Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Shelving (updated)

Today I moved some books from one bookcase to another. I'm making one room of my house a library, so I'm moving books in there, organizing as I go. I work on it sporadically. I don't know how long it's been a work in process, but a long time.

Quite a while ago I got all my novels in there, alphabetically by author. I allotted a certain amount of space for the novels, and to make my collection fit I got rid of any that were duplicates, or that I didn't particularly like or had no desire to re-read.

Today I moved my biographies in, alphabetical by subject. When it came to royalty, I went by the dynasty name. So Elizabeth I is counted as "T" for "Tudor," Catherine the Great "R" for Romanov, and Marie Antoinette "B" for Bourbon. But Teresa of Avila is "T" for "Teresa," as is Mother Teresa. And Augustine is "A."

I allowed two shelves, and when things got tight I pulled out some that I subjectively deemed more "spiritual memoir" than "biography," so I could give them a separate shelf. I also adjusted the height of the shelves, which is doable in this particular bookcase.

I then moved some history books, which I put roughly into order by date. That was less than one full shelf.

After moving shelves and books for a while, I started to sneeze quite bit. I took a break and didn't go back to the task the rest of the day.

Trivia question of the day:

She...had once paid him a visit in his humble parsonage; where she had perfectly approved all the alterations he had been making, and had even vouchsafed to suggest some herself, -- some shelves in the closets up stairs.

Who is "she" and who is "he" in the above quotation?

UPDATE. Answer to the trivia: "She" is Lady Catherine de Burgh and "he" is Mr. Collins. The quote comes from Pride and Prejudice (of course).


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