Assignment 3

I really appreciate the opportunity to be a part of Be More Bookish.
I do think learning about new resources, various exercises, and readings will serve to enhance my RA skills.  The blog could be an exercise in frustration at times and being a part-timer it was hard to find the time to complete assignments.  I do wish I'd had more time
to put more effort and finesse into the blog-it kinda looks like one hot mess. My co-workers were wonderful and it created a bonding experience as we coached and helped each other.

Week 9

Assignments 1 & 2

I’ve watched some book trailers that were effective and others that did not entice me at all.  The trailer for The 5^th Wave by Richard Yancey looked like a movie preview- I was waiting for it to say Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You.  I also thought it gave away too much of the plot-which served to dissuade me from wanting to read the book.  The trailer for Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu was a montage of pictures and words set to a sappy song-and I did not find it very engaging. The trailer for Lowboy by John Wray was a spoof with actor Zach Galifinankis  portraying the author and John Wray  portraying a journalist interviewing him. It was funny and unexpected and while it didn’t give much about the plot, it did entice me to find out more about the book.  I immediately looked it up on Amazon.  I did not find a direct link to the trailer but it may have been on the author’s Amazon page which I did not have time to look at.  One of the embedded trailers (I’m forgetting author and title) was similarly  witty and engaging.  Another looked like a movie trailer.  I did not see any that were simply the author booktalking their book and I wonder if that would be an effective marketing strategy- I guess for some yes and others no- but I think that methodology would be the best as far as Reader’s Advisory goes.

 

Week 8
Assignments 1 and 2
I read the articles and viewed the video.

Assignment 3
Nonfiction genres :
Travel 910 Eat Pray Love Elizabeth Gilbert
Science 612 Bonk:The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex Mary Roach
Food 641 and Biography Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain
Social Issues 305 Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich

Assignment 4

  Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach is filled with thorough, but zany research on the science of sex.  Brothels, pig farms and sex toy research labs are some of the places she has investigated.  Readers who like authors such as Chuck Palahniuk and/or Christopher Moore  may appreciate the quirky humor in Mary Roach’s science writing. Dexter fans who don’t shy away from a little blood or gore might find Bonk is similarly lurid in a droll way. If you liked 50 Shades of Grey and your high school biology class, Bonk should be right up your (ahem) alley!

  

Readers of fiction in foreign settings that are witty and introspective such as Amy Tan’s The Hundred Secret Senses or Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple are likely to appreciate a book like Eat Pray Love which has similar appeal
factors.  The tone is essentially light with an underpinning of emotional drama and explores the dynamics between human relationships and self as do the characters in Tan's and Semple's books.

 

 

 

Week 7

Assignment 1

I took a look at the flow chart recognized some titles and noted the others.

 

Assignment 2

I read the article The Next Big Thing YALSA

The article was enjoyable but I thought the reasons listed for Adults Reading Young Adult Literature had a glaring omission.  I think a major draw is that adults want to get inside the heads of teens. It is well known that teen brains are not fully developed – especially when it comes to making rational decisions.  Personally, I love reading the genre to get inside teen minds and to try to understand some of the psychology behind their behavior. 

 

The article Not Just for Teens  Library Journal  covered a lot of the same territory as the Yalsa  article regarding explanations of the seemingly recent hunger for teen books by adult readers (i.e. nostalgia, wanting to know what their kids are reading, the paranormal craze, marketing and tv/movie tie-ins).  I was pleased to see that the article made mention of wanting to relate to teen issues and understand teen behavior.  This article also mentioned that the plot in YA literature generally moves at a more rapid pace and characters are more fully fleshed out sooner so readers can more quickly make an emotional connection.

 

Assignment 3

John Green Books is a blog that lets John Green’s inner comedian and social commentarian sides be front and center.  He posts a lot of videos on seemingly random topics which are quite entertaining and also thought provoking.  He has a lot of guest posters (especially now as he is currently on paternity leave) and they seem to share his style of humor and sensibilities.  It’s fun and he and his brother Hank have been doing this for some time and are known as the Vlog Brothers.  The only John Green book I’ve read so far is Looking for Alaska.  I thought that Green did a good job of capturing the voice of an awkward self-conscious teen-age boy in his protagonist Miles. The Fault in our Stars is definitely on my list for this summer.

