Reads

Guides for people who own too many books

These are original notes on keeping a home library: how to avoid a second copy, how to shelve a small apartment, and the publication order of a few long series. Each one is dated. Reading-order pages name the bibliographies they were checked against.

• How to stop buying books you already ownA practical way to check a copy in your hand against the books already on your shelves, including other editions that do not share an ISBN.Updated 1 October 2026
• Organizing a home library you can actually useA room-by-room way to shelve books so you can find them, lend them, and stop scrolling the same shelf twice.Updated 1 October 2026
• Used-book shopping without hauling home a problemWhat to inspect on a secondhand copy, how to compare it with the edition you already own, and when a cheap book is still a bad buy.Updated 1 October 2026
• Discworld reading orderThe 41 Discworld novels in publication order, with the usual subseries starters, and a note on what this list leaves out.Updated 1 October 2026
• Dune reading orderFrank Herbert's six Dune novels in publication order, and a clear line between those books and later continuations.Updated 1 October 2026
• The Wheel of Time reading orderRobert Jordan's Wheel of Time in publication order, including where the prequel sits and who finished the last three books.Updated 1 October 2026
• Harry Potter reading orderThe seven Harry Potter novels in order, with UK dates and the US title of the first book kept distinct.Updated 1 October 2026
• Starting a children's home libraryHow to build a small shelf a child can reach, from board books to first chapter books, without buying a classroom of unread copies.Updated 1 October 2026
• Tracking books you have lentA simple loan record that survives goodwill and bad memory, so you can ask for a book back without a hunt.Updated 1 October 2026
• Classics to start withA short shelf of famous books that are actually readable as a first step, with the editions and the dates kept honest.Updated 1 October 2026
• Editions, ISBNs, and why the barcode changedWhat an ISBN does and does not identify, including 978 and 979 numbers and title changes between countries.Updated 1 October 2026
• A library for a small apartmentHow to keep a working collection in one bookcase, including what to borrow, what to own, and what to let go.Updated 1 October 2026