And this is what we did on a Sunday afternoon...

We decided that our (let's face it - mostly my) books needed a bit of organisation.
Our spare room has as many bookcases as we could squeeze into it, but it's also a bit of a dumping ground.
Before we could start, we had to move: three suitcases, the drum kit from Guitar Hero, a big bag of compost, the two recycling boxes, the laundry basket, the vacuum cleaner, a bedside table, and two chairs.
*deep breath*
The pictures below were taken before we started, just for the sake of comparison. Please excuse the crappy quality of the photos in this post.

We thought we'd start with the science fiction / fantasy section. The bookcase nearest the cupboard had been that to start with, so it still had some Pratchetts, Asimovs, Holts, Rankins et al in it. So we started pulling all the appropriate books from the other stacks and bookcases.

Ignore my uncharacteristically colourful clothing, please...

Top shelf: Classic stuff - Asimov, Bradbury, Wyndham etc, and Tom Holt.
Second shelf: Pratchett, plus a few random books.
Third shelf: Trudy Canavan, Robin Hobb, Tamora Pierce.
Fourth shelf: Robert Rankin, J.K. Rowling, random others.
Bottom shelf: Hardbacks from a number of authors.

Top shelf: Robert Jordan, Jack Chalker, etc.
Second shelf: Lemony Snicket, Dr Who novels, Torchwood novels, Philip Pullman, and one of the Skullduggery Pleasant novels.

There were books everywhere at this point.



Next we put together our crime section (note the tea cup. Constant consumption of tea helped counteract the insidious dust)...

We decided to put most of the TV show tie-in books in the bookcase in the bedroom, as I like to read them when drifting off to sleep, as they don't involve much in the way of thinking. I own way too many Buffy books.

Still books everywhere.








The horror section begins to take shape...

...as do other bookcase loads.


By the end of the afternoon, we'd got to this stage. Not bad, I think.




By the way, do you want to know what was the high point of the afternoon for Matt?
Near the beginning, I was putting the Robert Jordans on the top shelf. Bear in mind that this shelf is higher than my head and also that they are big, heavy books. I was putting three up at the same time when they slipped, and one of them fell, catching me painfully on the collarbone. I yelped, and Matt asked what the matter was.
Me: It attacked me!
Matt: What?
Me: Lord of Chaos attacked me!

Cue Matt laughing for several minutes.
Bloody unsupportive husbands...