apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i always loved the bright but matte feel of cloth covered books with gold embossed letters... this is an excellent way to display them.

I love books and think they can be downright beautiful, but I can NOT get used to the idea of using them this way, or - even way, way worse - lining them up by color instead of author name! Seems like a screaming advertisement that the owner of the place never reads.

That being said, I sure like the way the pic here looks...I would just have to work really hard at not running over there and "fixing" them :)

Oh please. Let's not do things like a catalogue. And as every book collector knows, the original dust jacket is as valuable as the book.

i like the picture railing as opposed to a book shelf for storage and showcasing. i like to put my favorite books in the common spaces and the covers tend to go with my decor anyway, why not use them as art as well?

JR in Sweden -
I was totally with you, but I rearranged my books by color just to see what the fuss was all about, and oddly enough, I find them MUCH more easily now. And trust me, I read a lot (no TV).

I guess it works so well because I am a visual learner, and I remember what book covers/spines look like.

So, don't knock it til ya try it! It's made my life a lot easier.

If it works for you, go for it. It is YOUR space. In my space, I think it would feel almost "disloyal" to value the appearance over the text. But, I am a "word" person, so...

the literary agent in me is screaming "bent spine! bent spine!".

I'm totally with mmadden on this one. As a child (and as an literature major in college) I was a fanatic about arranging my books alphabetically by author. A few years ago, I experimented with the group-by-color method on a lark and found the visual impact to be much more pleasing, with the side benefit of some unexpected but really intriguing combinations of titles. For example, Ha Jin, Chinua Achebe, and Milan Kundera now sit side-by-side on my shelf, suggesting thematic connections I might not otherwise have made!

There's a bookstore in Montreal that displays all its books face-out. It's not design-y at all -- it makes you really look at the books. You find yourself picking up books you might not have noticed spine-out. I'd probably read twice as much if I had my own books this way.