choosing what books to bring to my new apartment and which ones to leave behind (from 300 to 30 😭😭😭)

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]I'm moving from my parents' house into my very own apartment. And as someone who currently owns over 300 books in her room and is going from this to this, that means I have to downsize my home library, whether I want to or not. And while I kind of want to start fresh in my new apartment, I still don't want to let go of all my books because they mean so much to me. I also don't want to just buy a bunch of new books so I have a background to film with. So today, your job is going to help me decide what books out of these four bookshelves I bring to my new apartment with me. So without further ado, let's start with bookshelf number two. Okay, so first of all, we're going to look at all of the contenders together and at the end of the video, you'll see which ones actually made it through the reaping. So obviously here I have every single book that Rick Riordan has ever written. I also have some of them down below. Percy Jackson series here, Heroes of Olympus, yada yada yada. I need to figure out which ones I need to bring there. I feel like Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a no-brainer. But my Billy bookshelf isn't and I don't have access to the last two shelves because I I have my bed there. It's not a very large room, guys.

[00:01:07]So let me know, do you think I should bring some of these? Vote down below what series deserves to be on my shelf.

[00:01:13]Now, these books might seem to you like a miscellaneous mix of books and that's because they are. They are a mix of my TBR and recently bought books. TBR, I'm thinking of taking at least half of them because it makes the most sense for me to have a new bookshelf full of books that I haven't read yet. Even though I love looking at books that I have read, it just makes more economical sense for them to be books that I haven't read. So that means the Beartown series is out and so is Dungeon Crawler Carl, but it's a recent favorite so I might just have to take it with me. And also Hamnet just looks so pretty. Blue Sisters is my book club book of the month with my two besties.

[00:01:49]Oh, well, bye to those. So I'm definitely taking this one with me. You have to have the book club book of the month at your house. Last time we discussed the Beartown book and I didn't have it at my new apartment so when we were all quoting our favorite quotes from the book, I was like, "I don't have my copy." And we can't have that, guys.

[00:02:05]We can't have that. Book club is very serious. My classic shelf. I mean classics to me. So these are books that I have been collecting over the past 15 to 20 years. Should I bring The Hunger Games cuz I've already read it like a hundred times, but it's really good. And I was also thinking about maybe The Darkest Minds trilogy and also The Host, but I feel like a Stephanie Meyer book does not deserve a spot on my Billy bookshelf, which does not have a lot of space. So let me know if you see something that you like and if you think that I should take it. Look at all those books just lying on the ground. Yes, that's because I just filmed a bookshelf tour and that always leaves my bookshelf a mess. But the good thing is that it also helped me rediscover these four books that I got in my Illumicrate boxes while I was a rep. They are books on my TBR so I feel like they fit the criteria, but should I bring these or The Hunger Games or both or maybe Harry Potter or the Gone series? Vote down below. Here's what the top shelf looks like. You've seen it before. These are old pretty old books except for The Cruel Prince series, which I feel like I might take at least the two new ones because I haven't read them yet and I have a feeling the third one is going to be coming out semi-soon so I'll probably want to take those. I was kind of wondering, should I take The Keeper of the Lost City series? If you've been on my channel for the last two to three years, you know that I read all of those. I promised that I was going to make a video and that video is is nowhere to be seen. It hasn't been scripted, it hasn't been filmed, nothing. I I thought about it two years ago and then I stopped thinking about it and it just became a concept. So should I take those to motivate me to make the video or no? Vote down below. Then we have a lot of fantasy book series here and I love all these, especially The Raven Boys. But I feel like if I want to reread, I have them on ebook. Then we have my favorite books of all time here, but I like the shelf here. I don't want to replicate that except this one here, a Spanish trilogy that I love and I'm thinking of rereading it. These I have on audiobook, but the fun part of reading these is reading the audiobook and also looking at the pictures because there's a lot of pictures in that book series, in that one.

[00:04:16]Here we have my shrine to Marissa Meyer and I feel like I don't need to bring any of her books. I should have some Leigh Bardugo books at the house I live in, right? I mean, I do have two versions of the Six of Crows duology.

