Week Three Prompt

 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 Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. This is according to the series list on Novelist.

 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.

 The Women of Pearl Island by Polly Crosby. I looked up the Prodigal Summer and clicked through a few of the Readalike suggestions. The person was asking for something a bit faster paced and this book says it’s a leisurely pace. So, I think the definition of faster paced would need to be defined more with the questioner. This writing style of this story is lyrical and has an outdoor focus like the Prodigal Summer.

 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!

This question would need some follow-up as to whether they’re looking for fiction or nonfiction. If they were looking for historical nonfiction I would recommend To hell and back: the last train from Hiroshima by Charlies R Pellegrino. This book is based on the stories of survivors of Hiroshima and has a writing style of compelling and richly detailed.

 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?

I would begin by asking this person if the knew that Well Schooled in Murder was the 4^th book the Thomas Lynley Mysteries series. Then I would ask them if they had read the other books in the series and if not I would begin by recommend the first book, which is called A Suitable Vengeance.

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 begin by asking if their husband was interested in graphic novels or regular print books. If the answer was graphic novels I would use the Readalikes option on Novelist and recommend The rage. Volume 1, Zombie generation, a story about a virus that turns children into zombies.

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

I would clarify that the person meant movies that were from the past five years and not books from the past five years that have been turned into movies. Then I would use Novelist to search GX Page to Screen, filter down the results and recommend:

• Normal People
• Where the Crawdads Sing
• The Queen’s Gambit

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

I used the appeal mixer and put in fast paced and chased and came up with these recommendations:

• Lights Out by Natalie Walters
• Flight Risk by Cara Putman

Both books are categorized as suspense and fast paced. Both are also categorized as Christian Fiction in nature, which usually means low foul language and no sex scenes.

Tools I use to find books:

Honestly, I use Amazon a lot to jog my memory of other books. I’ll type in a book the person said they last enjoyed and then scroll through the recommended list of titles Amazon brings up. I’ve found this helps me remember what other books we have in our library collection.

Fantastic Fiction is another great place to find book recommendations. I love how the website is organized by genre.

I use Netgalley a lot for ARCs. I’ve found that this is a great way to keep on top of the new things that are coming out. I see titles there that I don’t always come across in the library review journals I read.

I’m also a big fan of review journals like Kirkus and School Library Journal.

 

 

 

 

Thriller Annotation

 

Title: In a Dark, Dark Wood

Author: Ruth Ware

Genre: Thriller

Publication Date: 2015

Number of Pages: 308

Geographical Setting: Set in London and the countryside in Northumberland.

Time Period: present day, at least similar to the year it was published.

Series (If applicable): n/a

Plot Summary: Leonora, Leo, is a twenty-six-year-old crime writer who lives in a tiny flat in London. She receives an unexpected invitation to a hen party weekend to celebrate the engagement of a friend she hasn’t seen in ten years. After some hesitation and pact with another long lost friend, she decides to make the trip to the Northumberland countryside for the weekend. The event takes place down a long lane, in a glass house, out in the middle of a forest, with little to no cell reception. The party is made up a group of relative strangers who all have the bride in common. Each person is complex and not what they first appear, each has their own history with the bride, and each has their own reasons for being there.

The story alternates between a hospital setting and the events of the hen party. From the beginning it's clear that the party goes horribly wrong in some unknown way. The story keeps building with every new revelation about the characters, until the point where both the present and past storylines collide.

In our course readings for this week Saricks describes a thriller as a story that takes place in a short amount of time and a story that has a sense of menace throughout (2016, p.17). I think this book fits this description. The story takes place over a weekend and there is a sense of foreboding with the way the story begins with a nightmare flashback and then to a hospital room.

In another reading for this week the authors Wyatt and Saricks describe a thriller as fast paced, full of action and conflict and having a sense of danger throughout ( 2019, pp. 5-6). Given that Saricks was also the author in the reading mentioned above, it makes sense that their descriptions of what a thriller is would be similar. Both versions are representative of how this book is set up and how the story unfolds.  

Subject Headings:

Psychological fiction

Female Friendship fiction

  Appeal:

Here are some words from another reading from this week called “The Secret Language of Books, a Guide to Appeal” that I would use to describe the appeal of this book (Novelist, 2018).

This story would appeal to people who enjoy reading stories that:

•          Have Strong female characters who are relatable.
•          Are fast paced.
•          atmospheric and a bit menacing

3 terms that best describe this book:

• Character driven
• Slow burn
• Atmospheric

 

 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors

Author: Paula Hawkins

Book:  A Slow Fire Burning

Both authors write stories that are character driven and layered and have many twists and turns. This particular book focuses on three women and their relationships with a murdered man.

 

Author: Riley Sager

Book: The Last Time I Lied

Both authors write stories about how past secrets come back to haunt peoples’ present day lives. This book focuses on a group of friends, a mysterious disappearance from a summer camp and secrets revealed.

 

Author: B.A Paris

Book: The Dilemma

Both authors write stories about people who have secrets and how those secrets effect the people around them. This book focuses on a couple celebrating their 40^th anniversary, but each has a secret that will change their lives forever.  

 

Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors

Author: Harold Schechter

Book: Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men

In a similar vein as Ware’s book, this one focuses on a woman and her secrets, in this case murder. There are many unexpected revelations and twists and turns.

 

Author: Emily Copley Eisenburg

Book: The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia

In a similar vein as Ware’s book, this story focuses on how one terrible event and the secrets around it can affect the lives of so many.

References

Novelist. (2018). The secret language of books, a guide to appeal. Ebscohost.

Saricks, J. (2016). At Leisure with Joyce Saricks. Booklist, 112(17), 17.

Wyatt, N., Saricks, J. (2019). The readers advisory guide to genre fiction. ALA Editions.

Reading Profile

Reading has always been something I've enjoyed. Growing up I was the first of my cousins to learn how to read. I was the oldest and have great memories of being at my grandma's house, surrounded by cousins and piles of books. My grandma had a monthly book subscription and we'd all flock to her house to see what new titles came in the mail that month. My grandma also had a collection of books that my dad and aunts and uncles had read growing up. Books like Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and Archie comics.

Looking back, I can see how these early years shaped the kinds of books I now enjoy reading. Along with mysteries I also read plenty of romance, historical fiction, children's books, and young adult books. I am one of those people who will put a book down if it's just not grabbing my attention. I think there are sooo many books out there, that there is no reason to slog through one I'm just not that into. I have found that sometimes I will go back to a book I've put down. Sometimes you just need to be in the right frame of mind for some stories. 

If I had to make a list of my top 5 favorites books of all time, the list would look something like this:

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
• If I Stay by Gayle Forman
• We Are in a Book by Mo Willems

With this class my plan is to branch out of my reading comfort zone a little. I plan on reading some genres I haven't read as much from before. Fun story, I'm in a group chat with some friends that we've called Murderbots that's based off of a series by Marth Wells. I haven't actually read any of the books in the Murderbot Diaries. So, I'm thinking this is the perfect semester to finally read the first book.