Week 7: Not Just for Teens

Assignment #1:  Anything that assists customers with book selection always draws attention and interest, and this flowchart is a great example of just that!  I like that it includes the book cover images, it makes it much more visually appealing to customers. 

Assignment #2:  I read the NYT and the CSMonitor articles.  I don't think the information included in these outdated articles, primarily that YA Fiction is popular with a large population of adult readers, is news to any of us, and that the literary and commercial success of the big three series books, "Harry Potter", "Twilight" and "Hunger Games" influenced this trend.

I wholly and strongly disagree with the opinion of the critic Ruth Graham, whose article was cited in the NYT piece, with the subheading: "Read whatever you want. But you should feel embarrassed when what you're reading was written for children".   My immediate reaction to this statement was, "How dare you! What gives you the right to judge what other people find enjoyable?" Individuals choose books for a variety of reasons and a variety of appeal factors and its not for anyone else to cast opinion on whether a particular selection is "appropriate" for the reader.  I don't read a lot of YA titles, but when I do, I'm drawn to pick up that book for all of the same reasons I pick up any book: curiosity about all of the buzz surrounding the book, good writing, strong character and plot development and a compelling storyline.  A good book is a good book, it shouldn't matter what category or genre it falls into.

Week 6: Building Base Knowledge (Genres)

Assignment 1: I chose the Mystery site "Stop You're Killing Me" to follow.  The site is simply laid out and provides quick links to indexes of location, job, historical, diversity and genres.   There are quick links to NEW releases in hardback, paperback, audio and large print.  I like that you can quickly search for an author or character using the alphabet as well.  The read alikes information is sparse.  I knew of the "Agatha", "Dagger" and "Edgar" mystery awards but I now know that there are so many more awards lists honoring various sub-genres.

Assignment 2:  Wow, this is impressive!  This is a lot of information packed into a real cool flowchart! I wish that it was available to print out.

Assignment 3:   Three sub-genres that I am unfamiliar with are:

Cyberpunk Science Fiction.    Cyberpunk is been described as "all about dystopian, networked, future earth type societies with a focus on information technologies: networks, computers, being able to plug oneself directly into virtual environments by whatever means."  Cyberpunk novels will appeal to fans of the 'Tron' movies as well as the 'Matrix' series of movies.  Authors who write in this subgenre are William Gibson, Neal Stephenson and Bruce Sterling.

Hip Hop Urban Fiction:   I was not aware that this was a specific sub-genre of Urban fiction. Described as stories where the characters are driven by the desire to succeed in the music industry as a performer, producer or by playing the video vixen.  Titles include the Ritz Harper chronicles series "Is the Bitch Dead or What?" by Wendy Williams, "Love, Fame and Betrayal" by Stephanie Newell and Platinum by Aliya King.

High Seas Adventure: The Prezi chart describes this sub-genre as "nautical adventures usually set during the Napoleonic wars. Readers experience the rich detail of a sailor's life."  A popular author squarely in this sub-genre is Patrick O'Brien who wrote the 'Aubrey-Maturin' series which includes Master and Commander as well as C.S, Forester, author of the 12-book Horatio Hornblower series, depicting a Royal Naval officer during the Napoleonic wars.   Another title would be Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh.  

Week 5: Building Base Knowledge (Part II)

Assignment #1 & 2: I chose to follow Early Word and I am finding it to be very useful!   I especially enjoy receiving the weekly newsletter in my email. I can quickly scan the featured articles and choose what to look at in more detail as well as stay up to date on what's new and interesting.  Just this week, I learned of chef Eric Ripert's recently released memoir, "32 Yolks" and quickly placed a hold!

I have really enjoyed checking out all of the links on EarlyWord, it is an astonishing amount of information, sometimes it feels a little busy with all of the embedded advertisements but I'm finding my way around.  I especially like the features on New and upcoming film and TV adaptations as well as the NEW movie releases feature, as DVD's are very popular at Woodlawn.

Assignment 3: I selected Amazon’s June Spotlight pick of the month, “Before the Fall” by award-winning screenwriter and author Noah Hawley.  I think that this book will generate interest due to the fan base that Hawley has attracted through the hit FX series “Fargo” as well as the overwhelming positive reviews and attention that the book has received from nearly every popular book review source.  This novel tells the story of the influential passengers on board a private plane that crashes after take off from Martha's Vineyard en route to NYC.  There are two survivors.  The background stories and connections of the passengers revealed by the zealous media coverage of the incident lead to the compelling question "What caused the crash?" This leads to an intensifying and suspenseful plot to find the answer.