Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Week 7, Assignment 1
Had to print out the "What to Read Next" article from Lawrence Public Library...and as a companion to this, I read another article from Christian Science Monitor, "10 Books to Read After the Hunger Games Trilogy." The latter article was linked from an article I read for Week 7, Assignment 2; just had to take a peek at it (a) to see if there were any I hadn't heard about previously, and (b) to see which titles are consistently recommended, like Divergent and The Maze Runner. These lists come in particularly handy during summer reading season. And many of them will end up on my own Goodreads "to read" list, like Legend by Marie Lu.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Week 6, Assignment 3
The instructions for the first part of Assignment 3 are to choose three fiction subgenres with which I am unfamiliar and to locate a fan website for each. In order for this to be useful, I would like to choose three subgenres that customers have actually requested. So...I selected paranormal romance, hip-hop urban fiction, and epic fantasy. In addition to the websites I list below, I also consulted Fantastic Fiction, NoveList, and Goodreads to get more information for these entries.
Paranormal Romance
Fan website: This was a good subgenre to pick. Finding a fan website for this was easy-peasy: I just googled "fan website for paranormal romance" and came up with a slew of them. I initially choose a site that unfortunately was not up-to-date. Some pages were last updated in 2010; the most recent reviews were from 2012; and the New Releases page didn't have any actual content. So, I selected a blog that appeared at the top of the search results, called "Paranormal Romance Fans for Life," which was updated two days ago. This site keeps tabs on new releases and is maintained by an author in this genre.
Authors/Titles: Danica Winters (blog owner), Nalini Singh, Christine Feehan
Hallmarks/Appeal Factors: According to Goodreads, paranormal romance books feature romantic relationships in conjunction with non-human, other-worldly, paranormal creatures and phenomena ("vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts, time travel, fantastical beings, and psychic abilities." ~from Goodreads). These books are also typically fast-paced and can be graphic.
Hip-Hop Urban Fiction
Fan Website: I searched using Google for "hip hop fiction" and came up with a number of websites that discuss urban fiction/street lit/hip hop fiction as interchangeable terms, but had a harder time finding a site that defines "hip hop fiction" in the way that it was defined on the Prezi graphic--as encompassing just urban titles focused on the music industry. There are many good resources and lists, such as this Urban Fiction/Street Lit/Hip Hop Fiction article and The Urban Book Source. Searching for hip-hop fiction on Goodreads produced lists of largely nonfiction titles. I also came across this informative blog about street lit.
Authors/Titles: Teri Woods, Ashley and JaQuavis, Nikki Turner
Hallmarks/Appeal Factors: Hip-hop/street lit/urban fiction books typically feature an urban setting, a fast pace, realistic dialogue, and realistic depictions of life on the streets.
Epic Fantasy
Fan Website: Once again, I turned to Google to see what I could find with a basic search (knowing that of course I could find lots of info on Goodreads and NoveList as well). I found a site called Best Fantasy Books that has lists of all kinds of fantasy and its subgenres, including epic fantasy. A "top 50" list of epic fantasy books can be found on this page.
Authors/Titles: J.R.R. Tolkien, George R. R. Martin, Steven Erikson
Hallmarks/Appeal Factors: Epic fantasy works feature struggles of good versus evil, are populated with heroes, wizards, villains, richly detailed worlds, and are often large, multi-volume works.
The last part of this assignment asks us to find two mashup titles--titles that blend two subgenres. Here are two that I found and my rationale for each:
The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen qualifies for mashup status because it blends magical realism with chick lit and a heartwarming modern romance. A woman of some repute around town turns up hiding in sheltered Josey's closet, urging the hapless twentysomething to get a life and go after the man she admires.
Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce contains elements of several genres: literary fiction (superb writing), fantasy-fairy tale (betcha guessed that from the title, huh?), a good dose of cultural commentary, and a heckuva lot of psychology to boot. Sixteen-year-old Tara goes missing after a major falling out with her boyfriend, and shows up twenty years later, looking the same as she did when she "left." She claims to have been kidnapped by fairies.
