Week 11 Prompt

I am a fan of both traditional paper books and e-books. I haven't used audio-books, because they don't really appeal to me. 

The physical differences between books, e-books, and audio-books don't really affect my knowledge of genres. The genre of a story is determined by the writing, the pacing, the language, the setting. I don't believe physical does, or should, have any part of what makes fantasy, fantasy, or fiction, fiction. The readers' ability to change font, line spacing, and text color enhance the pacing and tone, in my opinion. Same with track length, narrator choice, and possible music in audio-books. All this is doing is making stories more accessible. People with reading issues such as dyslexia probably find it easier to read an e-book where they can pick a font that makes it easy to distinguish letters, at a size that they can see easily. Audio-books are great for people who have severe reading disabilities, are blind, or simply find actual reading too tedious. I suppose the narrator does influence how the story is told by choosing the inflection and pacing.

Overall, I think the use of newer media in books is a good thing, and offers a greater appeal to reading. Personally, anything that makes stories more accessible can only be a good thing.

Fantasy Annotation

Title: Trickster's Choice

Author: Tamora Pierce

Publication Date: 2003

Genre: Fantasy

Number of Pages: 448

Summary:

Alianne is the daughter of Alanna, the first lady knight in Tortall. The blood of the Lioness runs thick in her veins, but is the quieter nature of her father that young Aly follows as she learns the tricks and tools of being a spymaster. After being captured and sold as a slave to an exiled royal family in islands far from her home, Aly must make use of all of her skills to survive in a world filled with bloody politics, conspiracy, and a Trickster God looking to take back his throne.

Characteristics that fit in with Fantasy:

• Magic frames the story
• Story lines feature Good versus Evil
• Mood ranges from humorous to dark; ultimately optimistic
• Language and style frame everything
• Emphasis on landscape

Read-Alikes:

• The Traitor's Game by Jennifer A. Nielsen
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
• The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Book Club Experience

The book club that I observed was hosted by a friend of mine, and the members were friends of hers and mutual friends of ours. I’ve gone to the club occasionally, but usually don’t find the time. It’s not a very scheduled thing, but they do try to meet at least once a month. There’s a group chat that explodes when one member or another reads something they think is great and wants to share with everyone else. I got lucky in that my friend found a book that the rest of the club was interested in, and we met. The book discussed was Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce.

My friend was the leader for this meeting. Usually, whoever recommends the book is the one who leads. They usually open with how people liked the book, just to get a general sense of how people feel. The meetings usually take place at someone’s house, but occasionally we like to go out to eat and have a very informal discussion. The general atmosphere is easy and informal. It’s just a bunch of friends, eating and drinking and talking books.

The questions asked are pretty open ended. ‘How did you like it?’ ‘What did you think about this scene?’ There were a few yes or no questions that could be expanded on, such as one that the leader asked: ‘Do you feel that the Trickster is being truthful with Aly with his ambitions?’. This question took up a good portion of the conversation, and led to other members asking related questions.

Anyone who attends is assumed to have read the book. There were a few that just listened to the conversation, chiming in with a ‘yes/no’ type comment here and there, but were generally pleased to just listen along.

There wasn’t anyone who really tried to steal the spotlight. There was a question posed over the possible colonialization-narrative, and this sparked off a very heated, but very detailed and informative, debate. However, no one was overtly offensive, and no one took great offense to opinions stated. This probably has to do with everyone being friends and used to talking to each other like this.

There isn’t a set genre or style of books that this book club likes to read. All genres are pretty well covered because all of the members like different types of books. In this instance, the book was overall a hit with the members.

Special Topics Paper Summary

I did my paper over a brief history of readers' advisory in the United States. I specifically wanted to look at when RA services really became a thing.

What I learned was that while the first libraries were being built in the 1600s (starting with Harvard University's library), RA services weren't discussed until the 1870s, when Samuel Green wrote a paper titled "Personal Intercourse and Relations between Librarians and Readers in Popular Libraries." This is the first instance of RA services being an idea, though they weren't called such back then. Research on the subject found that while these services could be available in the academic libraries, students were mostly taught to rely on their textbooks rather than outside sources, and thus the service wasn't used. When public libraries started being built in the 1830s, RA services became more necessary.

