I refused to have bookshelves, horrified that I'd feel…
““I refused to have bookshelves, horrified that I'd feel compelled to organise the books in some regimented system - Dewey or alphabetical or worse - and so the books lived in stacks, some as tall as me, in the most subjective order I could invent. Thus Nabokov lived between Gogol and Hemingway, cradled between the Old World and the New; Willa Cather and Theodore Dreiser and Thomas Hardy were stacked together not for their chronological proximity but because they all reminded me in some way of dryness (though in Dreiser's case I think I was focused mainly on his name): George Eliot and Jane Austen shared a stack with Thackeray because all I had of his was Vanity Fair , and I thought that Becky Sharp would do best in the presence of ladies (and deep down I worried that if I put her next to David Copperfield, she might seduce him).””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
Personal book organization reflects individual perception, allowing creative connections beyond systematic classification.
In simple terms: Books arranged by personal meaning, not rules.
Key Takeaway
Arrange books in ways that inspire you.
Themes
creativity
personalization
literature
Mood
playful
introspective
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- home libraries
- reading clubs
- personal archives
Key Concepts
subjective categorization
memory triggers
creative thinking
Questions to Reflect On
- How does your arrangement tell a story?
- What does this say about your reading habits?
A Different Perspective
May become chaotic for others to navigate.