How to grow and curate your book collection! (building your dream library) 

I struggle with severe anxiety, to the point that i am unable to function in society normally. it wasn't until this summer that i realized the background thoughts ive always had, arent normal. that being said, the way you speak and present your videos have such a clear, succinct, non-chaotic voice that its really helped me re-center. i know this isnt a normal comment, but, i just wanted to thank you.

I actually donated 95% of my books to the local library. I switched to checking books out of the library instead of buying and I’m reading sooo many more books a year this way.

My dream library changes every year or so. Currently I’m deep into the ancients whereas last year I was deep into russian lit. I love how it develops over time

I like your version of collecting. Mine used to be get something and never get rid of it. I can see how curating my collection expresses my values through the collection. Sometimes, I put my books on my shelf in an almost order. This means I need to look at the books somewhat regularly to find something, which keeps me thinking about them. When they are in an exact order, like my movies and TV shows, they are easy to find, but I might forget about a show because my eyes never pass over it.

Really great advice Carolyn. One of the things that frustrates me as an observer trying to learn is how often people talk about a book while waving it around but never discussing the imprint of said book. Almost NEVER do people talk about font size, which is important to some of us without perfect vision. You mentioned having several copies of some books. Might be a chance to compare different reprints.

You’re so right about how it’s ok to get rid of books that don’t bring you joy. That’s something I struggled with for a long time. Now I’ve realized that I want my book collection to be full of books I’ve truly read and loved. Seems obvious right? I think I just got too caught up quantity over quality for a while. Btw sorry if I’ve missed where you announced this but when are your new prints going to be available on your Etsy shop? ❤

My library is in what we've always called "the music room", even though none of us are musicians! My collection is eclectic, as are the bookshelves that hold it. I am always reorganizing, for a better fit, but also to reflect my reading mood of the moment. I don't consider myself an owner of books, but their caretaker who is hopeful they will find a future home that loves them just as well. In that sense, my used book purchases at times have been "rescue operations" to save little gems that should never know what a land fill is!🧡

Hi, CarolynMarie, it’s wonderful to see how thoughtful you are growing your collection, supported by family and friends. I’m coming from another age, where books were so dear to me but I couldn’t afford them. The library was my best friend and flea markets my biggest chance. So there’s not much of a system in my library, but I divided sections like geography, gardening, animals, biographies, classics, other countries, children… inspired by the public library. I noticed that my taste changes and now, at the age of 67, I’m reducing everything, you’re right: not everything is loved. I have these lovely piles, too, but it’s difficult, if you’re not living alone and piles are considered a mess by your significant other… happy reading, enjoy the autumn hygge🍂🍁🛁🫖📚, love Monika❣

A video of you talking about the different collections (Clothbound classics, Penguin classics etc.) would be amazing!

Great info & tips! Estate sales can also be a great way to find books to add to your collection. I got lucky a few years ago when there was a local estate sale of a couple who worked in the publishing industry, soooo many books at a great price. Even just a normal estate sale can be great to find older editions of books.

Literally gonna be helping you grow your collection Carolyn!! 😂 Sent you a package (a christmassy one), shouldn’t take too long to arrive since we both live in NY!! 🥰 can’t wait till you get it!

The biggest thing that I tell people is that you don’t have to buy everything all at once. Build over time.

I too used to have a hard time getting rid of books, but moving 7 times in 11 years, twice internationally REALLY teaches you to downsize 😅 I now only keep books I want to re-read, or use otherwise. A large portion of my books are second hand, or gifts (because everyone knows I love reading), so even though there's a lot of them, I don't spend insane amounts of money on it. I do pay attention to the editions, and sometimes "upgrade" if a book turns out to be a favourite & my original copy is not to my liking.

I'm so happy to see somebody else who loves Fredrik Backman! Anxious People is the specific book of his that I keep revisiting, it's become a comfort read of mine. I really enjoy the way he crafts all of his characters.

