Thursday, March 28, 2013

Non-Fiction Genre -- Into the Wild



Into the Wild
by Jon Krakauer
Genre: Non-Fiction

Publication Date: 1996

Number of Pages: 207 pages

Geographical Setting: Mostly Alaska, though many places in the western U.S. are mentioned

Time Period:  Late 80’s, early 90’s

Series:  N/A

Plot Summary: Jon Krakauer explores the story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who inexplicably departs on a lengthy cross-country journey after graduating from college.  McCandless travels west, exploring the outdoors on his own in many locales before making his way to Alaska in what is assumed to be an attempt to live off the land, much like what was depicted in the books by his favorite authors Jack London and John Muir.  Months later, his body is found in a make-shift shelter often used by hunters with no concrete explanation as to what happened to bring about his death.  Krakauer interviews many of those people who met (and often helped) McCandless during his wandering, searching for what drove the young man to travel, and why he felt such a need to take on the wilderness in such a way.  Bits of McCandless’ story are compared to other instances in history where young men have wandered off and some of Krakauer’s own life adventures in an attempt to explain what might have been going through McCandless’ mind at the time.  McCandless’ journal is analyzed to add to the timeline of events leading to his eventual demise.  While real answers to ‘why he did it’ and ‘what went wrong’ may never be conclusively found, Krakauer does a good job of covering possible explanations for each and revealing that McCandless might not be as blatantly arrogant or utterly naïve as the reports of his death made him appear. 

Subject Headings: Non-Fiction, Alaska, Wilderness survival, Hitchhiking, Wayfaring Life, Family Problems

Appeal:  Non-task oriented, Leisurely paced, Reflective, Thought-provoking, Journalistic

Terms that best describe this book:
·          Non-Fiction, mid-range on the narrative continuum
·          Wilderness adventure
·          Outdoor life and survival
·          Tragic end, described in the beginning of the book

Similar Authors and Works (all Non-Fiction, from Goodreads):

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston – A true story of wilderness survival, the author describes his experience being trapped for days with no one aware of where he was.  Ralston is forced to make a large sacrifice to escape what otherwise could be his death.

Alive: The story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read – A survival story not about people who put themselves into a wilderness survival situation, but of people who crash-landed head-on into the situation.

The Last Season by Eric Blehm – The true story of a National Park Service ranger who goes missing in the Sierra Nevadas.  The author seeks to solve the mystery of what happened to Randy Morgenson.

Touching the Void: the True Story of One Man’s Miraculous Survival by Joe Simpson – An account of two climbing partners who suffer a major accident while climbing in the Andes.  This, while it does not have as tragic an end, is a story of suffering and survival in the wilderness.
 
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer – May appeal if readers enjoyed Krakauer’s particular writing style.  Also deals with a tragedy in an adventurous outdoor setting, in this case, while climbing Mt. Everest.


Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales – A collection of many true stories of survival or tragedy, and an analysis of what makes a person a survivor.  The subject may be of interest to those who enjoy survival stories.


