Week 9!!!!!

Assignments 1& 2

I don't like book trailers as a general rule. They just aren't particularly interesting. I've never bought a book based on a trailer. I've never watched a book trailer accept as an assignment.

That being said, they can be effective if they exist for a reason beyond marketing or if the author is particularly engaging. Going back to John Green, I'll buy whatever he tries to sell. It has less to do with the book trailer as a useful tool and more to do with the personality of the salesman. So, yes, book trailers can be good, but only rarely and only coming from the right source.

Assignment 3

AAAAAAAAAGH!

Ahem.

My summary:

This was a great idea and, at times, a lot of fun. It could be overwhelming, but it was a nice way to get all the librarians looking at and talking about a lot of the same resources. I felt like I was pretty familiar with most of the resources, but I did discover a few new ones (especially with the teen books and narrative nonfiction) and had a lot of fun with the communal aspects.

Week 8

Assignment 1

Between the two articles, I really like the “Borderlands”. I thought there was some good, practical advice being offered. I appreciate how she broke it down by type of book.

 

Assignments 2&3

Biography

These are mostly in the Biography section, but can be found throughout non-fiction, depending on what the person is known for. For instance, the book listed below is a biography about someone who worked on the dictionary, so the Dewey number is 423.

·         The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

 

Memoirs

Like biographies, memoirs cluster in the Biography section, but can be found throughout. Some, like below, can even be found in the graphic novels.

·         Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

 

Adventure

Adventure stories can be found in the Biography section, but they can also be found in the sport section (796) and the travel section (910).

·         Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

 

Medical

Medical stories can mostly be found in the 616 area.

·         Stiff by Mary Roach

 

Assignment 4

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

This book is well-written, dark and, at times, very funny. It gives the reader a great sense of place and history as well as some interesting characters. I would recommend this to anyone who has an interest in strange stories and offbeat characters who like a little mystery.

 

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

This graphic novel tells the story of the Iranian revolution through the eyes of the writer as a young girl. Clever, funny and sad, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in an inside look into other cultures, especially YA readers.

 

Week 7

Assignments 1&2

I don’t particularly like the “new adult” label. I understand trying to help people find books in a particular genre, but sometimes it gets a little ridiculous. At one point, you had books for children and books for kids. Then YA came along. Okay, fine. Even that distinction bothers me sometimes, but I guess I see the point. Trying to split adulthood up into different reading categories by age seems ridiculous. My biggest issue with all of it is that I believe people should read what they’re comfortable reading. By over-labeling based on age, you’re also sending the message that those books are ONLY for people those ages.

“The Next Big Thing” article missed on important appeal factor for YA literature: it’s okay for the characters to have no idea what they’re doing! One of the problems with adult fiction, especially fantasy or sci-fi, is that, often, the protagonist needs to be a little naïve for the story to work. They need to be old enough to function on their own, but still willing to accept and move with new situations. Teens are perfect for this role. The teenage experience blends well with any kind of “discovering a brand new world” fiction. Teen protagonists can be likeable idiots because they are encountering things for the first time. Adult protagonists in the same situations, making the same choices, can be hard to like.

Assignment 3

I adore John Green and all that he does. Having a young adult author who is this entertaining and accessible for ALL ages means a lot. A friend of mine is a high school teacher and he is constantly turning his students onto John Green as a writer and personality.

Teenreads is new to me, but I really like it. The blog part is “eh”. I’m not that interested. The rest of the site is good though. It seems like a really good resource for anyone trying to explore more YA reading options.

Assignment 4

After spending some time on HarperTeen and the Macmillan site, it looks like weird is in for YA literature. There aren’t a lot of vampire/werewolf books being highlighted, but there are still some supernatural characters floating around out there. It looks like witches and fairies are popular. Post-apocalyptic stories and general sci-fi mysteries are all over. Of course, they’ve all got a love triangle.

 

 

 

Week 6

Assignment 1

I’ve been looking at Heroes and Heartbreakers. Honestly, I kind of love it a little bit. Or, at the very least, I find it mildly entertaining. I appreciate that, while the website focuses on books, it tries to have a slightly broader lifestyle appeal as well. They’ve got some fun articles on general romance stuff, even dipping into some TV storylines.

Assignment 2 & 3

Western – Native American

http://www.historicalnovels.info/Old-West-Novels.html

Native Americans are being portrayed with increasing complexity and we are now seeing many more Native American authors writing westerns. Readers of this subgenre enjoy getting to experience traditional Westerns without some of the more stereotypical tropes and roles assigned by some of the earlier, “traditional” westerns.

Authors: Robert J Conley, Kerry Newcomb, James Alexander Thom

Mystery – Cozy Mysteries

http://www.cozy-mystery.com/

Fans of these books seem to gravitate towards accessible entertainment that is comfortable and reliable. There is some mystery and maybe a little danger, but, for the most part, everything is pretty safe and, while there may be some twists and surprises, there’s nothing too outrageous or controversial.