Love this video so so much!! All of your points are so relatable! I just started collecting a few months ago and I started with illustrated vintage copies of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice. I also started to collect the absolutely stunning little blue books from the MacMillan Collector’s Library and I absolutely love them!! I agree that it’s so nice to add to my collection over time and my kids are happy because now they have a whole bunch of gift ideas for the future. I also added a few favorite illustrated children’s books and middle school books. Absolutely love your channel and how you inspire reading and book collecting. Your book shelf’s are so beautiful! 💕📚🌸

Excellent video, as always!!! Your uploads are becoming the highlight of my week! ☺️ I'm on my second book collection at this point. I had a MASSIVE collection as a teenager, and into my 20's. Those books are lost to time. After almost a decade of ebooks, I'm building up my physical collection again and it is an absolute blast! I'm having so much fun discovering new authors and rediscovering old favorites. I wholeheartedly agree about public library book sales. They are always an event in my life. In fact, my library's next sale is November 3rd! I can't wait to see what treasures I walk away with!

I was out celebrating my birthday yesterday so I wasn't able to check if posted a video, but I was very happy to see you post one today. Sort of a belated present . Thanks.

Very interesting reflections! I've been binge-watching your videos today, I love your energy. Thanks for sharing, and I agree with your philosophy! It's about appreciating the present!

Hi Carolyn…love your videos…this one too…I’m a budding book collector and no one in my sphere of life really understands what exactly is it that’s giving me so much joy …n its there in each and every one of your sentences…spot on…🤩😍..thank you so much…I’m loving the journey too… 🥳

You actually influenced me with organising my bookcase! You and Emma Angeline 🙆🏻‍♀️ I had theatre studies as one of my majors as an undergrad, so I own a lot of plays & a lot of Shakespeare 😅. My one bedside table (I have 2 in my room) has 2 large partitions for storage, so now 1 is for my plays and the other is for my poetry (I collect faber's anniversary editions. They're beautiful 😍) On Emma angeline's channel I saw her organising her classics according to the edition and publisher (black spine Penguin; mint spine Modern Penguins; red spine Vintage; Oxford world's classics, etc.). I have my Penguin English Library on one side of the shelf, the European and Russian Vintage Classics on the other end, and the black spine and modern classics stacked in the middle. I love looking at it, because a lot of it I only acquired quite recently (I'm going for the deals 🤌🏻). All the books I buy are books I want to read or that aren't available in my university's library. Elsewhere in the house is my growing Everyman collection (my best friend call it my on display books 😆). But I'm buying for the future also (I'm an English MA student & the amount of books I cab write articles on is astounding). But basically, I just wanted to let you know that you're also a great inspiration 🙆🏻‍♀️❤️ I hope you enjoy reading Ishiguro (I also own a few Faber editions 🤭) and I would 100% recommend one of his books I've read earlier this year, "A Pale View of Hills". It left me in book heaven when I finished it - his writing is sublime. Started reading my third Ishiguro of the year, and the first few pages were already intriguing! ✨️

Here I am at home in my lanai on a sunny day in Florida listening to the birds in the background as I continue reading crime and punishment. What makes me happy is going to my local thrift stores and finding that special book it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. That is how I have curated my library. I don’t have plenty of room but what I have is pretty extensive and each book was no more than a dollar. I have books to read for years and years to come. But I don’t stop there I’m always looking for books to add. This was a wonderful video by the way I love your content and we’ll always watch

Nice to see you this morning! My bookshelves are full and my grandmother has multiple bookshelves completely full of her books.

Lovely video 😍. I totally relate with what you said at the end... I definitely don't want to have my dream library right now because what would I do with the rest of my life ?! 😅🤣. Actually for the last few years, I have lived separated from most of my collection since I have lived in different countries, and my main library remained in my childhood home. I still have fun growing a new collection that is a reflection of this slice of life in a new country. I always write on the first page of the books where I got them from. One day they will join the main collection, and there will be books from different countries, in different languages. It's something to look forward to 😊

One of my new favourite videos, thanks! You’re very eloquent and wise :)

ALWAYS great to see you! nice video💕

Loved this video!! I'm in the process of reading/ getting rid of books that aren't my taste anymore. I've found a love for classics and SOME fantasy that scratches that modern classic writing style itch for me. (Realm of the Elderlings and Long Price Quartet). I have all of my read favorites together with a separate shelf for a few authors whom I've read a lot of their works. I'm using my hallway table (shelf) for my "overflow" of books I'm not sure I want to keep just yet

I agree with you, a book collection is a very personal thing. It's an extension of yourself.

