Week 7  Assignment 2




"Who's buying teen books?  Lots and lots of adults."
                                                     by Molly Driscoll


This article dates back to September 2012 so some of the information may already be outdated.

There were some good points in the article that I found interesting:
1.  Many of the books aimed at the teen market and also being read by adults as well.( "55% of customers who buy young adult books are 18 or older.")
2.  The teen readers market generally directed to readers age 12-17, has widened it's appeal due to the popularity of books like "The Hunger Games", "Harry Potter and the "Twilight" series.

3.  What is the appeal of these books to adults?  This article states  "sometimes written in a less complicated fashion than adult books and may offer more of a literary escape than an adult contemporary novel, providing a relaxing experience for an adult reader tired from commuting, working all day and taking care of kids."
4.  Angelina Benedetti, Washington state librarian, wrote in a 2008 column for the Library Journal that "it took her awhile to catch on to the quality titles being released in the teen market but that now, when her friends come to her for reading suggestions, she points them to young adult titles."
5.  Amazon started to include "Best of the Month" picks which included young adult titles in its "Top 10 List" -not as a separate "young readers" list but as part of its overall survey of best titles available.


"YA Comes of Age" by Sue Corbett


This article is dated September 2011 and the following are important points;
1. " YA  continues to shine in an industry clouded by uncertainty.  A decade and a half after Harry Potter kick-started a fantasy boom, hardcover fiction remains the star category."
2.  YA adult subject matter features "menacing creatures, forbidden romances and apocalyptic versions of this and future Earth."  Rosemary Stimola, a agent for Suzanne Collins, states "this is a population of young people who don't remember a time when the country was not at war.  It makes perfect sense that their literature would allow them a way to exercise their thoughts about the nature of good and evil......"
3.  "Since bookstores moved the teen section away from the kids' departments, YA books lost the stigma what they were somehow inferior because they were written for teens..."
4.  YA books also changed their book covers to more "elegant packaging."  Bookseller Barry Goldblatt " cites the cover for The Hunger Games as....gender neutral, age neutral and sharp."
5.  There is a certain amount of "Paranormal Fatigue," according to Jennifer Laughran, an agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, " "It can't be just about two shiny guys and a girl anymore.....doo something different with the paranormal elements.....super funny on one page and super scary on the next."
6.  This article ends by the "next big thing,"-dystopias-and in 2016, we see many titles such as the Divergent series growing in popularity.

Week 6 Assignment 3 Building a Base Knowledge - Subgenres

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Week 6  Assignment 3

This Me More Bookish training has introduced me to so many great sights, books and ideas and the Prezi chart was so interesting.  Who knew there were so many Genre/Subgenre categories! 
I decided to choose three different genre's I don't usually read, so here goes:


Urban Fiction/Literary

My first pick was Urban Fiction with Literary as the subgenre.  I profess to knowing absolutely nothing about the books in this category, however I was pleasantly surprised when I went to EarlyWord and found their "Listopia" list called "This Is the Definition of Urban Fiction."  I actually had heard of  the first 4 that were there. The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah  seems to be one of the standard bearers and I would like to read it to get a better sense of this genre.  Others on the list were Flyy Girl by Omar Tyree, True to the Game by Teri Woods and The Cartel by Ashley Antoinette.  The appeal factors seem to be  storylines within an urban setting that are edgy and confrontational.

Horror/Gothic
I have never read much Horror(my imagination is vivid enough!) but I choose this area to get a better idea of what is offered. Again I went to EarlyWord to see what they had on their lists and  choose new and classic offerings.  First off, Shirley Jackson"s We Have Always Lived in the Castle"-the book cover drew me in and the title as well.  Miss Peregrine"s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs had several appeal factors. The book cover alone-a black/white picture, looks to be back in the early part of the century of a young girl in a dress, levitating and staring right at you-is a curious sight,  but also, throughout the book are other B/W photos of unusual children.  I think using not just word but pictures is very effective. If you really love horror in it's finest where it goes to work in your imagination, a must read is Edgar Allan Poe(Also if you are from Baltimore, well....I don't need to say more!) and The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales should be on everyone's list.   I also choose another older book, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind.  This book came out in the late 80's when I was working at an independent bookstore and it was very popular so I want to revisit and put it on my reading list.

 Western/Urban    

This combination of Western and Urban seems so unlikely, that I picked this for my third choice of subgenres.  I went, once again, to EarlyWord for guidance and this is what I found.  A classic read by Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage, though probably very dated, should be read just to see how far the western novel has come.  Somehow, on this sight, the two genre's meshed together and The Chance She Took by Kole Black made the list so one sees a pretty big departure from a Zane Grey novel. My last title is a Comac McCarthy novel,  All The Pretty Horses.  Written in a sparse, tight style that reads like a contemporary novel, with a storyline placed in the 1950/1960/s.  I realize my three choices really run the gamut here, but I think this subgenre is evolving... which lead me to create my own.  Take the movie "Jango Unchained" and apply it to a new subgenre I will call "Urban/Southern Gothic"...Imagine Gone with the Wind, but with a contemporary dialogue and the history of that time  intertwined with  our current perspective. 


