The Damnable Constraints of Reality

[rinue]

More books than shelves: a problem.

Option 1: Get rid of all your books and use the library!

No. That is stupid. I already use the library.

Option 2: Get rid of some of your books, then. I bet you will not even think of them if they aren't there.

Exactly. That is why they have to be there.

Option 3: More shelves?

Out of walls.

Option 4: Get rid of Ciro's books and take over his shelves, liebensraum style.

He's bigger than me. Otherwise, yes, this is obviously the right answer.

Option 5: Some books in the attic? Maybe rotated seasonally?

I am afraid it might come to that.

[Edited to add: I am not looking for outside help solving this problem. I have a pretty good grasp of bookshelves, the spaces in my house, and the myriad ways I could physically manipulate my books if I so desire. This entry is what you might call comic and self-aware.]

Comments

[knaveofstaves]

Hardly practical what with the weight and the gravity, but you could hang a bunch of them from the ceiling in a hammock or something. Then it'd be like you lived in the hold of a pirate ship.

[rinue]

This is only a superior plan to putting books in the attic if I hang the hammock low enough that Ciro hits his head on it and is incapacitated, such that I can swiftly move to Option 4.

[knaveofstaves]

No problem 't all; Dat boy be tall.

[adrian_turtle]

You might be doing this already, but double-shelving paperbacks can save quite a bit of space. Either a row of pb in front of hardcovers, or 2 rows of pb. A 4x4 of appropriate length (or 2 videocassettes, or 5 small-format zines) helps prop up the back row of paperbacks so you can see the titles. Or at least half the titles.

[adrian_turtle]

Sorry to intrude. Good luck with a difficult problem.

[rinue]

No intrusion. Just occurred to me on waking up that I was possibly going to get a lot of comments. (I have definitely used the double-row of paperbacks trick in the past, and it was a revelation to find out about it! Which I wouldn't have if somebody hadn't helpfully told me.)