[00:04:29]Over here, keeping up with the shrines, I have my Alice Oseman shrine. Here we have my rainbow shelf, which I love and I think I might just pick some contemporary books. Icebreaker and collide, some of the most recent ones that have really impacted me. And obviously Here's to Us, which I haven't read yet. Way over under here, I have another colorful shelf and I'm thinking that I'm in so in love with the Folk of the Air series, might take all five of them. Dungeons and Drama and Dating Your Dad Dragons, I'm thinking of definitely taking those and The Song of Achilles cuz it's asking for a reread. Down here, we have miscellaneous, as you can see, but I think I'm glad my mom died is a big contender. And Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was a book club book that me and my bestie Brooke loved. So Legendborn, I kind of want to read them. Maybe those. Hellbent and Ninth House, third book is coming out this year. I'll have to get into that. And here is my Cassandra Clare Shadowhunters shrine. They're double-layered, but I definitely want to reread before The Wicked King comes out.

[00:05:29]More more more miscellaneous. I will not be able to hide my ACOTAR shame anymore.

[00:05:33]That is a lot of books. I should give myself a number that I can't surpass.

[00:05:39]Billy fits 20 books. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26. I think my plan now is to take just 30 books. Percy Jackson is already five books so that leaves us with 25. I guess you'll just have to wait half a second to see what I decided. Let's see. A whole two days later and we finally made it to my humble abode. This is it. This is what we are working with. So honestly, not a lot. I must confess before we get to the books that I had a hard time choosing which ones to bring over here. Not only was I limited by myself-imposed max number of books that I could bring, but also by the amount of boxes and books that could fit into each of those boxes.

[00:06:17]They're down here. Here we have my pile of boxes filled with books. I have three of these such boxes. Why don't we go through them? Okay, stay tuned because the books from the last box are going to be your favorite so you're not going to want to miss that. The first book I have here is Voyage of the Damned. I don't know what this is about. I think it's about pirates, a murder mystery on a boat and an ace character. And honestly, that's all I really need to know.

[00:06:44]It's invisible. Here we have the first box, a little sneak peek. To be honest, I didn't bring too many hardbacks. I tried to bring as many paperbacks as possible and books from my TBR, but this one breaks both of those rules. This is a hardback that I have already read. I always say hardback instead of hardcover. I'm sorry, but it's a habit I don't think I'll ever be able to shake off. This is Jennette McCurdy's biography, memoir. It's gut-wrenching, but it's beautifully written and if you're over 18, I would really suggest that you get this. Also, it looks beautiful on a shelf.

[00:07:16]Starting to look better, slowly but surely. Here we have our third and final hardcover and this is Starling House. I brought it because I like the cover and I remembered kind of like being intrigued by the synopsis. I'm excited.

[00:07:30]Look. Look at the birds.

[00:07:33]Next up, we of course have the book club book of the month, Blue Sisters. I'm so happy that I have this because now I can get on with it. I'm always the first one to start reading the book of the month and always the first one to finish it and I must maintain my reputation so I have to get on this.

[00:07:48]In that same vein, we have The Divorcées. I tried to start reading this one, as you can see, a couple of months ago. It did not go so well. I might have to give this one another shot. I mean, I obviously will since I brought it here.

[00:08:00]I'm thinking if I find the audiobook, that's probably easier for me. It was kind of dry. The bookmark that I'm using is actually the card that my sister made me for my last birthday, which is too sweet and uh sadly became a reality. But that's going back in there.

[00:08:14]Unfortunately, The Male Comedian made it. He made it to the final draw. What can I say? I just want to be able to say that I have. And I love the cover.

[00:08:22]That's basically it for me usually. Next up, we have another book that breaks the rules and that's Dungeon Crawler Carl.

[00:08:28]Yes, I did already read this. I read all seven books that were out last summer, but I just recently bought this and I haven't yet actually been able to enjoy having this physical copy so I'm going to enjoy it now. I will do something about the color scheme. This is just provisional. Next up, we have Anxious People. I never really planned on getting this book, but I was going to buy the Beartown books and it was more affordable buy the first two ones with this one than buy the first two ones by themselves. So I was like, "Okay, I'll get a free book for the price of two."

[00:08:59]If I ever have a moment where I don't have any books to read and I just really feel like crying, I will be sure to pick this one up.

[00:09:07]Next up, we have another rule breaker and that is Hamnet. This is the same case as with Dungeon Crawler Carl. I read it in January, watched the movie, then tried to find the book, but it was sold out everywhere until I found it right next to Dungeon Crawler Carl and I was like, "That is a sign if I've ever seen one." Also, this is not a sticker.

[00:09:25]It's just permanently there.

[00:09:27]Love it.