Early readers' advisory services were focused on furthering the education of the public. There was little thought put towards leisure materials. The early RA interviews were very private, having separate offices to conduct the interviews. As more and more of the public became educated, and with Depression-era free time, leisure reading began to rise, and RA services had to adapt.

Today's readers' advisory services are much less formal and less geared towards knowledge only. Most RA interviews can be conducted by any library staff, or anyone at all that cares about reading and wishes to share that with others. There aren't separate rooms for conducting the interview. RA services continue to change as our society continues to change.

Week Seven Prompt

I read the article from the smoking gun, "A Million Little Lies". I'll start off by saying that I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with embellishing the truth when you're writing a book. It helps the story, as a story, flow better. However, stories that are "based on true events" are advertised as such. They are based on true events. This tells the reader, or viewers in the case of television/movies, that while the plot itself is true, there may be some details enhanced, removed, or added.

Frey's book doesn't do that.

He insists that it's all true, that he may have embellished a little bit, but that everything in the book really happened. The Smoking Gun disagrees, and so do I.

In interviews, Frey reveals that he tried multiple times to get his story published as fiction, and was denied time and time again. The moment he tagged it as a nonfiction memoir, it was snapped up and thrown on Oprah's list.

In my opinion, this is the author version of clickbait. Advertise in such a way as to draw in viewers, when the actual material is bland and banal.

Science Fiction Annotation

Title: Dawn

Author: Octavia E. Butler

Publication Date: 1997

Genre: Science Fiction

Number of Pages: 256

Summary:

Lilith Iyapo has lost her husband and son to the final nuclear strike that has devastated the Earth. In her final moments, she sleeps.

Lilith awakens hundreds of years later, aboard a spacecraft of unimaginable design. Humanity's saviors, the Oankali, live on this craft as they travel from world to world, forever searching. Forever changing.

For the Oankali do not live and grow and change as the humans do. They are in complete control of their evolutionary designs, and they have settled on humans as the next link in their genetic shift. Humans will return to Earth, to live and grow, and to be the bearers of the next generation of Oankali.

Whether they want to or not.


Characteristics that fit in Science Fiction:

• Speculative fiction set in the future
• Explores moral, social, intellectual, philosophical, and/or ethical questions against a setting outside of everyday reality
• Setting invokes otherness of time, place, and/or reality
• Characters are used to underscore issues and atmosphere; aliens emphasize the otherness

Read-Alikes:

• Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
• The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
• Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

Week Six Prompt

For promoting romance novels, the first idea that comes to mind is setting up displays in the month of February to promote romance books during the 'romance month'. Maybe soft romance near the front desk (i.e. romance with light/no sex, no darker themes) and a mix of romance in displays around the library. Maybe do a romance reading program, where people sign up for the month, and whoever reads the most gets a small prize; special bookmarks, assorted treats, coupons to any business(es) that want to participate in the promoting. Appealing to people's competitive streaks is a good way to get them to read things they might otherwise ignore. Outside of the month of February, promote a different genre each week with displays near the front of the library, and some fliers promoting books in said genre. 

Romance Annotation

Title: Slave to Sensation

Author: Nalini Singh

Publication Date: 2006

Genre: Romance; paranormal romance

Number of Pages: 352


Summary: For nearly one hundred years the Psy have maintained a cold, emotionless existence, in order to keep control over the vast mental abilities that make them who they are. However, that control is starting to crack, and the Psy Council will stop at nothing to hide the fissures.

Sasha Duncan is a councilor's daughter. She knows better than most the price of failing to conform to Silence, the emotionless rules that are taught to every Psy child. She also knows the price of allowing her Silence to fracture. It's a price she may be willing to pay when she begins to tangle with Lucas Hunter, the leopard alpha of the changeling pack DarkRiver.


