A spur-of-the-moment reading of the Waterstones blog recently introduced me to a completely new concept: spine poetry. I clicked from Twitter to a guest post by author Tracy Guzeman, and was immediately intrigued. Spine poetry, it turns out, is a way of arranging the books on a shelf so their spines create some sort of mood or feeling, much as a piece of poetry might. You can see what I mean at Book Spine Poetry, which features some pictures illustrating the concept.

I think it’s a wonderful idea, and something I’ve really never thought about before. I’m not the kind who alphabetises her bookshelves, but I do tend to stick books by the same author together, and books I feel have something in common are often placed side-by-side. But how much more interesting would your bookshelves be if they literally said something about you? Time for me to go and try some rearranging…

Have you created or witnessed any great examples of spine poetry? Why not Tweet us a picture at @AllisonandBusby?

Sara Magness, Editorial Administrator