[00:09:28]Next up, we have another yellow book that I've been raving about for a while and that is Butter. If you've watched any of my latest TBR or Books I Want to Read videos, this has been on like the past couple of them. I really want to get to you. It's about a murderer who murders men, but she cooks for them first. It's just kind of daunting to me cuz it's it's a thick book, out of my comfort zone. I just really have to be in the mood for it. And recently, I just had a lot of books that I've wanted to read so this one does not make the top 10. I'm sorry. You're here. And now, technically, I only have books for my TBR, so I should only reach for them, except for the fact that I do have my Kobo, my e-reader, and that has hundreds hundreds of unread books as well that always tempt me more. I don't know what it is about a physical copy, but now this seems so much more daunting than this for some reason. But still, I'm going to try to get through this TBR.

[00:10:22]Pray for me.

[00:10:23]I don't know where this color scheme is going. I'm going to have to work on it.

[00:10:26]The Hurricane Wars, which my mom bought me this summer, and I haven't read yet.

[00:10:30]Oh, it also has a bookmark in it, even though I haven't even opened this book.

[00:10:34]That's fun. Also, this is a duology, I believe. So, if I like it, I will have to purchase the second one.

[00:10:40]I feel like there's a color scheme emerging. There's like no green whatsoever. I also brought this little thing cuz I wanted to adorn my shelves as well with things that aren't books.

[00:10:51]This is Japan, but I'm trying to remember what shrine specifically. Here we have Mount Fuji, so I think this is where in when I went to Hakone. Very good times, very good memories, and I wanted to adorn my shelf. Boom, it's been adorned. That's the first box done.

[00:11:04]Let's go to the second one.

[00:11:07]That changes [snorts] everything. Also, taking my D&D book off so we can truly see the vision. Oh, here is box number two. Let's get into it. First up, we have another book that I've had and I talked about on my channel a couple of times, The Midnight Library. There's nothing to say about this book. It's on my TBR. It's been there for over 3 years. I shall read it eventually because it's under 300 pages long.

[00:11:29]Yeah. Next up, we have Yellowface. That is exactly the same story as that one.

[00:11:34]In fact, I feel like I bought them for the same haul video.

[00:11:39]Oh, no. Wait, I'm confused. So, my initial plan was to bring every single Ali Hazelwood book that I own, hence having Love Theoretically here. But then, while I was piling books into the boxes, I was like, there's not nearly enough space space. I was thinking about space and storage space, the new concept. There wasn't nearly enough space, so I decided to just not bring any of them. I guess I had already put this in here. So, Love Theoretically, you are the first book to come here and to immediately have to go back home. I'm sorry.

[00:12:10]Away away with you. Then we have Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which I'm kind of surprised that I brought here, even though this happened like 2 days ago. I remembered considering it, but I thought I had stopped considering it cuz I've already read this. This was a book club book of the month. I love saying book club book of the month, can you tell? Let me put it in my shelf, and then if there's too many books, this is one of the contenders to go. Next up, we have Cleopatra and Frankenstein. I definitely love her covers. Also, TBR, so it's fair. It's fair that it's here. I just had to bring Flipped with me because I bought it on a trip to New York to visit my two besties, McKenna and Brooke, and it was a book that I read while I went to school with them. So, it has a lot of sentimental value. Definitely want to reread it. And this cover is just so iconic. The girls who get it get it. And the girls who don't just haven't read the book or watched the movie. I am so embarrassed by this, but I I felt like it it had to happen. Here we have the All for the Game series, the first trilogy and the second trilogy. Why did I bring a whole five-book series over here that I've already read? Well, because I really desperately want to make a video on it, so much so that the last time I reread it, I took arduous notes. All the book looks like this. You should wait. Let me show you. Book three, The King's Men. This is probably demented. Anytime something happened that I wanted to talk about, the highlight is romantic stuff.

[00:13:32]>> [snorts] >> I love it. This video will be coming someday. Is that the same promise that I made with Keeper of the Lost Cities? It is, but I like this series better, and five books is less daunting than What is it? 10 and a half at this point?

[00:13:47]There they go. Here we have Dungeons and Drama and Dating and Dragons. Another two books that I have already read, but recently. These are two of my favorite books of the past decade. I love them so much. Plus, we're getting the third one, I feel like this spring. So, I felt like I had to have them here cuz I just want to read about them more, and they're so pretty, and they match my D&D manual.

[00:14:09]And there's a third one.