Characteristics that fit in Romance:

• The story centers on the romantic relationship between the two main characters
• Reader is involved in the outcome of the Romance
• Features outside circumstances the keep the two characters apart
• Happy ending; the couple gets together and are content
• Descriptive adjectives to delineate characters, setting, and romantic or sexual interludes
• Characters drive the narrative

Read-Alikes:

• No Rest for the Wicked by Kresley Cole
• Dark Prince by Christine Feehan
• Hell's Bell by Keri Arthur

Week Five Prompt

I feel that collection development depends fairly heavily on how books are reviewed. If books are never given a bad review a-la Booklist, then how do librarians know if they're biased or not? If a book has hardly any reviews at all, how do they know they're getting a quality book? It makes it difficult to develop a good, comprehensive collection if the resources for judging a book are limited or skewed.

In regards to the two romance reviews for week five, I feel that neither review, on its own, would be wholly reliable. They're both too personal. However, if I had to depend on one or the other, I would go for the blog review.  It's well written and gives important points such as length, genre, and pros and cons.  The Amazon review is poorly written and doesn't really tell why other readers would be interested in the book.

The Angela's Ashes reviews make me feel comfortable about adding this book to the collection.With multiple sources following the same positive trend, you know that the reviews aren't just biased personally.

I don't think that it's fair that one type of book is reviewed heavily and others are not, but there's not much we can do about that. Books that become popular, have the potential to become popular, are in a popular genre, or are published by a popular author are always going to be given priority over relatively unknown books. Library collections that rely too heavily on reviews and don't take chances on unknowns run the risk of falling into a rut; readers that have already read the popular ones and are looking for something new and/or different may be left wanting. Review resources that won't print negative content are less reliable, to me. Reviews shouldn't be insulting to the author, but honest reviews are necessary. Not everyone will enjoy every book, and it's important to show that.

I don't buy for a library, and I mostly only read from a select pool of authors. When I do choose something to read, I read the summary and use that to decide if I like it or not. As I've stated before, I don't like to involve others in my reading process. However, if I had to use a review source, Kirkus is my favorite source.

Kirkus-Style Review: Spartan Gold by Clive Cussler

Sam and Remi Fargo are well known and quite successful treasure hunters, but it’s not the treasure that draws them. It’s the story, the mystery behind and the adventure of discovering some of the world’s most famous myths and treasures. This time they’re hunting Napoleon’s famed ‘lost cellar’, which contains directions to an even greater treasure.

They’re not the only ones looking for it.

When the Fargos rescue a friend from a kidnapping and assault, they become the focus of Hadeon Bondaruk, the half-Russian, half-Persian millionaire who believes he is a descendent of Xerxes the Great. He has made it his life’s mission to recover the treasure Napoleon left directions to, Xerxes’ treasure. And he will stop at nothing to acquire it.

This book gives an interesting view on history, tying together the Persian king Xerxes the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, a WWII German U-boat, and the people of today who stumble across their tracks. 

Readers will enjoy the witty treasure-hunting Fargos and their counterpart, the dark and sadistic Bondaruk. Sam and Remi have an unstoppable sense for adventure, sustained by their resourcefulness and aptitude for overcoming the impossible. This is a couple well-attuned to each other and their limits. There’s never a point they’re not together through their struggles. Bondaruk plays a not-fully-sympathetic villain, and his menagerie of assassins and henchmen gives the Fargos a run for their money.

An adventure from start to finish, readers won’t be disappointed in joining the Fargos on their first adventure novel debut.

Adventure Annotation

Title: Spartan Gold

Author(s): Clive Cussler w/ Grant Blackwood

Publication Date: 2009

Genre: Adventure

Number of Pages: 375

Summary:

For Sam and Remi Fargo, treasure hunting is more than digging up riches; it's about the adventure. When this couple saves their friend from his interrogation and would-be murder, they set in motion an adventure that spans centuries. From Xerxes I and Napoleon Bonaparte to old WWII submarines and a current Russian/Persian millionaire, Sam and Remi set out on the biggest, and most dangerous, adventure of their lives.

Characteristics That Fit in Adventure:

• Action Packed: Every chapter has a mystery to solve and a danger to avoid

• Hero(es) on a mission: Sam and Remi seek to discover treasures thought either myth or long gone

• Set in foreign/exotic locales: From the U.S. to France to Russia, this book never sits in one place too long.

