The Naked Bookshelf Problem
March 15, 2008

I’m a sucker for magazine, newspaper and online articles or books about arranging books, organizing books, cleaning books, decorating with books. It’s not that I need that kind of help. I don’t arrange my books so much as I simply try to find room for them, preferably on the bookshelves. But I enjoy the way these articles and books entertain me by making me laugh, groan or occasionally even utter an impressed “Hmm.”

Among the mail waiting for me when I stopped in at the post office last week was a new book, The House Always Wins: Create the Home You Love—Without Busting Your Budget. I’m not a home decorating fiend, but I am always happy to take my mother’s used copies of Architectural Digest. It’s an odd pleasure to page through pictures of homes so meticulous as to be almost hostile to their human owners. But one of the most intriguing things for me about AD is that most of the people whose homes are featured apparently don’t read. I rarely see bookshelves or when I do they never seem to contain real books, the kind that are actually read. Instead, books that appear in AD appear to have only one function: tasteful display either in a private library or on a coffee or side table. The former tend to be leather-bound volumes that look great, but far too neat; the latter tend to volumes so esoteric that you know they were chosen solely for snob appeal. 

The House Always Wins is not like that. In a way, it’s nearly the exact opposite. A quick glance through its contents turned up a chapter titled “Arranging Books, Collections, and Other Knickknacks.” My first thought was “Books are knickknacks?” Am I really supposed to think they are on the same level as that long gone ceramic dolphin I once brought home from Sea World’s gift shop? What made me really laugh, though, was the opening line: “So I’m . . .” and that’s as far as I got before I knew this was no AD. Architectural Digest articles begin with sentences like this (from the February 2009 issue): “Like a Noel Coward play, the residence had a distinctly 1930s elegance.” Contrast that with the first line of the aforementioned chapter: “So I’m at this fashion show fundraiser, and this runway model sashays down the aisle with a skirt so sheer you can see her underwear—what there is of it.”

What interested me in this book was the chapter on books. I don’t buy books for their looks or their awe-inspiring quotient. I buy books to read. Not surprisingly, my slightly messy shelves reflect that.

Most passionate readers are probably like me. I know my friends are. Lynn, for example, has so many books that they literally spill out of the numerous bookcases crammed in her house. On the day her son left for college, she began eyeing his room with a certain lustful eye. He actually begged her to at least leave his bed in there. And Nicki Leone, managing editor of BiblioBuffet, does have her books categorized but, not surprisingly, also has a fair amount of overflow and thus stashes of books in various places including the floor. None of us mind our casual systems, and in fact take some pride in the use of books as books rather than decorations.

Decorators, though, seem to abhor the messiness that readers love. So does the author of this book, Marni Jameson, a home-design columnist, who claims to love her books even though “many are ugly.” Uh, ugly? My eyebrows shot skyward.

“But books to me are like friends,” she continued. “I don’t judge them by their covers even if they do have red ‘USED’ stickers on them left over from their college days.” Ah, okay, that’s good news; we agree. However, she then goes on to discuss a recent experience with two designers, and this is where I found myself growing more skeptical about home design. (To be fair, her experience seems to be common. Bring a home decorator into a bibliophile’s home, and one of the first things they want to do is “arrange” the books—as Jameson soon found out.) Format and size took priority. Paperbacks were relegated to the farthest back position on the highest shelf. Hardcovers by the same author were “blown like pollen all over the room.” The jackets did stay on the books—but not by decorator choice. And the bookshelves were purged sufficiently to hold to other objects, a design principle that produces “artful” in the same way high-heeled shoes produce a nice womanly curve to the leg. In other words, beauty over convenience.

As a flat-shoe woman myself I refuse to adhere to this design principle. Well, I might if the shoes didn’t reset my spine and toes into abnormal positions and if I had enough money and room in my house to actually have space on my bookshelves—but heeled shoes do, and I don’t.

