I built a desktop bookshelf for my ebooks — would you use this?

[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.

[Sirtel]

Calibre already has this feature, but you can't upload your own spine images - they're autogenerated only. In that sense, your app would be better. Depends on how many spine images exist out there, of course.

Personally I don't want or need it. I always use the list view with my calibre libraries. But there are plenty of people who prefer the bookshelf view. And there are plenty of people who don't use calibre.

[Chai_King]

Thank you — that’s really helpful to hear. I’m actually a long-time Calibre user myself, and its bookshelf view was one of the things that gave me the original idea.
I don’t see this as trying to replace Calibre’s strengths as a library manager. I’m more interested in exploring the visual and “lived-in” side of an ebook library: smoother shelf interactions, options for changing the size and appearance of books, and especially a better system for generating and editing spines when real spine images are unavailable.
I’ve also been experimenting with keeping a small selection of frequently read books visible on the desktop. For me, seeing the current book during the day has been a surprisingly effective reminder to return to reading.
I understand the preference for list view — it’s still the most practical way to manage a large library, and Calibre does that extremely well. It’s useful to be reminded that this kind of bookshelf view is probably most valuable for a particular group of readers, rather than everyone.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

[DNSB]

I spent a few minutes looking for spine images. They seem to be a rather rare item since they are not part of any standard ebook download items.

[Chai_King]

That has been my experience as well. I’ve spent years looking for a large, reliable database of book-spine images, but I still haven’t found anything that covers them at meaningful scale.
For books I own physically, I sometimes photograph the spines myself and use those images in my desktop shelf. For ebooks that do not have a physical copy available to me, I needed a compromise.
While trying to work around that limitation, I started learning more about book-spine typography, layout, and publishing design conventions. That eventually led me to create a small system that can generate a readable spine design from a book’s metadata.
It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and trying to solve it has taught me a lot along the way—not just about books and design, but about digging for answers and figuring things out by building them myself. Thanks for bringing it up.

[Chai_King]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I spent a few minutes looking for spine images. They seem to be a rather rare item since they are not part of any standard ebook download items.

That has been my experience as well. I’ve spent years looking for a large, reliable database of book-spine images, but I still haven’t found anything that covers them at meaningful scale.
For books I own physically, I sometimes photograph the spines myself and use those images in my desktop shelf. For ebooks that do not have a physical copy available to me, I needed a compromise.
While trying to work around that limitation, I started learning more about book-spine typography, layout, and publishing design conventions. That eventually led me to create a small system that can generate a readable spine design from a book’s metadata.
It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and trying to solve it has taught me a lot along the way—not just about books and design, but about digging for answers and figuring things out by building them myself. Thanks for bringing it up.

[Dr. Drib]

To answer the question you pose in your thread title: No, this doesn't interest me whatsoever, and I would never use it.

Covers interest me a lot more than spines - (re: calibre). Covers (for books) only interest me in bookcases. In fact, I will sometimes put the cover facing out, to give 'color' to the bookcase display. I will often take the book out of the bookcase, turn it this way and that way, open it, read a few pages here or there, relish the smell of the pages, etc.

For ebooks, I could care less about seeing a spine and would never use this app, let alone download it.

[Desertway]

I actually do like it. I use Calibre in list view because it’s all about detailed metadata management for me, not aesthetics. I could see your app as an additional, enjoyable way of exploring my ebook library.

[DNSB]

The next question is how capable is the ebook renderer? Can it handle ePub or Amazon format fixed layout books? Line height, margins, switching between flush left and justified without causing issues with centering or right aligning text?