laura, my former badminton adversary, recently linked to a very interesting guardian article on the topic of bookshelf arrangement. she then asked her readers how they chose to arrange their bookshelves. i answered that i (after a long period of introspection) finally arrived upon a chromatic system.
this drew a certain amount of incredulity from some mutual friends who impugned me privately and asked if i was goofing or being 1000‰ honest the way that i usually am. as evidenced above (and with this as precedent) you can see that my record of always telling the truth remains without pimple or blackhead. with my honour restored, let me tell you: the benefits of such a system are numerous…
This idea is tempting — my ability to remember book covers far surpasses my ability to remember names of any kind. (I spent a good few hours last week trying to recall the name of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry,¹ with only a vague memory of the cover to go by.)
But I have a dilemma. A cursory glance at my bookshelf reveals The Big Red Book of C, jutting out with its vivid, eponymous² cover and… disappointingly white side. Would you include this book on the left or on the right?
¹ The answer is, ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry’.
² It is actually very small. Can something be semi-eponymous?
