Shelving an Obsession

It's hard to say why I have such a love of stranger's pictures of bookshelves.  It's possibly related to the fact that I have the crappiest bookshelf known to man, and that it hold less than half of my collection.  And yes, I did say bookshelf, as in singular, as in I only have one.  Blerg.

Anyway, I was excited to lean into my bookshelf lust with this lovely Flickr Group.  Shelves and shelves galore full of wonderful, exciting, and inspirational stories.  Love love love.

Here's some of my favorites:

maybe i have nothing to complain about and need to start working with what i've got.

What's your bookcase ideology?  Because I know you have one.  Do you organize alphabetically, by subject, or according to color?  Do you have a library, a stack in the corner, or a book shelf made out of plywood in your closest (ehem, that's me).  Are you a tidy or messy book keeper?  Spill all your neurotic bookshelf stories.  I'd love to hear them.