The 52 Book Club: 2025 / 2026 Challenge discussion

49 -- From The 800's Of The Dewey Decimal System

This prompt was voted upon and chosen by 52 Book Club members. Dewey Decimal System is a library classification system named after Melvil Dewey. There are ten main classes, and each class is further divided into additional sub-classes.

For this prompt, we’re looking for books in the 800s of the Dewey Decimal System. Dewey assigned all literature to the 800s, including poetry, plays, essays, and fiction. Most libraries shelve their fiction in a separate area, but keep their poetry and plays in the 800s.

The 800s are divided as follows:

800 Literature, rhetoric, and criticsm
810 Collections in American English
820 Collections in English & Old English
830 Collections in other Germanic languages
840 Collections in French, Occitan, Catalan
850 Collections in Italian, Romanian, and related languages
860 Collections in Spanish and Portuguese
870 Collections in Slavic languages
880 Collections in Scandinavian languages
890 Collections in other languages

For an easier option, most fiction fits under this prompt. To make it more challenging, try something outside of your regular reading habits (a play, essay, type of poetry, etc.)




Here is our Goodreads List for this prompt

I got a set of 4 books by Sam J. Lundwall about horror, fantasy and science fiction books that I'll use for this prompt, all with 839.78, 809.93, 809.3
- Den fantastiska romanen 1: Klassisk utopi och rymdfärd från Lukianos till Edward Bellamy
- Den fantastiska romanen 2: Gotisk skräckromantik från Horace Walpole till H.P.Lovecraft
- Den fantastiska romanen 3: Viktorianska framtidsdrömmar från Claës Lundin till H.G. Wells
- Den fantastiska romanen 4: Science fiction i dag från Isaac Asimov till Robert Sheckley

All the books I have added to the Goodreads list are either books I have read, TBR or from my wishlist. In Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and English.

I am going to do a theme of books about books, bookstores, libraries for part of my reads next year. So I think I may slot 84, Charing Cross Road here. Though I read enough classics every year that this is sort of a gift prompt

I found a couple good ones while browsing the library today.

Richard III by Shakespeare
Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need by Barry