Yesterday, author Jennifer Wright caused a stir on Twitter by posting a picture that ignited immediate controversy: she had organized her copious books in her shelves … by colors.
For those delicate souls that are upset by this, please don’t faint when looking at the picture below, you’ve been warned:
I feel like coordinating books by color is one of those things you either love or are wrong about. pic.twitter.com/U6GfIZLgnQ
— Jennifer Wright (@JenAshleyWright) July 15, 2020
Horrifying I know.
Wait, no. I’m being sarcastic. This is FINE. Neat even! More importantly it’s just a woman showing off something she enjoys so obviously, Twitter had to go berserk. The reaction to Ms. Wright’s post has been, how should I say, ridiculous. Not only were many of the replies rude, but many were also ableist, elitist. and sometimes even sexist. Here are just a few examples of the vitriol.
If your bookcase is solely decorative, sure, but I need a functional bookcase where I can find a book in seconds. Sort by genre then alphabetize by author’s last name.
— michelle (@Michellel_Stone) July 15, 2020
Color-coding books tells me these things:
-This is staged for sale/photo shoot.
-The person who did this is on the spectrum (I am and do this w clothing)
-You don’t read.
-Or write. (As this would be very inconvenient to locate resources). pic.twitter.com/04iJRccn9O— Amy K Pearson (@brewskigrrl) July 16, 2020
Arranging books that way is an act of book violence.
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) July 15, 2020
As someone who used to work in a library… this is a sure sign of a sociopath. https://t.co/KDkQHnyOgM
— Zach D Roberts (@zdroberts) July 16, 2020
It’s honestly amazing that people on the internet can get so upset and so mean over things that don’t affect them, and completely fail to grasp the simple fact that … everyone likes different things. And the corollary: If you don’t like a thing, you don’t have to do it.
There is nothing wrong with organizing a library this way, in fact, it’s really beautiful and cool! As someone with a primarily visual memory, this seems like a great idea. I might remember that a book has a yellow cover and find it that way. If you can’t find a book that way and you’d rather alphabetize or whatever: do it! I also get the objection that this breaks up series, which is why I personally might pass. But the thing is, someone else having their books this way doesn’t hurt me at all.
The main objections here seem to be “well this is only decorative!” which is extremely silly because … books are always decorative. If we didn’t like looking at them they would all have plain black covers and no embellishments. Our spaces express who we are, and if we want them filled with color-coded books, that’s fine. This is certainly nicer than the shamefully high pile of “need to read this” books I have just sitting on my floor.
Now that Jennifer Wright has unfollowed me I can say how arranging your books by color is the number one sign of anti-intellectualism, low character, stupidity, shallowness, and solipsism.
— Russell Klein (@RussellKlein) July 16, 2020
Oh come off of it, Russel. To you and to the people claiming they organize their home library by the Dewey decimal system I say: that’s BS. Anyone insulting someone, or groups of people for simple life organizational things are very insecure people who need to find some joy and get over your judgemental nonsense.
The real kicker here is the accusations that Wright, by virtue of having her books like this, isn’t a reader or is vapid in some way. This is extremely humorous considering she’s a published author that lives with and is married to … another published author. But go off I guess.
As one of two authors who lives in this house — and a former library and bookstore clerk, gonna address the two (negative) reactions to this:
1. “People who do this don’t read.”
Haha ok
2. “How do you find the book you need?”
I dunno man I live here how do you find your keys https://t.co/kkV1V2IYy3
— Daniel Kibblesmith (@kibblesmith) July 16, 2020
So go forth, friends, and organize as you wish. As long as you’re happy and reading, that’s what matters.
(image: Pexels)
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