# Anyone remember the separate "fiction" and "literature" sections in bookstores? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382 "2006-03-22T01:27:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382/21 "2006-03-23T00:41:37Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > So, high-school students in future generations might be assigned novels to read that you’ll find in sections other than “Literature” today? Seems hard to believe . . . Do you find [Childhood’s End](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345347951/sr=8-1/qid=1143074371/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5843616-4986321?%5Fencoding=UTF8) in the literature section today, or in the SciFi section? A dozen years ago the kids a grade below me were assigned that in freshman English. And as part of my English Teaching Seminar we were told to use the books _we_ read in class as part of a hypothetical curriciculum for high school kids - including [The Giver](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395645662/qid=1143074435/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-5843616-4986321?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) and [Z is for Zachariah](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0020446500/qid=1143074402/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-5843616-4986321?s=books&v=glance&n=283155), both of which are supposed to be commonly assigned books at the high school level. I’m sure Dopers could find dozens of other examples of books they’d been assigned that aren’t placed in the Literature section of bookstores. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382/22 "2006-03-23T00:47:53Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > Slightly off topic, but I once visited a store which had its fiction seperated into a dozen or more categories Where is it? > [@Foybal](#): > > What is “Earth Based Spirituality” you ask It usually means neopaganism, such as Wicca. ---
**Author:** ![specie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@specie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/specie)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382/23 "2006-03-23T01:02:24Z")
I was freaked the first time I noticed that the horoscope section at Barnes and Nobls was many times larger than their “science” section, and the science part was mostly books on pets. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382/24 "2006-03-23T01:18:36Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > So, high-school students in future generations might be assigned novels to read that you’ll find in sections other than “Literature” today? Seems hard to believe . . . As **Elfkin** has pointed out, it’s already being done. They’ve been teaching **The Martian Chronicles** in high school English courses for years, for instance. [This high school reading list](http://dewey.chs.chico.k12.ca.us/EnglishReadingList.html) includes **Fahrenheit 451, Flowers for Algernon** and the movie **Mad Max**. It’s the same in college: My college has an entire course titled **The Lord of the Rings and its Sources** , using the trilogy as a basis for a general survey of Medieval literature. You can find plenty of examples just by looking over any college bookstore website at the start of the term (this is a bad time right now, since last term’s books have been returned and next term’s books haven’t been ordered.) > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 1. Based on what others have posted in this thread, it appears that nowadays even “literary” fiction often is written “to order” – i.e., the writer doesn’t start work without first conferring with publisher or agent about what is desired and marketable. Of course not. The writer writes what he wants to write. However, when he goes to get it published, the publisher determines its marketability. They are a business, after all, and that’s been a consideration for centuries. Do you really think they would have published Dickens if his books didn’t sell? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382/25 "2006-03-23T02:03:48Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 1. No one will ever read it or hear of it if you can’t find a publisher. Happens every single day in literature, and in every single genre as well. Writers by choice are not pack animals. > [@](#): > > 1. Based on what others have posted in this thread, it appears that nowadays even “literary” fiction often is written “to order” – i.e., the writer doesn’t start work without first conferring with publisher or agent about what is desired and marketable. Blather. Nobody said it and it isn’t true. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382/26 "2006-04-10T21:55:04Z")
Most bookshops in the UK have such a distinction. And I’m such a snob that I never go to the “fiction” section. However, there’s a fantastic bar/café/bookshop here in Oxford called [Quite Interesting](http://www.qi.com/) (that spawned a TV panel game). > [@](#): > > The QI bookshop is not organised according to any well-known bibliographic principles, but according to a broad theme that encourages browsing and serendipity, so a novel might end up next to a work of popular science or a reference book. I can’t remember any specifics, but they’re categorised into things like “Books about vicious revenge”, “Idle hands are the devil’s tool”, “Books to read when you’re feeling a bit crazy” and so on. I had a browse and ended up buying a book I would never have even looked at in a traditional bookshop. It’s a brilliant idea. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382/27 "2006-04-10T23:35:34Z")
Our university english class had Harry Potter as one of their assigned books. And Orson Scott Card’s Enders Game is commonly assigned to schoolchildren and is firmly SF. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382/28 "2006-04-10T23:47:23Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Most bookshops in the UK have such a distinction. And I’m such a snob that I never go to the “fiction” section. > > However, there’s a fantastic bar/café/bookshop here in Oxford called [Quite Interesting](http://www.qi.com/) (that spawned a TV panel game).I can’t remember any specifics, but they’re categorised into things like “Books about vicious revenge”, “Idle hands are the devil’s tool”, “Books to read when you’re feeling a bit crazy” and so on. I had a browse and ended up buying a book I would never have even looked at in a traditional bookshop. It’s a brilliant idea. :eek: I’m a librarian. This . . . this . . . Is it possible to organize a lynch mob from a transoceanic distance? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382/29 "2006-04-11T02:13:03Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > In the early '90s, some big-box bookstores had one section for (non-genre) “Fiction,” and another section for “Literature.” > > I always wondered how they decided where a given book belonged. Anecdote: My brother worked at Waldenbooks, and his manager, Kim, was a fan of the works of [Katherine Stone.](http://www.twbookmark.com/authors/85/778/index.html) Company policy was to place the works of Ms. Stone in the “Romance” section, but Kim fancied herself more highbrow than a reader of mere love stories, so she ordered the staff to shelve _Bed of Roses_, _Home at Last_, and other Stone novels as “Fiction”. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382/30 "2006-04-11T20:58:53Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :eek: > > I’m a librarian. This . . . this . . . Is it possible to organize a lynch mob from a transoceanic distance? Honestly, you wouldn’t think it works, but it does. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382/31 "2006-04-12T01:14:25Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Our university english class had Harry Potter as one of their assigned books. And Orson Scott Card’s Enders Game is commonly assigned to schoolchildren and is firmly SF. I did Ender’s Game for a sci-fi unit in Grade 10. Other than that, sci-fi and fantasy is a big no-no around here. The Giver is exempt from that because of how it shows gender roles. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382/32 "2006-04-12T01:40:04Z")
I worked for several years in a used book store. We had separate categories for “fiction” and “literature.” Mostly, the “literature” section consisted of books that are commonly on school reading lists. Thus, anything by William Golding was “literature,” but anything by William Goldman was “fiction.” I once asked the store’s owner for a guideline, and she said that if there was a “Cliff’s Notes” for a book, that book was definitely “literature.” If no “Cliff’s Notes” existed for a certain title (or other titles by a certain author), the owner made the decision based upon her past experience as a college professor. I almost quit my job when I saw that “American Psycho” had been assigned to the “literature” section. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382/33 "2006-04-12T02:25:15Z")
Yes, and I shelved books in them at a B. Dalton’s in the 80’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-the-separate-fiction-and-literature-sections-in-bookstores/349382.md?page=1)