the jackets.
Just one confession: Although I’ve removed the jackets, I’ve saved them in a bag, in the basement, just in case.
Syndicated columnist Marni Jameson is the author of “The House Always Wins” (Da Capo), and of “House of Havoc,” due out this February. Contact her through marnijameson.com.
Read up, then reshelve
Here are more tips for attractive, orderly bookshelf management.
Lose the jackets. If you can tear yourself away from them, do. Save the covers, if you like, for future reference or for when you lend books.
Separate hard from soft. Place hardbacks on prominent shelves. My loft has a wall you see when you walk in (hardbacks), and one less visible (paperbacks). Yes, that means I have books from the same authors on two sides of the room. (Apologies to Joan Didion, Anne Tyler and Alice Munro.)
Line ’em up. Don’t smash books along the back wall. That creates a jagged profile. Create a clean line by pulling books evenly to one inch from the shelf’s front edge.
Create a system. If looks matter more, or if your collection is small, arrange books by size, tall to short. If easily finding a book matters more and your collection is large, arrange alphabetically by author.
Purge. When I learned that Cash4books.net bought used books, I was motivated and cleared 55 from my library. But, when I entered the ISBN numbers, the company would buy only four. For those, a check for $8.72 is on the way! I donated the other 51 to the thrift store.
Follow the thirds rule. When arranging bookshelves, shoot for one-third books, one-third art or photos and one-third open space.