The other site I’ve started to follow is Stacked.  The latest post deals with validating (or not) the feelings of teenage girls through novels. The writer seems to feel that boys’ issues have long been taken more seriously than girls’ and it is only recently that this is starting to change.  I’m not sure if I agree or not- I would need to read a lot more YA books from past years in order to have a justifiable opinion.

 

Assignment 4

I looked at Harper Teen- the majority of books on the site have a fantasy or paranormal element- no surprise there.  I also looked at Teens at Random and found similar content.  I clicked on a few of the posts and saw people posing with favorite books and casting their dream cast for movies of books they love.

 

 

 

WEEK 6

Assignment 1

Exploring the genre link for Urban Fiction called Street Fiction has been eye opening.  The site has history-listing the first novel of this type as Moll Flanders dating back to 1722!  There are links for author interviews and librarian resources.  You can search by category and find books that use graffiti, suicide or LGBT elements in the storyline-just to name a few.  It is broken up into broader categories of street fiction, urban non-fiction, urban Christian fiction and Urban teen fiction with links to about 338 authors.  The Street Fiction website is bound to become a great tool in our RA services at Randallstown.

Assignment 2  

Prezi introduced me to the Urban fiction subgenres of Hip-Hop,
Erotica and Christian.  I also found some surprises in the Mystery subgenres such as Pet Investigators and Hardboiled. The Superhuman category in Fantasy was another that I was previously unaware of.

 

Assignment 3

I started looking for a pet detective fansite- but gave up
and resorted to a website that specializes in cat mysteries.
http://faculty.law.lsu.edu/ccorcos/lawhum/catmysterywebpages.htm#BOOKS FEATURING CAT DETECTIVES
There is an extensive listing of authors  and the site subdivides into cats that solve mysteries and mysteries with cat characters (not necessarily involved in the solution of the mystery). 

 

fanfiction.net is a site that lists fanfiction by book titles.
I didn’t see any that looked like Urban Fiction so I picked
a series I was unfamiliar with called Young Samurai.  It seemed that most fans wanted to change the ending of a particular book- generally to change it from sad to happy. 

 
I found an interesting viewpoint on genre from an author BCPL catalogs as SciFi/Fantasy :

 ___________
*Charles de Lint on what to call his fiction:
“We liked the term ‘mythic fiction,’ which fits perfectly. ‘Urban fantasy’
doesn’t work because a lot of what I do isn’t set in an urban setting…’Mythic
fiction’ works because it has broader resonances and alludes to the heart of
this fiction, which is, of course, myth. It has the right tonality because these
are stories that have modern sensibilities, dealing with contemporary people and
issues, but they utilize the material of folklore, fairy tale, and myth to help
illuminate that. It also omits the word ‘fantasy’–a term for which people have
too many preconceptions….[because] I’m trying to engage an even broader
audience — people who normally don’t read fantasy, who get scared by the word
fantasy or by those types of covers. I think a lot of people who don’t like
fantasy just haven’t had the chance to have the right book put in front of
them.”–Charles de Lint (Locus, June 2003)

 

I have not really fulfilled all components of this assignment.  I’ve been frustrated with Prezi- I just tried to look at it again and it has not finished loading.  I also do not like the constant need to zoom in and out.  I’m going to put the rest of the assignment on hold for now so I can move on!

 

 

 

 

Assignment 3

I’ve chosen a book from the Indie Next List-June Picks

 In “A Place at the Table” by Susan Rebecca White seemingly disparate people are connected in ways that slowly unfold for the reader.  Strong characterization and a restaurant setting  meld into a tale that unravels with delicious anticipation.  Fans of “Five Quarters of the Orange” by Joanne Harris or “The School of Essential  Ingredients” by Erica Bauermeister  will relish the emotion and intimacy of the storyline.

Assignment 2

The number of link choices in Early Word is mouth watering and overwhelming  at the same time.  It’s the most complete site I’ve ever seen for easy access to a huge compilation of sources for reviews.  One click and I find myself in a never-ending labyrinth that leads to one cache after another and winding my way out is difficult.  I had not heard of BEA before and I had to look it up to find out that it stood for BookExpo America.  I looked at some of the librarians’ picks from BEA 12- definitely a good resource for those looking for book group books.  I also looked at People Magazine’s latest reviews-good to know that’s there when I can’t find the latest issue for my lunch break!  I will continue to use these and the Indie Next Best Seller List for leads on great titles.