Week 4 , Assignment 1

I've been a Goodreads user for a couple of years now, and I find the site's features and capabilities quite useful. It's so convenient to be able to access my reading lists online, and I enjoy seeing what my friends are reading. I've suggested Goodreads to several customers who are avid readers, and a few of them have given it a try.

The way Goodreads determines which books it recommends is a bit puzzling to me. As best I can figure, it seems to latch on to one or two appeal characteristics in one or two books and it makes recommendations based on those, rather than a using broader range of criteria and more titles. I do like Goodreads' newsletters and alerts that I get by email, coupled with other sites like EarlyWord and IndieBound.org.

Although I've suggested a few titles to other friends previously, I posted this comment on Janet S's Goodreads page today, based on her 5-star rating of Edward Rutherfurd's New York: The Novel:

Hi Janet! If you like literary fiction with a bit of history and culture, you might want to try Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. It's a story about a young woman who emigrates from Ireland to New York after World War II to find work; a coming-of-age story and immigrant story that's fairly quick-paced.

One last comment about Goodreads...I've found the Goodreads app (available for both Apple and Android devices) to be really straightforward, and often easier to use than the full website.

Week 3, Assignment 3

And now for the recommendations...

Conversation 1: Reader enjoyed Eat, Pray, Love
It sounds like this customer enjoys descriptive writing with a reflective tone, and based on the comment that s/he enjoys all the Oprah books, I would also deduce that s/he enjoys popular, literary fiction. Two books that this reader might enjoy include Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott--a well-written, autobiographical, and reflective title with themes of spirituality; or Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor, which also falls into the reflective travel writing category.

Conversation 2: Reader seeking vampire books unlike Twilight
Twilight is one of those books that I guess I should read because I'm a librarian and it's popular, but it frankly it doesn't sound all that appealing to me. I digress. The reader commented that Twilight was too filled with teen angst and too slow, so it sounds like the reader would like a vampire story that is fast-paced, plot-driven, and action-packed. Since I'm not all that knowledgeable about vampire stories, I used NoveList to answer this question. I would suggest The Dead of Winter by Lee Collins, or the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.

Conversation 3: Reader enjoyed The River of Doubt
This reader seems to be looking for narrative nonfiction that is informative and fast-paced, and possibly historical in nature. My first recommendation would be another Candace Millard title, Destiny of the Republic, which is similarly engaging and well-written with a fairly quick pace. Another compelling and suspenseful historical title that may interest this reader is Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City, a true crime book about the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Week 3, Assignment 2

"Listen...to Nancy Pearl talking about books." Isn't this like Luke Skywalker listening to Yoda? The master, indeed.

Nancy Pearl is an exception to Neal Wyatt's rule about keeping book talks short and sweet. No 15-second book talks here! But it's so fun to listen to her talk about books--or read her writing about books; not only did I listen to the podcast, I also read the article she wrote on NPR. She really has a knack for talking about books in a way that makes the listener (or reader) want to go and grab the book. She seems to hit on appeal characteristics that are popular and delivers her book reviews with enthusiasm...all good things to remember for those of us who are still honing our skills as reader advisors.

Week 3, Assignment 1

I found Neal Wyatt's article entitled "The RA Conversation" helpful. I like how he described it as "a dialogue between two readers." As I talk with customers, I enjoy asking them about what they like to read, and I often find myself making notes or filing information away to share with other readers. As someone put it, we librarians cannot possibly read everything! Also, I will be the first to tell you that I am a slooooow reader...I like to savor the language (when applicable), think about how sentences are constructed, and reread turns of phrase that I find interesting. This is NOT a good way to get through books quickly (!!!), and while I'm trying to retrain myself, it's very challenging when books like Age of Miracles come along.

Since I don't read quickly, I do tend to read a lot of reviews to keep current, and if a customer requests an item about which I'm not very knowledgeable, I don't hesitate to use the PAC, Novelist, or Goodreads--or even Google--to search for something the customer might like. I thought the article's suggestion that a book talk be kept to 15 seconds or less was interesting, and I've been trying to do that over the past month+ since I read the article. (See also my next entry about the Nancy Pearl podcast.) I've found that kids really appreciate the short and sweet descriptions, but I've had several adults who then want to know more. No surprise, I guess adults have longer attention spans.

My final thought is back to the conversation--I think customers of all ages like it when someone asks them about their favorite books. It's a really effective conversation starter, whether you're a librarian helping customers or Jane or John Public hanging out at a cocktail party (or talking with kids while volunteering in your child's school library).

Week 2 Assignments, Part II

So many blogs, so little time! I enjoyed reading through annotations on many colleagues' bookish blogs over the past several weeks. (Yes, I am riding in the caboose on this Bookish project!!) I can't read 'em all, but I learn so much about books from the people I work with--and from our customers.
I popped over to Megan S's blog and read about two books she's enjoyed (Behind the Beautiful Forevers and Eleanor and Park) and recommended The God of Small Things and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian for her (but I bet she's already read 'em!).

Week 2 Assignments, Part I

Neal Wyatt's article on appeal factors was a great reminder of the characteristics that make a book desirable to readers.

With appeal factors on my mind, here are annotations of books I've read and enjoyed...one all-time favorite, and one new favorite.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein is a captivating story about two young women, their unlikely friendship, and the war that tears them apart. Set during World War II in Britain and France, it is a well-written, engaging book with lots of twists and turns, and it will appeal to those who enjoy suspenseful historical fiction or spy stories. Character-driven and emotionally intense, the story is presented from two different viewpoints in a diary format. Code Name Verity features strong female characters, top-notch writing, and several surprises along the way. It is a book to read, and then read again.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a well-known American literary classic. This beautifully-written coming-of-age story touches issues of race, class, and the outsider and is set in the American south. Characters are well-drawn and the tone is reflective, making the reader think about the issues and circumstances of the characters in the story. Even though the narrator, Scout, is a young girl, readers of all ages can easily identify and sympathize with her as she examines and questions the world around her. The story features several different plot lines, but the themes of prejudice and tolerance are woven throughout the story.

For Week 1, I completed the children's book quiz with 19/20 (woohoo!) I probably didn't need to know about this site because I found lots of other quizzes with which I could completely lose track of time. I did pretty well with the adult covers quiz, too, with 10/12. The Golden Rules of Reader's Advisory echoed some things we recently discussed at our LATI sessions. The child's take on judging books by their covers was a fun premise but sort of underwhelming after reading about a dozen of them. For assignment 4, I've chosen to follow npr.org/books (I already read Early Word and Goodreads) and Stop You're Killing Me, which was recently mentioned at an LATI class. Keeping tabs on the NPR books page will be helpful because titles that are featured on NPR often turn into requests, so this will help me to keep up with what our customers are looking for. In addition, I selected Stop You're Killing Me because we have many mystery readers at the branch who report that they have "read everything." I hope that this blog will give me some new ideas for suggestions for these customers.