Week 9 - Done At Last!!

I read the articles about the book trailers and watched the embedded book trailers.  I particularly enjoyed the two from Jeanette Walls having read The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses. I just can't imagine having a mother like that.  I'm one of those people that cringe at the thought of it.  Do I think book trailers are an effective marketing tool?  Not so much.  I don't believe that most people even know that they exist.  There are very few that have grabbed me enough to want to go out to read the book. I also don't think they are a useful tool for Readers' Advisory.  Will we be running around the branches with our iPads showing the customers book trailers?  Somehow I doubt it.

Using YouTube I did watch the trailer for Room, which I thought was pretty good and captured the essence of the book.  It was creepy enough that I would want to read it.  I loved John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, and thought the trailer very lame.  Watching the trailer would not drive me to the book.  We looked at some book trailers for the Legal Thrillers Genre Bootcamp and most left much to be desired.  It appears that the most successful ones incorporate some author interviews which make them more appealing.

What have I taken away from these nine weeks of exercises?  I enjoyed exploring websites and genres that I normally would not have looked at if left to my own devices.  I certainly have a better working knowledge and vocabulary when it comes to the "appeal factors" of a book though I still have difficulty describing a book in those terms without going into the plot in much detail. Having joined Goodreads over a year ago and never having posted a thing, I now am keeping a list of books I have read there.  I don't find it useful for much else frankly.  I can get the same useful information from Amazon if I want opinion reviews.  Week number 6 was a waste of time looking for fan sites which didn't appear to exist, or existed at one time and expired several years ago.  It sounded like someone's library school project we had to revisit. But all in all it hasn't been too bad!

Signing off for the last time!

Week 8 - Nonfiction (Almost Done!!)

Four categories:

Food:
Yes Chef by Marcus Samuelsson (641.5092S)
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl  (Biography)
Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton (641.5092 H)

Medical:
Hot Zone by Richard Preston (614.57 P)
Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks (616.8 S)
Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halstead and the Miracle Drug, Cocaine by Howard Markel (362.29M)

Science:
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman (Biography)
Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner (639.544 W)
Longitude by Dava Sobel (526S)


Memoirs:
Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Biography)
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (916.7 D)
White Masai by Corinne Hofmann (Biography)


Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl

Tender at the Bone is the first in the series of the cooking memoirs by the New York Times food critic, Ruth Reichl. Reichl learned to cook out of fear of the cooking disasters created by her manic-depressive mother known as the "Queen of Mold." Her mother often cooked, and entertained with spoiled food resulting in more than one case of food poisoning. This character rich food memoir takes place in diverse locales such as Manhattan, Connecticut, Paris, Canada and finally in a Berkeley commune in the 1970's where Reichl prepares a Thanksgiving dinner from food found in dumpsters. Recipes are sprinkled throughout with lush food descriptions. A gastronomic delight! For those customers who like humorous memoirs, cooking, family relationships and mother daughter stories.


White Masai by Corinne Hofmann

The White Masai by Corinne Hofmann fits the bill for lovers of romance and /or travel adventures. While on holiday in Kenya, Hofmann meets a Masai warrior and is instantly smitten.  She sells her business, moves to Kenya, actively pursues him and becomes his wife.  Life in a small dung hut with her often jealous husband, Lketinga,  grows ever more difficult. Mesmerizing descriptions of wild animals, tropical diseases, and the life of the Masai make for a compelling read. The reader knows from the beginning that this culture clash cannot have a happy ending, but like a train wreck the reader cannot look away. Recommend this book for readers who are interested in African life and culture, star crossed lovers, interracial relationships, and even Reality TV shows!

Week 7, Young Again!

First I must say that I really loved the Flow Chart. I found it very useful.  I wish the Prezi had been in that format.

 I read these two articles:

New Adult: Needless Marketing - Speak Or Valued Subgenre?
The Next Big Thing: Adults Reading Teen Literature

It's no big surprise to me that many adults read teen fiction.  I believe the writing and selection has improved considerably over the years. So many of the "big" adult authors have jumped on the YA bandwagon cashing in on the popularity - Grisham, Patterson, Picoult just to name a few. Regarding the books made into movies, people (or sheeple) will read anything made into a movie at any age level.  Charlotte's Web is a good example, so I'm not sure that the Hunger Games, Twilight, or Harry Potter have anything much to do with the speciality of the young adult genre per se.  I've had people ask me for the book version of movies for which there are no books. The numbers surprised me - 55% of buyers of works published for ages 12 to 12 are 18 or older with the largest segment aged 30 to 44. 78% purchased for their own reading.  Those numbers are huge.

I'm on the fence about the "new adult" subgenre. Hasn't this always been around?  Are we getting nitpicky here?  Where are these items going to be shelved?  With the young adult?  Regular fiction?  Will they be tagged as "new adult" in some way?  I see another Genre Boot Camp in the future! What I found interesting about the first article is that the term "new adult" has been around since 2009, but I've only heard about it recently.  I guess I have been living under a rock.  It may be a good marketing ploy though.  Time will tell.

