Week 2: Assignment 2

Suddenly One Summer by Julie James, is a contemporary romance about a divorce lawyer and her new neighbor, an investigative journalist, searching for the journalist's sister's child's father.

The characters are easy to identify with; They're flawed, but not so flawed as to be unreal. The author's language is not literary, but she does write well. While the book is set in Chicago, and we get some Chicago-specific detail, the book could be set in just about any big city. The tone is fun with some mild suspense as the two main characters search for the child's father and begin to deal with each other's flaws; the divorce lawyer's panic attacks provide a dimension of unease. With that Romance spine label, you know there'll be a Happily Ever After. While the panic attacks, for example, are given their due, this is not what I'd call a heavy Learning/Experiencing book.

Masterminds by Gordon Korman, is a children's book about kids in an isolated town discovering what their exact backgrounds and circumstances really are.

The pacing is quick, and each of the child characters has his or her own personality, making them easily distinguishable; the adults are less well characterized. Much is made of the town's isolation and quirks and how the children are treated. Descriptions are brief and brisk, never slowing down the pace. The tone varies: sometimes light and sometimes suspenseful. There is minimal learning/experiencing.

The Other Side of Midnight by Simone St. James is a mystery during which a psychic investigates the murder of one of her rivals.

The pacing is moderate, interspersed with episodes of suspense as the psychic gets closer to discovering the murderer. The psychic is the most vivid character, but she keenly observes the other characters. The language of the book leans slightly toward literary, but it is not heavy. The book is mostly set in London, but the city is not itself a character: Details are supplied for flavor rather than for mental stimulation. The tone is suspenseful and scary, mixing everyday events with supernatural ones. While some details about detecting fake psychics are given, there is little learning/experiencing.

Week2: Assignment 1

Reading through Wyatt's article, I thought of those flow charts for book recommendations. I wish my memory operated like that, so I could rapidly sort through what materials correspond with what desired characteristics.

Week 1: Assignment 5

Fun was had. That Gatsby cover is really awful; the theme park idea makes it a bit better.

Week 1: Assignment 4

I chose Early Word and Urban Reviews, Early Word because I'd seen mentions of it on blogs but had not explored it yet, and Urban Reviews because I don't read much urban fiction and because I noticed it includes ratings that talk about, among other matters, poor writing and editing. Tor's Fiction Affliction also looks like fun, so I'll probably look at that one as well.

Week 1: Assignment 3

Rule 7 is something I run into fairly frequently. A customer will say they're looking-for-a-good-book-so-what-is-the-librarian-reading. I've learned to immediately turn that around and ask what sort of read they're looking for.

Regarding Rule 2, I do keep a list, stored in the cloud so I can get to it at the library or at home.

One rule that's not on the list is that people seem to want you to just about instantly offer suggestions out of your head. When TO had binders of read-alike lists, no one ever wanted to look at them. Going through the catalog to Suggestions and More works better; unless someone has a really detailed need (has to be an award-winner by an author of a certain background, for example), Novelist is just too involved.

Week 1: Assignment 2

Yay! I got all the covers correct!

I find covers pretty helpful up in Teens, when I'm figuring out whether a book is aimed more toward 12-year-olds than 18-year-olds. Is the cover realistic or cartoon-y, dark or brightly colored, etc.

Week1: Assignment 1

I matched most covers with their titles; as for the rest,  I knew the books but couldn't dredge up the title. That's one of the major frustrations for me with Readers' Advisory: coming up with five more titles I could have mentioned to a customer long after she's walked away.