Regina Leader-Post

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Backward shelf trend is dividing bookworms like never before

- TRACEE M. HERBAUGH

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 at all functional — to clean up a hodgepodge of texts. It’s also an interior design craze that’s about as culturally divisive as politics.

Advocates tout the simplistic texture of the pages, while opponents argue that the idea is just plain stupid since you can’t see which books are which. Generally speaking, you love it or hate it.

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, big-box 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 socialmedi­a 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 now popular 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 reread.

“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 very 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 on to books is so you can go back and find something. You can’t do that if you’re hiding every identifyin­g mark.”

There are occasions, however, when art is executed just right, at least according to the customers of Newtonvill­e Books, an independen­t bookseller in Newton, Mass. The store is known around the area for its visually intriguing counter, which is filled with backward books in different sizes and colours.

The shop’s owner, Mary Cotton, saw the styling tool on the website of an Australian bookstore six years ago.

“We wanted to do something that was really beautiful and interestin­g, some sort of book art project,” she said.

An architect helped design and execute the plan. Customers ask what books were used to make the counter, but Cotton said they never wrote down the titles. And, since the books are glued into place, there’s no way of moving them.

“We had a lot of old, used books that hadn’t sold, and others we got from library sales and the covers were damaged,” Cotton said.

“I like it. It gives them another life. People seem to like it.”

 ?? TRACEE M. HERBAUGH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Oliver Peacock seems to be perplexed as he checks out a backward-facing book shelf at The Container Store in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Some retailers have jumped on the craze.
TRACEE M. HERBAUGH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Oliver Peacock seems to be perplexed as he checks out a backward-facing book shelf at The Container Store in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Some retailers have jumped on the craze.
 ?? TRACEE M. HERBAUGH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Newtonvill­e Books in Newton, Mass., takes the backward-facing book trend to new level with a checkout counter made of rows of backward books glued into place.
TRACEE M. HERBAUGH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Newtonvill­e Books in Newton, Mass., takes the backward-facing book trend to new level with a checkout counter made of rows of backward books glued into place.
 ?? SAM PARVEN/CARI SHANE/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? The backward bookshelf craze started in the 2000s as an artistic styling tool in photograph­s.
SAM PARVEN/CARI SHANE/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The backward bookshelf craze started in the 2000s as an artistic styling tool in photograph­s.

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