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.