Episode Transcript
TBU#52: Organising your books (with Lazy Genius Kitchen inspiration)
[00:00:00] Shelley: Hello, Two Booked Up friends. I'm Shelley Tonkin Smith, one of your hosts here on the Two Booked Up Podcast, and I've got a question for you. Do you sometimes find yourself with books all over your home? If you're anything like me, you've got a pile of books on your nightstand, books in the living room, books on your work desk, and I'm just talking about books in their physical form, not even the e books and the audio books.
[00:00:30] These are book problems that we have. Well today, I'm happy to tell you that we are getting organized. And my lovely Two Booked Up co host Rowena Mabbott and I are going to be talking about organizing strategies for our books so that we can get the most joy and benefit from them. So hello, Rowena.
[00:00:51] Rowena: Hello, Shelley. Yes, we're veering away just a little from our usual format where we discuss a particular book. And I'm really excited to be chatting about this practical topic today, but in true Two Booked Up style, we are, of course, using a book to guide our conversation and that book is The Lazy Genius Kitchen by Kendra Adachi, one of our regularly referenced authors.
[00:01:15] You can check out episodes six to nine on The Lazy Genius Way, also by Kendra Adachi.
[00:01:20] Shelley: Yes, so in the Lazy Genius Kitchen, Kendra outlines a process for getting your kitchen into shape in a way that just feels like you and feels happy. And really, it's a process that you can apply to just about anything. So we're going to be using that Lazy Genius process for our books. And the steps of the process are prioritize, essentialize, organize, personalize, and then, finally, systemize.
[00:01:51] Rowena: and I love this process, not just because it's only five items. And so that's easy to remember, but because it's all about individual choice based on what matters to you.
[00:02:01] So stay tuned for how we each Lazy Genius our book organization. And I'm sure you'll walk away with some great ideas to make keeping books and reading them a whole lot more fun.
[00:02:11] Welcome to Two Booked Up. I'm Rowena Mabbott
[00:02:20] Shelley: And I'm Shelley Tonkin Smith. We're two well read best friends.
[00:02:25] Rowena: And now you are an honorary member of our book club. We're going to fast forward you to the mind blown and mic drop parts of those business and personal development books that are probably on your must read list.
[00:02:38] Shelley: Because as multi passionate working parents, we know how hard it is to find time to read, but we also know how much you love learning, growing, and making a difference in the world.
[00:02:49] Rowena: So treat yourself to a bit of bookish conversation, whether you've read the book or not.
[00:02:54] Shelley: With your two friends on Two Booked Up.
[00:02:58] Prioritize
[00:02:58] Shelley: Alright, so let's dive into organising the books in your house with the first step of the Lazy Genius process and that is the very important step of Prioritise. And in the Prioritise step, what we do is we name what matters. So If you had to name what matters about the books in your home, well, there's two aspects there that you name in what matters about.
[00:03:28] It's the actual books, so typically that's going to be the physical copies, but we're going to chat a little bit also about electronic versions and then how that works. And then the other aspect is your home, your space of where you are keeping those books. And I suppose that could be extended to your digital home on your phone for the ebooks and that kind of thing.
[00:03:52] So today we're going to focus. We're going to talk about organizing your own books, particularly on your own books, so you as the listener, and then next week, we are going to go a bit broader and talk about kids books but we're going to start with the easier task today, just organizing your own books.
[00:04:10] Okay. So. I'll go first, and then Rowena, we can compare my priorities to yours, and then we'll talk about some of the other things that could matter to those of you listening, because as we said, this is individual choice, and it's very important for you to name what matters before you start organizing anything.
[00:04:30] So we're going to try and limit ourselves to five top things that matter. And so I think for me, as I thought about this, my top thing that matters about the books in my house is that I want to read.
[00:04:45] And I was going to say, I want to read a lot, but really, I just want to read interesting books. And I feel at the heart of this, What matters is that I feel like I want to be able to call myself a reader, to identify as a reader. So that's a big overarching thing that matters. The second thing that matters to me when I'm prioritizing is that I read books for my work.
[00:05:13] So, For teaching in my WordNerd store, obviously for the Two Booked Up Podcast, for the Playful Mompreneur Podcast, and I'm involved in the Leader's Library. So I have to read a lot of books for my work and that reading is important to me. So that means that I need to be able to refer to those nonfiction books, those business and personal development books.
[00:05:38] And I actually found myself the other day referring to a book called Managing Humans by Michael Lopp, his online name is Rands. And I was all the rage in about 2011. And somebody referred to something and I was like, Oh yes, I remember that book. And I swiveled my chair around and had to go and look that up.
