Daily Thoughts 8/6/2010 (shelf talkers, readers advisory, ebooks)

Christopher Amberger, Portrait of A Man, Oil On Wood Panel, 1540-1560, Wawel Castle, Krakow

Daily Thoughts 8/6/2010

A brief look at a social network http://bookcalendar.wackwall.com/  I found Wackwall on the Ning Bookblogs.  It is interesting to look at.




I worked on selecting authors for more shelf talkers today.  These are small signs which you put next to a particular author indicating three to five similar authors.  I focused on initially picking out authors who are popular with a lot of books in our library.  People like Jodi Picoult, Debbie Macomber, W.E.B. Griffin, David Weber, Elizabeth Lowell, John Irving, Philip Roth, Joyce Carol Oates, and others.  I will be doing the mystery section once I am done with the fiction.




I also did the monthly requests for the book mobile today.  There were a lot of requests for Daphne Du Maurier, specifically Jamaica Inn and Rebecca.  They also requested Rebecca as a dvd.  Michelangelo is also a very popular topic.  We get requests for books on him almost every time.  They also requested Erma Bombeck and a few other humorists.





In addition, as always, I checked the displays to make sure they were up to date.  I also wrote a flyer for the Brown Bag Book Talk which we are going to have on August 12, 2010.  Someone also asked for us to do a discussion about ebooks in the library setting.  It might take me a little bit to figure out more about this.  I am thinking about signing up for the Ebooks Libraries at the Tipping Point conference on September 29, 2010.
http://ebook-summit.com/




I inished up my class for Readers Advisory 101 online today.  I sent in my final assignment for the class today.  Soon I'll probably get a certificate for the class.  I handed the certificate for the library advocacy class I took online as well.  It has been an interesting time taking the class.  I'll probably go back and look through the transcripts of the chat sessions again for the Readers Advisory 101 class.




I did not have time to read reviews today.  It was simply too busy.  It is evening and I am typing this up.  I did not read anything on the train this time either.  Instead I took the time to write my thoughts down in a journal.  I keep lined journals where I write up my reviews longhand before I put them in the computer.  I take notes in them while I am reading but never go back and read them again.  I have three blank journals right now in my shoulder bag.  I have a Manhattan Portage LTD shoulder bag which I use all the time.  It is the second one I have bought.  They have proven to be very sturdy and good for carrying books to conferences and other places.

Daily Thoughts 8/5/2010 ( readers advisory, yahoo style guide )

Depiction of the Venerable Bede (CLVIIIv) from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493

Daily Thoughts 8/5/2010

I am looking at Pligg which is an open source system for building social networks.  It looks quite interesting.  You would probably need a fairly skillful technical person to implement it. http://www.pligg.com/ It reminds me a little bit of Digg.




Today, I checked the displays and talked with some people about doing programs and working on some cleanup in the storage area.  I also finished my Readers Advisory 101 Class this morning doing the final interview.  We had to do a simulated readers advisory session with a patron.  It was interesting.  I ended up suggesting several hard edged detective authors, Max Allan Collins, Mickey Spillane, Robert Crais, Robert B. Parker, Donald Westlake, and Sara Paretsky.  My compatriot in turn recommended some techno thrillers including Stephen Coonts and Craig Thomas. He also recommended Keith Laumer who is a science fiction author who I really like.  It was an enjoyable thing to do for an hour.




I also finished reading The Yahoo Style Guide in print.  It is also on the internet http://styleguide.yahoo.com/writing .  One point that really stuck out for me was that I need to rewrite my headers so search engines will find what I am writing about.

Daily Thoughts 7/29/2010 ( readers advisory, book game )

Okumura Masanobu Itinerant Vendor of shikishi and tanzaku (paper and books) 1720–1730 Signed: Okumura Masanobu hitsu. Publisher’s seal: shu-no-hyōtan (in form of a calabash); seal of Masanobu’s own publishing house: Tōrishiochō.  Actually it is an actor playing an itinerant vendor for paper for poems (shikishi and tanzaku), books, and instructional material on waka poetry and koto playing as indicated on her crate. She is holding a calligraphic copybook (tehon) and a brush. One of the books at the top of her crate is named: Genji-monogatari. 