Monday, March 25, 2013

Western Genre -- Journal of the Gun Years


Journal of the Gun Years
by Richard Matheson
Genre: Western
Publication Date: 1991
Number of Pages: 224 pages
Geographical Setting: Novelist places the setting as ‘Colorado’ but I would say ‘the Wild West’ – various places across the western United States
Time Period:  1864 to 1876
Series:  N/A
Plot Summary: This book is written in the form of a journal, edited by a journalist-friend of the supposed author after the author dies in a shootout.  The journal tells how Clay Halser, a young man who fought in the civil war, returns home to find he is bored with farm life.  He heads west in search of adventure, starting out as a bartender’s assistant, then a stagecoach guard.  After being injured while guarding a coach from Indians, he works briefly at the stagecoach depot, until he kills his abusive boss, thereby becoming a fugitive from the law.  Barely escaping a hanging, he lives the life of an outlaw for a time.  Eventually the lawlessness of it begins to grate on him.  For a time he works as a ranch hand, falls in love, and becomes involved in a ‘war’ between two ranches.  When he takes revenge on the killers of his ‘boss’ (a man who had become a father-figure in his life), he is once more facing the gallows.  Escaping his fate a second time, he continues on to a new locale.  There he eventually becomes the Marshal, marries the woman with whom he’d previously fallen in love, and has a child.  Still unable to settle down, Clay takes on a job in a new city that needs ‘taming’ despite his wife’s protests.  She ends up leaving him, his friends are killed in a shoot-out against the local villains, and Clay finds himself alone and on the move again.  After a stint on the east-coast in theatre (playing himself as the ‘Hero of the Plains’), he once more heads west, living off the earnings of gambling and moving from place to place.  He marries again, which turns out to be a mistake.  Not long thereafter he leaves his new wife and begins to travel once more, pausing in Silver Gulch with the idea of trying his hand at mining.  This is where his journalist-friend re-discovers him, only to witness his death.
Subject Headings: (From Novelist)  Gunfighters – Southwest (United States), United States marshals – Colorado, Nineteenth century, Gunfighters, Violence, Frontier and pioneer life,  (I would also add) Outlaws
Appeal:  Fast-paced, Character-driven, Bleak, Violent, Gritty
Terms that best describe this book:
·         Written like a diary, first person perspective, edited by a friend
·         Main character’s fate is mentioned in the beginning
·         While some cursing occurs, it is censored with dash-marks.
Similar Authors and Works (from Novelist):
Welcome to Hard Times by E. L. Doctorow – A town is all but destroyed by ‘the Bad Man from Bodie’, and another man attempts to rebuild it while remaining braced for his return.  This book is written in a ‘diary’ sort of style.  It’s a western involving gunfighters, violence, and pioneer life.
A Town Called Fury by William W. Johnstone – Settlers headed westward are attacked by Native Americans.  They prevail, despite their losses, and finally find a place to settle their new town.  This book is a western, written with a rather bleak outlook, involving gunfighters and frontier and pioneer life.
The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok by Richard Matheson – Written by the same author, the main character of this book, Wild Bill Hickok, is mentioned by name a couple times in Journal of the Gun Years.  This western also involves Untied States marshals in the 19th century and pioneer and frontier life.
Deadwood  by Pete Dexter – Wild Bill Hickok and a friend return to the town of Deadwood hoping to settle down, but life just won’t let them.  This book is also a western, written with a rather bleak outlook, involving gunfighters in the 19th century.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Special Topics: Goodreads & Readers Advisory