[00:05:57] So I need kind of access to those books. That's important. And also as part of my work, I get recommendations from podcasts, from blogs, from my biz besties. I have one particularly bookish friend who gives me lots of book recommendations.
[00:06:16] Rowena: Might that be the person you co host a podcast with?
[00:06:19] Shelley: It might be.
[00:06:20] Rowena: Oh, nice.
[00:06:22] Shelley: So yeah, I mean, like it's important for me to keep track of those and to take those recommendations. There's so much gold there that, I don't want to lose, you know? So that's really important to me. So just generally books for my work. But then number three is it's, what do they say?
[00:06:40] All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. And. Number three is that I wanna read for pleasure. So it's not just for work, which I do default to, I will will say, but I also wanna read for pleasure. And so I wanna make it easier for me to choose reading a book over gravitating towards the old phone, you know, and going to my email inbox, or social media, or picking up my phone for whatever reason. And then number four for me that matters is that I want to share my love of reading with others and just chat about the books that I read. I love chatting about books with people. Again, Rowena, thank you. You know this about me. This is no surprise. And yeah, I don't mind surrounding myself with books and being the village library, and, um, unfortunately our public libraries in South Africa are maybe not as good as they should be or could be. And, but I don't mind being that library, like standing in the gap for that and being that it's kind of local village library.
[00:07:43] And then I think finally, for me, I need to be able to find and access my books easily. So I'm not too bothered about pristine aesthetics, but I also don't want my books to be in a mess. I need to be able to access them. And I do buy a lot of hard copy books that, that I don't have time to read yet, but I see them in the store and I, and I buy them.
[00:08:08] So I need a bit of a system and then we'll come to systemizing, but. This is prioritizing. I need to be able to, remember those books that I've bought. And occasionally when I borrow a book, I don't want to be that girl who doesn't return the book, that's just terrible. So I, I just need to be able to know where all those books are, but like, Total pristine aesthetics is not, not a major priority for me.
[00:08:34] So how about you, Ro? Those are my, I would say those are my top five, that I want to identify as a reader. I need to read for work. I need to read for pleasure. I want to share my love of reading with others and then I want to be able to find my books easily. How about you? What matters to you when it comes to the books in your house?
[00:08:55] Rowena: Okay, so first of all, number one, I want to read a lot. Yes, I want it to be pleasurable, but I also really like to read a lot of different things because the best writers read widely and they read a lot. So it is important to me to read a vast number of books, both fiction and not fiction.
[00:09:13] But as I said, they do generally need to be enjoyable. I have read a few books that I finished and thought, eh. I wasn't that fussed about that, but I do prefer to read things that are interesting or have a great hook or have a fabulous plot or characters. So leading on from that number two, I also want to read widely and a diverse selection of books.
[00:09:33] I like to try books that are outside my usual comfort zone. And again, that's both fiction and nonfiction, which is why I love our 24 for 2024 challenge and why I'm also doing a 52 books in a year challenge.
[00:09:46] Now number three, this is probably at the opposite end of the scale from you, Shelley, I'd suggest I am on a path to minimalism. And so I actually don't want clutter or unnecessary items in my house, or particularly in my space. The boys, which I'll talk about in our next episode, have a very different set of rules.
[00:10:04] But it does mean that I minimalise or reduce the number of physical copies of books that I own, which in then, because that's my priority, but changes how I read things and where I source them from, and whether I keep things or not. Which leads me on to the next point, which is I want to support my local library.
[00:10:21] And I do, I use all the resources and facilities it offers, which, are a lot. I'm very fortunate. The Inner West Library of Sydney, which is where I'm based, has fantastic resources. And then finally, my fifth priority is that I want to be efficient in my reading. This is something I decided a number of years ago, I think possibly back in 2017, that I was not reading enough.
[00:10:45] So I was listening to podcasts and I was listening to other random things, but I wasn't really reading enough books. And I realized that at that point I was just walking once a day and I could listen to audio books, whereas now I walk the dog twice a day and each time is for at least 30 minutes. So that's up to an hour every day that I can be productively using that time reading through listening to an audio book.
[00:11:08] Shelley: That's super cool. I think the step is so important, Ro, like, just seeing the difference between our priorities of your priority of minimalism and my priority of being the village library. And I just encourage listeners to think about like, just what is important to you? What's your priority? And also those priorities can change.
