Organizing My Bookshelf (Marie Kondo Style) + Book Recs

Hey everyone! I’m really excited about this post. I did some spring cleaning with my bookshelves because I was desperately running out of room, and I knew there were quite a few books I wanted to give away. I plan to discuss what the process was like, how I felt as I went through my books, and explain my reasons for my decision-making skills. I will also provide a list of some of the favorite books that I own. Please keep in mind that this post is solely about the physical books I own—Kindle/ebooks are not included. The books I’m giving away are going to my local library, but if you are interested, feel free to contact me!

I ended up reorganizing my bookshelves twice. I spent two separate afternoons, approximately a few weeks apart, reorganizing my shelves. There is a reason why—the first time around, I organized my remaining books by alphabetical order of the author’s last name. I filled up two boxes of books that did not bring me joy, and I was satisfied with the results.

But a few days later, I was scrolling through Instagram, and I couldn’t help but notice all the beautiful shelves people I follow had. It made me want to completely reorganize my bookshelf, even though I had just spent an entire afternoon doing so. And putting aside that kind of time when you’re a full-time graduate student, a part-time entertainment writer, a book blogger, and you’re writing a novel, it’s kind of hard to find the time. So I had to wait a few weeks before I found an opening.

And then I got to work.

I categorized the remaining books first through genre/collection, then by color and height, depending on the number of hardcovers and paperbacks I had. I also found more books that I realized did not bring me joy—thank the lord Marie Kondo is always there. Seriously, before I discovered her, I hated doing any cleaning, and while I liked organizing, I was still too lazy to do it. Then Netflix recommended me her show, and she blew me away. I actually like folding laundry now, something I used to dread. And going through the books I owned again definitely helped declutter my shelves further, keeping only the books that truly bring me joy. Before I show you the finished product, I would like to say that some books are blurred out because I felt that the authors of said novels are problematic and should not be promoted in any way. These are books I haven’t read yet and plan on giving away as soon as I do. But I probably won’t even include them in reviews or monthly wrap-ups since they do not deserve the attention.

Anyway, this is the result:

And that’s it! I have yet to decorate my shelves with cute trinkets and things like that. I might add updated photos of my shelves once I’ve added that stuff in my upcoming February Monthly Wrap-Up. We’ll have to see!

Going into this project, I knew right off the bat that there would be many books that I’d be saying goodbye to. For one, I kept most of the books I had read for classes while I was in undergrad. And as an English Literature Major, there were a lot of books that I had acquired by the end of those four years. But I never got around to sorting through them—they just sat on my shelf until now.

Some books were super easy to give away, like The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad, also known as probably the worst book I have ever read to date. I liked his novel, Heart of Darkness, but The Secret Agent just flopped on so many levels that I was relieved to put it in the giveaway box. Other books that I did not feel conflicted over parting with include Pippi Longstocking, the Divergent series (including the prequel), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and more. Of course, I have two boxes filled with books, so I won’t list all of them. But I just wanted to name a few to give you an idea of my reading taste, since I didn’t care for these books at all.

There were novels I enjoyed reading, but staring at them/flipping through their pages made me realize that these books do not bring me joy even though I had initially enjoyed them. A book brings me joy when my heart flutters whenever I look at it. It sounds cheesy, but those are my instincts. Some of these include The Lovely Bones, Wise Blood, Brave New World, Gulliver’s Travels, and more.

Some books were tough to part with, so the first time I sorted my shelves, I initially kept them. However, upon revisiting them a few weeks later, I realized I was holding onto them for no reason. I hid behind excuses such as “I haven’t read this book yet, but I promise I will,” “I’m collecting Broadview Press books, so I have to keep all of them,” “well, I rated this book four stars on Goodreads, so I have to keep it,” and “I can’t just give away award-winning novels, classics, and literary fiction.” But going through my shelves again really helped me see the light. I realized the books I have not read yet I never will; I don’t have to own every Broadview book, and just because I enjoyed a brilliant piece of fiction doesn’t mean I need to have the book on my shelf. When I initially decided to keep these books, I forgot to think like Marie Kondo and with my heart. This time around, I refused to let myself consider any factor except for one—does this book bring me joy (i.e., does it make my heart flutter)? If the answer was no, then I parted ways with it, even if it was hard to let some of them go. To name a few: Breathing Underwater, The Scarlet Letter, Things Fall Apart, Lady Audley’s Secret, In a Lonely Place, and more. I still recommend these books. I just realized I didn’t need to keep them. If you’re interested in any of them, please get in touch!

There is one book I’m giving away that I should make a special note of. I met author S.K. Ali at the Montreal YA Fest back in May 2019. A few weeks later, I was at BookCon, and my mom decided to meet her again while I was meeting Cassandra Clare (click here if you want to know more about that wild ride). But we didn’t bring our S.K. Ali books since we already met her and had them signed. So, my mother bought another copy of Saints and Misfits and had it signed. Yes, S.K. Ali addressed the book to Sarah, but it is still a duplicate signed copy. If you’re interested in owning a signed copy of Saints and Misfits, please get in touch!

I have many more books available if anyone is interested. They encompass a wide variety of genres, including contemporary YA, science fiction, classics, historical fiction, contemporary middle grade, and more. Again, if anyone is interested, feel free to get in touch!