• Brisk pacing: There's no waiting time between location, no conversation that doesn't pertain to the current situation.

• Tone: dangerous situations are treated seriously and humorously at the same time, not letting the tone become too dreadful but not light-hearted in deference to the situation.

• Characterization: both characters are committed to their adventure, but take moments to question themselves and each other. Their motives are always clear.

Some Read-A-likes:

• Deep Fire Rising by Jack Du Brul

• The Cult of Osiris by Andy McDermott

• The Aztec Heresy by Paul Christopher

Secret Shopper Experience

I chose to get a recommendation for my adventure annotation. Since I've never asked anyone, much less a library professional, for reading recommendations, I was very nervous and a bit scatterbrained on how to go about doing it.

I went to my local library. When I was waiting for the head librarian to be finished with her current patron, another worker asked if I needed any help. I told her what I was looking for, the 'adult' specification, and she began to help me find something to read. When the head librarian finished, she started to help me too.

The first librarian went to her computer to start looking up authors while the other hit the racks. I stayed with the first, but was confused about whether or not I should follow the second. I gained a list of authors from the initial librarian, and the head librarian came back with a few books she thought might fit what I wanted. I ended up going with the first author on the list I was given, because the first librarian had mentioned him quite a few times during the process.

Both librarians were very kind and very professional. Despite how unhelpful I knew I had to have been, they never made me feel like I was annoying or difficult. I think they could have asked more questions to get a feel for who I am as a reader, but overall I was very pleased with the experience. Now that I know what it's like, I'd be more prepared and go back to them for more recommendations.

Week 3 Prompt Response

I chose to use GoodReads for these prompts, since it's a website I'm familiar with using.

1. I am looking for a book by Laurell K. Hamilton. I just read the third book in the Anita Blake series and I can't figure out which one comes next!

The book in question is The Lunatic Cafe. I chose this book because it's the next one in the series.

2. What have I read recently? Well, I just finished this great book by Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer. I really liked the way it was written, you know, the way she used language. I wouldn't mind something a bit faster paced though.

I have picked out A Place on Earth by Wendell Berry. I chose this book because it's very similar to Prodigal Summer in its language usage and writing style, with a slightly quicker pace.

3. I like reading books set in different countries. I just read one set in China, could you help me find one set in Japan? No, not modern--historical. I like it when the author describes it so much it feels like I was there!

The Tale of Murasaki by Liza Dalby is my pick. I chose this book because it's incredibly descriptive and attempts to stay true to the culture.

4. I read this great mystery by Elizabeth George called Well-Schooled in Murder and I loved it. Then my dentist said that if I liked mysteries I would probably like John Sandford, but boy was he creepy I couldn't finish it! Do you have any suggestions?

Kylie Brant wrote a book titled Pretty Girls Dancing that may be a good fit. I've chosen it because it's a mystery novel, but it doesn't have the unsettling 'creepy' factor that John Sandford's novels have.

5. My husband has really gotten into zombies lately. He's already read The Walking Dead and World War Z, is there anything else you can recommend?

I would recommend Zombie Fallout by Mark Tufo. I recommend this book because it's all about dealing with zombies, and it's the first in a series. If the reader enjoys it, there's plenty more to offer.

6. I love books that get turned into movies, especially the literary ones. Can you recommend some? Nothing too old, maybe just those from the last 5 years or so.

I would recommend starting with the Hunger Games series, since all of the books have since become movies. It was difficult for me to find books that are more literary that get turned into movies that are also recent. If the 5 year limit weren't an issue, then Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile by Stephen King are both good books that were adapted into good movies.

7. I love thriller's but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.

Mary Higgins Clark is a good author to start with. She's written a wide range of novels and is generally clean in regards to foul language and sex scenes.


I personally don't ask anyone for help when I'm finding books to read. Does the title sound interesting? Then I read the description on the back. Does that sound interesting? Then I give it a try. I think that's why I find it difficult to perform readers advisories. I can't imagine using someone else to recommend a book to me, so it's hard to put myself in the patron's shoes.