Please excuse the last,(very small)! paragraph.....I had some trouble getting the font to change.  

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Week 6 Building Base Knowledge (Genres)

Week 6  Assignment 1      I choose Mystery Readers International to explore and learn about.  I love mysteries, but don't often choose them when I think of what to read next, and I thought this sight might give me some good ideas.
Mystery Readers International is an organization with a worldwide fan base. It's web page features the Mystery Readers Journal, which is a quarterly newsletter with articles, reviews and author interviews. The current journal featured mystery stories about New York City.


 It also has a Mystery Fanfare Blog where contributers write about book related ideas and stories.  I found an article there about "Book Smelling" and why people smell books.  It caught my eye, because I have been a book sniffer ever since I can remember!  The smell reminds me of my hometown library and the many hours I spent there in pure happiness!  The article traces the smell in the following paragraph.

"The appeal of old books’ smell has been studied in depth. Wood-based paper contains lignin, a chemical closely related to vanillin, the compound that gives vanilla its fragrance. As the pages age and the compounds break down, they release that signature scent. An experienced rare book handler can date a volume by scent alone, according to the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers.

Furthermore, scent is strongly tied to memory. Just as the scent of sunscreen or fresh-cut grass can suddenly evoke memories of childhood summers, for the bookish among us the scent of old manuscripts recalls pleasures like reading an old classic, or scouring a library or used bookstore."

Also, part of the Mystery Fanfare Blog had some other interesting tidbits:

Cartoon of the Day(see below), CrimeFest Award Winners 2016, CWA Dagger Award Longlists, Noir City-Austin.

I also enjoyed reading their Twitter feed and a feature "Dying for Chocolate." that included some tasty recipes.

There is something for everyone on this sight.

It is always best to include something to make us laugh!

We                                    Week 5 Assignment 3

When I saw

  We’ve been                                    You can tell a book by its' cover......

 

Eve

Everyone  Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave promises to have many of the appeal factors that All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, the bestseller that was read widely and  released this past year.

The cover of Chris Cleave's book seems to foretell darkness and mystery within.  The searchlights in the background reminds one of the "Lights Out" ban during the German bombing campaigns over the city of London during WWII.

From some of the reviews that I read, this novel has many of the twists and turns that hold our attention and tell a good story. There is romance, intrigue, fateful decisions. There is also deeper realizations that this war didn't just involve many Jewish people who were punished, but also poor children, black children and others considered. "different."  An additional bit of interest is in knowing the author was inspired by love letters that were exchanged by his grandparents and these contribute to this story as well. 

To think, that in our present day, there are still survivors of this horrific time, with first hand accounts of what was endured and which have  now become part of our history.

  

          

       

                        

                        

                       

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Week 5  Assignment 2

Combing through all those great new and recommended lists!

At a glance, The New York Times Bestseller list is a cornucopia of wonderful ideas and choices.
At Woodlawn, many of our patrons enjoy new releases by James Patterson, David Baldacci and Danielle Steel and these are presented with a brief summary of the storyline.  There is an Overview on the left side that lists choices in Print/Ebook, HC, Paperback, E Books and Children.  This is a good quick reference.


Also, several of our patrons will mention the Oprah Magazine edition that has recommended "Beach Reads,' and I personally as well as professionally check this every year.  There are always new authors to explore.


I also explored  the People Magazine Book page and found it to be a good resource too.  They list their choices for summer like this:


"10 New Books Everyone Should Read This Summer"
"15 Beach Reads to Bask in This Summer."
"The Best June Books for Kids of All Ages."
"10 Books to Read Lying on the Beach...Or If You Wish You Were."


When I see headings like that.....I immediately look over the lists for that perfect beach or porch sitting summer read!

Week 5  Assignment 1

Checking in with EarlyWord!

One of the many pleasures of looking forward to the coming warm days are the lists of books to read in the summer and I found  several interesting ones on EarlyWord.

Welcome to Our Senses by Odie Lindsay
I am always on the lookout for short story collections by authors I am not familiar with and this book by Odie Lindsay caught my eye.  One of the quotes said it is "compulsively readable," so my attention was held.
It appears some of the collected stories "explore the lives of veterans returning to their home in the South." I seem drawn to stories of the south-must be a Midwestern thing! Does anybody out there in blogland know of this author?


Miss Jane by Brad Watson 
The brief description reveals a "moving and contemplative novel about a woman with a birth defect finding her own way in the rural south before and after the Great Depression.  "Calmly, quietly, with deceptive simplicity...."  The notion of calm that is evoked in the description sounds perfect on those hot afternoons.!

Good Reads and Recommends.

Week 4  GoodReads and Recommendations


I enjoyed the GoodReads sight very much.  I saw books that I have been wanting to read for awhile, discovered books that sound really interesting and loved the selections that some of my colleagues choose to read.


For my friend Kelsey, who's shelf of books to read include several about different historical times, I recommended "Unbroken"by Laura Hillenbrand.  It is based on the life of Louis Zamperini whose plane was shot down over the Pacific Ocean during WWII and survived several weeks on a rubber raft, was captured and sent to a Japanese POW camp.  An amazing and inspiring story!


