Week 6: Building Base Knowledge (Genres)

Assignment 1:
Since I already talked last week about Locus, the genre website I've been reading, I thought I would mention my use of EarlyWord. Working at a branch where people check the Upcoming Hot Titles list religiously and often bring in reviews of forthcoming books, I have found this site to be invaluable. I try to scroll through the home page at least once a week and open some of the lists in the side bar. Just scrolling through these lists has already helped with title recognition with customers.

Assignment 3:
Here are the subgenres I decided to explore:

Genre: Mystery, Subgenre: Pet Investigators
Key characteristics: animal sidekick with special powers or intelligence

Prominent authors:
Lilian Jackson Braun, Cat who... series
Rita Mae Brown, Mrs. Murphy series
Spencer Quinn, Chet and Bernie series

Genre: Romance, Subgenre: Regency
Key characteristics: set during early 1800's Britain; focus on social classes and history of period; generally little sex

Prominent authors:
Mary Balogh
Jo Beverley
Mary Jo Putney

Genre: Urban Fiction Subgenre: Christian
Key characteristics: faith and religion are centerpieces of characters' lives; focus on urban life, usually in African-American or Latino communities

Prominent authors:
Kimberla Lawson Roby
ReShonda Tate Billingsley
Victoria Christopher Murray

Mashups

Territory by Emma Bull recounts a western tale of famous gunslingers including Doc Holliday which might sound familiar to western and/or history buffs. Unlike other books about Tombstone, however, Bull's telling includes plenty of magic and sorcery. Didn't you know Wyatt Earp is a powerful sorcerer? This title could be considered western/fantasy.

Karen Joy Fowler's Sarah Canary lives in the western territories of 1800's America and her story starts as she comes across a camp of Chinese railroad laborers. But the story veers from a historical fiction when the reader learns more about mute Sarah and her amazing transformations. Although this might be considered magical realism, the amount of historical detail and scene setting leads me to say this could be considered historical-fiction/science-fiction.

Week 5: Building Knowledge Base (Part II)

Assignment 1: Since Week 1, I have started checking Locus Online each week. At first I found the site a little overwhelming because there is just so much information on the homepage. After several weeks, however, I've gotten into a groove and figured out the sections I find most helpful - after a briefly scanning the latest blog posts, I check the New Books section to see titles that are forthcoming and then check the week's best sellers. I love that they include cover photos and I already notice that I'm retaining new titles as I scan our new books shelf in the branch.

Assignment 2: In my branch, many customers want New York Times bestsellers and "whatever is the latest book by" fill-in-the-blank commercial fiction author (think Patterson, Evanovich, Child, etc.). I've never worked at a branch where the NYT list on the counter is consulted so often by customers. There are also regular customers who come in with handwritten lists of books they've heard about on NPR or with clippings they've torn from magazines with recommendations. Referencing Early Word for the last few weeks has helped prepare me for these kinds of titles and when customers ask for a particular title it rings a bell.

I had never looked at the IndieBound site before working on this assignment. While some of the titles on the Indie Best Sellers lists overlap with other lists of popular titles, there is a great mix of genres and audiences to be had when looking at the Indie Next lists. For those who are interested in more literary fiction or some fresh faces, this is a great resource.

Assignment 3:

Alive by Scott Sigler

Alive is a fast-paced, thriller that will appeal to teen readers who enjoyed The Maze Runner and other dystopian adventure novels. Main character M. Savage is a brave, resourceful girl that readers will root for as she races to solve the mystery of her missing memory and the strange, new environment she has just woken up to. Sigler may also attract crossover adult readers who enjoy reading YA novels or those who have read his other works including the popular Infected trilogy.

Week 4: Goodreads

I am an avid Goodreads user and am usually logged in to my account when working at the information desk. I love being able to use Goodreads as a tool to jog my memory when assisting a customer and as a way to keep up with new titles. Most of my shelves relate to themes, reading levels, or interests that I can use when offering readers' services. Being friends with colleagues is also a great help. I can't (and don't) read everything, especially when it comes to certain genres, but I have great friends who do. One former colleague has a love of historical fiction and writes beautiful, thoughtful reviews, while another reads romance novels voraciously. Being able to browse their shelves keeps me up to date on titles I don't personally read and also helps me offer suggestions to customers.

