Share Your Shelf – Kayla of The Bookish Owl

Share Your Shelf feature is back on the blog and today we have Kayla of The Bookish Owl to share her bookshelves with her collections of books and to answer bookshelves related questions.

For those who haven’t met Kayla yet she is the lovely owner of The Bookish Owl Blog. She used to host her blog under the free wordpress.com but now she got her own domain, thebookishowl.net, which I recommend for everyone to visit. She got this clean and sleek design that I like because it is so easy to navigate. Very user friendly. And her reviews are a must read.

I first met Kayla during the Pinoy Book Tour’s Christmas Party last year. I don’t really get the chance to chat much with her that day since I’m busy as one of the organizer. Then recently I got the chance to chat with her at NBS Bloggers’ Forum with Becca Fitzpatrick. Kayla is really nice, bubbly and very enthusiastic. There’s no dull moment with her. Add her own unique get-up every time I see her, she’ll surely leave a mark. I’m not good with names but when Dianne first introduced her during our Christmas Party I easily remember her. There’s something vibrant about her. Anyway, before I rant so much, I’ll just let Kayla sway you away with her own words as she answer all bookshelves related questions below.

1. How do you organized your books? Do you have a shelving obsession? Like arranging them in alphabetical order of author/titles, or by genre, height, or using a color coded system.

I used to have an organization method for my books but then I ran out of shelf space. As of this moment, I buy books and I pile them up on either my bookshelf or my nightstand. It’s not the best shelving method as there’s always a possibility that the books will fall on your feet, but it creates that neat disorganized look so I’m alright with that. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of very neat shipshape shelves.

2.  If you can pick just one book from your shelves to stay with you, what book are you going to keep? why?

Oh my goodness, this is so hard! I’ll probably pick The Book Thief by Markus Zusak because it had a huge impact on me when I first read it. The Book Thief is a brilliant piece of work because every time I reread it (3 times so far) I come away with a new piece of meaning or another message. It doesn’t feel as if you’re rereading a book because with the beautiful writing and the fantastic story, you wouldn’t get tired of it. I know I haven’t.
The Book Thief is beautiful and I love it to pieces.

3. What was the first book you ever bought with your own money and does it reside on your shelves now?

I honestly can’t remember. I always use either my ATM or my credit card whenever I’m purchasing books so it feels as if it’s my money but in reality, it’s my mom’s.

4. Do you have any quirks in buying, shelving or stacking your books? (I know someone who actually buy two copies of books, one for reading and one for collection purposes.)

My books need to be stacked in the order of which I bought them. For example, all the books I bought on Tuesday are piled together, the books from Wednesday’s spree are in another stack and so on and so forth.
Ever since I started book blogging, I’ve been very picky about covers, especially with classics. I hate the Signet and Enriched classics editions as the covers are very blah and dull. Even if they’re expensive, I will always buy the new Penguin covers.

5. Do you have different bookshelves for different books (for example, I have all my signed books on one shelf, my favorite titles on a different shelves, and more shelves for my TBR pile) or systems of separating them/spreading them out?

Not really a shelf but sections on my shelf since my bookshelf has dividers on it. All my classics share two sections, all my review copies are in the bottom section and all my non-fiction books are in the middle section. I used to have my TBR pile on my nightstand but as I stated earlier, I ran out of shelf space so I now utilize my bedside table as another bookshelf.

6. Do you keep book(s) on your shelf that you don’t have plan on reading? Like maybe keeping them for the sole purpose of impressing others?

Nope. I loathe the idea of using my love of reading as a way to impress others. It’s pretentious, pompous and I just hate it. I’m not judging others if they do this but I don’t think I will ever do it.

7. Are there any guilty pleasures on your bookshelves you would be embarrassed people might see, or do you have a hidden shelf for those somewhere else?

No. I think I’m very immature when it comes to books because I can’t read NA or Erotica. Sex scenes are alright with me but when it turns graphic and detailed, I find myself cringing. It’s weird because violence is fine with me (one of my favorite books is A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess) but vivid sex is another story. I guess it’s due to the fact that I come from a very religious family and have been studying in a Catholic school all my life.
Environment really does play a major part in a person’s reading habits.

8. What was the last book that you added to your bookshelves?

*Books. I received for review World War I by Robert Freeman and The French Revolution by the same author. Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen. My last purchase included Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe and Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers.
My 10th StS will be out soon!

9. Are there any books that you wish you had on your bookshelves but don’t have it now?

All my Geronimo Stilton and The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes are now in the attic because of the lack of shelf space.

10. If someone will peruse your bookshelves, what do you think they would think of your reading taste, or what would you like them to think?

Mostly they’d find YA, Historical Fiction, Classics and Middle-grade. A few adult fiction and fantasy and a good amount of non-fiction. Perhaps they’d think that I have a weird taste in books, haha. 

Thanks for having me on your blog! I enjoyed answering your questions! It really made me reevaluate my shelving methods, lol.

Find Kayla

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Thank you so much Kayla for sharing to all of us your bookshelves and for taking time answering all the questions above. Seems you got a nice collections of classic on your shelves! I wish every reader I know still read them like you do. It’s nice that between middle-grade and YA books you got to mixed some classics on your reading list. I hope you like Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, it’s one of the best book I’ve read. As for The Book Thief, I couldn’t agree more with what you said about the book. I think I need to do a reread soon.

Thanks again Kayla for letting us see your bookshelves and books!