Thank you for this video! Thank you for the encouragement, and I agree with each of your points.

I’ve only fallen back in love with books this year, but oh my goodness my heart is so full! I’ve collected so many gorgeous books and editions, I have filled up an entire bookcase, 8 little floating shelves and my book cart is full 🤣 I honestly have no idea how I collected this many so fast, but my favorite ways to find books are my local thrift/second hand bookstores, and ebay! Ebay has been a hidden gem for me, there’s so many people selling so many editions, it’s wonderful for my bookworm heart but bad for my bank account 😂

I do keep many of my books, but I usually chose well and find something I will love. Books are like friends to me. Xx

I loved this! This was so sweet, informative and adorable. I'm starting my collection all over again. I'm beginning a new chapter 😉 in my life, and I'm treating myself to books again. I had a library when I lived in Poland, but shipping books back and forth across the pond is kinda crazy lol. Really cute video!

The best video !!!! ❤️

I am new to your channel and have found it delightful in every way. My only hope going forward is that you never talk politics. It is so nice to be in a place without biting comments from either side.

My current book collection has actually grown with my relationship which I love, when I first met him most of my books were for uni and I didn’t want to hold on to those so they ended up in charity shops, but my favourites I kept in the corner of his room so I could read when I saw him, then I started getting my new books ordered to his flat and I started my own little collection in his wardrobe, and now I’m fully moved in to his flat and have a whole ikea billy bookshelf overflowing with books!!!

I love collecting vintage books from my local antique shops!

Excellent advise. 👍💕💕📚

I loved the video, Carolyn! MySQL dream is a library like yours. I also get rid of books i didn't like. I love to collect editions of my favorite books - Anna Karenina, Alice in Wonderland and The Secret Garden.

Nice Video. I used to collect books, but then I didn't read many of them, and during depressive episodes they just collected a lot of dust, some even had paper bugs and whatnot in them when I opened them years later. It's not good to leave them untouched for 10 years of a shelf. I learned a lesson there. I gave around 300 (clean) books to my second hand shop next door before I moved and now I regret it so much. I thought I had to slim down, because I was unsure who would actually carry my stuff or where I could store them, when it was unsure of where I would live. (My old landlord forced me out, without me having a clue where to go). Now I often go back to the store and buy my books back for 50 cent each. xD

I am just finishing my library/music room home extension. It was a post Covid, post lockdown project and is being finished in the dark academia look. I have a two part book collection. One collection of readers, the other, I love collecting first edition, preferably signed, books.

My dream book room is similar to yours! I have Belle and some family members to thank for my love of literature and books. Beauty and the Beast was my favorite movie as a kid, and I definitely want a dedicated cozy book room when I settle down 🥰

What a lovely video and tips! I love books, but my budget is really low, which is part of the charm I guess. It gives me patience at least. I have found great classics, like Pride & Prejudge for free in a thrift shop. I try to not judge a book by it's cover - many people I know hate old books because of their fonts and worn out looks, but those pieces are important part of our history and should not go to waste - if that makes sense. They also make my collection even more special and unique.

I've been growing my collection now for over 20 years of adulthood and I used to get frustrated about how 'messy my collection looked, even though it's all on bookshelves, by genre and alphabetically. Even when my specific 'collections within my collection" were separated out to their own spaces. And then I realised that it just realistically reflects my eclectic tastes as a reader. I have my mass market sci-fi and fantasy paperbacks, my John Wynham Penguin classics with a specific artist's covers. My collection of Errol le Cain illustrated children's books, both hardback and puffin paperbacks (because that is what I read as a child and so I had to find those exact editions). Then my hardback classics, old and new. Some clothbound, some are not depending on whether I bought them new or inherited them. My mass market historical, literary or YA fiction shelves which change monthly as I read-and-keep or read-and-donate. Our collections definitely evolve as we do and the best collections aren't too perfect or aesthetic, in my view, because our minds are not that way either.