Goodreads and Reader’s Advisory

Unless you are reading aloud to another, reading is normally a rather solitary event.  The reader selects a book, gets comfortable, and proceeds to drift into the world the author has created between those pages.  Once the end of the story is reached, the reader returns the book from whence it came, be it a library, a friend’s hands, or a home bookshelf.  Unless the reader is a participant in a book club, a few words might be shared with a friend or relative about the reader’s opinion of the book, but essentially that would be the end of it.  The contents of the book have been read, and the reader is moving on to try and locate the next enjoyable title.
            Enter the internet, and the concept of social networks.  Generally humans are social creatures by nature.  If you need proof of that fact, simply look to Facebook and its millions of users.  It’s only natural that something like Goodreads would eventually appear.  Goodreads is the equivalent of Facebook for the book lover.  In an issue of Information Today, Mick O’Leary described Goodreads as “a book-oriented social network where a lot of people spend a lot of time talking about a lot of books.”  In the January 2013 issue of School Library Journal, Joniker referred to Goodreads in a different way:  “It can also be a valuable professional tool to share with your students and colleagues.”  Either way, Goodreads is a website that’s worth a second glance.
            As per the title of David Rapp’s article in a 2011 issue of Library Journal, Goodreads is a way we have begun to crowdsource readers advisory.  While each member can use Goodreads to track what they are reading currently, what they want to read, and what they have read in the past, the real benefit is that they can rate what they’ve read and receive recommendations based on what they’ve rated.  However, one must wonder how accurate these website-generated recommendations really are, without the assistance of an RA librarian.  They are based off the collected responses of the patrons who have rated those books.  As Joniker points out:
“Any time ‘non-critics’ are able to share their opinions worldwide, there’s bound to be some friction.  While this sort of ‘review by committee’ approach is something that rightfully makes many cringe, it invariably holds some power, and most likely guides many readers’ book choices.”
Admittedly, a book that might strike one person as being an amazing, five-star work of genius might also strike another as a dull, tedious tome not worth more than two stars at best.  So how can a website make reasonable recommendations despite this sort of divergence of opinion?
Rapp points out that “RA is most often a one-on-one interaction, in which a librarian taps his or her knowledge and experience to determine what book best fits the needs of a given patron – identifying what the reader likes and dislikes and selecting the best book for them.”  Goodreads is simply taking the ‘knowledge’ and ‘experience’ of its prolific user base and adding “complex algorithms to the mix, crunching the numbers on millions of user-provided book ratings” to provide a “broad overview of opinion.”  (Rapp)  Goodreads acquired this algorithm when they purchased a smaller site, named Discovereads, in March of 2011 (“Goodreads Rolls Out Book Recommendation Feature,” 2011). 
This overview generated by Goodreads can become a useful tool for librarians to use in making RA suggestions for library patrons.  For example, Trott and Naik suggest that “librarians can mine the depths of Goodreads to create read-alike lists for popular authors” and make those lists available to patrons.  “It is also helpful for suggesting new books by trolling the many lists by genre or category.”  (D’Andrea) 
In addition to individual RA assistance, Trott and Naik suggest that libraries start accounts on sites such as Goodreads and allow patrons to befriend them – as they post to the account, their reputation as a good source of information will be reinforced in patrons’ eyes, building a level of trust they might not otherwise have reached.  Patrons will then feel more comfortable in seeking them out for suggestions when they are needed.  This sort of reputation boost can be quite beneficial to the relationship building between a RA librarian and the library’s patrons.
Beyond individual suggestions and interactions, Goodreads provides a wonderful platform where book groups can meet.  D’Andrea states “these internet applications encourage global conversations, they welcome participation from students in other schools, staff, community and even the authors of the books themselves.”  She goes on to explain how thrilled the local high school book club was by a comment left by the author of the book they’d chosen to read for the month.  Other fun aspects of Goodreads that she mentions are the ability to “find and archive famous quotes” and “trivia quizzes about books.” (D’Andrea)
While the idea of a website generating recommendations in place of a well-informed RA librarian can be a bit scary, we must remind ourselves of how prevalent technology and social networking has become in our patrons’ everyday lives.  Trott and Naik point out:
“If librarians think of readers’ advisory as our sacred territory, then the advent of online book discussion communities can make us feel as if we’ve lost control. But what if we change our vision of RA—redefine it as an activity in which all readers may participate? Ultimately librarians, libraries, as well as patrons stand to gain with this broader more generous definition and understanding of the term.”
It would be far more beneficial to use sites like Goodreads to our advantage in reaching out to patrons rather than fearing the power of the persuasion of their friends’ reviews.  Wright and Bass suggest that librarians should “go where your patrons are” and participate “in already existing literary social networking sites such as LibraryThing, Goodreads, and Shelfari.”  A good RA librarian will want to interact with their patrons to learn more about what they’re reading.  “The conversation about books is taking place on the web in a variety of forms, and as reflective practitioners, we need to be aware of those conversations happening outside the library walls.”  Trott and Naik agree, saying:
 “It is becoming increasingly necessary for librarians to take their services to where the patrons are, reaching out to help them instead of waiting for them to come to us.  Goodreads is another point of connection that can be made in order to improve RA services to our patrons.”
With over 6 million members (O’Leary), Goodreads is not going to go away any time soon.  We need to learn to put this tool to use in accomplishing what we have always striven to do:  help the reader find the next enjoyable book.  O’Leary points out “Overall, Goodreads is an engaging literary community where members use the online medium to reinforce their love for books and reading.”  To me, this sounds like an excellent resource to help RA librarians foster a continued love of reading in our patrons.

Bibliography
2011. "Goodreads Rolls Out Book Recommendation Feature." Library Journal 136, no. 17: 16-18. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed February 24, 2013).
D'Andrea, Debra. 2010. "Reading 2.0: From Solitary to Social." School Librarian's Workshop 31, no. 1: 11-12. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed February 24, 2013).
Jonker, Travis. 2013. "Social Media's Best-Kept Secret." School Library Journal 59, no. 1: 32-34. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed February 24, 2013).
O'Leary, Mick. 2012. "Reading Dead? No Way! See Goodreads." Information Today 29, no. 1: 22-23. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed February 24, 2013).
Rapp, David. 2011. "Crowdsourcing RA." Library Journal 136, no. 10: 56-57. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed February 24, 2013).
Trott, Barry, and Yesha Naik. 2012. "Finding Good Reads on Goodreads." Reference & User Services Quarterly 51, no. 4: 319-323. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed February 24, 2013).
Wright, David, and Abby Bass. 2010. "No Reader is an Island: New Strategies for Readers' Advisory." Alki 26, no. 3: 9-10. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed February 24, 2013).

