The emphasis on appeal factors has made me think about the books I read in a more analytical way. The appeal factors definitely help in evaluating books for readers advisory. I will have to continue to review the appeal factors so that I become more adept at summarizing the appeal of a book for myself or another reader.
The variety of reader's advisory and genre websites will be useful in helping customers find books. I subscribed to several e-newsletters that have reviews of new books. I will have to keep up with these websites in order to stay on top of books that are not just on the best-seller lists. Book trailers and teen/adult crossover books were pretty new to me before I looked at them for the Bookish Blog. Practice is the hardest part of reader's advisory, but that is how you learn to use the tools we studied this spring. I will definitely be referring back to all we have reviewed, and I will be looking for other articles and websites about reader's advisory to expand my knowledge. I hope that I have learned enough to provide better reader's services to our customers at Towson.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Week 9: Assignment 2, Book Trailers
Assignment 2: A search of YouTube for book trailers brought up a lot of trailers for teen books. The trailer for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters used actors and looked like a movie trailer. The Clockwork Prince also used actors but did not have them speak. The only other trailer I looked at that had live action was Darth Paper Strikes Back: an Origami Yoda book. The author, Tom Angleberger, shows how to make an origami Darth Paper in the trailer. It's a great tie-in with the book, although it doesn't tell the audience much about the story. So many of the trailers I found on YouTube were for teen books, that I wonder if they are more appealing to younger readers.
Almost all the other trailers I look at used still pictures with text describing the book, and with background music. I thought they functioned much like jacket blurbs or summaries. They portrayed the atmosphere and setting of the book through photographs or drawings. Often the characters were portrayed by photographs of actors. The trailers were like a taste of the book, but without detail or a real hook to capture the interest of anyone who was not already be interested in the author's work.
The other thing about the trailers which I found interesting was that many of them were not featured on the author's webpage. I found most of them through YouTube, and I wonder how they would help marketing the book if they are so hard to find. Carla Neggers has a video on her website that I did enjoy. It's about an e-novella prequel to her Shape and Donovan series, so maybe the video is designed to direct fans to the novella who would not ordinarily find it. Neggers does a voice over description of the novella while pictures of Ireland and Maine, the setting for her books, are displayed. I found Neggers' description of her fondness for Ireland provided a personal touch that was more compelling than the more static trailers.
The trailers I saw were fun to watch, but I'm not sure they really tell you much about the books. Most of them would only appeal to people already interested in the author or, maybe, in that particular genre. None of them really made me want to read the featured book in the way that a good book review does, by telling the reader about the main theme of the book and all those appeal factors we looked at. I do not think I will use book trailers for readers advisory because most of them do not give the viewer enough information about the book to tell if it is something they would be interested in reading.
Almost all the other trailers I look at used still pictures with text describing the book, and with background music. I thought they functioned much like jacket blurbs or summaries. They portrayed the atmosphere and setting of the book through photographs or drawings. Often the characters were portrayed by photographs of actors. The trailers were like a taste of the book, but without detail or a real hook to capture the interest of anyone who was not already be interested in the author's work.
The other thing about the trailers which I found interesting was that many of them were not featured on the author's webpage. I found most of them through YouTube, and I wonder how they would help marketing the book if they are so hard to find. Carla Neggers has a video on her website that I did enjoy. It's about an e-novella prequel to her Shape and Donovan series, so maybe the video is designed to direct fans to the novella who would not ordinarily find it. Neggers does a voice over description of the novella while pictures of Ireland and Maine, the setting for her books, are displayed. I found Neggers' description of her fondness for Ireland provided a personal touch that was more compelling than the more static trailers.
The trailers I saw were fun to watch, but I'm not sure they really tell you much about the books. Most of them would only appeal to people already interested in the author or, maybe, in that particular genre. None of them really made me want to read the featured book in the way that a good book review does, by telling the reader about the main theme of the book and all those appeal factors we looked at. I do not think I will use book trailers for readers advisory because most of them do not give the viewer enough information about the book to tell if it is something they would be interested in reading.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Week 8: Assignment 4:
In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a year of food life, Barbara Kingsolver tells about the year that she and her family moved to their family's farm in the Virginia mountains. Her goal was to feed her family on food that they would grow themselves or that had been grown by local farmers. Over the course of the year, Kingsolver raises a large garden, her daughters help raise chickens and turkeys and she learns to preserve her own produce. The story of that year is told with humor and insights into the challenges her family faced in living on an organic farm. Kingsolver's memoir is inspiring for those who enjoy her novels and also for those interested in organic farming and the locovore movement.
