In the newer shelf view, it can take a few clicks to sort, while in the older one, it can often be done in a single click. It would be nice to be able to set the sort I like for each shelf. For example, I enjoy looking at “All Games” by rating in descending order.
One way to circumvent the question of setting & managing “sticky” sorts is to just store the most recent sort and come back to that when loading a shelf. That has the additional advantage not requiring any changes to the UI.
How does that sound?