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 :)

It seems strange to me now, but I don't think I've ever thought very deeply about what my reading tastes are... outside whether I was enjoying it. By enjoying I don't mean everything I read is light and fluffy, I just mean, "Do I like it?" Even with non-fiction I just kind of consider if it's pleasing me to read it. I've never asked myself the kinds of questions Articulating a Book's Appeal poses of the books I was reading; questions like, "Are there memorable and important secondary characters? Does the story emphasize people or does it highlight situations and events? Does the story take place on more than one level?" Etc. Now that I have read this article, I want to analyze all I've read and see if there are patterns; to see if I look for books with a particular "feel" like Saricks describes.

I have always read a great deal for enjoyment my whole life until recently. I didn't think about HOW much I've read until this assignment. Anyways, I will try to sum up what my reading tastes have been. One author I have enjoyed reading is Christopher Moore. While many books have funny parts, they usually just make me think, "That's funny," but some funny parts in his books have actually made me laugh out loud and I like that. In fact, one time in the lounge at work I had to leave the room because a part in one of his books gave me a fit of giggles. Everyone was looking at me and I just couldn't stop. I really appreciate the way he words things. I love it when a writer words something in such a way that I stop and read it again and think, "That is so cool. Who would've thought to word it that way?" Stupidest Angel and Lamb were two of my favorites by him. Sometimes I wish he didn't get so off the wall crazy with the plot because that probably turns some people away and they may not see that he can be very witty and can word things in such unique ways. That is what I really love about his books. I don't know how many other women like him because I have given Stupidest Angel to three women to try and they have promptly handed it back to me.

J.D. Salinger was my favorite when I was younger but I have not read any of his in a very long time. (My son's middle name is Holden - so I guess I really liked Catcher in the Rye :) What else? My daughter and I have read all of the QwikPick Papers series (and everything else) by Tom Angleberger and we enjoyed the heck out of them. There's a part in the last one, To Kick a Corpse, where they turned weird phrases into ...The Musical. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants. It was just hilarious to me.Yikes, I just realized that I am already over two paragraphs and haven't listed many authors or books at all. I am finding this overwhelming because there are just SO many! OK, I will simply make a list off the top of my head of some books, authors and types of books I have really enjoyed or have picked to read and read all the way through recently and not worry about who or what I may be leaving out. Here goes:

All of Christopher Moore's books

Tom Angleberger

Frederick Buechner

nonfiction that either has unusual information or presents old history in a unique, fresh, exciting way

Carl Hiassen

Neil Gaiman

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

books about autism (my son has autism, so reading everything about autism is good for me.)

The Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Mary Kay Andrews ( I like reading stories where the woman was done wrong but she gets revenge :)

Max Lucado

Adam Rex (Has anyone read any of his? He thinks of unusual things and I like that)

Outlander series

Girl on the Train (which I liked even though my supervisors did not. I think maybe some people cannot relate to or understand her character?)

Crenshaw

The One and Only Ivan

Frog Music

Room

Harry Potter

Christian nonfiction

On the Road to Mr. Mineo's

Devil in the White City

Golem and the Jinni

I recently read all of John Green's books (I love the conversations he writes between the characters)

and all of Jo Jo Moyes books

and on and on and on.

I do not know how to sum up what I like... which is why this post is rambling and awkward. Maybe I will learn to understand and sum up my tastes better in this course.