Hour of Peril: the Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln before the Civil War, by Daniel Stashower follows the investigations into the conspiracy to assasinate Lincoln as he passed through Baltimore on his way to his inaugeration. The story begins with the career of Allan Pinkerton, head of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, as he develops techniques for investigations and forms his Pinkerton Detective Agency. Like a thriller, the book follows two stories, Pinkerton's investigation into the conspiracy rumors in Baltimore and Lincoln's railroad trip from Springfield, Illinois to Washington, D.C., until they intersect in Maryland. Was there a conspiracy in Baltimore to murder Lincoln? Hour of Peril offers an entertaining and informative look at this historical mystery.
Hour of Peril: the Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln before the Civil War, by Daniel Stashower follows the investigations into the conspiracy to assasinate Lincoln as he passed through Baltimore on his way to his inaugeration. The story begins with the career of Allan Pinkerton, head of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, as he develops techniques for investigations and forms his Pinkerton Detective Agency. Like a thriller, the book follows two stories, Pinkerton's investigation into the conspiracy rumors in Baltimore and Lincoln's railroad trip from Springfield, Illinois to Washington, D.C., until they intersect in Maryland. Was there a conspiracy in Baltimore to murder Lincoln? Hour of Peril offers an entertaining and informative look at this historical mystery.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Week 8: Nonfiction
Assignment 3: Nonfiction genres
1. Biography: In our library, the biographies are found under biography, and group biographies
under 920. Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff, BIO CLE
2. Science: located in the 500's; narrative nonfiction is shelved with informational books on the same
topics; F 5: Devestation, survival and the most violent tornado outbreak of
the twentieth century, by Mark Levine, 551.553 L. This book would also be part of the
Disaster/Survival genre, although it is located with the books on weather.
3. Food: narrative nonfiction about food in general is located in the 641-641.1; Animal, Vegetable,
Miracle: a year of food life, by Barbara Kingsolver, 641.0973 K. Books about more specific food
topics, like In Pursuit of Garlic: an intimate look at the divinely odorous bulb, by Liz Primeau,
641.65 P, are shelved with cookbooks on the same subject matter.
4. History: located in the 900's, American history in 973's; narrative nonfiction is located with
informational books on the same topic; Hour of Peril: the Secret Plot to Murder
Lincoln before the Civil War, by Daniel Stashower, 973.7092 S.
1. Biography: In our library, the biographies are found under biography, and group biographies
under 920. Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff, BIO CLE
2. Science: located in the 500's; narrative nonfiction is shelved with informational books on the same
topics; F 5: Devestation, survival and the most violent tornado outbreak of
the twentieth century, by Mark Levine, 551.553 L. This book would also be part of the
Disaster/Survival genre, although it is located with the books on weather.
3. Food: narrative nonfiction about food in general is located in the 641-641.1; Animal, Vegetable,
Miracle: a year of food life, by Barbara Kingsolver, 641.0973 K. Books about more specific food
topics, like In Pursuit of Garlic: an intimate look at the divinely odorous bulb, by Liz Primeau,
641.65 P, are shelved with cookbooks on the same subject matter.
4. History: located in the 900's, American history in 973's; narrative nonfiction is located with
informational books on the same topic; Hour of Peril: the Secret Plot to Murder
Lincoln before the Civil War, by Daniel Stashower, 973.7092 S.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Week 7: Not Just For Teens
Assignment 1: I loved the flowchart of teen reads. I do not generally read teen books, especially the distopian novels, but I do try to keep up with the new titles. I loved the way the titles were organized by genre type, and then the way new titles were linked to them. Crewel is on my to-read list, and I had not linked the theme of the book with the Hunger Games. When I read it, I will look out for those similar themes.
Assignment 2: I read the PW article "New Adult: Needless Marketing-Speak or Valued Subgenre?" because I was interested in more information the New Adult category. I had read something about New Adult online and looked at the title Losing It at Towson. After looking at Losing It, I was wondering is New Adult was another category of Romance. The article explained more about the group of customers that the publishers are trying to reach. I will be looking at titles with a more open mind toward books geared to the 18-20 something age group. The next article I read was "The Next Big Thing" in Yalsa's The Hub. I really liked the Hub article, and I will be reading that webpage in the future. The article looked at adults reading teen books. I thought the list of reasons for adults reading teen books was enlightening. I had not thought about the link between books and tv shows and the popularity of fantasy and dystopian novels. While there are adult distopian and fantasy titles, the teen titles are written differently. The growth of adult authors writing for teen audiences also increases the popularity of the teen titles for the adult audience.