I had a ‘wild hair’ and donated about 75, 80% of my library… 4 months later I regretted it. I have been collecting them back (sometime my same book) from used book stores. I just feel a need to own them. Another booktuber I follow found one definition of a library as being at least 1,000 books. I’m only at 400 or so. Happy collecting!

Great video! Just what I needed, thanks! 😊 I can relate to how difficult it is to let go even the not-so-great books.. 🙈 But inspired by this, I think I’ll have some bookshelf cleaning to do! 😅

Hi Carolyn. Love your dream library idea. Mine would be much the same :) I think libraries are always a work in progress. Mine certainly is. I tend to borrow from the library or read on audio from Scribd, and if I love the book, then I buy a copy. Though if I'm pretty sure I'll like the book, I'll go ahead and buy a copy and just add it to my TBR. I didn't used to be that big into collections, but I recently have started collecting some of the Chartwell Classics books, and there are some lovely books from Wordsworth, which have illustrated covers. I discovered them in an indie bookshop near me and I have most of them now. I also want to get the Austen collection from Harper. They're like the Seasons collection they did, only they're more coherent in colour scheme, which I like. I also really like some of the painted editions/pretty covers editions by Harper as well. I have three of the Penguin Clothbound books, but I honestly don't love them because the design comes off with only minimal handling. I much prefer the faux leather Penguin editions instead. I also really like the Marjolein Bastin illustrated editions: they're really pretty.

I'm currently discarding the majority of my physical collection, because I live in a 1 bedroom unit I don't have the room any longer for a huge amount of books. I now have a large eBook collection and I borrow from the library. If I read a book from the library that I love, then I decide if I want to buy the eBook or a physical copy. I have kept my most loved books, so I still have a physical collection but much more selective. At the moment they are in author display but I'm cleaning out my unit so I might change this up a bit as I move things around. You're right, it is a long process!

Inspired by you and Emma, I finally replaced my loved-to-death copy of Watership Down with a pretty version! 🙂

At this stage in my life, I keep my physical books to a minimum: my most favorite classics among them. But I used to be an avid collector of books and even many magazines from the 40s and 50s (before my time.) BTW, if you can get your hands on a rare Flair magazine, I think you will love it (and might collect it). The graphics and print innovations were remarkable for the time in which it was produced and the writing was good too.

i've been a reader all my life and recently started collecting. i decided i only want to collect childhood favorites and manga (I'm a very visual person) and I can't wait to grow it.

It is lovely to see you enjoy your love of books... and to 'curate' your collection. As life moves on, curating the things that are less controllable becomes the real challenge... but for now, fully enjoy this phase of your life

I remember throwing most of my fantasy genre books in trash (because I had realised that I don't like the genre anymore) maybe I should have tried to donate them to local library, that's a good advice...

Collecting is certainly a journey of sorts.If I were to use a metaphor it would be like being on a train whose carriages extend indefinitely and passing through its carriages you see an incredible variety,each succeeding carriage revealing a novelty and new discovery.The question is,are we on the same train?Wait a minute,do I see you reach for the emergency brake to have me ejected!😁💝

Cheap paperbacks are my favorites for reading because I read in bed and I don't care if they get lost in the sheets or crumpled. If it happened to my clothbounds I'd cry.

You are good with advising, maybe you can make an advise colab with Emmie, or another you tubers, it's very important to know many other ways to build and curate a collection! You are doing this very well!

Because of you and Emma, I am starting to dip my toe into reading the classics beyond the ones I had to read in high school. I love the book shelves on your wall, where did you get them?