I posted comments on Christina Miller's blog and Justin Hartzell's blog.  I tried on Friday and it refused to take my password.  Thank goodness it worked today.

This week I'm following Teenreads and Forever Young Adult. The Teenreads website has changed very little over the past week.  It includes book reviews, author news and interviews, and the Ultimate Teen Reading List - 400 Titles for Reading and Discussing. The dream is that schools will use this list for summer reading instead of those often awful required summer reading lists.  The list was compiled by Teenreads.com and staffers.  The list includes a mix of teen, unusual adult titles, and many usual adult titles that do show up on school reading lists.  I found the website rather uninspired though informative.  I don't know how appealing it actually is to teens.  When I went to the corporate link and who reviews the books, sadly everyone in the photos looks quite advanced in years.  If teens look deep enough that would be a turn off!

Forever Young Adult is a much more appealing site.  The graphics are better and would appeal more to teens.  The reviews are catchy with the ability for people to post comments, and they do! Also there is a photo of the reviewer, their interests etc. listed at the end of the review.  Teenreads is an anonymous name. This site also does movies.  This would be my go to site of the two, no question.

I looked at the Harlequin Teen website.  It's sorted by the newest releases first.  Each release is provided with a detailed book description, read-alikes (If you like - Harlequin recommends), AND Harlequin reader reviews which a reader can input, as well as reviews from Goodreads.  A very comprehensive site for forthcoming teen books.  What I took from this list is a lot of dystopian books as well as steampunk reads being released.  Doesn't look like much in the way of "popular young adult."  Perhaps that's just not so popular!

Harper Teen is the other website I looked at.  Again, the forthcoming books here included alien adventures, dystopian worlds, magic, horror, and many, many sequels.  There were top author lists included as well and top books where I saw the Pretty Little Liar series listed.  A favorite at Cockeysville. TV news is included as well. Good social networking site as well.

I found both websites to be helpful and will visit them in the future as long as I can remember them!!

Week 6 - Genreflecting!

Well I blogged about heroesandheartbreakers.com last week by mistake and will be blogging about it again this week too.  This week I noticed book trailers which appear to be the next big thing. I do enjoy watching them though it doesn't always make me want to read the book.  I was also able to read the first 18 pages of Ladies' Night by Mary Kay Andrews, which I do not consider to be a romance but rather more of a chicklit read.  Go figure.

Three subgenres:

Paranormal Romance - paranormalromance.org (3,747 members)  One has to register to join so I didn't, but the site is devoted to speculative romantic fiction, including time travel, science fiction, vampires, shape-shifters, and futuristic romance. Some of the titles I discovered in this website include: A Seal in Wolf's Clothing by Terry Spear ("spellbound action packed romance), Silver Zombie by Carole Nelson Douglas and  by Joan Frances Turner.I found the website through a link from the Monroe County Public Library website of all places!

Urban Fantasy - allthingsuf.com  All Things Urban fantasy, where para is normal since 2009.  contains up to date book reviews of the latest paranormal fantasies of all kinds including romance, young adult, dystopian and steampunk. Lots of activity on this site with weekly book reviews and posts. Need to subscribe.  Three titles from this site are: Red Plague Affair by Lilith Saintcross, Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead, and Imposter by Susanne Winnacker. Found through a google search.

Science Thrillers - sciencethrillers.com Provides book reviews of medical and science thrillers with book giveaways. A very robust site with lots of chatter for those readers who enjoy authors like the late Michael Crichton. Titles from this site include: In the Matter of Nikola Tesla: A Romance of the Mind by Anthony Falcco, Island 731 by Jeremy Robinson, and the Proteus Cure by F. Paul Wilson. Discovered via my friend Google.


Mashup:

Steampunk Romance:



Steampunk, Burlesque, Secret Agent Re-imagining of Beauty and the Beast—are you intrigued yet?  “Beauty” has been replaced with grad-student-burlesque-dancer Jolie Benoit and the “beast” is secret agent/former soldier Wesley “Hauk” Haukon, who was horrifically burned and scarred. But even that description doesn’t begin to explain how great this series has turned out to be.  (from heroesandheartbreakers.com)


Legal/Christian Thriller (from the Genre Bootcamp!)

