Need help with classic themes

We have very little space for classics at my store, so we end up dividing them by themes/genres in order to fit them on the shelves. Some that we've used in the past are:

classic romance, modern classics, dystopic lit, great journeys, ye olde chick lit, books made into movies, American authors, thrills & chills

I've been searching and searching, but haven't been able to find any other lists of literary themes, or topics that we can use to divide up the books. Does anyone know where I can find that information? Or, does anyone have their own ideas about how to categorize the classics they've read?

A section of English authors would do well. Also, many could go into straight fiction in alphabetical order. Austen and the Bronte's could go into romance or chick lit, Wells and Haggard and Stevenson could go into sci-fi and adventure. What categories do you have in your store already? And what titles are you trying to shelve? This information could help us help you.

Most of my "classics" I divide by time period (ancient. medieval, renaissance, 17th century, 18th century, early 19th, Victorian, and 20th century), so that wouldn't help much, but I also separate classic sci-fi and fantasy from the others, and I have considered separating gothic, too. Many classics could also fit into historical fiction, romance, or mystery as well, or be divided by the nationality of the author.

This is not exactly what you are looking for, and I am not necessarily suggesting a chronological scheme, but maybe if you peruse this, you will come up with some workable ideas. Good luck!

http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/greatbks.html

(Besides, I just love this site!)

As a theme try this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Best_Reading

However, you might want to call it something else, as that is a seried that Readers Digest does. But, as a list, it might give you ideas. "Best Classic Books" or "Best of the World's Classics".

I would not call it "World's Best Reading, as I am sure Readers Digest probably has copy rights on that, but nothing says you can't do something similar. LOL

Bill Masom

Why not start a new category? "Books with timeless appeal" -- the term "classics" is often misused, not everyone means the same thing by it. You could select some works from your existing categories (maybe from dystopic lit, books made into movies, etc.), and add some that don't necessarily fit into your existing categories.

Victorian Classic (Dicken for example) might well appeal to Steampunk readers as well. There's some room for crossover.

Personally I would be looking for a classic section rather than expecting to find them among other categories.

In my own library, "classics" means Greek and Latin. In the fiction section, I don't do genres or periods: Kingsley Amis, Margaret Atwood and Jane Austen share a shelf, if that's what the alphabet dictates (none of them seems to complain).

But I can see the point of having other kinds of subdivision in a bookshop. Selling books to people who walk in off the street not knowing what they want is a different challenge from shelving books in your own home for your own use. The customer who is looking for a specific book will ask an assistant for it, or order it online; the bookshop display is there for people who come in with vaguer wishes. Why not have half a shelf of Jules Verne next to the steampunk, or Fanny Burney next to the chick-lit? Or Emily Eden and Mary Wortley Montagu in the travel section?

In re #8. Thank you, thorold, for standing up for clarity and good sense in this discussion. I had been tempted to post, but found myself slipping into the old way of knocking everything off the table. Ya done good. -- G

When I bought my used bookstore two years ago, I came onto LT and asked folks here whether they liked having a classics section or just finding the books in with the general fiction. The responses ran about two to one against having a classics section. That was my own predilection, too, so I just brought all the books that were not genre fiction (mysteries, science fiction/fantasy, horror, spies books, romance) into a single section called Literary Fiction (for want of a better label).

I don't like the idea of segregating out "classics." If somebody is looking for some Steinbeck, let them browse all of my S author novels while they're at it instead of just looking at other classics. Plus, there are too many books that are on the bubble of whether they are classics or not. Sometimes people ask me for the classics section. I just explain my system and everybody is always fine with it.

I do have a "Classics" section, along the lines that thorold suggested, actually. It contains the ancient Greek and Romans, The Song of Roland and other such hits of antiquity. It is right next to the Mythology, Philosophy and Drama sections. That seems to work out nicely, in fact.

Anyway, just two cents worth of one man's opinion from another bookstore owner.

Yo, rocket-person. You can define anything the way you want, when it comes to that. You can call your cat-box "Auntie Betty's handbag" if you want. The point which thorold -- forgive my preumption, Mark -- and I are trying to make is the value TO YOU in using the word "classic" in a way which will be recognizable and intelligible to the persons with whom you are most likely to be communicating. Ultimately, you must make the call. Incidentally, your example of your present "classics" shelf illustrates perfectly the inevitable rough edges there are in any attempt at a perfect scheme. THE SONG OF ROLAND would never be considered a classic in the same sense that the ancient Greeks and Romans are -- and yet it is one of the perennial hits in The Penguin Classics, as series edited by serious scholars! Good luck! Goddard Graves

"Yo, rocket-person. You can define anything the way you want, when it comes to that. You can call your cat-box 'Auntie Betty's handbag' if you want."

Yes, I'm aware of that, but thanks for the confirmation. I was simply reporting how I, in fact, had "made the call" and the thought processes that had gone into the decision, thereby giving the original poster, a bookstore owner, the perspective of another bookstore owner, me.