[00:11:29] Like you, you said that change of wanting to be more efficient in your reading, it was a seasonal change that then kind of stayed in and, has now affected your reading life and the way you then keep books. Cause now you're very much more electronic with your commitments to, to minimalism.
[00:11:45] And I like how, your commitment to reading a lot, also balances off with the commitment to reading efficiently, you know, so then you can fit more reading into your life. What would you say for our listeners? What are the, what are some of the other things that they could think about as they are prioritizing and naming what matters about their books?
[00:12:03] Rowena: So here is some suggestions of questions that you might like to consider. Firstly, what's important to you about the aesthetics of your home and how it looks? So Shelley said she doesn't mind if it's not pristine. We haven't touched on yet how I organize mine, but Let's just say it's different from Shelley.
[00:12:20] And a second question. What's important to you about how you use the space in your home? And realistically, how much space do you have? Now this does impact on how you prioritize your reading and prioritize the use of your books. So that's an important one. The other third question that I'd love you to consider is, is it important for you to keep books once you've read them?
[00:12:41] Now we just heard Shelley say she likes to be able to refer back to them. Maybe you, like her, are maybe a little sentimental about books or perhaps like me, once you've read it, unless you plan to reread it, you're happy to gift it on to somebody else. And finally, overall, what's important to you when it comes to your books?
[00:12:58] Essentialize
[00:12:58] Shelley: Yeah, well, I think this is a good part to go back to the Lazy Genius Kitchen and check out what the next step of Kendra Adachi's Lazy Genius Process is, and that happens to be essentialize. So the essentialize question or the essentialised part of the process is all about removing what's in the way from your priorities.
[00:13:22] So you've prioritised and now you're going to remove what's in the way of you getting towards that priority.
[00:13:30] So in my case, I'll give you some examples. I don't have too much of a space problem when it comes to books. We do have like an extra room that can be used as our music room and our book room and all sorts of the sorts of things. Interesting though, I did mention about seasonal changes and I'm talking life seasons rather than natural seasons.
[00:13:50] Garen and I did consider at one point of like getting rid of most of our hardcopy books in the house. And yeah, we were planning to just use eBooks, But then we started homeschooling and then for us, it was actually important for us to have a stash of hardcopy books. But yes, priority's changed and we've done that full 180, but now, as I say, honestly, I don't mind filling my house with books. So the essentialism piece for me is less about removing books and more about changing mindsets and removing some mindsets.
[00:14:20] So one of the things that I need to remove that I've found is the temptations on my phone. So I've done something very minor and that's just put Audible and Kindle on the home screen of my phone.
[00:14:32] So that when I open up the screen, I'm not seeing email and social media first. Those are like off on other screens, but I'm seeing book related apps first. And then. I would concede, I have said I've got so many books, but I would concede that I could pass on a few books to make space for new ones.
[00:14:50] And Rowena, do you know that I've discovered I've got at least four on the bookshelf behind me for duplicate books.
[00:14:57] Rowena: Goodness
[00:14:58] Shelley: I am for various reasons.
[00:15:01] Rowena: Oh my goodness.
[00:15:02] Shelley: airheaded and buying books that I don't need. I've got those duplicate books. And so I plan to give those away.
[00:15:08] And then there are other books in my little library that. I just don't need any more, and I could quite happily pass on and spread the love to other people. I am generally happy, particularly to pass on fiction books. I generally don't re read those. So, I think that's something that I'll commit to, as I might choose my own adventure after this episode, is to go through my fictions and see which ones I could pass on.
[00:15:31] But how about you, Ro? Given what matters to you about your books, what have you removed or what could you remove or essentialize?
[00:15:39] Rowena: Hmm. So I do like that you referenced that you and Garen at one point thought about getting rid of your hard copy books, because I have found for myself, I did do a massive declutter and get rid of a whole lot of books. And there have, has actually been times when I've thought, oh, It's a shame I got rid of that book.
[00:15:56] Shelley: Oh, okay.
[00:15:58] Rowena: particularly books that, were classics that I thought, well, I'm not, if I want to reread that, I'll just get it from the library. But when the kids were looking for something to read, I was a bit, upset that I'd got rid of some of my beautiful old books that I had purchased in the UK that were already kind of antique books when I bought them.
[00:16:12] So the kids had to borrow them from the library, which is not too bad, but they were specifically looking for something to read in that minute, which didn't really help when they couldn't find it.
[00:16:21] Anyway, now to how I've essentialised. Because I want to read widely and read a lot, it's actually impossible for me to own and then keep every book I read.
