Prompt 5

According to Erin, there are five guidelines for writing reviews.  These guidelines can also be used to help librarians decipher what a well written review should look like.  Basically, reviews should understand what the author attempted to accomplish in his book but with the understanding that the author should bot be blames if he did not achieve his goal.  Review should also use a few direct quotations from the book so that the reader can get his own impression about the book.  Obviously book reviews should be a summary of the plot but should not give away anything, especially the ending. 

Honestly, I have never read a book review before.  I use plot summaries to help me decide if a book sounds interesting or not.  I will read just about anything and I do not want someone else's opinion to sway me on my book choices.  Obviously, I will have to peruse book reviews for the library so this week was good practice. 

Using these guidelines, I looked at a few different book reviews.  I first looked at the blog review of The Chosen One.  I actually felt that this was more of a plot summary, not a review.  There was a review from Amazon on this same book.  This review, by Dr. Leonard Rosmarin, was an actual review of the book/author.  However, using the above guidelines, this was not a well written review.  This review did not contain any direct quotes from the book and it did not have a plot summary. 

I then looked at the Kirkus reviews.  I liked that these reviews were so honest.  However, this is probably not a great site to use alone.  Perhaps if you are torn on whether or not to include a certain title in your library collection, this site will help you decide. 

I then looked at the Angela's Ashes review.  This review was so long that I did not want to read it.  We can all agree that the work day does not have enough minutes in the day to get through reviews like these.  Yes, this review was well written, but it was way too long!!  I felt like I was reading the first chapter, not a review.  However, of all of the reviews that I looked through, this one best followed Erin's guidelines. 

I work in circulation so I talked to a few of the librarians at my branch about what review sites they use to help choose materials.  Unfortunately, most of the materials for our branch are chosen by the acquisitions department.  We are allowed to request items that we want but that does not mean that we will always get them.  Our children's librarian uses  School Library Journal and Scholastic.  She also checks the ALA site for upcoming award winners to see if we need to request additional copies. 

I don't think it is fair that popular authors/books receive so much attention and reviews while less known titles receive very few.  All books deserve a review.  If a title has been published, there is a market for it somewhere.  Perhaps it would not be a title that you personally would read, but there is someone out there who would.  Little to no reviewed titles may be overlooked and this will affect the library's collection.  At my branch, we have only one copy of The Book Thief but 22 of The Hunger Games.  Perhaps this is due to book reviews?? 

I still will not use book reviews to help me choose books for my personal reading but I do see their allure.  I do not have a favorite review source yet but I am sure that by the end of this semester that I will.

Kirkus Review

Janet Evanovich

Takedown Twenty

New York: Bantam Books

November 2013

ISBN: 978-0345542885

The next highly anticipated novel in the Stephanie Plum series!  

Abstract:  New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum knows better than to mess with family.  But when powerful mobster Salvatore "Uncle Sammy" Sunucchi misses his court date, it is up to Stephanie to find him.  Unfortunately, no one in Trenton, New Jersey will turn him in.  Meanwhile, hot security specialist Ranger needs Stephanie's help in solving the bizarre death of a top client's mother, a woman who happened to play bingo with Stephanie's Grandma Mazur.  Before Stephanie knows it, she is working side by side with Ranger and Grandma at the senior center, trying to catch a killer on the loose - and the bingo balls are not rolling in their favor.

With bullet holes in her car, henchman on her tail, and a giraffe names Kevin running wild in the streets of Trenton, Stephanie will have to up her game for the ultimate takedown.

Review:  Although Janet Evanovich novels are notoriously funny, this book can be summed up into one word....BORING!  Evanovich should have wrapped this series up in Sizzling Sixteen!  How many more times can Stephanie's car get blown up?  These books have become perdictable:  Stephanie will blunder her way through a bounty, her car will get blown up, she will still be deciding between on and off again boyfriend Joe Morelli and hot and dangerous Ranger all while deciding if bounty hunting is the job for her.   Evanonich seems to be running out of ideas and I am not even sure she would enjoy reading this book.  Seriously, a giraffe running loose in the streets of New Jersey?  However, this book will be popular among the masses but only because we want to see this series end!!  Will book 21 finally tie up all loose ends?  One can only hope!!

Secret Shopper

I went to a local branch that I have never been to before for this assignment.  I was worried that it would be obvious that I was a student so I really racked my brain for a reasonable request.  Ironically, I read a YA book about six months ago that I really liked but could not remember the title.  So I decided I would start there.

Upon entering the branch, I was able to see the circulation desk, the reference desk, and the children's reference desk.  I first walked around the branch to get a "feel" for the area.  This branch offered "read-a-like" book marks for popular authors like Nora Roberts, Jodi Piccoult, Danielle Steel, etc. 

