[Chai_King]

I love ebooks for their convenience, but I’ve always felt that something disappears when my whole library becomes a grid of covers or a folder full of filenames.

With physical books, I often choose what to read by scanning the spines on a shelf. I can see what I own, remember books I meant to finish, and enjoy the collection even when I’m not actively reading.

I’m building a desktop ebook app around that feeling.

Instead of showing books only as a traditional 2D library, it displays them spine-out on a virtual bookshelf—closer to the experience of looking at a real shelf. The bookshelf can stay visible on the desktop, so the book you’re currently reading remains quietly present and can serve as a small reminder to come back to it.

One challenge is that ebook spine artwork is surprisingly hard to find. To make the shelf work even when no spine image exists, I’m building a tool that can automatically generate and lay out a book spine from the book’s information. For people who want a more authentic result, it will also support uploading real spine images.

It will also include a built-in reader for common ebook formats, so the idea is not just to create a decorative bookshelf. I want to make the whole ebook experience feel a little more tangible—from seeing your collection, to choosing a book, to actually reading it.

I’d genuinely love to hear what feels appealing, unnecessary, or missing from this idea.