Pretty Girls By Karin Slaughter

Synopsis: Well into adulthood Claire is haunted by the childhood trauma of the disappearance of her older sister Julia. Julia’s disappearance, still a mystery, was never something that her family has been able to get over. Now, many years later Claire witnesses her husband violently murdered in front of her while the victims of a back alley mugging. Grieving the death of her husband, Claire begins to discover her late husband, Paul’s, secrets. The further Claire digs, the further she realizes that Paul isn’t who she thought he was. With the help of her estranged sister, Lydia, Claire follows the clues and discovers how her husband’s death and the decade past disappearance of her sister are connected.

Image from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2557478 2-pretty-girls?from_search=true&search_version=service

Genre Characteristics:

• Unsolved crime
• Amateur investigator following clues
• Dark and suspenseful tone
• Foreshadowing

Appeal:

• Sadism
• Serial Killer
• Extreme violence and sexual content
• Amateur detective
• Abduction
• Woman protagonist

This Mystery novel is a very descriptive and explicit tale. Appealing elements listed above may also be considered a word of warning for certain patrons that may not want to be exposed to sexual content, graphic violence, or similar themes. This book may be appealing to those that enjoy other serial killer stories, or stories involving sexual sadism.

Read A Likes:

• Chevy Stevens - Still Missing

• Marrow by Tarryn Fisher

• Grand County Series by Karin Slaughter

Week 7 Prompt

Prompt:
For our prompt this week, I want you to think about fake memoirs, author mills, and celebrity inspired book clubs. Basically write a readers' response to one of the articles you are reading for this week (see syllabus for readings) - or talk about a time when a book or author that made headlines affected you personally or your work.

The article by The Smoking Gun regarding the evidence they’ve found against the non-fiction claims of “A Million Little Pieces” was rather alarming to me. It’s not that I have never anticipated that a non-fiction book would have falsities or stretch the truth, but that’s always been vague assumptions. When presented with a case so specific and in-depth regarding aspects of “A Million Little Pieces” struck me with a very uneasy feeling. I never before had to face this issue and I didn’t quite know how to feel about it.

So, as I read the article I continued to try and reconcile with myself. How does this make me feel? Why do I feel this is wrong? Because, certainly stretching the truth and inconsistencies can be okay in literature. I mean, I’m a huge fan of all things fiction, and I can certainly see how embellishing on certain aspects or dramatizing them for the sake of the story would create a greater/more enjoyable experience for the reader. But, and I feel this is a huge but, The book was marketed and sold as non-fiction. Non-fiction obviously implies a level of truth, and it is a promise to the reader that what is in-between the covers is true. As a reader, I would take in the content of a nonfiction book completely different that one that is known to be inspired by true events or completely fiction.

This, I think, is where my major hang ups come from, and my feelings of injustice as this author sold their book as nonfiction and tried to cover up the evidence, or lack of evidence. The author and the book are deceitful. In the literary world I guess I find sacred the implied truths in a nonfiction book. It’s more than false advertising because a story is more than a commodity. A story can resonate with someone, it can change their perspective or their beliefs. So, if a reader is promised that what they are reading is factual it’s a major issue to find out they have been deceived. They are being manipulated into thinking differently, and I feel this is a cardinal sin.

Nights In Rodanthe By Nicholas Sparks

Synopsis:
Adrienne Willis, a mother of three grown children helps console her daughter about the loss of her husband by retelling the story of her own loss. After Adrienne’s husband left her for a younger woman, Adrienne takes a weekend trip to a friend’s inn in Rodanthe North Carolina. Whilst worrying about her kids back at home, and preparing the inn for a storm Adrienne falls for the only guest at the inn, a divorced Paul Flanner. As they weather the storm together they fall into a deep love that ends in tragedy.

Image from:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show
/15926.Nights_in_Rodanthe

Genre Characteristics:

• Central love story
• Optimistic ending
• Gentle/Easy tone
• Upbeat mood

Appeal:

• Cancer Victim
• Losing a spouse
• North Carolina
• Mature Couple

This romance novel, similar to other Nicholas Sparks books is comfortable reading, verging on the gentle reads genre. Appealing elements are listed above and may be especially relate-able for those dealing with the loss of a spouse or coping with a loss due to cancer. This book may also be relate-able for the setting of North Carolina, and a coast. Lastly, this novel may be relate-able for those looking for middle-aged characters that are dealing with raising children, mending relationships, coping with divorce, and aging.