I made a comment on Becky K's Looking Up blog and on Amie L's Kraft Frog Reads.
Assignment 3: Stacked is a blog by librarians about young adult literature. There was an in-depth review of Absent by Katie Williams. I especially liked a post about contemporary realistic fiction. It included a list of recommended books with short summaries and a discussion of what constitutes realistic fiction. The blogger has other posts concerning genres that I will have to look at. The authors of Stacked state that they are writing to draw the interest of YA readers to new books.
TeenReads includes reviews of teen books and interviews with authors. The website is part of the BookReport Network which includes blogs about childrens books, 20somethings, graphic novels, and a few other topics. The author interviews are easily accessible from an index. The book reviews are clearly posted on the front page of the website. I like to be able to see new titles and reviews at a glance, and TeenReads makes it easy to access the reviews. The Ultimate Reading list is ambitious (it includes 400 titles) but it sounds like a great resource for title suggestions, and the Adult Books and Books on Screen are also very useful. There is also a newsletter that can be subscribed to. TeenReads is visually interesting with photos and graphics that would appeal to teens. They also advertise a Teen Board which contributes to the blog, and they have book giveaways and polls for teens to participate in.
Assignment 4: I looked at the LB Teens and TOR Teen websites. Both sites highlighted fantasy, steampunk and sci-fi titles. LBTeens featured Gail Carringer's Etiquette & Espionage, a steampunk/fantasy take on the boarding school story. Popular authors Cornelia Funke and Chris Colfer are also featured. TOR/Starscape also has fantasy/vampire books, sci-fi and humor stories. Adult book authors Brandon Sanderson and Cory Doctorow both have books on the top sellers list. Vampire and dystopian stories are still well represented in the new books on these websites.
Assignment 2: I read the PW article "New Adult: Needless Marketing-Speak or Valued Subgenre?" because I was interested in more information the New Adult category. I had read something about New Adult online and looked at the title Losing It at Towson. After looking at Losing It, I was wondering is New Adult was another category of Romance. The article explained more about the group of customers that the publishers are trying to reach. I will be looking at titles with a more open mind toward books geared to the 18-20 something age group. The next article I read was "The Next Big Thing" in Yalsa's The Hub. I really liked the Hub article, and I will be reading that webpage in the future. The article looked at adults reading teen books. I thought the list of reasons for adults reading teen books was enlightening. I had not thought about the link between books and tv shows and the popularity of fantasy and dystopian novels. While there are adult distopian and fantasy titles, the teen titles are written differently. The growth of adult authors writing for teen audiences also increases the popularity of the teen titles for the adult audience.
I made a comment on Becky K's Looking Up blog and on Amie L's Kraft Frog Reads.
Assignment 3: Stacked is a blog by librarians about young adult literature. There was an in-depth review of Absent by Katie Williams. I especially liked a post about contemporary realistic fiction. It included a list of recommended books with short summaries and a discussion of what constitutes realistic fiction. The blogger has other posts concerning genres that I will have to look at. The authors of Stacked state that they are writing to draw the interest of YA readers to new books.
TeenReads includes reviews of teen books and interviews with authors. The website is part of the BookReport Network which includes blogs about childrens books, 20somethings, graphic novels, and a few other topics. The author interviews are easily accessible from an index. The book reviews are clearly posted on the front page of the website. I like to be able to see new titles and reviews at a glance, and TeenReads makes it easy to access the reviews. The Ultimate Reading list is ambitious (it includes 400 titles) but it sounds like a great resource for title suggestions, and the Adult Books and Books on Screen are also very useful. There is also a newsletter that can be subscribed to. TeenReads is visually interesting with photos and graphics that would appeal to teens. They also advertise a Teen Board which contributes to the blog, and they have book giveaways and polls for teens to participate in.
Assignment 4: I looked at the LB Teens and TOR Teen websites. Both sites highlighted fantasy, steampunk and sci-fi titles. LBTeens featured Gail Carringer's Etiquette & Espionage, a steampunk/fantasy take on the boarding school story. Popular authors Cornelia Funke and Chris Colfer are also featured. TOR/Starscape also has fantasy/vampire books, sci-fi and humor stories. Adult book authors Brandon Sanderson and Cory Doctorow both have books on the top sellers list. Vampire and dystopian stories are still well represented in the new books on these websites.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Week 6: Building Base Knowledge (Genres)
Assignment 1: I chose Street Fiction because the website has subheadings for Street Fiction, Urban Nonfiction, Urban Christian Fiction and Urban Teen Fiction. I was not able to sign up for an email newsletter. Some of the books on the lists provided seemed older, like Push, and I did not see where new books were listed. There is a nice section on Librarian Resources which has links to articles about urban fiction.