For my friend Andrea, I noticed a book on her list "Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society" by A Barrows and thought she might like to read "The Book of Ebenzer LePage by G B Edwards.  The story also takes place on the Guernsey Islands and chronicles the life of Mr. LePage as he recalls the characters, island life and the changes that the war brought to this small island.  Wonderful and quirky story!

Friends,

Feel free to "friend" me at GoodReads at:  www.goodreads.com/starry7

Thanks!

Beth

Week 3   Readers' Services Conversation

Conversation 1
For the customer who really enjoyed the travel and personal story in the novel "Eat, Pray, Love," I would suggest "Under the Tuscan Sky" by Francis Mayes.  It is a perfect blend of travel adventure and personal reflections in a beautiful setting.  The author moves to Tuscany, buys an abandoned villa and while renovating it, delves into the history and cuisine of this area.  

When a customer comes in and tells me about a book they have enjoyed, I sometimes go to the Amazon paget and look up that title and other recommended books similar in theme.  I find it helpful to read the customer reviews and will frequently show that page to the patron.  Often, it is a good starting point for recommending other authors and books.

Conversation 2
This customer is looking for  a book with the "Twilight" intrique without the personal angst and I would recommend "Wilder" part of the Guardian Series by G.K. DeRosa. I have not read the Twilight Series so I asked my daughter what she would recommend and she suggested this series.  Reviews of this book on the Amazon sight say it is"a new twist on the Vampire/Supernatural genre.series, so that description would seem to align with the customer's interests.

Conversation 3
I went to the Early Word page to find something new to recommend in this situation.  From the conversation, it appears the patron likes a true story with a historical and dramatic context.
I would recommend the newly released book"Five Presidents," by Clint Hill.  Mr Hill was a former secret service agent and served Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford.  His memoir offers "anecdotes and reflections on his time working with five Presidents and the history and personal moments he witnessed."  He was assigned to Mrs. Kennedy and "threw his body across the President's on the day of the assassination."  He also offers glimpses into Nixon's meeting with Elvis and his friendship with the Kennedy's children.
Once I recommend it to our customer, I may have to pick it up and read it too!

Week 2  Assignment 2     Appeal Factors


Three of my favorite novels.


Unvanquished  William Faulkner

At some point, I think everyone must read a Faulkner novel. It will plant you firmly in the South where the Civil War is always present and past.
"Unvanquished" takes place in Mississippi, near Jackson in the years 1867-1873. Vicksburg has just fallen, the Civil War is coming to an end.  In its' wake, Yankee soldiers are heading north and Confederate soldiers are returning to their towns, their burned and empty plantation homes and a way of life almost unrecognizable. Four main characters dominant this story: Colonel John Sartoris, decorated Confederate soldier, his son Bayard, Ringo, Bayard's childhood friend and slave, and Granny, John's mother.
This story has all the elements of a Faulkner novel-a southern family dynasty holding on to whatever is left(in this case, the family honor and silver and a few horses).  Add in a confrontation with a Yankee over horse thieving (but in a southern mannerly way) and a duel at the end involving the Colonel's son and a "carpetbagger", to restore honor to the family name( while wearing a sprig of Verbena tucked into his suit coat pocket) !
I loved the language, the description of place and people, the ways and customs of this time. While reading the way Faulkner writes, describes and narrates, I felt in the company of a grand storyteller.






100 Years of the Best American Short Stories  Edited by Lorrie Moore

This collection is so full of such great writers!  It is organized by decade so you also get a sense of the cultural and historical themes of the time as well.  The short story is also a really good way to discover writers that you may have heard of but haven't read.  

The collection begins with the first published story by Ernest Hemingway. I love his minimalist, descriptive style.  Flannery O'Connor's contribution is "Everything that Rises Must Converge," In her style, you get completely involved with the characters and their prejudices and then she ends it with a real jaw dropper. So Satisfying!  I had never heard of Nancy Hale and her story centers on the reverberations of the Holocaust  and of the scars that still linger within the tranquil country of upstate New York.  James Baldwin's "Sonnys Blues" is here too.  I have never read(but wanted to) anything by him and this story about the emotional bonds of brothers and the redemption that can come through in music, stayed with me long after reading.
This is just a small description of a really marvelous collection!






A Tree Grows in Brooklyn   Betty Smith
Betty Smith wrote this beautiful and harsh coming of age novel in 1943.  The story centers on a young girl, Francie Nolan, growing up in Brooklyn, New York at the beginning of the 19th century. She lives with her father, mother and brother and her family is first generation Irish American. She remembers a home full of warmth and love but frequently in need.  Her father, while loving and affectionate, drinks too much and can't hold a job.  Her mother works several jobs but there always seems to be a struggle to make ends meet..  Francie cherishes her trips to the library every Saturday.  She understands that reading books and going to school will be her way out of this desperate life.
The descriptions of her neighborhood are rich in personal characters and day to day activity. This novel places you in a part of the city, at a time when many immigrants were settling into America for the first time.