Read A likes:

• Sam’s Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson

• A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks

• Follow the Stars Home by Luanne Rice

Week 6 Prompt: Promoting Horror

My idea centers around a single event and allows for residual involvement through social media. This single event would be a ‘Read-In’. Patrons could come, with their favorite horror fiction, movies, audiobooks and more (along with the materials available through the library) and share in their love for horror. Patrons can be together while experiencing their favorite horror of all types. Discussions are encouraged or patrons can just enjoy reading their books around others, watching a movie in a group, or listening to an audiobook with other fans of the genre. At the end of the event a list can be created through collaboration of everyone’s favorite piece of the genre for patrons to take home for later reference.

To stay in touch with patrons who have attended the event, and to create a community of local horror lovers a hashtag can be created so patrons can check back to see what others are reading/watching/listening to. This hashtag can allow patrons to communicate outside of the library and continue to get recommendations and share a connection with local like-minded readers (the library can also utilize the hashtag to gather interest in new horror selections at the library. A small display and flyers can be created to promote the event along with information on the library website.

Integrated advisory lends itself well to this event as different formats can be easily shared, whether it’s reading together, playing a movie, or listening to an audiobook as a group.

Prompt 5: Reviewing Reviews

The reviews on the Holly Rayner novel didn’t paint much of a picture of the novel nor did they really give an idea of what the story would read like. I understand a large aspect of a review is to give your opinion on the story, but the reviews seemed unprofessional and lacked information. I cringe every time I read a review where the author states how long it took them to read a book. This is such a subjective/dependent variable and not one that I’m going to base whether I read a book on. Based on the reviews even if this was a great book, I wouldn’t be so inclined to purchase it for a library collection. I also did not gather the suspense aspect of this romantic suspense novel. Whether it was just left out of the reviews or the book doesn’t really fit the genre I couldn’t figure out.

I think it can be a little unfair the certain books get a lot of coverage and lots of reviews written about them while other books get little to none. The quality of book or the enjoyment a reader might get out of a book is not dependent on how much exposure the book gets, and I think this can hurt great books that never get to be part of the ‘lime light’ and probably diminishes the possibility of readers expanding horizons simply because they don’t know what’s out there besides what they read about. I also think this affects a library’s collection in the same way. Too many books are published for Libraries to be aware of all books, it’s unrealistic and unfathomable. So, libraries must depend on reviews, publishers, and media to know what books are coming out, what is popular, and what they need to stock their shelves with. If reviews are not written about certain books or one genre does not get as much exposure as another, I think this will affect the library’s collection.

I do not think that it’s wrong that some review sources do not publish negative reviews. All books published have some value and will interest some readers, regardless of if a review is negative or positive I think the type of audience that will be drawn to that book will be evident in the review without having to bash certain aspects of why on reader did not like it.  In addition to this we all know that other resources DO print negative reviews and for a more balanced opinion of how readers felt about the book they can seek out multiple sources. I feel like regardless of if a review is negative or positive I am able to determine from what they liked or didn’t like how I will feel about the book. 

Kirkus-Style Review: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman’s story begins with “Fat Charlie” Nancy, an employee at a travel agency and an impending marriage to the love of his life, his fiancé. Charlie gets the news that his Father has passed away. As Charlie mourns the loss of his father, and deals reconciles their troubled relationship with himself, his past begins to unravel.  In dealing with the loss of his father Fat Charlie learns that he may not have known his father as well as he that he had. As he digs into the past Fat Charlie learns of the existence of his brother, Spider. Further does Charlie’s life goes awry as he adjusts to living with his brother’s charming personality.

Gaiman’s narration weaves a tale reminiscent of age-old folk tales and urban fantasy as Charlie faces the reality of Gods and magic while trying to maintain his normal everyday London life. The story is light and whimsical as Gaiman builds this alternate reality where Gods walk among humans and their mischief and power disrupts daily life. The novel still holds an edge of excitement and anticipation as the reader hangs on to the decisions and whim of Charlie’s brother Spider, unpredictable in nature and magically mischievous. The reader aligns with Charlie and we learn together about who his father was, his past, and how to reconcile with each of these things in order to put his present back together.

The novel is laugh-out-loud funny with enough adventure to keep you reading. The memorable characters with realistic faults with not so realistic problems allows for the reader to relate to the characters without keeping it too real. A story solid enough to feel ancient and that will stay with you for ages. A great introduction to Gaiman’s work.

Secret Shopper

I chose a small, fairly local, standalone library for this experiment. I walked in a little before 6pm and immediately noticed that there was no one stationed at the reference desk. Not a good sign. I’m not sure if the reference librarian is not that after a certain time, or what the circumstances were. But I did notice that the library was quite busy and the only employees visible were high school students checking customers out. With no one at the reference desk I started browsing the aisles looking around the genres that I might be interested in and hoping someone might ask me if I needed help. After about five minutes I concluded that probably was not going to happen and asked one of the students behind the check-out desk if they might be able to help me find a good book, or if they could direct me to someone that might be able to help. She was friendly and deferred to ‘the’ librarian that was stationed in the children’s room farther down. I thanked her and moved down the hall.