Daily Thoughts 7/29/2010

I put in some comments for my Readers Advisory 101 class on Enders Game by Orson Scott Card.   I also read the section on library marketing for readers advisory.  I may create some shelf talkers for the shelves.  These are cards which say if you like a specific author, then you might like these other authors.  Usually they are lists of three to five other authors.  Some libraries also sometimes maintain a cart for books that are always popular reads.  It is something to think about.   A lot of people use the Novelist database to create the shelf talkers.



I did not get as much as I wanted done today.  I am thinking about a couple of things to do.  We are planning on doing a library card registration drive.  We need to get more people through the front door.  As part of this, we will probably try to get more Friends of the Library to register.




There are also a few minor things that need doing like updating some bibliographies and creating some shelf talkers.  I also need to speak to someone from the Mount Vernon Public Library Foundation.




The book the Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross came in for me to read.  It is a mix of espionage, horror and weird tale.




I read some more of Kraken by China Mieville.  I am finding a subplot in the book to be quite entertaining about a labor union of wizards familiars and other magical constructs.  It is wonderfully quirky.




Guess the book by its cover game http://www.sporcle.com/games/bookcovers.php

Daily Thoughts 7/14/2010

The Radcliffe Camera, a reading room of the Bodleian Library of University of Oxford: an example of a building in Oxford, United Kingdom. Picture is listed as public domain on Wikimedia.

Daily Thoughts 7/14/2010

An article from the Journal News about the Mount Vernon Public Library coming back to work. http://www.lohud.com/article/20100714/NEWS02/7140314/Mount-Vernon-Public-Library-rehires-laid-off-staff

I spent some time looking through a Library Journal online review of Kraken by China Mieville. I was looking for words that would appeal to readers in the review if I had to tell a library patron about the book. It is part of readers advisory.

We printed up a lot of our marketing material. There is a city council meeting tonight where they may discuss the library. Having some marketing material might help us out and get some support.

I also went through the gift books today as well as checked the new books and displays to make sure they were in order.

There was another session on Readers Advisory 101 today where I spent time watching people chat online about places to find suggestions for reading material. I learned about http://www.monsterlibrarian.com/ which reviews horror literature. Some other review sources I learned about were http://www.allreaders.com/ and http://www.bookmarksmagazine.com/ People had a lot of ideas about how to review and advise books for patrons to read.

I checked out The Sons of Liberty written by Alexander Lagos and Joseph Lagos. It is a superhero novel set during the American revolution. The two main characters are African American. The art is interesting.

Daily Thoughts 7/13/2010

Mary Pickford, writing at a desk in a kimono, February 1918
This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Division under the digital ID ppmsca.18842

Daily Thoughts 7/13/2010

Seeing Stars: How I ignored my inner librarian and got kids excited about books again! This is an entertaining comic. http://www.slj.com/slj/home/885428-312/seeing_stars_how_i_ignored.html.csp

The city found emergency funds to restore the laid off people as well as prevent the demotions. It makes me quite happy to say this. Sometimes things change for the better. Now, it is on to the next step that deals with advocacy, trying to make sure this does not happen again. This means playing closer attention to fundraising.

I picked up a copy of Booklife Strategies and Survival Tips For the 21st Century Writer by Jeff Vandermeer. It is about how to have a writing career in the modern publishing world. Jeff Vandermeer has done many anthologies, has a blog, facebook account which I follow, and is very up to date with the latest technology. He writes weird tales and fantasy.

I had a little bit of time today to read Publishers Weekly and the New York Times Book Review, check the donations for items to add, and look through the new books. I had a chance to pick out some of the new graphic novels which I ordered recently for the Graphic Novels club which is tomorrow. As always, I checked the displays to make sure they are up to date.

Tomorrow, my colleagues come back and it should even be busier than usual. I have a lot to do. There is also a Brown Bag Book Chat from 12:15-1:45 p.m. in addition to the Graphic Novels Club which is later in the afternoon.

I have been reading more for my Readers Advisory 101 course and learning more about reviews. I know most of the review sources, Library Journal, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and the New York Times Book Review. I just learned that the Washington Post Books is also a standard for reviews. I guess I might have to start reading it. I have an assignment to do tomorrow for the class which compares review database that looks interesting.

