Finding fiction (and other books) to read for fun

Although academic libraries aren't laid out like bookstores, you can still use the NYU Libraries' catalog to find fiction, poetry, and plays about particular topics or settings. Records for literary works will usually include a genre term in their subject headings, such as "Fiction," "Short stories," "Poetry," "Drama," and so on; you can search for these subject terms using the "In subject" option on the advanced catalog search screen. Popular genres of fiction will have their own subject headings (e.g. "Science fiction," "Mystery fiction," "Love stories," "Fantasy fiction," "Horror tales"). Using the advanced search options in the catalog, you can refine your search by adding keywords (place names, nationalities, themes, etc.). Not every work of fiction will be cataloged in detail, but many will. 

Some examples of subject headings for works of literature:

• New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction
• Vampires -- Drama
• Interplanetary voyages -- Fiction
• Nature -- Poetry
• First loves -- Fiction
• Suspense fiction

You can also use the "Refine my results" menu on the left side of your search results to sort them by date of publication, or narrow your search by subject, author, genre, and publication date.

Search here for books, articles, journals and other print materials, videos, sound recordings, e-books, e-journals, databases, and indexes in our local libraries and special collections.

The Engagement Collection is a new area, located at either end of Bobst Library's second floor North Reading Room, that features a rotating display of books that support the NYU community's non-academic pursuits or that are otherwise of high interest. These include popular bestsellers and titles published by the NYU Press or written by NYU faculty authors. Different themes may be featured throughout the year. You can also find the latest issues of popular magazines and newspapers in this area. If you're looking for something to read, please come by the second floor to browse the Engagement Collection!

Read more about the collection in this post by our communications team.

Photo credit: Weiwei Lin

The NYU Libraries own a number of book-length guides to the "best books" in various categories. You can find many of them by searching the catalog for the subject "Best books." Here are some specific examples of reading guides from our collection:

Readers' advisory is a library term for providing readers with guidance in choosing books to read. The following books in the NYU Libraries' collections, part of a series published by the American Library Association, are intended for librarians rather than the general reader. However, they may be useful if you want to expand your reading horizons or understand how popular genres work.