Love this video, I use a lot of these techniques for my own library. Maybe not the donating part though😅

Ok, I'm going to start imploring you to share where your sweaters/shirts are from because every video I find myself wanting/loving your tops

I read Kara and the sun as well in October. I thought being “lifted” had to do with a genetic modification that parents could choose for their children but not sure. I really liked the autobiography “Educated” by Tara Westover which I read a few years ago. Also thanks for helping me discover Frederick Bachman, So far I have only read “Anxious People” but looking forward to reading Bear Town ….. and his other books.

Nice video!

This is perfect! Just the video I needed! Can you please link your Pinterest?

I have become more picky with books I buy and collect. I have no issue getting rid of something I didn’t like/don’t want anymore but I’m picky when buying new books. I collect from a few authors but I’m always cleaning out my shelves and outside of manga I don’t buy anything unless I can’t get it from my library

Yeah, the problem I have with big dream libraries is the problem of natural light. Never seems to be a good balance between the many large windows necessary to provide the right light for reading and the long tall stacks of book. My experience is most of those dreams focus around a good reading chair without creating a great reading space.

please do an updated bookshelf tour!!

Nothing like the thrill of the hunt in searching for upgrades to well loved but cheap paperback novels.

Am I all alone in wanting to keep ALL the books I read? I love all the books I read, even the ones I hate, you know. 😅 They’re all my babies. It’s not their fault they’re terrible! 🤣 I could never throw them away or rehome them. 🥰 Poor things.

Hi Carolyn!! Which editions are above you in this video? I can’t find the specific time you said it in your video. They are both beautiful!!

I'm intrigued about Fredrik Backman. What would be the first book to read from his, to get a sense of his writing style, story telling style etc? I would love to read his book, but want to start with a bang.

first ❤

Must admit that I'm really missing your reading videos lately 🙈

You mentioned that you loved Great Expectations, and I'm thinking, "this is not good for the great debate, even if Emma isn't around." You need to crush Dickens every chance you get, take no prisoners, and concede nothing...Do it for Tolstoy! Lol!

Easton Press. Folio society. Castalia subscription. Everything else is the crowd outside my window. That said, happiness is in the mind.

Yes, indeed, you cannot waste your precious limited life and limited bookcase on bad books. But how do you ever know? Some popular classics may not be your cup of tea. Like Hugo's Les Miserables which according to your opinion is tramping in the swamp at times. Whereas Tolstoi's War and Peace keeps flowing like a rapids all times. I haven't read them yet so I don't know, except that the movie versions seem to be just vice versa. As a serious bookcollecter too I would love to collect literary luxaries in a way that they are also very much usable, ie. readable as well. How many pages can you have mercy on the books that do not pull in, are like stagnant water? 20 pages? 50 pages? Btw, do you have second hand book shops in New York where you can sell your surplus books or get some other books in exchange?

Two things 1) May I see your Pinterest board ? I love Pinterest boards!! 2) where did you get your black brackets for bookshelves? I want to copy your room I have a tons of books📚📚📚📚

Have you thought about doing a TedTalks?

I don't reread any books, so idk if buying special editions or fetting rid or books I haven't read in a while will benefit me.

At your super young age, I'd say you're also at the beginning of your book collection too. In that case, you'll get to that full library one day.

Hi

I was surprised that there was not a birthday unveiling. Surely your family must have given you books as birthday presents.

I was going to ask what your evil twin would have on her bookshelf as a Halloween idea.

From where you are doing your study

I'm new on your channel. Have you read Tolkien?

An old book tells two stories

I ❤ SKINNY BOOK BISHES 😝

how people can prefer paper back to hard back. the hard back books will last your entire life while paper back book dissolves after 3-4 reads. Like right now I'm reading 19 century Georgian novels compilation, the book is 60 years old and its cover still looks ok thanks to hard back

I love buying books from betterworldbooks, the books aren’t that expensive and they’re almost always in good condition! It’s a good way to reduce waste and also save some money.

I only buy physical copies of books that I can’t get from libraries or those for which there are no good kindle deals. I have about 50 books on shelf, and about double that on kindle (lots of cheap/free classics out there). My actual books 80% thrifted and my Libby TBR is like 250 titles 🫣😂