Actually, though, Jameson has some good ideas and she does talk about real books. Not everyone does, and probably the strangest aspect of “decorating with books” is the business of decorative books. These are books sold and bought solely to fill up “space.” Any number of places, including the famous Strand bookstore in New York City, sell these books-by-the-foot (or yard). Many decorators are great believers in these, but Book Décor has probably the greatest justification for its products I have ever seen:

Many people feel that it's silly to purchase books for pure decorative value. While we certainly understand this, we also savor the opportunity to change the mind of such individuals! Our books are so beautiful on the outside that their interior ceases to be important. What's more, they are available for purchase by the foot as well as the yard. In other words, no more spending hours in used bookstores looking for space fillers. At Book Décor, this process takes a matter of seconds!
 
Decorative books are an ideal solution to the naked-bookshelf problem. In order to create an extraordinary home library, one must have a tremendous collection of books. Face the facts: most of the people who visit a home library don't actually read the books. Similar to silver tea sets, home study books are there for appearances only.

Decorate hallways and stairwells with books as a way to create atmosphere. Books on travel might work particularly well as these places are used solely for moving between rooms and floors.

Put book spines flush against the front edge of the shelf.

Don’t mix books with photos, put them on separate shelves. All books on one shelf, all photos on the next. Make frames the same material, say all silver or polished wood.

Place accessories next to, not in front of, books.

Think in thirds. If you have the space, arrange shelves so you have one-third books, one-third art objects, one-third open space.

Keep once-read, now-beloved books on high shelves to soften the intersection between wall and ceiling and give the room a feeling of enclosure. 

The bathroom can be a place to put books if the idea doesn’t gross you out. While humidity generally does not damage books, don’t put anything valuable here. Your best bets are small format gift books, cartoon collections and poetry.

Stacking books in odd numbers (three, five, etc.) results in a casual look. Going for formal? Use an even numbers of books in a pile.

If you have room on a table or shelf, try displaying a book open to a gorgeous page or inspiring quote. Adding a pretty magnifying glass or bookmark or setting a pair of antique reading glasses nearby can add a touch of artistry. 

One unusual touch that actually has its roots in early chained books, is to turn some of your books spine inward. This would work particularly well if the fore edges were gilded or made of thick, rich paper from earlier centuries. 

Turn some of your books with attractive or arresting covers face out rather than spine out.

When books aren't being read, use them as building blocks in decorative arrangement by selecting color-coordinated books to serve as a base for plants or other decorative props.

Use a bookcase or a shelf or two as a themed display. If you are a mystery lover, for example, consider interweaving collectibles that relate to your preference within the genre—Victorian, noir, hard-boiled, soft-boiled, cozies, police procedurals, etc. These could include things like an antique ice pick next to a shelf of Victorian mysteries, some antique chemistry bottles with old labels next to a collection of Sherlock Holmes, or a well-used fedora topping off a collection of Sam Spade novels.  

If you have several books with Art Deco, Impressionist or other eye-catching jackets consider an arrangement of them with artifacts, colors, textures or materials of the same feeling.

Grouping books by color produces one of the most beautiful of arrangements when done well. (A collector of the various Penguin editions could produce an extraordinary sight.) Another equally stunning grouping is by strict order of size, especially if the sizing continues all the way across the wall before going down to the shelves below. (The only problem I see with these two is that you either have to stop buying books or plan to spend an unreasonable amount of time rearranging your shelves to accommodate new purchases.)

Make new tables out of books by stacking them to the desired height for a coffee table, an end table, a nightstand or a dining table, then cover them with an appropriately-sized glass top.

Frame whole books especially if you have some of those collectible vintage paperbacks, in shadow boxes. Alternatively, if you have a favorite book, consider buying and separating two copies (so you have the front and back of each page); frame each page in the same simple frame and hang them all on one wall or in one room so you can have the entire book as a solid wall decoration.

Match books you have to other pieces in your home—a book about early television and radio history on top of the television set, a book about 1960s pop culture next to a collection of record albums from that time, or a book about arranging books next to an untidy stack of books on the floor.

Use windowsills as bookshelves along with plants and other good “window” objects.

Create a kind of running board for your room by installing a display shelf about twelve inches below the ceiling (near the top of the doorways) all the way around the room to hold both books and collectibles. 

Or do as Kevin Aeh suggested in “How to Decorate with Books” and (a) get them covered, (b) frame some pages, or (c) turn them into a work of literary sculpture.