Of course, I thanked these books as I put each one in the boxes. I got creative with my reasoning—from making me realize what an awful protagonist this book has to disliking non-fiction travel narratives to reminding me that some English professors love to assign classic novels and call them feminist works despite the book reeking of racism and white feminism. Those were the worst. But enough about these books, let’s talk about books that bring me a lot of joy, i.e., books I decided to keep!

Now onto the exciting part—books that bring me joy! As I sorted through my shelves, I found plenty of books that I did not hesitate to keep since merely looking at them makes my heart leap. Most of these books have shelves of their own, such as Pretty Little Liars, The Shadowhunter Chronicles, Simonverse, etc. Every Jodi Picoult book you see on my shelves. Standalone favorites such as The Color Purple, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Cereus Blooms at Night. Non-fiction books that bring me so much joy include Marley & Me (yes, it still made me bawl like a baby), Holocaust survivor stories, non-fiction written by Jewish authors, The Diary of Anne Frank (BDE), my ADHD guidebooks (which have been literal lifesavers in every way possible), a cherished gift I received during one of my lowest moments (Letters to a Bullied Girl), and more. I still have quite a lot of books, as you can see on my shelves, so this list can go on forever.

But I also have a lot of books that I haven’t gotten around to reading yet. The ones I gave away are books that have been sitting on my shelves for literal eons, and I finally admitted I would probably never read them. But I still have many unread books that I received as gifts from friends, from bookish events, from my parents, etc. Most of these books haven’t been on my shelves longer than 3-4 years, and that is still embarrassing. Yes, I hope to read most of them in 2021, but we’ll see. Anyway, books that I have not read yet, but I am super excited to include some Jodi Picoult novels (but the number is slowly dwindling since I have read most of them), Iskari, Crown of Feathers, Ash Princess, This Is How You Lose the Time War, Love From A to Z, and more. These books I would never give away because I had been waiting so long to read them. Of course, once I read everything on my shelves, I may decide that some of these books do not bring me joy, and I’ll give them away. But that will be for another time, probably when I move to Boston *fingers crossed* this summer.

Classics

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker (ownvoices) (TW: physical and sexual abuse)
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare (TW: death, depression, off-page suicide)
• The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells (also a science fiction novel) (TW: animal cruelty, violence)
• King Lear by William Shakespeare (TW: death)
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (TW: death)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (TW: body horror, death, off-page suicide)
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (ownvoices) (TW: abuse, racism, rape mention, slavery mention, toxic relationships)
• The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare

Contemporary Adult

• A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult (TW: abortion, abortion debate, death, gun violence)
• The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult (TW: cancer, death, plane crash)
• Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult (TW: cardiac illness, death, death penalty, off-page sexual abuse, prison)
• Emma Harte Saga by Barbara Taylor Bradford (TW: abuse, antisemitism, attempted rape, death, grief, misogyny, racism, toxic dynamics, war) * there’s so much going on in this series so I am most likely forgetting something, please proceed with caution
• Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (TW: abuse, bullying, death, gun violence, homophobia, school shooting, toxic dynamics)
• Second Glance by Jodi Picoult (TW: car crash, death, eugenics, racism, suicide)
• Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult (TW: death, neo-nazis, racism, white supremacy)

Contemporary Young Adult

• Dear Martin by Nic Stone (ownvoices) (TW: death, gun violence, police brutality, racism)
• I Was Here by Gayle Forman (TW: death, depression, suicide)
• Jackpot by Nic Stone (ownvoices)

Fantasy & Science Fiction

• A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth (in the middle of reading, but it’s really A+) (TW: death)
• The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna (see previous note) (TW: misogyny, violence)
• The Children of Men by P.D. James (TW: death, violence)

Literary Fiction

• Cereus Blooms at Night (ownvoices) (TW: abuse, rape)

Non-Fiction

• Anne Frank Beyond the Diary: A Photographic Remembrance by Ruud van der Rol & Rian Verhoeven (TW: holocaust)
• Destined to Live: A True Story of a Child in the Holocaust by Ruth Gruener (TW: holocaust)
• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (TW: holocaust)
• Hana’s Suitcase: A True Story by Karen Levine (TW: holocaust)

Middle Grade

• One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (ownvoices) (TW: police brutality, racism)
• Walking Backward by Catherine Austen (TW: death, grief)

Mystery

• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (TW: murder)
• The Lying Game by Sara Shepard (TW: attempted murder, death, psychopathy, violence)
• Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard (TW: attempted murder, attempted suicide, bullying, cheating, death, depression, drugs, conversion therapy, eating disorders, stalking, homophobia, psychopathy, toxic dynamics, underaged drinking)
• Simonverse by Becky Albertalli (TW: biphobia, homophobia)

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this project, even though there were tough decisions to make. For the record, it would not have been nearly as much fun without Marie Kondo, who I adore. I now clean my room (and my entire life) using her methods because she is so amazing.

As for my books, sorting through them made me realize how appreciative I am of writers, readers, and the book community. And libraries, which is where these books are going unless any of you are interested! My final book statistics are:

• Total # of Books: 245
• Books I Read: 159 (65%)
• Books I Haven’t Read: 86 (35%)

But I want to hear from you guys! What are your favorite books on your shelves? Your favorite genres? Are you planning on reorganizing your shelves anytime soon? If you have photos, I would love to see them.

Please drop a comment below, and don’t forget to share this post and follow my blog for more reviews and Royal Teatime. I hope you enjoyed. ♡