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.
Monday, June 10, 2013
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.
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