Katy / 31 / KY

“I bought my first place last year and the first thing I did was install built-in shelves on either side of my fireplace, which are already full because sometimes I think I like buying books more than I like reading them. I have two other bookcases that are mostly full of old textbooks and academic journals that I’ll probably never read again. My Type A personality won’t let me sort my books in anything but alphabetical order (because how else are you supposed to find them?). I’m holding my favorite book of all time, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, but other contenders for that title include anything by Paul Farmer or Howard Zinn. My bedside table is also usually stacked with books, since my short attention span means I’m perpetually reading more than one book at a time.”

Carissa / 39 / Milton, DE

“This is our library (though most rooms also have a bookshelf, and my home office has three). It is hard to choose a favorite book — 11/22/63, Little Women, and The Other Boleyn Girl are at the top of the  list. As for organization, my wife and I couldn’t decide on a system to blend our books together, so to my right are her fiction books (which I alphabetized by author for her). To my left are my books in a thematic system that probably only makes sense to me, but I can find anything I need. On top of the shelves are my tin dollhouses and the wooden house my mom built for me when I was little.  We were both English majors and are teachers, so our shared love of books drew us together.”

Tierney / 25 / Greensboro, NC

“The bookshelf behind me (one of two in my apartment) is currently organized by book weight/size, with the heaviest books at the bottom because the shelf felt tippy when we moved here… there is some clumping by author but I would love to get some good organization by genre and author last name going (I am a librarian)… someday! I can’t pick a favorite book – lately I have been reading a lot of queer fantasy and sci-fi, many of which were recommendations from Autostraddle’s own Friendly Neighborhood Lesbrarian Casey! Also featured in this photo are my cat Tara and various cat-themed decorative items.”

Conni / 23 / Chattanooga, TN

“The top shelf features a bunch of books I loved in a past life but don’t relate to anymore. There are some gems but most of them I would never read again or only read when I was trying to be a different person. The second and third shelf are the items closest to my heart: my air plant, Oscar Wilde figurine, Muhammed Ali coaster, a handmade Christmas card from my mom, my dead dog, and my Frida Kahlo candle. My head is obscuring the Drake candle and Drake birthday card also handmade by my mom. The third shelf has my record player which is my most prized possession and plays Donna Summer and Solange records flawlessly. The small stack of books resides on my bedside table which is always messy.”

Jillian Guenther / 26 / Greensboro, NC

“These shelves are built into the wall of our apartment – bonus! It’s a hodgepodge assortment: sci-fi, handmade journals, comics and graphic novels, bird books (behind my head…), library books, children’s story books, and a print of an old French cheese label with, of course, a cat on it.”

Az (they·them) / 29 / York, UK

“Don’t tell my other bookshelves, but this is definitely my favourite. For one thing, it’s green. For another thing, it lives in the reading nook and houses my most important books. My absolute would-recommend-to-anyone-but-dont-talk-to-me-about-it-or-I-might-start-crying novel is The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle. It’s beautiful and funny and clever and tragic and wonderful. This copy is older than I am and well loved. Other important books are Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, my growing collection of Wintersons (especially Written on the Body) and Niffeneggers (especially The Time Traveller’s Wife), Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth, and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. The tiny glass unicorn in the third photo was bought from a local glass blower when I was very small, and is truly treasured. And, oh, yeah, hi, that’s me scowling into the selfie-cam.”

Rachel / 24 / HI

“My favorite bookcase is my homemade TARDIS. I have a few other ones, but the TARDIS looks the coolest, it contains my comic books and a lot of sci-fi and fantasy. My favorite book (today) is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Nothing is arranged in any real order except for comic books by title on one shelf. My shelves also include my Doctor Who and Orphan Black DVD collection, and random Doctor Who collectibles.”

Rachel / 33 / Chicago, IL

“We have bookcases all over our 1-bedroom apartment. Fiction is arranged by author, nonfiction is arranged by subject. My wife gets final vote because she is a real-life librarian (we have a lot of books). I wanted this shot though, because you can see the bookcase of booze that we have next to the three bookcases of books in our dining room. I’m a bartender; I get to arrange that bookcase.”

Kenzie / 24 / Los Angeles, CA

“Books have always been my preferred medium for learning and I’m 100% a proud book hoarder so I have like six shelves scattered around my house. I display all my white-spined books in my dining room for ~aesthetic purposes~ but other than that I keep stacks everywhere.  I’m an artist who majored in sociology at a christian university who ALSO can’t say no to airport books/Oprah’s suggestions, so I have everything from gross evangelical modesty books (I used for my thesis and like to keep them around to occasionally bring out and laugh at) to middle-age self-help books to queer sex anthologies and multiple copies of The New Jim Crow that I try to give to anyone who hasn’t read it. My current favorite is No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July!”