[00:14:11]We just have We just have one book left from this box and then another box. I'm scared because I only planned on filling one whole shelf. Oh, no. The final book in this box is This Will Be Funny Someday, a book that I probably bought almost 10 years ago and still haven't read. This is its final chance. If I don't read it now, then I'm not going to read it ever.

[00:14:33]Box number three and also the last box.

[00:14:36]Ooh, what might be in here? Not looking like TBR books, let me tell you that.

[00:14:40]Okay, the first thing I see here is my special edition of the Six of Crows duology. This is just so pretty, and it's meant to be looked at. I like my Leigh Bardugo shrine that I have at home, but they don't get to shine nearly as much as they do. So, now that this is mostly empty, I'm going to be able to display them as they should be displayed.

[00:15:00]I say and then immediately do not display. Next up, we have the books that I talked about, the Holly Black new trilogy that I have the first two of.

[00:15:08]I'm going to check out when the third one is coming out, read them exactly a month before, so everything is fresh in my mind.

[00:15:17]I'm thinking I might do a distinction between book series and standalones. Oh my god, I didn't know this was what came next. I thought we had a little bit more variety still, but just let me show you what I have here in my last box. This is what I have. One, two, boom. I thought it was five, but of course no, I brought all of them, including Wrath of the Triple Goddess, which I did not love. So, here we have my newest additions of the Percy Jackson series, book one, book two, book three, book four, book five, and because it is currently 2026, book six and book seven.

[00:15:51]This is insane to me, and also you can tell how long I've had each of them for.

[00:15:55]These [snorts] have lost their color.

[00:15:57]The blue one is standing strong, even though I bought it at the same time as these ones. And this, the newest edition, is completely vibrant, as it should be.

[00:16:06]Almost filled out like a third of my storage, but that's fine. Let me work some BookTube magic to make this look semi-good, and I'll get back to you.

[00:16:14]Before I reveal it, I have to say that I'm pretty impressed how I made just one shelf of books now occupy four whole shelves. That just goes to show that you just have to use space to the best of your advantage because now it looks like I don't have nearly as much space as before, but it's the exact same one.

[00:16:31]Let's see what I did.

[00:16:33]Isn't she beautiful? [cheering] >> [screaming] >> Okay, maybe I could have done better, but I feel like this is pretty good for what I had, especially this shelf. Okay, let's go one by one. So, obviously, this is a leftover shelf, D&D manual, my three monkeys, and my epic CD. Very important, but not important enough to totally be in frame all the time. And here we have the books I have read before, some books on display, and books that I have not read before, but the Book Club Book of the Month is there, highly accessible. If we go a little bit lower, we have the series section, literally the only series I have here, Percy Jackson, Six of Crows, All for the Game, and The Cruel Prince. This feels like a very 2010s shelf, and I'm not ashamed of it. And here I tried to do like a little rainbow section. I think it looks cute. And this one also pretty well color-coded. So, all in all, I must say, I'm pretty impressed, and I like this backdrop for now. But did you notice that Love Theoretically is actually here in the colorful section of the library? Well, I'm saddened to say that's because when I saw how all the books looked at the beginning with so much space left, I thought I'm not going to immediately buy a haul of 100 books to fill this shelf. I have time. I have more than enough time. So, I fear that I'm now going to bring every single Ali Hazelwood book here just because I think I want to make a video on it. The moment I start running out of space, they're gone. But for now, they make me happy to look at, and I want to have them here.

[00:17:51]And also, they're very colorful, and that's a theme that I like to keep going. I think this is a good backdrop, and especially these three that are going to be the ones that show up the most on my videos. While doing FaceTime with my friends, noticed that my skin might be too close in color with my walls now. So, let me know what I could put on my walls. They desperately need some sprucing up. They're so boring. But this is it. Let me know, did you guess the ones that I was going to bring? Are you happy with my choices and my placement? I am not a professional bookshelf designer. So, these are going to go through a lot of different versions. This is the first version, 1.0, the OG. Let's see how long we manage to stay like that and how long I manage before actually going to buy a physical book. Honestly, it could be a while. The first book I will probably buy is the third book in this series or the next one in the Cruel series if it ever comes out in paperback. But that is all I have to say for now, so please leave a like if you like this video and if you like the decisions I made.

[00:18:47]Subscribe if you haven't already, and click that bell button so you get a notification every time I post a new video. I post videos just like this, except I'm not going to be moving every week every single week, and I guess I'll see you guys next time. Bye.

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