[00:16:30] So, as I mentioned, I borrow the vast majority of books from the library, and I do a lot of those via ebook because I have multiple apps through the library, and I do have some paperback books as well that I borrow from the library. But I also listen to a lot of audiobooks, so that effectively removes physical books from my space, at least on a long term basis.
[00:16:50] The number of my other books are digital, as I mentioned. So the ones that I own are in the Kindle app or in the Apple Books app, and I just use the standard library function built within those apps.
[00:17:00] Um, that said, I do always remove any books that I've read that I won't refer back to or read again. So there's a little button you can do where you can remove the download, and then you can also archive it or delete it from your library. And I do that because I don't need the distraction of seeing a book that I've already read.
[00:17:15] And probably like you, Shelley, I do pass on most fiction books I purchase or am given after I've read them. Sometimes they come back, sometimes the person asks and says, Oh, do you want this back? And I said, no, no, you can give it on to somebody else if you've finished reading it.
[00:17:28] So this supports my commitment to minimalism, which is my priority, but it also helps my identity as a reader. And like you, Shelley, sharing the enjoyment of books and of reading and sharing great stories with other people and supporting them to read more as well. So that's a big part of, yeah, that's a big part of my priorities and essentializing together.
[00:17:47] And now Shelley, again, I feel like I should be saying snap. I removed a lot of other temptations. So for example, I did set time limits on my phone and my iPad for social media apps. So the phone automatically blocks the app after just a few minutes, which I. think I set those during the COVID lockdowns when I was finding I was doom scrolling way too much.
[00:18:08] And that was when I really did make a big shift because it was harder to mindlessly scroll and it made it far more enticing to intentionally read instead.
[00:18:17] Shelley: Mm. I like that read instead. To like, read instead. It's like a nice reminder.
[00:18:23] Rowena: correct. And I think part of that, which is not necessarily in this section, it might be something we come to, is that I often have a book next to my place at the dining table. So that way I can pick up a book instead of picking up my phone if I'm having a little lunch break or grabbing a cup of tea.
[00:18:38] So that helps me just even get a couple of pages in. And odds on, it's very hard to read only a couple of pages because I tend to get sucked in and I want to then finish the chapter. So That's quite a good little tip.
[00:18:50] Shelley: So yeah, listeners, I hope that gives you some ideas of where you could essentialize or remove what's in the way of what matters to you when it comes to books.
[00:18:59] So this, you're gonna have to put your own spin on it, but we've given you some examples. So I mentioned my phone. I think TV is also a big competition for reading for many of us. So maybe a small step could be to remove or cut one night of Netflix. and then read instead. Uh, that's also something that I would consider.
[00:19:19] And maybe you'd like to read more, but your books are not in plain sight. So like to your tip of having a book at the dining table. Um, I've had this where the bookshelf in my TV room had like picture frames and ornaments on it, but then the books were stashed away in a cupboard. in my office. So then it wasn't easy to grab a book when I would sit down on the couch.
[00:19:40] Organize
[00:19:40] Shelley: But now I've done some reorganization. So I think that's a good time for us to move on to the next fun step, which is organize and put everything in its place. But really now that we've prioritized and essentialized, suddenly organization becomes a little bit more intuitive and a little bit more doable.
[00:20:00] All right, Ro, so you've shared your priorities, you've shared your essentialism tips. Now, can you move on and share your organization tips with us? Yeah,
[00:20:14] Rowena: Um, But okay, so the main place I store my physical books, is in my office. I have a, quite a small bookshelf on which I've color coded the spines and arranged them in color and height order. So I know lots of people think this is a bit weird and my mom was absolutely horrified when she saw that I'd done that, but it does look pretty and it's helped me realize that I actually need to read the spine to find where the book is, rather than just assuming that it'll be with all the other ones alike in the same topic. So on my color coded bookshelves, I mostly have my non fiction books and just a handful of fiction books. It's just a very small number of favorites, as well as my to be read items. And that's actually the same for my non fiction. I keep those that I've purchased or been gifted that I've not read yet. So it's pretty streamlined.
[00:21:04] Now library books are a little different. As I mentioned I do primarily borrow ebooks and audiobooks.
[00:21:09] So the other thing I've done is I've created a folder where all my reading or book related apps reside. And because I have quite a lot of those, it's quite a chunky little folder in my phone. And I've also got the same sort of thing in my iPad, because as I mentioned, through my local library, I have access to multiple apps for eBooks and audio books, but I've also got Kindle and Audible on there and Apple Books.
