9.23.2009

A few years ago a bookshop out in California allowed it's 20,000 books to be arranged completely by color. It was a temporary art exhibit, but it made quite a wave in the book community. Every now and again someone will bring it up in discussion threads on LT. Like an urban legend you hear about through email. I've even seen books arranged by color in lifestyle magazines. Many people think it's a cool idea but to actually do that would be gutsy, looney and so avant garde. So naturally, I did it. First of all, it's fun. It was such an adventure just getting them all arranged. Secondly, it is aesthetically pleasing. Every time I walked into the room and saw that rainbow it brought a smile to my face. It's beautiful. And thirdly, it's interesting what kind of connections you can make between books that never would have 'met' if they were filed alphabetically. The problem? I can't find a blessed thing. Even after a four-month trial. I literally tore the house apart looking for my Philip Marlowe book which I knew to be yellow. It took me over 30 minutes to finally find it. In black. The book was yellow, it just had a black spine. Over a third of my collection is black and I got fatigued going through them all. Ridiculous. And way too much stress. So it's back to antiquated, boring, pedestrian alpha-by-author for me. There's a reason it's a system that's been used for hundreds of years.

I've already begun to dismantle the rainbow. Here's one last glance to make me smile...