Response to Prompt - Week 3

I answered the questions using Novelist

1. To find the fourth book in the Anita Blake series, I put Anita Blake in the search box and changed the search to series. I got 2 results. One was for the graphic novels. I clicked on the other - Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter and got the series in order. The fourth book is The Lunatic Cafe.

2. This was the only way I knew how to do this one: I searched Prodigal Summer and scrolled down to where it says Search for More - when I hit search I got nothing so, I used the information that was given in that box to do a new search. I searched Mainstream Fiction for Genre - Lyrical for Appeal Factors (because this was how Prodigal Summer was described) and Thought Provoking for Appeal Factors (because this was also how Prodigal Summer was described) I did not put in complex or descriptive, even though these were two descriptors for Prodigal Summer because the patron said they wanted something a bit faster-paced and complex and descriptive are not characteristics of faster-paced books. I got 10 results (one of which was Prodigal Summer - so I figured I was on the right track)

Some of the resulting titles to recommend were:
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

The Wonder of All Things by Jason Mott

April and Oliver by Tess Callahan

3. To try to find a a historical novel about Japan I searched historical Japan - as Subject, Fiction - as Genre and Descriptive as Appeal Factors. I received 6 results that I would show the patron, including:
The Final Storm: A Novel of World War II in the Pacific by Jeff Shaara

The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery

Kazunomiya, Prisoner of Heaven by Kathryn Lasky

The Pure Land by Alan Spence

4. I looked up Well-Schooled in Murder and then I clicked on Title Read-Alikes. I got nine books to show the patron:
A Possibility of Violence by Dror Mishani

Roseanna by Maj Sjowall

Blind Goddess by Anne Holt

Still Life by Louise Penny

The Man with a Load of Mischief by Martha Grimes

Whose Body? by Dorothy Sayers

Haunted Ground by Erin Hart

Cover Her Face by P.D. James

Gallows View by Peter Robinson

5. For this question, IF the husband liked The Walking Dead and World War Z (because it just said he read them), I would look up both and search Title Read-Alikes. For example, some Read-Alikes for World War Z were:
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

The Zombie Autopsies by Steven Schlozman

The Passage by Justin Cronin

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

The Dead Run by Adam Mansbach

Fitzpatrick's War by Theodore Judson

6. I chose books to movies, literary fiction for genre and 2012-2017 for the pub. year in an advanced search. I got 25 results, including:

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

Bill Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North

When Captain Flint was Still a Good Man by Nick Dybek

7. For this question, I put in Thrillers for Genre, Gentle Reads for Genre and Fast-Paced for Appeal Factors. The result was books by the author Judi Culbertson.

How I Find Books

I found a pretty good description of how I find books in the article, "Making Choices: What Readers say about Choosing Books to Read for Pleasure":
"For many of theses experienced readers, the process of selection seemed almost intuitive because it depended on a broad familiarity with books: I feel books. I get a feel for a book. " Also, I do not have the problem that Barbara age 28 from the article had - "At the library, they used to have all the new books out, so you could get an idea. They've stopped doing that and I miss it." I don't have that problem. I'm surrounded by books. I see all the books that come in the library. I have tons of books at home and my daughter is always wanting to go to the bookstore - so it seems I see everything and I've read so many books all my life that I think I do just have that intuition like the article describes. I've never used any of the tools like the ones on Mary Chelton's list of tools for myself - to find myself a book. I am glad to have the list though because I would like to be a better Reader's Advisor. Although I work the information desk at the library where I am, I do not do much Reader's Advisory. Very rarely does anyone ask me and the few times they have it seems my supervisors were right there and they jumped in because they loooove to do reader's advisory. I have used Novelist a handful of times to help children find Read-Alikes but that is all that has ever come up. I have been practicing talking about appeal factors with my daughter though. She is an avid reader and is enjoying our conversations :)