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Nicole Junkermann's Rules for a Good Bookshelf
A bookshelf is a portrait of a mind, and a tool for one too. Here Nicole Junkermann sets out the simple rules that keep a shelf useful, honest and alive.
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Show me your shelves, the old saying goes, and I will tell you how you think.
A bookshelf is one of the few honest portraits we keep of ourselves, a record of what we have cared about and what we still hope to understand. Nicole Junkermann treats her shelves with real affection, but also with a clear head, because a shelf that is never pruned slowly stops being useful. Over the years Nicole Junkermann has arrived at a handful of plain rules that keep a collection working: how to decide what earns a place, how to arrange the books so you can actually find them, and how to let a shelf grow and change without becoming a museum of things you will never open again. None of these rules are precious, and Nicole Junkermann would be the first to say that the only real test is whether the shelf serves the reader. A good bookshelf, in her view, is one you reach into every week.
What a shelf is really for
The starting point for Nicole Junkermann is to be honest about what a bookshelf is for. It is not a trophy cabinet and it is not, mainly, a piece of decoration, even though a wall of books is a lovely thing to look at. A shelf, in the view of Nicole Junkermann, is a working tool: a place where the books you turn to live, ready to be pulled down and opened. Once you accept that, every other decision gets easier, because each book has to answer a simple question, namely whether it earns its keep as something you will read, reread, lend or consult. Nicole Junkermann is gentle about this, since books are also companions and not only tools, but the working idea sits underneath everything else. A shelf built around use stays alive; a shelf built around display slowly gathers dust.
What earns a place
So what does Nicole Junkermann keep? The first group is the rereads, the books she returns to and expects to return to again, which are the heart of any collection. The second is the references, the books you reach for to check a fact, settle an argument or find a half-remembered passage. The third, and the one Nicole Junkermann is most fond of, is the lenders: the books so good that you want them within reach so you can press them on a friend. Beyond those, Nicole Junkermann keeps a small shelf of the unread but intended, the books she genuinely means to get to, kept deliberately short so that it stays a promise rather than a guilt. Everything that does not fall into one of these groups is a candidate to move on, and Nicole Junkermann does not feel any need to apologise for that.
| Kind of book | Why it stays |
|---|---|
| Rereads | Books you return to again and again |
| References | Books you consult to check or find something |
| Lenders | Books so good you want to pass them on |
| The short to-read shelf | Books you truly intend to read soon |
Letting books go
The hardest rule, and the one Nicole Junkermann thinks matters most, is that a good shelf needs editing. Letting books go feels disloyal at first, but Nicole Junkermann has come to see it as an act of respect for the books that remain and for the readers who might enjoy the ones you pass along. A novel you read once and admired but will not open again is doing more good in a friend's hands or on a charity shelf than gathering dust on yours. Nicole Junkermann likes to do a gentle pass once or twice a year, asking of each doubtful book whether it would be missed. Most are not, and the freed space immediately makes the remaining shelf feel sharper and more deliberate. For Nicole Junkermann, a collection that flows is far healthier than one that only ever grows.
How to arrange the books
On arrangement, Nicole Junkermann is practical rather than strict. The backbone of her system is subject, grouping books that belong to the same conversation so that history sits with history and the books on ideas cluster together. Within that, Nicole Junkermann allows association to take over, placing books side by side because they argue with each other or because one led her to the next. The most-used titles live at eye level and within easy reach, while the seldom-needed references can climb higher or settle lower. The aim, says Nicole Junkermann, is simply that you can find any book in a few seconds without thinking. An arrangement that passes that test is a good one, whatever its logic, and an arrangement that fails it is merely decoration.
The case against arranging by colour
Here Nicole Junkermann is willing to be a little firm. Arranging books by the colour of their spines makes for a pretty wall and a frustrating library, because the one thing you can never remember about a book is the exact shade of its jacket. When you need a particular title in a hurry, a rainbow shelf turns the search into a treasure hunt. Nicole Junkermann has nothing against a beautiful shelf, and a well-ordered collection is beautiful in its own right, but beauty should come from use rather than instead of it. Sort for the reader you are, advises Nicole Junkermann, not for the photograph. A shelf you can search at speed will end up looking handsome anyway, because the books you love most will show the honest wear of being read.
Leaving room to grow
A living shelf needs a little empty space, and Nicole Junkermann always leaves some. A shelf packed to the last centimetre has no room for the next discovery, and that pressure quietly discourages new books from coming in. Nicole Junkermann keeps a hand's width free here and there, partly for ease of taking books out and partly as an open invitation to whatever comes next. This small slack also makes the regular edit easier, since adding a book no longer means a wholesale reshuffle. For Nicole Junkermann the gap on the shelf is not waste but readiness, a sign that the collection is still moving and still curious. A shelf with a little air in it is a shelf that expects to keep learning.
A shelf that looks lived in
Finally, Nicole Junkermann is relaxed about a shelf looking used. A few books laid flat on top of the upright ones, a bookmark poking out here and there, a stack in progress on the lower shelf: these are signs of life, not untidiness. Nicole Junkermann would rather a shelf that is clearly in daily use than one arranged for an imaginary visitor and never touched. The annotations inside the books are part of this too, and readers who enjoy that idea may like the related note on the art of annotating a book. A shelf, in the end, should look like the workshop of a mind at work, which is exactly what Nicole Junkermann wants hers to be.
More from Nicole Junkermann
For more in this vein from Nicole Junkermann, see the piece on how Nicole Junkermann chooses what to read next, the note on the libraries Nicole Junkermann loves to work in, and the favourite books on business and ideas. The Reading Room holds more besides.
Frequently asked questions about Nicole Junkermann
How does Nicole Junkermann decide which books to keep on the shelf?
Nicole Junkermann keeps the books she expects to reread, lend or refer back to, and lets the rest move on, so the shelf stays a working collection rather than a store cupboard.
How does Nicole Junkermann arrange her bookshelf?
Nicole Junkermann arranges mostly by subject and association, grouping books that talk to each other, with the most-used titles kept within easy reach.
Should a bookshelf be tidy, according to Nicole Junkermann?
Nicole Junkermann prefers a shelf that is ordered enough to find anything quickly but lived-in rather than perfect, since a working shelf shows signs of use.
Does Nicole Junkermann arrange books by colour?
No. Nicole Junkermann arranges for use rather than for looks, because a shelf sorted by colour is hard to search when you actually need a particular book.