Authors: Sarah Graves, Laurien Berenson, Jill Churchill

Adventure – Exotic Lands

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-best-adult-adventure-fiction-6328892.html

In all the fansites I found for this genre, there was a healthy dose of nostalgia. It seems like a lot of fans of adventure novels began reading these books at a young age.

Authors: Gary Paulsen, Ernest Hemingway, Bernard Cornwell

 

Mashups:

Laurien Berenson’s Melanie Travis Mystery Series is a Cozy Mystery that all features a woman solving crime with her dog. While still well within the mystery genre, it’s both a Cozy and Animal Investigator series.

Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan is essentially a Romance Novel set in a Post-Apocalyptic world. While outrunning hordes of zombies, the main character takes frequent breaks to angst over her love for two different boys.

Week 5

Assignment 1

I’ve been using Goodreads, which I just talked about in the last entry. Since writing that one, though, I’ve been trying to be more active and have a few more ‘friends’ on the site. I find that cruising their readings lists and seeing their updates has been a much better way to find new books than the recommended lists from the site itself.

Assignment 2

Popular books in the branch tend to be eye-catching new releases. A few customers come in with lists, and some come in with recommendations from friends, but it’s mostly whatever is on display in the new section that looks appealing at the time. The customers here often don’t know what they’re looking for until they see it.

We definitely have a much higher interest in fiction. Even more than usual. Literary non-fiction just isn’t a hit. So we try to focus on the fiction best seller list. We don’t get a lot of “I heard about it on NPR” the way that I used to at other branches. Even the best seller lists fail us sometimes because people are a somewhat resistant to request things. Actually, what seems to work well is finding best seller lists from a few months back. Books that were popular, but interest has waned enough to put copies back on our shelves.

 

Assignment 3

Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell promises to be a dark, fantastical story of an abandoned girl raised by an overly permissive scholar in London. When she turns 12, Sophie sets off on a journey to find her mother, whom she believes to have survived the shipwreck that separated them. The trail leads Sophie to the rooftops of Paris, where she discovers and joins a gang of feral children. Fans of historical fiction with a dash of fantasy should enjoy this book, as well as fans of fantasy with a dash of history and a strong young female lead. This is definitely a must for those folk who cracked open The Golden Compass by Pullman and wished they could spend more time on the rooftops with brash young Lyra at the beginning.  

Week 4

I’m really enjoying Goodreads overall. It’s nice to keep a running list of books read and a fun way to keep up with the reading habits of friends. I’m a little less impressed by their recommendation algorithm. The books it recommends to me have very little resemblance to the ones I’m reviewing well. A lot of what I’ve put in there has been modern, dark sci-fi or fantasy. A lot of what I’m getting back is 1970’s, cartoon-cover, cheesy sci-fi. Other than broadly sharing the same genre, there’s very little in common between the two.

So, as a cataloging and social networking tool, I like it. As an actual way to get book recommendations, I’m unimpressed.

Recommendation to Susan Walters:

“I’m going to go way out on a limb here and recommend Hollow Man by Dan Simmons. You said you liked Odd Thomas because of the characters, and it immediately made my think of Hollow Man. Dan Simmons, like Koontz, tends to lean towards horror, though his is a little slower paced and more brooding. Still, for strange stories with an emotional, character driven core, Hollow Man is great. It focuses on a man trying to cope with his wife’s recent death. The twist is that this particular man is a psychic and his wife’s presence, her own ability, was one of the only things keeping him sane.”

Week 3

I'm clearly just going to be in a state of perpetual catching-up.

The RA article was pretty good. I think I'm going to try some of the exercises at the next librarians meeting. Doing this online is great, but it seems like getting some in-person reinforcement would be helpful.

For the conversation recommendations:

Conversation 1: You should check out "Jasmine and Fire" by Salma Abdelnour. The memoir chronicles Ms. Abdelnour's return to her birthplace, Beirut, after growing up in New York. Like "Eat, Pray, Love" there is a bit of travel and a lot of food, but it uses these things as context for the author's rediscovery of her roots.

Conversation 2: Definitely pick up a copy of "Bloodshot" by Cherie Priest. It's a fast-paced, vampire thriller with high stakes and adult characters. Priest is best known for her steampunk novels (which are excellent if you're into that kind of thing), but her style translates well to urban fantasy noir.

Conversation 2: "Black Hawk Down" by Mark Bowden won't give you the historical context (the book takes place in 1993), but it is the sort of action-packed nonfiction that you won't be able to put down. It might be a little more difficult to read, given that the conflicts and deaths are much more current and relateable, but this story of American soldiers suddenly trapped and under fire in Mogadishu is gripping.