Week 5

Question 1
I have been monitoring RT Book Reviews (which apparently stands for Romance Times but it wasn't posted anywhere on their website)

I am not a Romance reader and I was amazed at home many subgenres there are of Romance books.  Here is their index:
Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
Mainstream
Inspirational
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Young Adult
Erotica
Comic/Manga

I like the fact that there is an index because I can look up very specific types of books this way for customers.  For myself, I really like love stories and I was glad to see there is a Mainstream category because I think I would like those type of books the best.

Another thing I learned about the RT website is that it's a great place to go for aspiring Romance authors. They offer a lot of support such as manuscript evaluations, links to blogs and help in finding agents and editors.

It is helpful to have "Top Picks" listed at the top of the page because if you get a reader's advisory question and don't have much time, you can just recommend one of the top picks.

Question 2
African American and Urban Fiction are very popular in my branch.  I have looked everywhere on www.earlyword.com and can't find either of those genres as a separate category.  The closest thing I found was Oprah's book club.
I did, however, find things on Early Word that I can use both professionally and personally.  I liked the ALA nonfiction read alike link and the People Magazine Book Reviews section which I can use for readers advisory.   I also like the Books to Movies section because I sometimes include this info when it's my turn to write the column for the Woodlawn Villager.  For personal use, I liked the helpful information offered for would-be authors, such as a directory of writers' groups (since I hope to publish a book one day). Also, I love audio books and there was a link for that.

Question 3

From this link

The Atlantic — Books to Look Forward to in 2013
I learned about a new book by Khalad Hosseini called "And the Mountains Echoed"  The biggest appeal factor  for me is that the first two books by this author were on the New York Times Bestseller's List.  I have read them both and will definitely put this book on my "Want to Read" list.  I think this book would appeal to people who like to read about interpersonal relationships, which is one of the author's strengths and who like reading about places outside the U.S.  This author always seem to include Afghanistan in his books and he educates the reader about that country's people, places and culture. 

Week 4

All About Goodreads.com

I recommended a book to Heather Mays: The Magicians by Lev Grossman
This is a copy of my recommendation:   Based on your booklist, it seems you are willing to suspend reality.  You have read time travel, Harry Potter and other books with elements of fantasy.  Similar to Harry Potter, The Magicians attend a School of Magic, only on a university level.  The characters are well developed and the plot has some good twists and turns. There is a sequel and the author is currently writing the next one in this series (only two so far).


Write/share your impressions, discoveries, or revelations from exploring Goodreads.
First of all, I like Goodreads but I don't think it's very user-friendly.  It took a while before I figured out how to "friend" people and how to add shelves (or even what types of shelves they were talking about). Once I did these things, it went pretty quickly from there.  But I do think they can make it a little easier.  They can start by labelling their icons so we know what they mean.
One thing I didn't like was that my listings were automatically posted on Facebook.  I originally attached Facebook to Goodreads to request "friends" but when I saw my listings on Facebook, I disconnected Facebook from Goodreads because I only want to post my  books to Goodreads friends.
One thing I really liked was all the recommendations that I got.  Once I requested them, I got suggestions from complete strangers! I can't wait to read these books.  I also liked the recommendations that Goodreads sent me.  I never thought I'd find so many books that are right up my alley.

Week 3

In,  NPR podcast Nancy Pearl Unearths Great Summer Reads, Pearl spends about 3 to 4 minutes talking about each book.  She describes the appeal factors that drew her to the book and only revealed enough of the plot to let you know the basics. 


Note: The conversations below were taken from Wyatt's article: The RA Conversation.  I did this work from home and did not realize that there were three OTHER conversations if you clicked the links on the blog. (which did not work from home.)

Conversation 1:  This person describes his/her love of The Ice Station by Reilly.  My RA suggestion would be The Hunger Games (Collins) or Unbroken (Hillenbrand) because they both describe "battles" and the battles are quite intense and graphic in nature.  They do a good job of absorbing the reader into the book.  Hunger Games is a battle between teens who live in a dystopian society and are told to kill one another and Unbroken is a true memoir of a World War II survivor who almost died several times.  Though both books deal with death, triumph prevails in some key ways.

Conversation 2: This person liked Eat, Pray and Love by Gilbert.  I would recommend Kabul Beauty School (Rodriguez) or All over the Map (Fraser) because they both are about women travelling to other countries (Afghanistan, Mexico) and sharing their feelings.  Both women are single, similar to Gilbert, and both talk about different romances they have while traveling. Similar to Eat, Pray and Love, you can learn about the culture of the countries they visit, too.

Conversation 3:  Born in Fire by Nora Roberts was this person's favorite book.  Not having read this author, I would recommend the book Clara and Mr. Tiffany: A Novel (Vreeland) because it has fascinating details about everything that goes into making stained glass windows, lamps, etc.  which is woven into the fabric of the story.  It also has great character development, which seems important to this customer, who mentions personality traits of Maggie, Rogan and the mom.  This is a historical novel, which accurately portrays the late 1800's.

Week 2

Characteristics of the Books I like

Memoirs of a Geisha: a novel by Arthur Golden

The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty

The elements of appeal: (according to Novelist) 
There are eight essential elements of appeal:

1. Pacing
2. Characterization
3. Story Line (including the books context, type, genre, theme, and subjects)
4. Language
5. Setting
6. Detail
7. Tone
8. Learning/Experiencing

     Both of these books exhibit female characters that are born into hardship through no fault of their own.  Poverty happens to be a hardship that both books have in common.  Both of the main characters overcome some of their difficulties in the end.  Also, both of these books happen to be coming of age stories, which are my favorite.
     The main characters are both likeable, serious, sensitive and very intelligent.  The plots are realistic and I could definitely relate to certain incidents in both books.  The storyline unfolds slowly, always introducing new surprises.  I generally don't like too much description in books, but the rich, detailed, description in these books is 100 % necessary in order to enrich the plot.  Fortunately for me, the descriptions don't drag on and on - they are long enough to do the job.
     I learned a lot about Japan from Golden's book and felt like I was right in the story.  I enjoyed the love story aspect of the book, too.  Moriarty takes the reader into the dismal world of poverty, something that I fortunately  never had to endure.  Both books tugged on my emotions -- and I found myself rooting for the main characters and against the "bad guys."   Both books also happen to be written in first person, which I LOVE.
    
I posted two suggestions on Tiarella's blog: 1) Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut and 2) Mercy by Jodi Picoult.  I used Novelist, Goodreads, Google and The Library Thing to get suggestions.