Personally, since I have worked at my public library since my junior year in high school, I find most of my books through simply reviewing what others have checked out and returned. Both as a shelver and working in the Circulation Department, I see countless books every day and many catch my eye. In addition, patrons who really enjoy specific books like to suggest them to others-- "Have you read this book? No? You should, it's great!"
In terms of online tools, I have signed up with BookBub to be notified about when there are eBook sales in my chosen genres. Sometimes I can get interesting books for free! Also, since discovering my library has NoveList a few years ago, I often use it to find new book suggestions.
Prompt Question Answers:
1. After searching for Laurell K. Hamilton and locating her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series on NoveList, I found the fourth book is The Lunatic Café.
2. After locating Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer entry on NoveList, I searched for other books with similar writing styles of "descriptive" and "lyrical" and were fast-paced. Some suggestions I would give would be Louise Penny's Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries series, starting with Still Life, and Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland.
3. I searched for "Japan -- History" and writing style of "Richly detailed" or "Descriptive" on NoveList, and some suggestions I would give are The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery and Ingrid J. Parker's Sugawara Akitada ,ysteries series, starting with The Dragon Scroll.
4. First, I looked up Well-schooled in Murder by Elizabeth George in NoveList and compared this book's appeal list to John Sandford's list of appeals he usually uses in his books. Since the patron called his books "creepy," I'm assuming this patron did not like Sandford's "Darkly humorous" tone he uses in his books. I searched for mysteries like Well-schooled in Murder but without a "Darkly humorous" tone and found Fannie Flagg's The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion and Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie mysteries series, starting with Case Histories.
5. By comparing the appeals lists in NoveList for both Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead series and Max Brooks' World War Z: An oral history of the zombie war, I noticed both had "Compelling" writing styles. I searched for books with a subject of "Zombies" and a "Compelling" writing style, and I would suggest trying Stephen King's Cell and Mira Grant's Newsflesh series, starting with Feed.
6. After searching in NoveList for "Books to Movies" and "Literary Fiction" that has been published within the last five years, I found The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers, which will have a movie from it coming out later this year, and The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson, which had a movie made from it just last year.
7. While I was able to narrow down books in the "Thriller and Suspense" genre on NoveList without "Steamy" or "Explicit" sexual tones, unfortunately I was unable to find anything that would let me see if there was any explicit or foul language in the books. None-the-less, I would suggest The Whistler by John Grisham and James Patterson's Alex Cross series, starting with Along Came a Spider.
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ReplyDeleteHi Julie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement about listening to patrons for book reviews. Patrons who take the time to give a book a positive review, especially those that a frequent library users, are a great source for book reviews.
It is also a good way to talk to patrons about why they liked or disliked the book. What characteristics did they enjoy and what things about the book did they not like? This helps the librarians get a better understanding of the book.
It is also a way to help decide on future book purchases. For example, if a library has a lot of patrons talking about the latest political thriller book series in a positive light then finding out what aspects they like about it gives the book purchaser insights into what to purchase next.
Thanks.
Robert
Julie,
ReplyDeleteYou're right! Getting recommendations from patrons is another way I find out what books to read, I forgot about that. I also just like to see what patrons are reading, many times I'll check something out after I see it on the recently returned rack. Robert also brings up a good point that it starts a conversation with the patron, which is always good! I love discussing books and DVDs with patrons, I'm always finding out about new shows, movies or books from the community.
A lot of our Novelist searches led us to the same results!
Julie, I also listed that I find most of my books at the library, either shelving or checking-in material. I also have patrons recommending books to me. I work at a branch so I have many regular patrons that strike up conversations of the books they are reading. It is a great way to make connections to books and people!
ReplyDeleteGreat job outlining how you found the queries. The last one is a bit tricky, sometimes looking for Christian or inspirational books is a way to make sure there is nothing to steamy. Another good cheat is http://www.openingthebook.com/whichbook/ and you can put no sex as a search term. Full points!
ReplyDelete