In terms of recommendations, I find the genre recommendations to be good and usually the one-for-one recommendations (i.e. you read Book X, so you should read Book Y next). The recommendations by shelf, however, tend to be all over the place. Since the algorithm has no understanding of the name of the shelf or the reason you grouped these items, it recommends based on one or more books labeled with that shelf. As a result, my "scary" shelf where I tag anything from kids' ghost stories to horror recommends The Art of Fiction by Henry James and The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng alongside scary titles.

Recommendation for a colleague: This colleague enjoyed reading a lot of narrative non-fiction, particularly books set in exotic locales or focused on a single extraordinary individual. Based on these books, I recommended she try Jill Fredston's Rowing to Latitude: Journeys along the Arctic's Edge or Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls.

Week 3: Readers' Services Conversation

Conversation 1
In this conversation, I'm hearing that the customer wants interesting characters who are explored in depth. She wants to read about characters who are reflective and thoughtful and will perhaps prompt her to also be self-reflective. For this customer, I would recommend Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle. Walls' memoir takes the reader inside her difficult childhood and follows her journey into a successful adulthood. Her writing is descriptive and captivating and will both immerse the reader in the setting and allow her to glimpse Walls' innermost thoughts and feelings.





Conversation 2
In this interaction, I hear that the reader is interested in vampires as the main characters, but furthermore she also wants a book that will be action-oriented and exciting over being romantic or angsty. For this customer, I would recommend Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire or Stephen King's Salem's Lot. Of course, if she hasn't already read it, I'd also recommend Bram Stoker's classic, Dracula.

 

Conversation 3

I'm hearing from this customer that she would like some suggestions for narrative nonfiction. She wants something that is fast-paced like a story but is also fascinating in that it's "true." For this customer, I would recommend The Ice Balloon by Alec Wilkinson, the true, harrowing account of S.A. Andre, who attempted to reach the North Pole by hot air balloon in 1897. While many others joined this race over land, Andre's expedition adds the excitement of such an exotic means of transport. If the murder mystery aspect is a strong selling point for the customer, I would also recommend Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. His subtitle certainly hits all the interest points on this request.

Week 2: Appeal Factors

E. Lockhart presents a suspenseful story, rich with secrets that are tantalizingly unfolded by the main character, Cadence Sinclair Easton, a wealthy teen staying on her family’s private island for the summer. Lockhart’s lush descriptions of the island are clear and engulfing, and they contrast wonderfully with the confusion, dysfunction, and unreliability of Cady’s understanding of her current life – excruciating migraines and amnesia. With brief chapters and lots of dialogue, the book is a fun, quick read whether you’re hanging out at the beach or just dreaming you are.

The Strange Library is a dreamy, meandering novel that makes you feel like you fell down the rabbit hole in Wonderland and popped up on the other side in an eerie labyrinth of a library. Murakami’s quirky characters, including a crazy librarian and a goat-man, lead you on a magical realism adventure. Many illustrations and graphics infiltrate the text, helping set a dark tone, enhance the suspense, and perhaps even induce some anxiety. This slim book can be read in one sitting, but its unique format and deceptively layered story might lead you to sit and ponder it for much longer.




Allie Brosh’s drawing style appears crude and childlike but don’t let that stop you from picking up this definitely-for-adults book. Beautifully balancing hilarity and poignant honesty, Brosh’s anecdotes touch on many aspects and absurdities of life including her strange neuroses, her insecurities about being a “real” grownup, and her struggles with depression. Deadpan humor and the spot-on timing of Brosh’s storytelling will keep you turning the pages.

Week 1: New Resources for Genres

For this assignment, I chose to start reading EarlyWord and Locus Online. I like that EarlyWord has a wide variety of recommendations including covering numerous book club selections. Readers at my branch are very keen to get on the waiting list as soon as we put certain new books on order, so anticipating new releases will be helpful. EarlyWord's Best Books lists and category tags also make browsing recent titles and reviews easy. I chose Locus Online because I don't know much about SF&F titles or authors. As a kid, this was my favorite genre, but as an adult, I don't read heavily in this area and don't have much depth of knowledge.