Eliza. "But if your books are there on the shelves in front of you, in subjects or alphabetical order etc. why would you need to list them?"

Because listed alphabetically in subject order is the way it ought to work. In practice, either I put them back in the wrong places or the books re-arrange themselves when I'm not looking. Alternatively, anyone with an interest in folklore will probably have a lot of books on elves, fairies, goblins and so forth. I know I have, so maybe they're the ones who keep reducing my life to chaos.

Anyway, having them listed alphabetically in subject order won't be of much use the next time I spot a second hand bookshop in some remote corner of the Cairngorms. But with my trusty spreadsheet installed on my trusty laptop, I can take the list with me wherever I go and interrogate it on the spot.

SRS. No worries. I just couldn't recall what OCD meant. Collecting, organizing and cataloguing books is a hobby, not a disorder. Obsessive compulsive disorder is when you've got your hands round the throat of somebody you cannot stand, and for some strange reason, can't let go. The entire Tory front bench? Who said anything about the entire Tory front bench?