Turning the page on boring bookshelves
Looking for an easy way to organize a messy bookshelf? You might consider turning all the spines backward.
Yes, the backward bookshelf is one of the easiest ways — albeit, not too functional — to clean up a hodgepodge of texts. It’s also an interior design craze that’s about as culturally divisive as U.S. politics.
Advocates tout the simplistic texture, while opponents argue the idea is just plain stupid since you can’t see which books are which.
The backward bookshelf began to trend in the mid-aughts, mostly as an artistic styling tool in photographs on small-scale design blogs or bookshop websites. Now, bigbox retailers such as West Elm and The Container Store have incorporated backward bookshelves into their product displays.
A Google search for “backward books” will bring back millions of results from sites, including social-media mainstays like Pinterest and Instagram, various women’s magazines and some interior design staples like Apartment Therapy.
“I can see the appeal because a lot of times, if there’s a lot of books in a room, people find it distracting or overwhelming,” said Sarah Cole, a Boston-area interior designer. “But it’s not super functional and unless the books are purely decorative, it just seems challenging.”
Backward books, Cole said, do align with the neutral, monochromatic look that is popular now in design.
Achieving a simple, stylish look is exactly why Cari Shane turned her books backward. Four years ago, the public relations executive was renovating a 1914 row house in Washington, D.C., when her teenage daughter suggested the idea.
“I had these beautiful orange chairs for the living room and I needed something to set them off,” Shane said. “I needed something that was going to let the chairs be the focal point.”
The books used in the display were ones Shane had no plans to re-read.
“I couldn’t tell you what books they are,” she said.
On the other hand, Nathan Shafer, a lifelong reader and book collector, has filled his Arvada, Colo., home with hundreds of books, none of which face backward.
“They’re entities and when you turn them all backward, it renders them one anonymous mass,” Shafer said.
And an anonymous mass, Shafer said, defies the purpose of books.
“They’re for the unique words, the unique ideas, the unique characters inside them,” he said. “Part of the reason for hanging onto books is so you can go back and find something. You can’t do that if you’re hiding every identifying mark.”