The Unbearable Weight of Books

On Saturday, I did something I've been putting off for more than seven months. I don't know what inspired the sudden compulsion to finally tackle the huge undertaking, but somewhere in the wee hours of the morning, as the wind howled outside, I decided that the time had finally come.

A while back I purchased two new bookcases but before I could put them to use some renovations had to be done to the apartment which resulted in them being consigned to storage. I've dreaded the thought of moving them back since space would be a squeeze and it would mean that I would finally have to try to tame the uncontrollable forest of book stacks sprouting up in my room. But I did it. I finally did it!

I moved the new (old) bookcases into the sitting room, it was a tight fit and they are hidden behind a door, but I got them in. Sadly one of the bookcases seems to have been damaged in the move. It's a bit warped, but I fixed it as best with my limited carpentry skills. Luckily it seems to still be fit for purpose.

An exhausting six hours and 264 books later I ended up with something approaching a semblance of order. I decided to convert the bookcase on the right into my review copy/TBR bookcase. This contains all my review copies (except for the lowest shelf which has some horror/crime novels on it). The bookcase on the left contains the overflow from my other bookcases and also houses around 40% of Mount TBR. I didn't attempt to sort them by genre/author since that would've created a huge logistical problem, but I did make a spreadsheet with a catalogue of the contents of each shelf should I need to track down a book quickly.

This morning when I woke my room felt strangely empty. It took me a minute to realise that it was due to the missing stacks of books. It seems I've grown accustomed to a comforting fort of books surrounding me while I sleep.

One thing I can tell you is that my body resents my life choices. My arms and back ache and I can still feel the weight of every book I carried to and fro. If I didn't love physical books so much I might seriously have considered switching completely over to ebooks. Luckily we aren't there just quite yet.

In the end, aches aside, I have a great sense of accomplishment. Mount TBR looks far better in bookcase form and now I can merrily chisel away at the behemoth until the next shiny new book arrives.