There were a few new sources for reviews which I saw, NPR Book Reviews http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1032, Overbooked, http://www.overbooked.org and the Amazon New York Times Bestseller Page http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/549028/ref=b_tn_bh_ny/002-7565199-2545635

I started reading Jeff Vandermeers' book Booklife. Jeff Vandermere has a blog called http://www.jeffvandermeer.com which is entertaining. He also runs a site with his wife Ann Vandermeer called http://www.booklifenow.com which is about being a writer. I follow Jeff Vandermeer on Facebook as well. It is rather entertaining to follow writers on Facebook.

Daily Thoughts 7/7/2010

National Library of Bhutan, Thimphu. Main buiding in a snowfall, 23 January 2008, Christopher J. Fynn, Creative Commons, Share Alike Attribution 3.0 Unported

Daily Thoughts 7/7/2010

This is a link to an article and video from News 12 on the layoffs at Mount Vernon Public Library http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=255625&position=1&news_type=news I also posted it on Twitter which feeds into my linked in account now. I want to have maximum linkage and exposure for what I am saying. Part of that process is creating links between social networks

It felt odd coming in today. I was reading the New York Times Book Review and looked at the routing list. It had my initials only, with four other initials crossed out. It reminded me of how many people were affected. I also took some time to read Publishers Weekly. One book which caught my eye was The Vertical Farm The World Grows Up by Dickson Despommier. It is about urban agriculture. Vertical farms, are hydroponics and aeroponic farms inside skyscrapers. They are often designed to be mimic ecology. I find them to be fascinating. Part of this concept originates in The New Alchemy Institute which developed the bioshelter concept. It is radical science at its most interesting. http://www.thegreencenter.net/

I also had a chance to log in to my first online chat session of The Readers Advisory 101 Class. I learned quite a few interesting ideas. Joyce G. Saricks suggested The Adult Reading Roundtable as a resource for readers advisory www.arrtreads.org/ which is in Illinois.

There were a number of suggestions on how to pick books for patrons.
1) Check on the last book they read. 2) Check on the last book they returned to the library. 3) Suggest they read the jacket blurb, and read two pages at random to see if they like what they are reading. The librarians also use Goodreads a lot to pick out books to read. They think of it as an excellent social network for readers advisory. http://www.goodreads.com/ It is also important to make displays of books which you can recommend. Many also used Novelist which is a database about books and book reviews to find read alikes, or similar titles between authors. Some librarians used Fiction Connection which is a readers advisory tool created by Bowker. http://www.bowker.com/index.php/bowker-brands/fiction-connection

There is a difference between a book which you can recommend. A book which you can recommend is a book or author you have read and like. A suggestion is something you think a person may like based on other peoples reading habits or literary reviews. This is the general idea.

We were talking about appeal what makes a person interested in a book. This is different than whether it has quality. It is about what people like to read no what matter what it is. Joyce G. Saricks, the instructor has a quote, "Never Apologize for Your Reading Tastes." A lot of the discussion was about popular genre fiction. A lot of appeal is about how a book affects us.

We discussed how people track their books. They often keep a log of their reading in a binder. I don't. I use this blog and Goodreads right now. This is a good enough way to track my reading.

A lot of appeal is being comfortable talking about books and recommending what people may like. I picked ups some ideas that the small group of librarians taking the class have about literature. Character centered books tend to be literary oriented, plot centered books tend to be more action oriented, women tend to read authors by both men and women, and men often only read books by other men. Romance tends to be better when there is an element of suspense. Books that are banned often become even more popular because of censorship. Political views can skew whether or not people will like a book.

It was an entertaining session. I am looking to catch up for my next session. I was really supposed to start last week, but the potential of layoffs before it happened upset me a little bit.

Daily Thoughts 6/15/2010

Annaberg-Buchholz, Ladenschild einer Buchhandlungin der Wolkensteiner Straße, April 2010, Photo: Andreas Praefcke (Own Work), Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Daily Thoughts 6/15/2010

I have to put The Affinity Bridge by George Mann down. It is rather dry and I am finding it a bit stuffy. The concepts are interesting, the story is interesting, the writing is not that exciting.

I finally have all four books for my Readers Advisory 101 Course, Enders Game by Orson Scott Card, The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn, Ice Station by Matthew J. Reilly, and Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron. These are solid, predictable reads.

