Our family is in the middle of a large house remodeling project. Essentially we are living in half of a house.

This only poses a problem… for my books.

I recently attended two conferences in which advanced reader copies are part of the landscape. Many go to students and other librarians, but obviously a few stay behind until I read them and pass them on. Add this to the fact that I’m on an award committee and an avid reader to boot and that means that there are a lot of books in the house. I stop by the public library (in addition to working in one) at least twice weekly. Then I went and created two human beings who are also readers.

So let’s talk where you keep your books: do you have bookshelves? Bins? Are they propping up end tables? In Rubbermaid containers? Where do you put the books you’ve read versus the books that are yet-to-be-read?

I am never without a stack of TBR books in the house, which means that even if there’s a large stack, I’ll still bring home more. I need options. But then there are the books that are mine to keep and treasure for always. These books don’t mix with to-be-read books like food on my plate. Again, this poses a staging problem in our yet-to-be-finished house.

With the new addition to the house, we will have an office that I’m lovingly calling the studio. And in this studio there will be a wall of bookshelves (yes, ONE. WHOLE. WALL. I know, *swoon*). But until then, I’m moving them around and storing them in unfinished rooms, hidden in footstools, on a shelf in the basement. My forever books are on a bookshelf in our temporary bedroom, but everything else? Organized chaos everywhere. It’s still a game of nooks and crannies.

My footstool in the living room

My kids’ bookshelf in their bedroom

My kids’ book bin in the living room

Piles and piles as I reorganize

Where do you keep your books and how are they organized?