Week three prompt

I was able to access NoveList for this assignment through a neighboring library.

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 lunatic café” is the fourth book in the series. I searched Anita Blake as the series and chose the fiction 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.

NoveList describes “The Prodigal Summer” as, “lyrical, gently paced novel unfolds a story of three dissimilar people.” Based on the lyrical quality of the book “Prodigal Summer” and that aspect being enjoyed, I would suggest “A Chance to See Egypt” by Sandra Jean Scofield. This suggestion came from an author read-alike search result. I also conducted an advanced search for lyrical and fast-paced appeal factors and adult books. I narrowed that down to lyrical fiction and multiple perspectives. This generated four results and I would recommend “House of sand and fog” by Andre Dubus and “Bloodroot” by Amy Greene.

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!

I used the advance search for Japan as subject and descriptive as the appeal factors then narrowed the genre to historical fiction. There were five results. From that search, I would recommend “The teahouse fire” by Ellis Avery and looking at the read-alikes from that book, “Memoirs of a geisha” by Arthur Golden. .

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?

If the patron enjoyed the Elizabeth George title that much; I would suggest trying another one from her. This book is actually third in the Thomas Lynley mysteries series and there are currently seventeen titles altogether to enjoy. If the patron wanted to try a different author, I would ask what they enjoyed about the title and search for something comparable by selecting the book, “Well-Schooled in Murder” and locating a book based on the “search for more” options.

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 searched for zombies as the subject and adult as the audience and this generated 868 results. I then refined that research with the addition of apocalyptic fiction as a genre search and “not” walking dead. This generated 32 results. I would suggest “Autumn” by David Moody and “Under a graveyard sky” by John Ringo. Both are the first books in their respective series.

I love NoveList! I wish we had it at my library as it is an awesome resource for staff and patrons. I looked at the Reader’s Advisor Online and didn't find it nearly as rich in options or as helpful. For instance, Barbara Kingsolver wasn't listed as an option for the author read-alikes. I currently use Fantastic Fiction for series information and read-alike suggestions on pretty much a daily basis. I also use Amazon.com daily for reviews, ISBNs, publishing information and when I am lacking the correct title or author. I tend to read new books by familiar authors and suggestions from patrons. I also like browsing the new books and picking out an unknown title based on a cool cover. 

Dr. Chelton provides a great resource in developing readers’ advisory skills. I am going to bookmark www.bookbrowse.com as it seem like a very useful site for readers’ advisory. One link I was excited to explore, especially because of its origin, was www.readalike.org but that site no longer exists.