I then approached the adult reference desk with my request.  I asked the young sitting at the desk for books that were similar to the YA book that I read a few months back.  She asked me what I liked about the book.  I told her that I could not remember the name of the book (which is true) but that it had Russian architecture on the cover and that it was a YA novel.  I also told her that the book was set in a distopian like Russia and that magic was involved.  I was able to see that she first went to Google and searched for YA books and Russia and Magic.  As she was scrolling down I saw a title that sounded familiar, Shadow and Bone. From there, she asked me what I liked about the book.  I told her that I love anything paranormal but also enjoy reading fiction that is inspired by historical Russia, particularly anything involving the Romanov's.

At this point, she asked me if I was familiar with library databases.  I lied and told her no.  She turned her computer towards me and showed me how to access Novelist.  She showed me how to search for Shadow and Bone read-a-likes and then how to search for books inspired by historical Russia.  I choose a couple that sounded good and she then showed me how to search the library catalog to see what branch had those books available.  None of the books that I was interested in were available at the branch that I was at so she showed me how to place a hold on those books and have them sent to the branch of my choice for pickup.  She then asked if there was anything else that she could do for me and also encouraged me to come back after reading the recommended books to let me know if I enjoyed them.

I was extremely impressed with the service that I received and was surprised at the length of time she spent with me trying to find books that I would enjoy.  I am also excited to read these new titles as I am always on the lookout for a new author!! 

Week 3 Prompt

1.  I read the Anita Blake series so I knew what the fourth book was without looking it up.  However, I went into Novelist and searched to make sure that I knew how to find a certain book in a series.  I searched for Laurell K Hamilton and clicked on the Anita Blake series.  The books were all listed in chronological order.  The fourth book in the series is the Lunatic Cafe. 

2.  I first did an advanced search in Novelist for Barbara Kingsolver read-alikes.  Suggestions were Lorna Landvik's Patty Janes House of Curl and Sandra Dallas' New Mercies.  I then did a basic search for the book Prodigal Summer.  On the right hand side of the screen are suggested read-alikes.  The two that I chose were Edward O. Wilson's Anthill and Nicholas Evans' The Loop.

3.  I performed a basic search in Novelist using the keywords "historical Japan".  I then browsed through the results for fiction titles that I felt fit within this category.  A few books that I felt would fit this category are:

Laura Joh Rowland's The Shogun's Daughter: a Novel of Feudal Japan
Ingrid J Parker's Island of Exile: a Mystery of Early Japan and The Dragon Scroll
Gail Tsokiyama's The Samurai's Garden

I am not sure that these are exactly what the patron was looking for but it is a start.  I believe that further information is required so that I could narrow it down better.

4.  I searched Novelist for Elizabeth George's Well Schooled in Murder.  I then searched thru the recommended read-alikes for books that were similar but not to scary.  Good read-alikes are:

Martha Grimes' The Man with a Load of Mischief
Dorothy L Sayers' Whose Body?
Deborah Crombie's A Share in Death

5.  I searched using the titles World War Z and then The Walking Dead.  Between the two searches I found quite a few books/series that I thought the patron's husband would enjoy.

Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy (Feed, Deadline, Blackout)
Steven C. Schluzman's The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse
Steven Barnes' Domino Falls
Brian Keene's The Rising
Jonathan Mayberry's Dead of Night: a Zombie Novel


I very rarely get asked for read-alikes or suggestions at work.  Most of the time it is just a certain book in a series or where on the shelf the book is.  To find out the reading order, a fellow employee told me about a site called Fantastic Fiction.  Although this site is not exactly "pretty", it does get the job done.  I have been able to quickly find the reader order and titles for both adult and juvenile titles.  When it comes to finding books for myself, I have found that working in circulation is key.  Because I handle the books so often, I am able to find new authors and new titles that look interesting.  Now that I know about Novelist, I will search to find read-alikes for my favorite authors.   
 

The Hunger Games - Practice Annotation

                      

                     
                The Hunger Games
                         By:  Suzanne Collins
                         New York, NY. : Scholastic Press 2008.
                         374 Pages
                         ISBN: 978-0-439-02348-1






Summary:

"In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen year old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place".

Genre:

This book is an example of science fiction. 

Science Fiction Characteristics:

• Story takes place in the future 
• The pitting of young children against each other in the games explores moral, social, and ethical questions against a setting that is outside of reality
• Advanced scientific technologies seen throughout the book: medicines, mutations, force fields, etc.
• The tone of the book is both evocative and visual
• Fast-paced action packed book

Read-A-Likes:

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Enclave by Ann Aguirre

Epic by Conor Kostick

Divergent by Veronica Roth

 

Hello Everyone!!

This will be my blog address for this class.