Week 3: Assignment 3

Conversation 1:

What I heard or deduced: Customer wants a compelling story, wants a book where she can connect to reader, interested in characters who share thoughts and feelings, needs a book group book where there is lots to discuss.

Recommendation: “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd is driven by a girl’s search for knowledge of her past (and her mother) as well as by the relationships between the women in the story (the beekeepers). This book features strong female characters with complex relationships during a very complex time period.

Conversation 2:

What I heard or deduced: Customer is looking for a fast- paced, mature vampire book without the teen romance element.

Recommendation: “The Shambling Guide to New York City” by Mur Lafferty is a fast and funny read about a smart and inventive human, Zoe, working as a travel book editor for the undead. This is a refreshing addition to the supernatural book world of vampires and monsters.

Conversation 3:

What I heard or deduced: Customer is looking for a nonfiction, fast-paced, adventure book.

Recommendation: “Into Thin Air” by John Krakauer is the true story of the 1996 disaster on Mount Everest ultimately claiming many lives and changing the way we think about mountain climbing and specifically Mount Everest. It is an exciting, terrifying and eye-opening adventure story you simply can’t put down.

Week 3: Assignment 1

Exercise 1: Working through patron description

1. Reader wants to feel like he/she is in a video game with constant action. Appeal Factors: Adrenaline: fast paced, military action/adventure. Fiction or non-fiction as long as the pacing of the book is nonstop.

It is important to know that the reader is not looking for a lyrically written, detailed book. The focus is really on action with a military element. Suggestions: Lee Child’s John Reacher series, “The Hunt for Red October” by Tom Clancy.

2. Reader is looking for an emotional journey to take with the characters in the book.

Appeal Factors: Emotion: deep character development, lyrically written description of setting, meandering pace. Theme: Women’s Lives and Relationships. Shares feelings, struggles, thoughts, shares personal connection with characters.

Suggestions: Rebecca Wells’ Divine Secrets of Ya Ya Sisterhood. Judy Blume’s Summer Sisters. Jodi Picoult, Barbara Kingsolver.

3. Reader is looking for a romantic story with a personal connection to the characters.

Appeal Factors: Characterization, Learning/Experiencing, detail (art glass), Tone, Setting/Language.

Suggestions: “The Vineyard” by Barbara Delinsky, “Circle of Friends” by Maeve Binchy

Reader might be interested in the winemaking aspect included in the “The Vineyard” as well as the romantic nature. “Circle of Friends” is a sweet romance also set in Ireland which was mentioned by the reader.

Exercise 2:

1. The tone of the book is intense and exciting. The major appeal of the book is the fast action and military adeptness. The key feature is that it reads less like a book and more like a video game or movie.
2. The tone of the book is slower-paced, emotional, and humorous. The appeal is the emotional journey on which the main character travels by way of her travel to different countries. The key feature is how the main character interacts with others in her travels and how she learns and takes away from her experience and changes her own life.
3. The tone of the book is romantic and breezy, yet realistic. The appeal is the light heartedness with strength of character. A special feature is the detail about the process of making art glass.

Week 2: Appeal Factors

A book I really enjoyed was “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand. This book is a non-fiction story profiling the WWII hero, Louis Zamperini. She writes about his survival of his plane crash in the Pacific, his time stranded on a raft, and being a prisoner of war under brutal conditions. Unbroken is perfect for a reader who loves both fast-paced adventure/adrenalin stories, as well as those with involved characterization as you see Zamperini affected by the various challenges he faces. The reader who enjoys this title might also like “Into Thin Air” by John Krakauer (Pacing-Adventure), and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, by Steig Larsson (Pacing-Adrenaline, Characterization).

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, is a biography of Henrietta Lacks, the woman behind the famous HeLa cells so important to the advancement of medicine. The fascinating story of the woman and her family behind the cells (who have been largely unknown) is the main driver of this book’s appeal. Throughout the book, we slowly learn who Henrietta Lacks was while learning how her cells made such an impact on the world of medicine. This type of book has deep character development and appeals to readers who want a personal connection with the characters. The reader who enjoys this title might also like “Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present” by Harriet Washington and “Prodigal Summer” by Barbara Kingsolver (Emotion-Women’s Lives and Relationships).  

“Another Thing to Fall” is a Tess Monaghan series book by Laura Lippman. Tess is a tough, but funny private investigator. This mystery series relies upon predictable characters and tone. As a reader, you know who Tess is, how she is going to react to events and the general humorous, but approaching serious tone. Readers who enjoy this series might also like “One for the Money”, the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich as well as “A is for Alibi”, the Kinsey Milhone series by Sue Grafton.

Week 1: Assignment 5

This was hilarious. I particularly liked the descriptions of " The Great Gatsby" and "Animal Farm". I am one who is often swayed (or not swayed) to read a book based on the cover, so I think it's a very relevant topic!

Week 1: Assignment 4

Recommended Links--Books


I am choosing Goodreads because the site has a lot of things to offer in terms of RA.


Recommended Links--Genre


I am choosing Street Fiction, because I've never read any Urban Fiction and am interested to know more!

Week 1: Assignment 3

Golden Rules of Readers’ Advisory Service


Great advice to improve my RA skills.

Week 1: Assignment 2

Genre cover matching


1. Small town


2. Techno


3. Literary


4. Cozy


5. Epic High Fantasy


6. I guessed Space Western (haha), but it was Hard SF


7. Legal


8. Urban Fantasy


9. Military


10. Historical


11. I was between Offbeat and Chick Lit. Looks like it's Chick Lit.


12. Contemporary/Modern

Week 1: Assignment 1

Sporcle Quiz:
I thought I might do a little better than I did! I got 13/24.
I should have gotten Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, but I couldn't remember the word "midnight" in the title. I also feel like the version I read of "The Great Gatsby" had a different cover.
That was really fun though!

Week 1: Create blog!

Created!