[00:21:33] So at last count, maybe 11 or 12 different apps in there that I can use to access book related material. And then finally, which is, I don't know whether it sits in this area is I add read to the end of every daily to do list that I actually hand write out, which is a good reminder to always finish my day with a book.
[00:21:52] Shelley: Oh, nice. So like a little to do item that you can tick off and it's actually something that you have to do.
[00:21:58] Rowena: Correct. And it gives me satisfaction putting a tick and a line through
[00:22:02] Shelley: Yeah.
[00:22:02] Rowena: Yeah.
[00:22:03] For physical library books, which I do get a little bit more of these days because a lot of the books coming into our library are now only available as a physical book and then we have to wait a long time for an ebook They live on a corner of my desk in my office, or as I mentioned, they travel with me because I'm actively reading them.
[00:22:22] So they might be on the dining table when I'm reading at lunch time or they might be on my nightstand if I'm reading before bed.
[00:22:28] And then just quickly, there are other books in the rest of the house that's not just, my books are the only ones I've minimized. My husband's nonfiction books are. Organized by author in a cupboard in the lounge room and his fiction books are, well, let's be honest, they're pretty much in random piles, either in a cupboard in the lounge room again, or honestly, they are causing a bit of a health hazard.
[00:22:52] They are teetering on his nightstand currently. And I'm quite concerned that if he bumps the nightstand in the night, the books are going to fall over and squash his head. Um, but anyway, he doesn't listen to this podcast, so I can, you know, say these things about him.
[00:23:06] Shelley: Well, listen, I can kind of sympathize with him but I did clean up mine, Ro, so you didn't have to have to worry about
[00:23:12] Rowena: I don't have to stress that you're going to get a book injury.
[00:23:14] Shelley: well, I did. You see, because after I did get my Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix book injury, I was like, no, I'm gonna have to clean up this nightstand. So yes, it really is I think your husband maybe needs to do some cleaning up.
[00:23:28] Rowena: Well, he's, he's forbidden me from touching it. He said, no, no, I'll get to it. But he does have a lot. He has a library book there next to his pile of books that he owns as well.
[00:23:37] So it's all a bit crazy.
[00:23:39] Shelley: give you hives.
[00:23:41] Rowena: It does really.
[00:23:42] Shelley: Well, listen, as I say, like, I can relate to him. I also have books kind of everywhere. But yes, with my business books. As I've said, the priority is that they need to be in range when I need them. So I think I've developed a bit of a signature swivel on my chair.
[00:23:57] I'll swivel around to the books behind me, which are in my Zoom background, to go, Oh, there's a book about that. And have you read this? So my books and my business books, particularly on sort of nicely organized, On this bookshelf behind me.
[00:24:11] My fiction books are generally bought on Kindle. I like reading on the Kindle. It's kind of a bit of a decide once, going back to those Lazy Genius Principles. I just find it's easier to hold when, and I'm likely reading before bed. And so that's nice. And, and that supports my priority to read for pleasure, to get more books on the Kindle.
[00:24:33] I also, in terms of organization, I use our Two Booked Up 24 for 2024 Reading Challenge Checklist to organize my TBR list.
[00:24:43] So I've gone and filled in all the books that I have bought and that I want to read and then I fill those in and then I circle them when I've actually read them. And yeah, you know, I mentioned before that it's important for me to call myself a reader and then to share those books with others.
[00:25:00] So I've got a bookshelf in our live in area. Where people can then see the books I've got and they can either take a photo of the book to go and get it for themselves, or I'll lend them the book. And yeah, honestly, that's maybe a project that I'd like to organize those books a little bit better. There's no particular order to those books in the common area.
[00:25:20] They are mostly non fiction books with some coffee table books on a shelf under, you guessed it, our little coffee table. And yeah, it was at this organizing stage, like I talk about this big bookshelf that we've got in the living area. I had to buy organizing supplies, like bookends, because the bookshelf didn't have bookends, you know, it's like one of those more decorative kind of bookshelves.
[00:25:45] So this is the point, listeners, where you will go and buy those organizational supplies. So maybe it is even buying a new bookshelf, but you first need to prioritize, you first need to essentialize and get rid of what you don't need, and then you can go, okay, now I'm working with the stuff that's important, and now I'm going to buy extra stuff, like even simple things like bookends.
[00:26:06] So yeah, like to that point, I've got, Two big bookshelves in our music room or library. And those are mainly kids books. So I'll save that for our episode in two weeks time, when we're going to be talking about kids books. But I did make the decision to buy a big bookshelf for that room. Once I'd kind of prioritized that that was important to me.