Paranormal Romance
Fan website: This was a good subgenre to pick. Finding a fan website for this was easy-peasy: I just googled "fan website for paranormal romance" and came up with a slew of them. I initially choose a site that unfortunately was not up-to-date. Some pages were last updated in 2010; the most recent reviews were from 2012; and the New Releases page didn't have any actual content. So, I selected a blog that appeared at the top of the search results, called "Paranormal Romance Fans for Life," which was updated two days ago. This site keeps tabs on new releases and is maintained by an author in this genre.
Authors/Titles: Danica Winters (blog owner), Nalini Singh, Christine Feehan
Hallmarks/Appeal Factors: According to Goodreads, paranormal romance books feature romantic relationships in conjunction with non-human, other-worldly, paranormal creatures and phenomena ("vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts, time travel, fantastical beings, and psychic abilities." ~from Goodreads). These books are also typically fast-paced and can be graphic.
Hip-Hop Urban Fiction
Fan Website: I searched using Google for "hip hop fiction" and came up with a number of websites that discuss urban fiction/street lit/hip hop fiction as interchangeable terms, but had a harder time finding a site that defines "hip hop fiction" in the way that it was defined on the Prezi graphic--as encompassing just urban titles focused on the music industry. There are many good resources and lists, such as this Urban Fiction/Street Lit/Hip Hop Fiction article and The Urban Book Source. Searching for hip-hop fiction on Goodreads produced lists of largely nonfiction titles. I also came across this informative blog about street lit.
Authors/Titles: Teri Woods, Ashley and JaQuavis, Nikki Turner
Hallmarks/Appeal Factors: Hip-hop/street lit/urban fiction books typically feature an urban setting, a fast pace, realistic dialogue, and realistic depictions of life on the streets.
Epic Fantasy
Fan Website: Once again, I turned to Google to see what I could find with a basic search (knowing that of course I could find lots of info on Goodreads and NoveList as well). I found a site called Best Fantasy Books that has lists of all kinds of fantasy and its subgenres, including epic fantasy. A "top 50" list of epic fantasy books can be found on this page.
Authors/Titles: J.R.R. Tolkien, George R. R. Martin, Steven Erikson
Hallmarks/Appeal Factors: Epic fantasy works feature struggles of good versus evil, are populated with heroes, wizards, villains, richly detailed worlds, and are often large, multi-volume works.
The last part of this assignment asks us to find two mashup titles--titles that blend two subgenres. Here are two that I found and my rationale for each:
The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen qualifies for mashup status because it blends magical realism with chick lit and a heartwarming modern romance. A woman of some repute around town turns up hiding in sheltered Josey's closet, urging the hapless twentysomething to get a life and go after the man she admires.
Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce contains elements of several genres: literary fiction (superb writing), fantasy-fairy tale (betcha guessed that from the title, huh?), a good dose of cultural commentary, and a heckuva lot of psychology to boot. Sixteen-year-old Tara goes missing after a major falling out with her boyfriend, and shows up twenty years later, looking the same as she did when she "left." She claims to have been kidnapped by fairies.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Week 6, Assignment 2
The Prezi graphic of fiction genres and subgenres is a great way to capture the different categories of fiction. I have to agree with a few people who commented that it would have been great to have it blown up so you could view it all together, but the navigation wasn't unmanageable either. The explanations and links between subgenres were helpful.
PS, a day later...on further thought, I think that the graphic in the Prezi would actually be a better item to have offered in print--perhaps printed on 11x17 paper. It would be a great item for future reference, and would make completing Assignment 3 just a tad easier. We could also share it with customers!
PS, a day later...on further thought, I think that the graphic in the Prezi would actually be a better item to have offered in print--perhaps printed on 11x17 paper. It would be a great item for future reference, and would make completing Assignment 3 just a tad easier. We could also share it with customers!
