return View::make('showbooks')
->with('books', $books);

$halved = array_chunk($books, ceil(count($books)/2));

<?php
    $books = array("a", "b", "c", "d", "e","f"); // assuming books is an array like this
    $count = count($books); // total count of the array books
    $half = $count/2; // half of the total count
    $books1 = array_slice($books, 0, $half);      // returns first half
    $books2 = array_slice($books, $half);  // returns second half

    print_r($books1);
    print_r($books2);
?>

<?php
    $count = count($books);            //getting the count of $books
    $mid = round($count/2);           //getting the mid point of $books
    for($i = 0; $i < $count ; $i++){ //looping through the indexes
        if($i <= mid - 1){          //Checking the position of $i and adding the value
            $books1[] = $books[$i];
        }else{
            $books2[] = $books[$i];
        }
    }
?>

$books = collect($books);

$halved = $books->split(ceil($books->count()/2))->toArray();

// Result: [[a, b, c], [d, e, f]]