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Romance Genre -- Fantasy Lover


Fantasy Lover
by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Genre: Romance
Publication Date: 2002
Number of Pages: 337 pages
Geographical Setting: New Orleans, Louisiana
Time Period:  Present day
Series:  Dark Hunter, book 1
Plot Summary: Selena, a tarot card reader, gives her friend Grace, a sex therapist who has a bad history with men, a book that contains a picture of a handsome Greek man and a charm that will supposedly call the man into reality.  Jokingly reading the words of the charm aloud and expecting them not to work, Grace unwittingly calls Julian from the pages of the book, binding him as her sex slave until the next full moon.  However, her trepidation at having a man in her life once more leads her to resist his charms, and he is frustrated at his inability to woo her.  After Grace learns a bit more about the curse that has him trapped in the book, his life before the curse, and the incident surrounding the casting of the curse itself, she becomes determined to free Julian, who is the son of Aphrodite, from the curse that has kept him imprisoned for over 2000 years.  During the course of their month together, the two fall deeply in love.  But given the chance to return to the world he knew before the curse, is their love strong enough for Julian to choose to stay with her in a present that confuses and baffles him at times?
Subject Headings: Fiction, Romance, Mythology--Greek, Paranormal Romance Stories, Sex Therapists, Aphrodite (Greek deity), Eros (Greek deity), Desire
Appeal:  Character driven, High-drama, Fast paced, Impassioned, Steamy
Terms that best describe this book:
·       Intense
·       Explicit in parts
·       Filled with anticipation
·       Some violence
Similar Authors and Works:
  1. Dark Curse by Christine Feehan (Novelist) – A steamy paranormal romance book involving a main character who lives for centuries, and a ‘dark curse.’
  2. Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning (Novelist) – Listed as steamy, compelling and fast paced, this paranormal romance deals with Fae interacting with humans.
  3. The Hollow by Nora Roberts (Novelist) – This paranormal romance deals with a curse unleashed on a town years ago, and the deepening romance between the people attempting to end it.

Horror Genre -- John Dies at the End


John Dies at the End
by David Wong

Genre: Horror  (Novelist also lists this title as Humorous and Satirical)
Publication Date: 2009
Number of Pages: 375 pages
Geographical Setting: Throughout the book, the author refers to the main location as ‘Undisclosed’ – a ‘small city in the Midwest,’ also briefly in Las Vegas

Time Period:  Present day
Series:  John Dies at the End, book 1
Plot Summary: David and John attend a party where they are introduced to a strange new drug, called ‘Soy Sauce,’ which opens their eyes to sights typically invisible to the normal human.  While fighting the various monsters they discover while under the influence, they unearth a plot by a demon from an alternate time-line to take over their own time.  Thus, it falls into their hands to save the world, with the help of a rather intelligent dog named Molly, and a girl named Amy.
Subject Headings: Fiction, Horror, Monsters, Supernatural, Parapsychology, Drugs, Violent death
Appeal:  Gruesome, Violent, Fast Paced, Offbeat, Action Packed
Terms that best describe this book:
  • First person perspective
  • Non-Stop
  • Crude humor / language
  • Somewhat episodic
  • Strange

Similar Authors and Works:
  1.  Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff – (Novelist) Novelist lists this as a read-alike because it is ‘edgy, zany, and mind-trippingly surreal,’ all of which could easily be used to describe John Dies at the End as well.  Bad Monkeys also has non-stop action.

  2. If Whispers Call by Don Bassingthwaite – (Novelist)  According to Novelist, this novel also shares the genres ‘Horror stories,’ ‘Science Fiction,’ and ‘Paranormal phenomena’

  3. The House of Doors by Brian Lumley – (Novelist)  Similar to the featured title, the genres ‘Horror stories,’ ‘Science fiction,’ and ‘Monsters’ are used to describe this book as well.