The librarian’s desk was immediately inside of the children’s desk and I only had to stand there for a few seconds before she realized was there and asked if she could help with anything. I said I was looking for a good book to read, either a standalone or trilogy fantasy series. When asked what I like in that genre, I explained that the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind is my all-time favorite fantasy books. With that she went silent and started clicking away on the keyboard. I was dying to know what resource she was using and I was already standing a a 90 degree angle from the computer due to the positioning of the desk, so I scooted over just a little so I could get a glance of the monitor. I didn’t feel that I could do this in an obvious manner as she was as of yet, not explaining any of her steps to me, nor did she invite me to look.

When I was able to see the screen I noticed she was not using any resources that I would have expected. She had searched for the sword of truth series in the OPAC and was looking through MARC records. I can’t say that I wasn’t disappointed. After learning of all of these awesome tools available for situations like this, I was really excited to see some on real-life application. I still had not completely lost hope though, perhaps she has enough knowledge to be confident that she can find one using memory based on the questions she might ask. Though, she wasn’t asking that many questions. She mentioned that Terry Goodkind has many standalone books in addition to his Sword of Truth series. I didn’t know that and was quite surprised to hear it, though she didn’t mention anything specific and quickly moved to asking another question, if I had ready any Jim Butcher. I explained that I have read a little Jim Butcher but it was one of the few books I’ve never finished and I did not enjoy it very much due to the amount of politics in the book. From here she asked if I have read the Game of Thrones series, to which I replied that I have.


She was looking for a while before asking me if I have read of any of the Charlaine Harris books. I have and I told her so, with not that much enthusiasm, I mentioned that I enjoyed the character development and magic more seen in the sword of truth series. Even though my answer wasn’t really indicating she was on the right track for the type of book I am looking for right now, I noticed she got a little more energetic and it seemed, involved in the search. I took this as a good sign, maybe with some sort of connection with the librarian she would be more interested in finding the right book for me.


The librarian went on to describe more paranormal romance series moving increasingly towards series that she described as being heavy romance. I felt like we were getting more off track and at this point was disappointed and didn’t want to waste any more of the librarians time as we clearly were not going in the right direction. I said I will go back and look for more Terry Goodkind series and look for a series by Dean Koontz that she described as being a fantasy series (without much more explanation than that). She did offer to show me incase I didn’t think I could find them myself. I declined as I was certain I could, and she told me if I was not happy with those, that I could come back and she could try again.

I felt like the choices that she offered did not necessarily have anything in common with the series that I had offered as a read-alike and was confused by the lack of a trend to the suggestions or any seemingly related aspects between her choices and mine. I went back to the shelves to look for the different recommendations to see if maybe, despite my initial thoughts that one of them might be what I was looking for, if nothing else another Terry Goodkind book might be worth reading. Once I got back to the shelves her recommendations made sense, but not in the way I was hoping. My heart sank as I saw each book or series she recommended basically right next to each other on the shelves. I have a very strong feeling that she was not recommending books in the nature of having similar aspects to the Sword of Truth Series but was scrolling alphabetically in the records for fantasy novels. Because this is a small library the Jim Butcher books were only a few above Terry Goodkind, just below Goodkind was Harris and just next to Harris was Koontz. Any hope I was holding out was gone after this realization. I took a quick look for any of the standalone Terry Goodkind books, which they did not have. After that, I left.

I went in to the experiment wanting the library to do well and I wanted to walk out with a couple good recommendations as I really am looking for a some standalone or trilogy fantasy series that capture some of the things that made Sword of Truth so great for me. I left disappointed and for a few reasons. I was disappointed that no tools were used other than searching alphabetically through records to find books. I was disappointed that she didn’t explain what she was doing, and I was disappointed that despite going in there and trying to make it easy and having the pre-existing information that I have about libraries and reference interviews and the such that I was not able to stir/feel comfortable enough to steer the interview into a successful one. I tried to give as much information as possible about what I was looking for and not looking for, but I felt like I was halfway inconveniencing her (even though she really was pleasant). In the end I was disappointed that when she gave a few suggestions in a row that were getting further away from what I was looking for, that I did not tell her these were not what I was looking for. Whether it was frustration, feeling hopeless, or just not wanting to waste anymore of her time I just couldn’t continue the interview. I felt defeated and really understood that as someone who was going in with a mission and optimism if I did not get a recommendation that I felt was helpful there are probably a lot more that don’t even get as far as I did.