[00:26:28] And then one more thing that I'll mention in terms of my lack of aesthetic beauty is that I've got a big plastic box full of like our newer books, the books that I've kind of bought recently. And it started with Jolabokaflod last year. So that was in episode 37, we talked about Christmas bookish traditions and Jolabokaflod is one of those.
[00:26:53] So my box could certainly be prettier, but that kind of just separates these featured new books from just the general books on the shelves. So yeah, so that's some of my organization, like organizing the chaos of the books in my house.
[00:27:09] Rowena: That's great, Shelley. And our listeners, those are a few of Shelley and my organization tips. I'd encourage you to think about the way you organize your books through the lens of what matters to you. So back to that number one prioritized step.
[00:27:24] So, for example, maybe you have limited storage space, but perhaps it's important for you to keep particular books. In which case, maybe you want to use a big plastic box like Shelley and store them away or perhaps you pop them back into a cupboard or even into a garage. And for little kids books, which we'll get to, that can be a great tip.
[00:27:43] Or if there's something that's sentimental value, books that you read as a teen and you don't want to get rid of them, but you don't really need them on your shelf right now, that could lend itself to that. You might even develop a system of rotating those books into the space you do have in your house, and it'll feel like you have new books.
[00:27:59] Personalize
[00:27:59] Rowena: Now, before we talk about systemising, Shelley, you've just talked about making things pretty, which actually takes us very nicely onto the next step of our Lazy Genius approach to books in our homes. And that is to personalize, which is really where you make your books and your arranging of your books to feel like yourself.
[00:28:21] So it's where you make your book collection look and feel like you. So this is where, if you were like me and you wanted to. make things pretty, you might like to head over onto Pinterest to get ideas on how to style your bookshelves. There's even a little trending hashtag for a while that was called a shelfie, which was showing off how you arranged your books with your plants.
[00:28:40] Or yeah, so cool. Um, it was, could spend hours wasting time doing that, but then I chose to read instead. Or you could even buy book baskets. I've seen some very cool book baskets where they have, they sit on the edge of your stairs. So They go across the steps. They go across one step and two step and you pop your books in them to carry them back upstairs to the bedrooms.
[00:28:59] So cool. Or like me, you might decide to go quite simple and just organize by the color of the spine.
[00:29:07] Shelley: Which always looks, it looks beautiful, I must say,
[00:29:12] Rowena: It
[00:29:12] Shelley: definitely worthy of a selfie. But yeah, like listeners, this is all about you and your style, so go and use those Pinterest boards for inspiration, but always remember those things are highly styled those, Instagram and Pinterest pictures. So don't worry if your real life bookshelf looks well, you know, a little bit more real life, that that's life. You know, like that's what we love. So yeah, the first thing that I think of when I think about personalizing is actually choosing books that reflect my style but also my journey and my kind of evolution in business and in tastes.
[00:29:46] You know, I, I love seeing the books that have shaped my business and my personal journeys on my bookshelves.
[00:29:53] As I say, my bookshelf is very proudly my Zoom background. And I also have a little book stand, which Rowena can see on the video.
[00:30:03] You won't be able to see, obviously, on this podcast, but I like featuring a book. So I'll just pick a book. It's sometimes the book I'm reading, or it's, it's not the book I'm reading because I've got that one where I'm actually reading it. But it's like a book that I just want to feature. And I'll put it on a little stand that stands up and then you can see that behind me on my Zoom background.
[00:30:22] And you know, it's part of my identity. Tea as a reader, because then we can like chat about that book. I'm like, Oh, look, see, you've got Everybody Writes by Anne Handley, you know, and let's chat about that. So, then the other thing that I've done is to add plants, but what I will, so I've added these like succulent plants in cute little, there's a little teddy bear kind of looking one. And I've also got an orchid behind me as well. But Rowena, I'm telling you, this is going to change because I just can't keep plants alive. So I am, I've now got a Lego orchid that I've built out of Lego blocks. So that's going to be a new Zoom background that you'll be seeing soon.
[00:30:58] So those are some of the personalization things that you can do. Besides your color coding, of course, Ro, what have you done to. Add a bit of Rowena pizzazz to your book collections?
[00:31:09] Rowena: Ah, well, aside from the colour coding, I think like you, there are books that I like to keep because they say something about who I am as a reader, or they're books that I just really enjoyed reading, and even if I might not reread them, perhaps they talk to who I am. But honestly, the coloured spine tends to be the winner. So it has to look aesthetically pleasing and that's what I do.