Friday, July 5, 2013
Week 6, Assignment 1
As I've mentioned in previous posts, we have a lot of mystery readers at my branch, and I am not a mystery reader myself. It's not that I object to mysteries--I enjoy them--it just happens that mysteries infrequently make it to the top of my reading lists. For these reasons, I thought that Stop You're Killing Me would be a good resource to follow. I haven't been disappointed with the site; in fact, I've shared it with several of our customers who are mystery fans. One customer in particular likes gritty police procedurals, particularly those set overseas in Scotland and Europe, so I shared SYKM's page on police procedurals with this customer and we found a couple of new titles/authors to try. Lists like this are quite helpful when doing RA, and I've found several other author read-alike lists on this site useful over the past couple months as well.
Week 5, Assignment 3
A book that made several lists of highly anticipated titles of 2013 is The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes--several reviewers have dubbed it 2013's Gone Girl. Other reviews maintain that this title will be the beach read of the summer. The Shining Girls is a story that involves time travel, serial killers, suspense, a rapid pace, a strong female protagonist, and large doses of blood and gore.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Week 5, Assignment 2
What's popular in my branch? I would have to say that mysteries and popular/bestseller-list fiction are the top requests that I hear from customers--including (of course) James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Robert Parker, Clive Cussler, Catherine Coulter, Janet Evanovich, and Stuart Woods. That being said, customers at my branch also read a good deal of literary fiction and nonfiction, and DVDs are always popular. It really helps to read over the NYT Bestseller List because I can be sure that I'll get requests for those titles.
EarlyWord is, as I mentioned in previous posts, a favorite resource for keeping current on forthcoming titles and on publishing and movie news that may be of interest to our customers. On the EarlyWord site, the links down the sides of the page are so varied and chock-full of info--bestseller lists, award lists, information about new and forthcoming titles for kids and adults, and much more. Back in December we were preparing a "Best of 2012" display at the branch and the many "best of the year" links on EarlyWord were helpful in preparing and maintaining our display. Now that summer reading is here, I anticipate using the "best of 2013" and beach reads links, as well as the links to kids lists.
EarlyWord is, as I mentioned in previous posts, a favorite resource for keeping current on forthcoming titles and on publishing and movie news that may be of interest to our customers. On the EarlyWord site, the links down the sides of the page are so varied and chock-full of info--bestseller lists, award lists, information about new and forthcoming titles for kids and adults, and much more. Back in December we were preparing a "Best of 2012" display at the branch and the many "best of the year" links on EarlyWord were helpful in preparing and maintaining our display. Now that summer reading is here, I anticipate using the "best of 2013" and beach reads links, as well as the links to kids lists.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Week 5, Assignment 1
I've been discovering useful new resources lately, between LATI and the Be More Bookish assignments. Although I continue to rely on old favorites most heavily (EarlyWord, IndieBound.org, Goodreads), I'm also enjoying the new sites and blogs I've been consulting. I have been using Stop You're Killing Me for mysteries, since we have a lot of mystery readers at the branch where I work, and NPR Books, since I do regularly hear "I heard it on NPR" from customers. I've also been using a site called the Readers Advisor Online and its blog, and I've also taken peeks at Entertainment Weekly--ew.com--as suggested by an LATI presenter to see what's popular.
It's helpful to read a variety of resources, and what becomes notable is the books that appear on multiple lists. I guess what I'm finding helpful about these resources--books that are getting coverage on NPR and information about awards and forthcoming titles from SYKM--is not really a surprise; it's pretty much what I expected I'd get. One thing I've discovered, however, is that I pay more attention to, and better remember, books when there's a write-up about the plot and an image of the cover attached. SYKM is more list-based, without images, and seeing a book in a list doesn't have the same impact as does a descriptive write-up (like those on EarlyWord or in BookPage).
It's helpful to read a variety of resources, and what becomes notable is the books that appear on multiple lists. I guess what I'm finding helpful about these resources--books that are getting coverage on NPR and information about awards and forthcoming titles from SYKM--is not really a surprise; it's pretty much what I expected I'd get. One thing I've discovered, however, is that I pay more attention to, and better remember, books when there's a write-up about the plot and an image of the cover attached. SYKM is more list-based, without images, and seeing a book in a list doesn't have the same impact as does a descriptive write-up (like those on EarlyWord or in BookPage).
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