I signed up for the email newsletter from Urban Reviews, another urban fiction website. Urban Reviews provides reviews of new books on the homepage, making it easy to see what is new and to select which reviews you want to read. I find it easy to use the book covers to get an idea about the book, and to be able to recognize a book when it's on the shelf.
Assignment 2: The Prezi graphic was very useful in the way it presented the different genres and subgenres. I would like to have been able to print it out so I could study it more easily. I was familiar with a lot of the authors, even when I have not read them. The books chosen to represent the genres were generally good choices and from authors that are generally available.
Assignment 3: I used a Google search to find these websites, and it was difficult to locate sites that way which had the information that I wanted. I used several different search terms before I settled on the sites I chose. Goodreads and the booksellers Barnes and Noble and Amazon have good lists of books in these subgenres.
Psychological Horror: The Monster Librarian website(http://www.monsterlibrarian.com/slashers.htm) has a list of book reviews of fiction with what it calls human monsters and psychological horror. It considers these books to be terrifying because the monster is a person, causing the readers to question their sanity and that of other people. Stephen King's books are probably the best known in this genre. Dennis Lehane, author of Shutter Island, and Peter Straub (Koko) are also popular authors in this subgenre.
Western, Native American: The Native American subgenre of westerns was harder to find on a fan website. Western Fiction Review, (http://westernfictionreview.blogspot.com/) covers traditional westerns, including some about Native Americans. Other Native American book review sites usually covered books for children or nonfiction about Native Americans. The best lists I found were in Goodreads, under Popular Native American Books (http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/native-american) , and Native American Authors (http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8036.Native_American_Authors) . Sherman Alexie tops all of these lists. Louis Erdrich is also prominently featured, with other authors like Barbara Kingsolver (Bean Trees) and Margaret Craven (I Heard the Owl Call my Name). These books look at the life of Native Americans from their own viewpoint, taking into account their culture as it coexists with the dominant white culture.
Thriller, Medical: ScienceThrillers.com: where thriller fans put there geek on (http://www.sciencethrillers.com/) has reviews of all kinds of science or sci-fi thrillers, including medical thrillers. This site was the most useful subgenre site that I looked at. These books are fast-paced thrillers with the protagonist trying to save the world from some medical/health threat before he/she or the world is destroyed. A classic is Michael Crichton's Andromeda Strain. Robin Cook ( Vector, about bioterrorism) and James Rollins (Judas Strain, about a plague) also write medical thrillers.
Mashups: A steampunk or sci-fi and western mashup is Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson. The book is a prequel to the Mistborn series, and takes place in a western style frontier and a metropolis featuring trains, guns and paranormal powers. A mystery by Sarah Zettel, A Taste of the Nightlife: a vampire chef novel, is a culinary caper, except the clientele of the restaurant are vampires, adding a fantasy element to the mystery.
I signed up for the email newsletter from Urban Reviews, another urban fiction website. Urban Reviews provides reviews of new books on the homepage, making it easy to see what is new and to select which reviews you want to read. I find it easy to use the book covers to get an idea about the book, and to be able to recognize a book when it's on the shelf.
Assignment 2: The Prezi graphic was very useful in the way it presented the different genres and subgenres. I would like to have been able to print it out so I could study it more easily. I was familiar with a lot of the authors, even when I have not read them. The books chosen to represent the genres were generally good choices and from authors that are generally available.
Assignment 3: I used a Google search to find these websites, and it was difficult to locate sites that way which had the information that I wanted. I used several different search terms before I settled on the sites I chose. Goodreads and the booksellers Barnes and Noble and Amazon have good lists of books in these subgenres.
Psychological Horror: The Monster Librarian website(http://www.monsterlibrarian.com/slashers.htm) has a list of book reviews of fiction with what it calls human monsters and psychological horror. It considers these books to be terrifying because the monster is a person, causing the readers to question their sanity and that of other people. Stephen King's books are probably the best known in this genre. Dennis Lehane, author of Shutter Island, and Peter Straub (Koko) are also popular authors in this subgenre.