I received an advanced uncorrected proof for The Last Block In Harlem A Novel by Christopher Herz. It is published by Amazon Encore which is a new venture by Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000373401

Today, I spent some time working in the storage area looking at shifting books. I also have been playing with Evance which is a system for running summer reading programs. I am looking at the adult summer reading module. I have figured out how to add a few links, input reviews, and setup a basic message about Adult Summer Reading. I am just getting the hang of the system.

Something which I have noticed that people like to read is fiction about the Amish. The most popular author is Beverly Lewis. It is a very different way of living to read about.

I also took a look through the gift books. I find the easiest thing to find and add are the classics. Paperback copies of The Odyssey, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Oresteia by Aeschylus, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and other classic writers get donated constantly and are always used by the high school students.

Daily Thoughts 6/9/2010

Miniature painting of a scribe writing at a desk. Found on http://fromoldbooks.org

Daily Thoughts 6/9/2010

On the way home last night, I read some more of the book Drive by Daniel H. Pink. At this point, the author is talking about the concept of increasing autonomy in the work environment. He is describing how there are less people being put in management positions. He also talks about homesourcing where companies are increasingly hiring people to work at home for routine jobs like customer service and clerical work. Computers can be used from almost anywhere. Another concept in autonomy is the idea of the Results Only Work Environment where some companies like Best Buy allow very flexible work hours in return for a very goal oriented workplace. The final concept in autonomy is encouraging people to experiment for a certain amount of time in their jobs constantly. Google encourages their engineers to spend 20% of their time on their own projects to create new ideas.

I have to get ready for my upcoming class on Readers Advisory 101. I have four fiction titles I am supposed to read. It starts on June 28, 2010.

• Romance - The Viscount who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
• Mystery - Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron
• Speculative Fiction - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• Action/Thriller/Suspense - Ice Station by Matt Reilly

The only book which I have already read from the list is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

An article from the New Yorker The Trouble With Recommending Books http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/06/the-trouble-with-recommending-books.html

　
Thinking about Web 2.0 in and if I should apply for a press pass... http://www.web2expo.com/webexny2010/?cmp=em-conf-web2ny-EM1-webny10ema5 Maybe, I can show that I am a journalist. It would be an interesting aim to get a third press pass because of my blog. I haven't really decided yet. It could be fun.

Just joined the Save Libraries Twibbon on Facebook http://twibbon.com/cause/Save-Libraries/facebook

This morning on the train, I finished reading Drive on the train. It was a very interesting book. Now, I have two books to review this weekend, Drive and Rex Riders.

Today was an interesting day. We had a call from an author who was interested in coming in. We also had an order meeting today where we discussed our different orders for the month. I have to look at MP3 players as a possible circulating item. With Playaways sometimes the devices don't come back with batteries. We have the Overdrive Media Console on most of our computer workstations.

I also spent some more time working with Bookletters. The page is starting to come together. We are also working on creating a patron requests form for our website. This will hopefully make our website more responsive for patrons.

Tomorrow, I will be looking at the Evance site which is used to manage an adult summer reading program. Hopefully, it should be interesting.

Daily Thoughts 5/21/2010

A photograph of a daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe 1848, first published 1880. Taken by W.S. Hartshorn, Providence, Rhode Island, on November 9th, 1848 Photograph taken in 1904 by C.T. Tatman.

Daily Thoughts 5/21/2010

Today, I finished reading Readers Advisory Service in the Public Library, 3rd Edition by Joyce G. Saricks. The author focused on the concept of appeal with books. Appeal is different than interpretation, it is the things which hold the readers attention, plot, frame, style, pacing, storyline, and characterization. It is not the same as academic criticism. It is the points that are used to catch the readers attention and sell the book by the author which the bookseller or librarian can capitalize on.

There were a number of ideas which caught my attention; the read alike bookmark, the annotated book list, and the idea of sure bets in different genres of books. This book focused advising on casual fiction and nonfiction. Casual fiction would include genres like romance, historical fiction, science fiction, mystery, noire and other leisure reading. Casual nonfiction would include travel stories, survival stories, contemporary issues, crime, popular culture, humor, popular science, memoirs, and other leisurely reading.

I am very much looking forward to taking the Readers Advisory 101 course that goes with this book.