[00:31:30] I know it annoys everyone, but sometimes it means I've got a fiction book wedged in with my non fiction because the spine just works perfectly in that rainbow spot. I know, ridiculous. Uh, now to make books more inviting and to make reading more inviting, which is something, a way that I've personalized it for me, I do like to shift my books around a little bit.
[00:31:49] So if I have a physical book I want to read next, as I mentioned, I might put it on the corner of my desk where I'll see it. I do also prefer my books to be neat and tidy and put away. So that includes my nightstand, where unlike my husband with his towering pile of doom books, I only have my gratitude journal and the current book I'm reading, which mostly means just my iPad.
[00:32:10] Now I will say, as part of the personalization, I used to have heaps and heaps of books with overflowing bookshelves, stacked two or three deep, and that was a big part of my identity.
[00:32:20] And it was a big part of my identity to have those books visible, kind of like, look how great I am because of all the books I've read. But I do, We'll admit that over the last few years, that has changed very dramatically. And now I really don't have a lot of physical books in my space. And again, I will emphasize that it's my space that doesn't, everybody else is doing their own thing in my household.
[00:32:42] And I'm okay with that completely because it's all about what works for me and my reading style. And just like I'd say to our listeners, it's all about, that's personalizing, right? It's all about what works for you and your reading style too.
[00:32:52] Shelley: I love that. I love that personalization aspect and how it's changed as you've changed as a person. So yes, personalize your space and yeah, just bring your personal flair to this reading party. So this is where we're gonna finally move on to the last step of the Lazy Genius process for our books.
[00:33:09] Systemize
[00:33:09] Shelley: I hope you can see that the importance of starting with prioritizing, because I think sometimes we jump to this fifth step, which is trying to get a system for our books. But we don't want to jump too soon to the systemized step. step, when we haven't actually taken out what's not important, and we want it really in the systemized step is take what we've organized and then make sure it stays in the flow, make sure it stays organized.
[00:33:34] And so we do that by creating systems like for the long term. And so in my office, what I've done with this bookshelf, I've started by trying to order the books by author's name. But I've realized I haven't been able to keep that system up because I do go and pull out a book and then I don't put it back in the same place.
[00:33:54] And so that system hasn't lasted and that's okay with me. I've just gone, you know what the system is basically a kind of business books on the top shelf. And then the second shelf is homeschool books or like education y kind of books loosely. And then the bottom shelf is new books that I've got.
[00:34:11] And also I'm mixing a few fictions and nonfiction. That was all on the bottom shelf. And then I can stay in that system that keeps me in the flow sufficiently. So I think that's what we want to aim for with systemizing.
[00:34:24] But the other one that I want to mention is an app.
[00:34:27] There's, there's an app for that is called Library Thing. And it is such a nerdy bookish app. But basically what I use it for is to categorize all the books that I own. So when I buy a book, I scan the barcode of the book and it's got a little scanner with a camera and it goes beep. And I really sound like a librarian and I've done very cool.
[00:34:49] Um, but yeah,
[00:34:51] Rowena: That is so cool.
[00:34:52] Shelley: it is. It's my favorite thing when I buy the books, then I scan it into Library Thing and it just keeps track of, yeah, the books that I've, that I own. You can then categorize them into children's books or, you know, fiction, nonfiction, you can make up your own categories. But I just now generally just put them into my library.
[00:35:10] You can also use Library Thing to keep track of books that you've lent to other people. And then you can say, okay, you've lent that book out or even a book that you've borrowed from the library. Put it into LibraryThing so that you remember that you have got that book from the library and you need to return it.
[00:35:25] So LibraryThing, I would highly recommend that, that app if you've got quite a lot of books. You know, but again, this is, based on your priority. If you've got a lot of books in your house and you're battling to keep track, then you can catalog them in library thing.
[00:35:39] Ro, how about you? How do you keep things in the flow?
[00:35:42] Rowena: Okay. So probably the most. Fundamental is using my notes app on my phone. So I keep track of my reading for our Two Booked Up 24 in 2024 reading challenge on my notes app. So like you Shelley, I use that to kind of guide my reading, but I also keep tabs on what I've been reading. And I also have a separate notes app for the 52 book challenge that I'm doing.
[00:36:07] And because I am a complete nerd, I also have a master handwritten list of the books I've read each year stored in a planner in my office. It's a lovely silver color, which means it's beautiful on my shelf. It finishes off the rainbow very nicely. And I've got lists.
[00:36:23] Shelley: Yes.