Life Support by Robert Whitlow



A legal thriller with a Christian bent. 
Alexia Lindale knows her new case is a matter of life and death. Baxter Richardson survived a fall from a cliff while hiding in the mountains. Whether he'll make it through the next few weeks is unclear because his survival depends on the machines that help him breathe. His haunted, unstable wife wants to pull the plug and hide her secrets. His doting father wants him alive for reasons of love and money. Conflicting legal documents send the fight to court. Alexia must navigate the mixed motives and warring facts to determine--and fight for--what's right for Baxter.  (stolen directly from the Genre Bootcamp annotation)


A few words about this week's assignment.  Not everything belongs in a Prezi and I felt that this assignment was one of those things.  A PowerPoint presentation would have been more helpful.. The information was good, useful and relevant.  Navigating the Prezi was a nightmare, no offense to Alex. Looking for fan groups of subgenres was a waste of time.  Stick to the basics of useful activities. I felt that this week's activities was mostly unnecessary "filler" and stuff I will never use.

Week 5, Halfway there!

I've (sporadically!) been following salon.com and heroesandheartbreakers.com.  Salon.com is certainly much more to  my liking since they review books that I might actually read as to romance novels which I definitely will not.  That being said heroesandheartbreakers appears to cover a wide variety of materials which I didn't consider for the Romance genre.  One example is Z: A novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. This site also keeps readers informed about TV shows such as Game of Thrones and the upcoming scoop on Downton Abbey.  There's lots here other than just romance which is a good thing.

I've been a subscriber to Early Word for a long time.  The highlights appear in my inbox on Friday and I'm very familiar with the website.  It has so many useful lists and links, all in one spot.  Popular fiction is very popular at Cockeysville.  Customers come in with the bestseller lists from the Baltimore Sunpapers and the New York Times.  If it's on a list, they want to read it.  They will also read the book version of movies, and often hope that there are book versions of movies even when there aren't.  Urban fiction tends to gather dust on our shelves here.  One resource not mentioned that I tend to use myself, and that is popular with our customers is the Book Page.  We can't keep that in stock.  I reserve quite a few titles from that myself.  I've given that out to any number of customers.

My pick for a highly anticipated title is:

This new novel by the hugely popular author, Khaled Hosseini, is a multi-generational family novel of love, loss and betrayal. Taking place throughout the globe from Kabul, Paris, San Francisco, and the Greek Island of Tinos, this novel follows the characters and the ramifications of the choices they have made. The lush description and language bring the novel to life. Hosseini is a master storyteller. I'm reading this novel now and I can't put it down! For those who like "epic" reads.

Week 4 - Goodreads - Good Reading!

Well I've been busy on Goodreads this week.  I joined a year ago and posted absolutely nothing, so I had to get cracking for this assignment. In the past three days I rated 142 books (much to the chagrin of my Facebook friends - sorry about the feed!), and while I had many friends already, as of today I have 79.  I sent and accepted several requests for Goodreads friends. I made two special shelves in addition to the shelves provided, and those are "chicklit" and "overrated-drivel."  The dreaded Fifty Shades is in the overrated-drivel category with one lonely star.

I recommended Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight to Chris Mitchell who was looking for a fast paced contemporary women's fiction read.  This title fit the bill for her.  I looked at many of the book recommendations, many of which I had already read and forgotten about.  I also explored some of the suggested lists, including 'Books That Need to Die Painfully" which included all of the Twilight series and many of Jodi Picoult's books.  The incredible Paula Willey suggested a young adult title to me which I will actually read. Thanks Paula!

I don't know that I will necessarily keep up with Goodreads.  It may be a handy way for me to keep a reading log of titles I have read.  For actual reviews I still will consult Amazon and look at what the trade journals have said, or take a look at Polaris which tells me the same thing. I didn't find Goodreads to be particularly intuitive to use.  I enjoyed this exercise, but it's another Internet addiction I don't need.

Week 3 - Let's Have a Conversation!!

Conversation #1

If you liked Eat, Pray Love by Gilbert I suggest you try Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World by Rita Golden Gelman. At the age of 48 Gelman gives up her comfotable California lifestyle, her crumbling marriage, sells her possessions and becomes a citizen of the world.  She's lived in such far flung places such as Mexico, Israel, Bali, and the Galapagos Islands. The most interesting thing is that she's still traveling! This lifestyle choice can make for a spirited book club conversation.


Conversation #2

You don't like Twilight and all that teenage angst, try the classic Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice. Told in the first person by the vampire Louis, he becomes a sympathetic figure though the reader knows he's a predator.  The rich language makes for a mesmorizing read. The characters are well developed and the reader is transported to New Orleans and Paris and gets a great feeling of those cities. Watch the movie and move on to the rest of the Vampire Chronicles series!


Conversation #3

If you enjoyed The River of Doubt, you might like to try The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale of Love, Murder and Survival in the Amazon by Robert Whitaker.  In the early 18th century a group of mapmmakers set of for a decade long expedition to South America to measure the shape of the earth. A murder, fever, and a wrenching twenty year separation of the husband and wife team on opposite ends of the Amazon makes this is a riveting tale of adventure, intrigue and scientific achievement. This book has been described as "the greatest expedition the world has ever known."