[Maraya]

My computer died a few years ago and I haven't managed to get a new one since. But I had at least half of my ebook collection transferred to my tablet before that. Then my tablet died. So now I have the not enviable task of rebuilding my entire catalogue.

To do that I went through my physical pile and my Kindle app to see what I already have. This made me wonder how people categorize their books, both physical and e-forms.

Like for my physical books I do "Read – Haven't Read – Currently Reading/Next In Line" but always keep the same author and/or series grouped together in each pile. Then I have Collections on my Kindle, mostly functional (Read, Next In Line, TBC etc) and only have genre folders for the ones I read the most (like Manga/Graphic Novels, M/M). For Moon Reader I didn't used to have anything besides the in build main three options, since I had Calibre and used that to search/mark etc. Now I am adding Tags for the first time.

So, how do you guys keep your books?

My collection is the biggest mess that you could imagine, it’s takes me so long to locate a particular book that it’s quicker to just re-download.
I just lack the willpower to sort them out

[Dendra]

On my Kindle they're just sorted by Most Recently Read.

My physical books are by 'wherever a book fits at the moment'. Periodically I try to organize them by genre, but it never lasts.

...'wherever a book fits at the moment'.

That's what I've been doing as well. I used to sort them by author (last name first, etc) but it became a pain when dealing with piles and piles of books. It was even worse with my comic collection (by titles and numbering) so now I board and bag and stack them on shelves.

[m0narch4]

I have several ways.

For physical books, it's all over my room, but generally in some kind of order. I have 3 separate places for books: 2 bookcases (beside eachother), 2 tall cd/ dvd cases now holding books on top of my dresser, and a "wall of books" lol because I have literally nowhere else to store them in my room. The bookcases house mostly non-fiction books because they are very accessible, and I love all my language, science, history, and other reference books so much that I put them right where they're viewable and look pretty. Mostly those are loosely organized by subject; there's several shelves for cookbooks too. Then the cd cases have more non-fiction on the bottom, and a few historical fictions in the upper shelves which are harder to reach. The wall of books is mostly fiction because they're all just stacked on top of eachother and not easy to access at all. I have a row of more language books just because they have nowhere else to go! The wall of books is not ideal, but I have limited space and more books than I know what to do with, and limited money too- hopefully in the future will have more space and I can buy more bookcases!

I have severely cut down on buying books because of the reasons above. Lack of money and space. However, my ebook collection is far bigger than my actual book collection, thanks to this website, and a co-worker that was a fellow book lover/downloader.

For my ebooks, I've been going through/sorting the folder that my co-worker gave me for years now. There's multiple, MULTIPLE GBs of books in there. I am doing a main folder called "Books by author" (by first names!!) then have in that folder separate folders for each letter of the alphabet. This folder is mostly for authors that I don't know, and don't know the genre and don't want to spend my entire life googling every book and author. And then I'm sorting into another main folder called "Book Folder" (original, lol) that has by genre. First: "Fiction, and non-fiction", then I do nested folders of sci-fi/fantasy, historical fiction, bios, self-help, history, etc., etc., etc., which all helps me keep things in order well enough. I should say that I am a super organized person, and most of my computer files are very organized, and I even had my own business for organizing, going into homes and dealing with clutter cleanup and organizing LOL
I just can't think without things being sorted and where they're supposed to be. My iTunes and ipod are both organized, and my Calibre is as organized as I can get it (I always like to organize by author first name). I used to have control over my Sony ereader and how it displayed authors by first name, but Kobo won't allow that.. boo.

So there we have it. Yes I've wasted hours and hours and hours of my life organizing files or books or songs, but I actually LIKE doing it, and find it very soothing and meditative; something to just do without thinking about it - kinda like cleaning or how people find mindless tasks relaxing. I'm the crazy kid in the class that liked cleaning up after everyone when they left the room kinda thing.
I'm for hire if anyone is interested... LOL just kidding!

[Basia1971]

Wow! I really would love to "use" someone like you! Lol my books, ebooks are everywhere and all over.