[00:36:23] Rowena: Very personalized. And I do have lists all the way back to 2017 which really helps jog my memory when say, for example, Shelley and I are talking about a book and I'm pretty sure I've read it, but I can't remember exactly when I did.
[00:36:35] And as I mentioned earlier, I regularly review my bookshelves and curate my selection. So I'm very defined by the boundaries of my bookshelf. So when my books can't fit in my bookshelf, it's time for me to review and maybe pass some books onto the little library or to my friends or to our local charity shop.
[00:36:54] I also review every month or so my downloads, the reserves and the books I've added to the various lists in all the book apps that I've got. So as I mentioned, Kindle, Apple Books, I also use Libby, Borrowbox, Indie Reads and Hoopla. So anybody in Australia, you might have some of those as well.
[00:37:11] So then I check if I'm still interested in the book, or perhaps I've already read it. somewhere else or through some other platform. And that actually just happened yesterday with a book that I'd added to my Amazon cart, thinking I was going to buy it.
[00:37:23] And I'd been really thinking about purchasing it, but it was very, very expensive. I think it was 60 in hardcover, which is quite a lot of money for a book that I wasn't sure if I would love. Even the Kindle version was about 20 something dollars in Australian.
[00:37:37] But now, most excitingly, it is available through my library on one of those apps. And so I now have removed it from my Amazon cart and I've put it on my reserve list for the library instead. And of course, if I absolutely love the book, once I've read it, I might still consider purchasing it, but this way I've saved that money and I can still read the book that I wanted to read.
[00:37:58] So that was a pretty big. Yeah, that was a pretty nice system.
[00:38:01] Shelley: And I think I must also just say we do have Libby in South Africa as well. There are a couple of online apps, but yes, I think that you can get through your local library. So do check that out as well if you live in South Africa, you don't have to be a librarian like me. There are a few of those apps available, through your local libraries as well.
[00:38:19] And with that, we're going to wrap things up for today on Two Booked Up. We have so enjoyed applying Kendra Adachi's Lazy Genius process and I highly recommend the Lazy Genius Kitchen but as you've heard here, the principles that she gives you in the book can be applied to any area of your home and I would actually say it can be applied to many areas of your life in general as well. So just to remind you, those five steps of the Lazy Genius process are prioritise, very important, essentialise, remove what's in the way, then organise, put everything in its place, then personalise, Make it Feel Like Yourself, and finally, Systematize, Stay in the Flow.
[00:39:07] So we'll leave a link to the Lazy Genius Kitchen by Kendra Adachi in our show notes. Highly recommended book that you can go and get two booked up with and organize your books too.
[00:39:18] Rowena: Nice. So, well, Shelley, that leads us to this week's Choose Your Own Adventure, I think. first one is consider how you can prioritize and essentialize reading your books. We've shared heaps of ideas in this episode, so perhaps you could go and try one of those ideas.
[00:39:35] And option number two is try moving some of your books from one shelf to another, bring them to your attention and focus. Like Shelley's got her little book stand or I pop my book next to me on the dining table. It's a quick action that could shift what you read next. Alright, Shelley, you tell us what you've been reading at the moment.
[00:39:55] Shelley: Mine is a TBR. It's called Sweep! The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier. So this is a recommendation from my husband, who's been, he's finished reading it to my boys. And it's a modern take on a Charles Dickens style novel that I will tell you had Garen choked up at the end. So I had actually recommended it to them, and now it's been back recommended to me.
[00:40:23] Garen loved it. He said it was really amazing. So, I think that's a pertinent recommendation, because in our next episode of Two Booked Up, we're going to be discussing the organization of your kids books. So, this is a kids book that I plan to on my own. So until next episode of Two Booked Up in two weeks time, let's continue this conversation.
[00:40:43] You can hear we've got a lot to say about organizing your books. So you can connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm Shelley Tonkin Smith over there. And you can learn more about my copywriting services and resources for for online service providers and educators over at shelleysmithcreative. com. And where can listeners find you, Ro?
[00:41:02] Rowena: You can find me at Rowena Mabbott on Instagram or visit rowenamabbott. com for information about all my coaching services and the books I've written.
[00:41:12] Shelley: And of course, remember to visit twobookedup. com for show notes and to download the 24 for 2024 reading challenge PDF checklist for free. I'm Shelley Tonkin Smith, and I'm off to do a bit more organizing and systemizing of my books.
[00:41:29] Rowena: And I'm Rowena Mabbott. We'll see you in two weeks time for another episode of Two Booked Up. Thanks for listening.
