Reader's Advisory
Prompt Questions
1. I am looking for a book by Laurell K. Hamilton. I just read the third book in the Anita Blake series and I can’t figure out which one comes next!
I searched the keywords Anita Blake in NoveList. The first two results were Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton. The first result was a novel series; the second result was a graphic novel series. Looking at the details for both, I concluded that the patron was most likely looking for the next novel, rather than graphic novel, because the graphic novel series did not go up to four volumes. The next novel is the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton is The Lunatic Cafe based upon publication date.
2. What have I read recently? Well, I just finished this great book by Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer. I really liked the way it was written, you know, the way she used language. I wouldn't mind something a bit faster paced though.
For this question, I looked up Prodigal Summer in NoveList to find its writing style. It was described as descriptive, lush, and lyrical. I searched by those appeals and added in a fast-paced. One recommendation would be Yellow Emperor's Cure by Kunal Basu. It contains the same writing style elements as well as a fast pace. Its genre does fall under the historical fiction category, though. Another option would be The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Galbadon. This book combines the writing styles descriptive and lyrical with a fast pace. It is also character-driven in the storyline like Prodigal Summer. This book falls under the categories of historical fiction and mystery.
3. I like reading books set in different countries. I just read one set in China, could you help me find one set in Japan? No, not modern – historical. I like it when the author describes it so much it feels like I was there!
I searched the key words "ancient Japan" with the writing style selected as richly detailed. Some of the first titles that came up were part of a mystery series. Since the patron wanted to focus on historical fiction and did not mention series at all, I found the best result with the search to be The Teahouse Fire by Avery Ellis. It's writing style is richly detailed and is about turn of the century Japan. This book should be packed with the details that the patron asked for as well as a focus on the historical side of Japan.
4. I read this great mystery by Elizabeth George called Well-Schooled in Murder and I loved it. Then my dentist said that if I liked mysteries I would probably like John Sandford, but boy was he creepy I couldn't finish it! Do you have any suggestions?
After searching NoveList for Well-Schooled in Murder, I found that this book is actually the third book in the Thomas Lynley Mysteries series by Elizabeth George. My first suggestion for this patron would be to read the first book in the series, A Great Deliverance. If the patron were to show resistance to continuing with this author/series, I would recommend the Ruth Rendell's Chief Inspector Wexword mysteries series. The first in this series would be From Doon with Death. This series/author has the same writing style as Elizabeth George and focuses on murder mysteries where the characters play a main role. I found Ruth Rendell by doing an author read-a-like search.
5. My husband has really gotten into zombies lately. He’s already read The Walking Dead and World War Z, is there anything else you can recommend?
I started with looking at The Walking Dead. The top read-a-like for this book is The First Days by Rhiannon Frater. It is the first book in the author's series titled As the World Dies. It share the same genre, pace, and tone as The Walking Dead while also containing zombies. I then decided to look at World War Z as well, because (from watching the movies and television show, which I know isn't exactly accurate to the book) I think that these two books have a different feel to them. I wanted to provide a couple of options that might work. The top read-a-like for World War Z is I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. While this book doesn't exactly contain zombies, it does contain people who are altered by a virus that exhibit zombie-esque behaviors. It also shares the same genre, pace, tone, and writing style as World War Z.
6. I love books that get turned into movies, especially literary ones. Can you recommend some? Nothing too old, maybe just those from the last 5 years or so.
This question is a bit tricky. Literary fiction can have a wide range of writing topics and styles. If the patron is interested in something on the classic literature side, The Great Gatsby may be one that he or she is interested in checking out. Life of Pi by Yann Martel was also made into a movie five years ago. If you want something more face paced and thrilling, Room by Emma Donoghue was made into a movie about two years ago. Some of my personal favorites (though the movies are slightly over five years old) are The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Both The Help and Water for Elephants would also fall into historical fiction. Water for Elephants and The Time Traveler's Wife have themes of love. It really depends upon what subject matter you are looking for. (Some of these books were found through using the genre filters Books to Movies and Literary Fiction. Some were found through a literary fiction list on GoodReads.)
7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.
For this one, I had a hard time finding a setting on NoveList. I tried finding lists on GoodReads, but that didn't result in much. So, I resorted to Google. I searched the term "clean thrillers" and it took me to a discussion on GoodReads. I looked at the recommendations there and then compared them to the book results in NoveList. I found Mary Higgins Clark to generally be considered a clean author and her profile on NoveList put her in the thriller/suspense genre. Her newest book is The Sleeping Beauty Killer, but she has oodles of books.
Personal Tools
When
it comes to looking at books for my personal reading, I tend to use GoodReads.
GoodReads has a recommendation tool, but I tend to find that it doesn't always
provide recommendations that I am interested in reading. Instead, I will look
at a book that I have read already that I want a read-a-like of on the
GoodReads site. Once you are on that books profile page, they have sections to
the side and under the synopsis that are titled "Readers Also
Enjoyed" and "Lists with This Book". They may also have section
where other books in that series are listed and/or other books written by that
author. I find that these are more helpful than the recommendation tool,
because they come from other readers. GoodReads also does a yearls award for
many different categories. If I am stuck on what to choose, I will look at
their awards for the most current year. Before I choose a book, I skim a lot of
the reviews. I do this both on GoodReads and on Amazon. Once in a while, I
might check out the New York Times Bestsellers lists for inspiration or the website http://www.yournextread.com/us/. I really like the format of Your
Next Read. It provides the recommendations in a web like format. You can then
click on the different books to learn more information and get further recommendations
based off of that book. It creates another web for each book you choose. They
also have lists if you don't have a particular book in mind.