Western, Native American: The Native American subgenre of westerns was harder to find on a fan website. Western Fiction Review, (http://westernfictionreview.blogspot.com/) covers traditional westerns, including some about Native Americans. Other Native American book review sites usually covered books for children or nonfiction about Native Americans. The best lists I found were in Goodreads, under Popular Native American Books (http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/native-american) , and Native American Authors (http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8036.Native_American_Authors) . Sherman Alexie tops all of these lists. Louis Erdrich is also prominently featured, with other authors like Barbara Kingsolver (Bean Trees) and Margaret Craven (I Heard the Owl Call my Name). These books look at the life of Native Americans from their own viewpoint, taking into account their culture as it coexists with the dominant white culture.
Thriller, Medical: ScienceThrillers.com: where thriller fans put there geek on (http://www.sciencethrillers.com/) has reviews of all kinds of science or sci-fi thrillers, including medical thrillers. This site was the most useful subgenre site that I looked at. These books are fast-paced thrillers with the protagonist trying to save the world from some medical/health threat before he/she or the world is destroyed. A classic is Michael Crichton's Andromeda Strain. Robin Cook ( Vector, about bioterrorism) and James Rollins (Judas Strain, about a plague) also write medical thrillers.
Mashups: A steampunk or sci-fi and western mashup is Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson. The book is a prequel to the Mistborn series, and takes place in a western style frontier and a metropolis featuring trains, guns and paranormal powers. A mystery by Sarah Zettel, A Taste of the Nightlife: a vampire chef novel, is a culinary caper, except the clientele of the restaurant are vampires, adding a fantasy element to the mystery.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Week 5: Building Base Knowledge: Part II
Assignment 1: I choose to use NPR's book page and the blog Street Fiction. The NPR page was very heavy on literary nonfiction. I was able to sign up for an email newsletter called NPR BookNotes. The reviews on this website have been very helpful. They pick books that are timely, concerning topics that are not popular with those who read literary fiction and nonfiction. The reviews tend to be indepth and often will reference other similar books. It gives a look at books that may not be on the bestseller lists, but are popular with people who are interested in history and literature.
Assignment 2: Towson has a very eclectic customer base. A fair number read the bestsellers, so it helps to keep track of the current books on the list. We also have a number of people who like the literary fiction and a few who like the nonfiction. A fair number of people like the current business books.
EarlyWord has a lot of best book lists that I have not looked at before. They can be useful to make recommendations for good literary books to read. I also had not realized that there are links to the award winning lists, like the Newbery. The links can be used for a quick way to find those booklists. I was surprised to see the movie tie-in lists. They would be really useful for those people who want to read the book associated with a movie. That information can sometimes be difficult to find.
Assignment 3: PW's list of Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2013 has a new science fiction title called A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan. The book is a memoir written by Isabella, Lady Trent, about her adventures on an expedition to see wild dragons. Her world has social restrictions similar to those of Victorian England, and Isabella must overcome those obstacles to fulfill her dream of studying natural history. Isabella's memoirs conjure up a Victorian style world inhabited by fantasy creatures which are depicted in illustrations accompanying the text. Customers who are interested in this book may also like Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, an alternate history of the Napoleanic Wars as it might have been fought using dragons. The book is expected to be popular with fans of fantasy alternate history stories and those who like books featuring dragons.
Assignment 2: Towson has a very eclectic customer base. A fair number read the bestsellers, so it helps to keep track of the current books on the list. We also have a number of people who like the literary fiction and a few who like the nonfiction. A fair number of people like the current business books.
EarlyWord has a lot of best book lists that I have not looked at before. They can be useful to make recommendations for good literary books to read. I also had not realized that there are links to the award winning lists, like the Newbery. The links can be used for a quick way to find those booklists. I was surprised to see the movie tie-in lists. They would be really useful for those people who want to read the book associated with a movie. That information can sometimes be difficult to find.
Assignment 3: PW's list of Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2013 has a new science fiction title called A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan. The book is a memoir written by Isabella, Lady Trent, about her adventures on an expedition to see wild dragons. Her world has social restrictions similar to those of Victorian England, and Isabella must overcome those obstacles to fulfill her dream of studying natural history. Isabella's memoirs conjure up a Victorian style world inhabited by fantasy creatures which are depicted in illustrations accompanying the text. Customers who are interested in this book may also like Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, an alternate history of the Napoleanic Wars as it might have been fought using dragons. The book is expected to be popular with fans of fantasy alternate history stories and those who like books featuring dragons.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)