I worked on my ordering this morning and read a bit more of Booklist. I also am working on getting the on order status up in the catalog properly for books on order at our library.

I had a chance to do a little desk clean up before I go to Book Expo America next week. I also cut some scrap and cleared out my to do box. Check the gifts for books to add. Remind people about activities like putting up the Bookletters page, shifting books in the mezzanine, and making sure the events flyer for the poetry club is up on the website. Checking for business cards to bring to the conference. The little rituals you do before you go on vacation or to a conference.

I am enjoying reading Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. It is a very fast paced adventure story set in the near future. I like the setting a lot; the coastlines littered with the wrecks of oil tankers and the drowned city of New Orleans are quite intriguing. Paolo Bacigalupi just won the Nebula Award for The Windup Girl. I think the writing in Ship Breaker is even better.

Daily Thoughts 5/17/2010

Charles Dickens, William Powell Frith, 1859

Daily Thoughts 5/17/2010

William Gibson has a near future thriller coming out called Zero History. His last book Spook Country also fits in this genre of suspense. It is borderline science fiction. Also, China Mieville is coming out with a new novel, Kraken which should be interesting.

Today has been quiet, it has been a lot of meetings. First a meeting on the law collection, then a meeting on public service, then some ordering, then some reference work. A solid, steady day.

I finished reading War at the Wall Street Journal. The final section is a description of the transformation under Rupert Murdoch and News Corp from a rather staid conservative business journal to a right leaning national paper with more coverage of national news and less coverage of business. It is hard to call The Wall Street Journal a pure business paper anymore. It is the newspaper which combines with Fox 5 News to make a right leaning media conglomerate. I find the Wall Street Journal to be much more sensationalized.

Right now, I am reading Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library, Third Edition by Joyce G. Saricks. The book reminded me of the reference book Genreflecting which is one of my favorite reference books. It led me to this blog for readers advisory. http://www.readersadvisoronline.com/blog/

Daily Thoughts 5/8/2010

Chicago Public Library, Illinois, 1900 (From New York Public Library Digital Gallery)

Daily Thoughts 5/8/2010

I am planning on taking Readers Advisory 101, an online course from the American Library Association. It is a brush up, plus an opportunity to work on my skills with book clubs and other things like that. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/development/readersadvisory101/index.cfm There is a textbook that goes with the course as well, Readers Advisory Service In the Public Library, Third Edition, Joyce G. Saricks.

Today has been relatively quiet. We had a professor come in and do an introduction to the law session this morning for about two hours. She talked a bit about the New York Jurisprudence set of law books as well as New York Digest.

I also spent a bit of time updating the current events display with books on subjects in the news. I usually read Yahoo! News to pick out quick topics like oil, Pakistan, India, Obama, Sarah Palin, health care, Google, Apple, and other subjects which make the headlines.

Daily Thoughts

I have been reading a bit more of MBA In A Day. We have a new director at our library. She has a Masters in Administration. I am trying to figure out what exactly goes into the masters degree. Most librarians don't have administrative training. They tend to have a masters in library science. This creates a kind of odd distinction in our library. Understanding the strategies being used to change where I work should be quite helpful.

One of the books I requested has come in, The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie. I am looking forward to reading this. I haven't read any books by him yet. Many of his books were banned in Muslim countries for their content. He is supposed to write in the style of magical realism.

I had a chance to read the latest New York Times Book Review and look throught the various bestseller lists. I put a few more books on hold, America's Hidden History by Kenneth C. Davis, and American Nerd: The Story of My People by Benjamin Nugent. The title American Nerd has a very nice ring to it. It is very attention getting. That is why I became interested in the book almost immediately. Plus, I secretly harbor ambitions to nerdom, I am one of those outliers on the borders.

Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson is in the catalog. There is a record but there are no copies attached to the record. This means I will eventually be able to put the book on hold. These things always are a matter of patience.

I also put Little Brother a new book by Cory Doctorow on hold. Cory Doctorow can be pretty radical sometimes. I am looking forward to reading something a bit different in this title. It is a young adult title.

For those of you who like pictures, I was looking at Pulp Gallery today, it has thousands of images of old pulp fiction covers. It can be quite intriguing. Spicey Adventure, Famous Detective, The Shadow, The Spider, Argosy, Doc Savage and many other covers are shown there. It really gives a sense of nostalgia for yesteryear.
http://picasaweb.google.com/pulpgallery

My Technorati favorites came back. My fans are back. Technorati is working again. It took about eight days. They were polite and fixed the problem.

