Literature by Genre

Since Aristotle, man has been busy classifying things. Adam was the classification pioneer (naming the animals), but it was the Greek philosopher who turned it into an art form, an obsession, and an intellectual sport. We've had 2300 years to get better at it, and today a book isn't just a "book": it's a novel, or a treatise, or a poem, or a drama. But it isn't even just a novel, anymore—it's a satire, or historical fiction, or science fiction, or a philosophical novel, or an autobiographical collection of short stories set in a dystopian near-future.

There may be no examples of the last type, but genres (rather than being confusing, as some claim) are invaluable guides to navigating the endless stream of books that flows through our bookstores, libraries, and online distribution centers. For instance, you know just by hearing the phrase "romance novel" there won't be much quality in any section so named, and if the normal romance novel is to be shunned, you can be certain the growing field of paranormal romance fiction will be even more useless.

I will not take this opportunity to describe each and every genre we've included in our selection; that's what the sidebar is for. However, before you dismiss the genre distinctions as useless generic terminology, consider what they can do. If you've just finished a book by Jane Austen, or Tim O'Brien, or Rudyard Kipling, and want to read similar books but don't know where to start, you could start by looking at other books included in their respective genres.

Some of the genres are pretty basic. Obviously, if you want to read poetry you aren't going to look under Novels. Well, you might, but you'd be mostly out of luck. Others, like Epic & Saga, can be much more helpful for more specific searches—our Epic & Saga category includes 42 items; our Literature & Adult Fiction includes 2,397.

Most of the books found here are for older students or adults (though that doesn't mean younger readers can't enjoy most of them as well, as long as you preview and discuss each title with them). For kid-oriented reading, check out our Fiction category. The genres there are even more specific, partly because there are more obvious distinctions beween different kinds of children's literature, and partly because we've spent more time bringing in specifc titles for young readers. That in no way means we've ignored our selection for adults and high schoolers.

In fact, we're pretty proud of it. Not every book is worth reading; we've tried to limit those on our shelf to ones that are. To make it easier for you to find the sort of book you want to read, we've given most of the titles genres. Sure, it's often fun to lazily browse bookstore shelves or websites, but let's face it—somtimes you just need to find the next book that's going to provide your fiction fix, and you don't have time to research the whole broad genre that happens to be your favorite. Reader, we salute you, and offer you: Literature by Genre.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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54 Items found Print
Active Filters: 19th Century Literature, North American Literature, Trade Paperback
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
New Ed from University of California Press
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$15.95
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
from Penguin Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain, edited by Mary R. Reichardt
from Ignatius Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Oxford World's Classics
by Mark Twain, edited with an introduction and notes by Emory Elliott
2008 Reissue from Oxford University
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Charles G. Finney
by Charles G. Finney
from Bethany House
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$19.00
Billy Budd, Sailor, and Other Stories
by Herman Melville
from Bantam Books
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.95 $2.50 (1 in stock)
Civil War Hospital Sketches
by Louisa May Alcott
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.95
Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
by Emily Dickinson
from Little, Brown & Company
for 7th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$23.99
Deerslayer
Leatherstocking Tales #1
by James Fenimore Cooper
from Penguin Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$16.00
Favorite Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$3.00
House of the Seven Gables
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Illustrated Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Chivalry
by Thomas Bulfinch, illustrated by Giovanni Caselli
from Macmillan
for 6th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
by Harriet Jacobs
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Israel Potter
by Herman Melville
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$16.00
Joan of Arc
by Mark Twain
from Ignatius Press
Biography for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$18.95
Kit Carson's Autobiography
by Kit Carson
from University of Nebraska
Autobiography for 9th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Last of the Mohicans
Leatherstocking Tales #2
by James Fenimore Cooper
Reprint from Penguin Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$13.00
Last of the Mohicans
Leatherstocking Tales #2
by James Fenimore Cooper
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Leaves of Grass
by Walt Whitman
from SeaWolf Press
for 11th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
Little Women
by Lousia May Alcott
from Penguin Putnam
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00
Long Fatal Love Chase
by Louisa May Alcott
First Thus from Dell Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.99
Man Without A Country & Other Stories
by Edward Everett Hale
from Wordsworth Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Moby-Dick
by Herman Melville
from Penguin Putnam
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$16.00
Moby-Dick
Wordsworth Classics
by Herman Melville
from Wordsworth Classics
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Moby-Dick
by Herman Melville
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Copper Lodge Library
by Frederick Douglass, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter
from Classical Conversations
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.95
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
by Frederick Douglass, edited and introduction by David W. Blight
from Bedford Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Omoo
by Herman Melville
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.95
Oregon Trail
Penguin Classics
by Francis Parkman Jr.
from Penguin Classics
Historical Non-fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$16.00
Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant
Penguin Classics
by Ulysses S. Grant
from Penguin Classics
Autobiography for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Pioneers
Leatherstocking Tales #4
by James Fenimore Cooper
Reprint from Penguin Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$15.00
Portable Edgar Allan Poe
by Edgar Allan Poe
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$22.00
Pudd'nhead Wilson
by Mark Twain
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00
Pudd'nhead Wilson
by Mark Twain
from Penguin Classics
for 8th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Red Badge of Courage
by Stephen Crane
from Penguin Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00
Revival Lectures
by Charles G. Finney
from Fleming H Revell Co.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Bantam Books
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Barnes & Noble
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00
Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Scarlet Letter
Copper Lodge Library
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter
from Classical Conversations
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited with notes by Brian Harding, new introduction by Cindy Weinstein
2008 Reissue from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Vintage Books
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Wordsworth Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Selected Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Reprint from Penguin Classics
for 8th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$17.00
Selected Tales and Sketches of Nathaniel Hawthorne
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$13.00
Self-Reliance & Other Essays
from CreateSpace
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.99
Self-Reliance and Essays on the Nature of Man
Copper Lodge Library
by Ralph Waldo Emerson, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter
from Classical Conversations
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.95
Sufferings in Africa
by Capt. James Riley
from Skyhorse Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
The Spy
by James Fenimore Cooper
Reprint from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$17.00
Twelve Years a Slave
by Solomon Northup
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.95
Typee
from Modern Library
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$12.95
Walden
The Writings of Henry David Thoreau
by Henry David Thoreau
150th Anniversary Edition from Princeton University Press
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Walden and Civil Disobedience
by Henry David Thoreau
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$14.00