I have a lot of books, and often buy more, so putting them in the right place takes some thought.

The ‘right’ place is not just a matter of having them arranged by subject and putting fiction in alphabetical order by author as libraries and modern bookshops would tell you. It is about having them where they want to be.

Reference books are by my desk, arranged roughly by subject area, although some cross over a number of potential categories. I have a lot of books about art and literature movements in Paris, but some are about the occult aspects of those movements so could go with my books on myths, magic and mysteries. Some could also go in the glass fronted cabinet which houses my collection of books relating to ‘Pataphysics – Jarry and critical studies about his life and writings, other writers from his era of Symbolists and Decadents, those inspired by him in Dada and Surrealism (and the writers who moved in and out of the Surrealist movement according to the whims of Breton), writers associated with the College de Pataphysique, Oulipo, and the London Institute of ‘Pataphysics, and others I think simply belong there. However some of the books on Paris could also be included in that shrine to Jarry.

Other writers I particularly love and have a lot of take up their own shelves or share them with fellow travellers, including, of course, the Sherlock Holmes shelves. There is also a section of books by and about Lewis Carroll, the continuations and contemporaries of Alice, and other books of mathematical fiction which generally owe some inspiration to Carroll.

And, of course, there are quite a lot of novels which are still in alphabetical order.

I regularly visit Barnabees Books in Westleton owned by a friend of mine and love excavating through its piles of volumes to unearth some treasure. Ty Campbell keeps things in some kind of order, but it is not one that would be recognised by Waterstones. On a recent visit I thought she needed more bookshelves, but then realised what she needed was book elves that would come out at night and put the books in the right place. That ‘right place’ is where they will be found by their ideal reader.

I never miss the opportunity to use inspiration, so wrote a children’s story about five of those book elves which I am pleased with. I even managed to shoehorn in a Holmes reference.

If books are shelved like goods in a supermarket, arranged in a logical way to make them easy to find, they will only be bought by people who know what they want before they enter the door. In the best bookshops, you have no idea what you want until you chance upon it with the joy of recognition.