hobbits measure this with bookfeets

[aamcnamara]

bookfeet (bŏŏk-fēt) pl. n. Unit of measurement in books, in terms of how much shelf-space a given amount of volumes take up; e.g., "How many books are you bringing to college?" "Oh, about five bookfeet."

Comments

[browniecakemix.livejournal.com]

Ah, but this new term begs the question: are the books to be stacked vertically, horizontally-spinewise, or horizontally-endwise?

You don't like naked people icons, so I'm a nice person.

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

Yay, no naked people icons! Also, the icon you have now is so appropriate for this post.

It is my belief that measuring them any other way than horizontally-spinewise is blasphemy. One might, in desperate circumstances (one can never have too many books, but one can have too few bookshelves), shove books into shelves sideways, but that is not the ideal position.

[browniecakemix.livejournal.com]

To shelve them horizontally-endwise is also quite useful when running out of room... although it's a shame not to be able to see the spines.