Readers Advisory

One of the things which I am supposed to do is advise people on what to read. For me, it is easy to recommend science fiction and fantasy, as well as some novels and books on the alternative energy. I also take the time to sometimes read things I don't like. I am not a fan of urban fiction, yet I tried to read Eric Jerome Dickey (I didn't like it), and Omar Tyree (I liked it).

When I started at my first job in Brooklyn, one of my first jobs was to read and discuss a list of books with other librarians. This was a sample of the most popular books including the classics, trashy novels, true crime, romance, and mysteries. It was an enlightening experience. I did not like reading much of the material, but I did it anyways. I would have never read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote if it hadn't been a book I was told to read.

I also admit, because of this, I have read romance novels (Elizabeth Lowell is one of my favorite authors), Westerns ( Louis L'Amour is my favorite western writer), and a variety of genres which I would have never read.

One of the things I do all the time is watch what people are checking out. This is a way to not have to read everything. People tend to read a specific genre, even if I haven't read the books, after a while, I begin to recognize the popular titles in a genre. For example, in urban fiction, I recognize Zane, Noire, Relentless Aaron, Michael Baisden, Terri Woods, even if I haven't read any of them. People ask for the same style of books over and over again.

In a similar manner, I also look at the new books when they come in. It gives me an idea of what is available immediately for people to check out. I check every other day to see what is on the shelf. Occassionally, I will also look at the books which have just been returned for the same reason.

In addition to keep up with what people are reading, I look at the New York Times Bestseller List and the Publishers Weekly Bestseller list. This is important. A lot of people are constantly looking for the latest bestsellers. Sometimes, I can even preempt the bestseller list figuring out which books might appear on the bestseller lists.

Books are advertised everywhere. There are numerous advertisements on the subways and buses if you go on mass transit. I have even seen a few billboards on the highways with book titles.

Another tool which we keep for readers advisory are bookmarks and sheets recommending specific genres. We have bookmarks for art books, mysteries, reference books, business books, and urban fiction. We also a full page list of African American authors. This way we can give readers a standard selection of items to look at.

Each type of genre fiction also has a trade publication attached to it if you want to keep up with a specific type of book. Romantic Times is the trade magazine for romance books, Locus Magazine is the trade magazine for Science Fiction and Fantasy. Also some ethnic or racially oriented magazines have bestseller lists. There is an Ebony bestseller list for African American books.

In addition, some publishers have imprints which are quite popular. There are the BET black romances, Arabesque Romances, Harlequin Romances, and The Hardcase Crime Series. Being aware of which imprints a person likes makes it much easier to find books. Usually there is a small symbol attached to the publishers imprint. Baens symbol is a rocket ship on the spine with the word Baen across the rocketship.

Also some publishers focus on a specific subject. For example, if I want a good travel series, I might look at Lonely Planet, or Frommers. If I wanted military science fiction, I would probably look at Baen Books.

In addition to imprints there are series which people will read, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, Star Trek, Nancy Drew, R.L. Stine is practically his own imprint, Goosebumps, and others. The latest series which looks like it will be popular is the CSI (Crime Science Investigation) television series has come out with a series of paperbacks.

Paying attention to what people want to read is a decent part of my job and any librarians job. A few inexpensive trade paperbacks which include short annotated recommendations for genre fiction are The 100 Best Graphic Novels, Horror: Another 100 Best Books, Science Fiction The 100 Best Novels, Fantasy The 100 Best Novels, and The Crown Crime Companion, The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time. They may not be the most recent books, but they should contain at least a few book recommendations worth reading.

Robin McKinley-- Sunshine-- Review

This piece of artwork is free. It is a copyleft licensed image. The author wants to you use it as much as possible. http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en/

Sunshine by Robin McKinley is an interesting novel. You might call it a lady vampire slayer story for adults. This book is a Mythopoeic award winner. Sunshine is a bakery worker, she bakes muffins, cakes, and wonderful cinnamon buns that to the people who come to her bakery are very magical. She lives a quiet life and the most excitement she has is a boyfriend who rides a motorcycle.

Then one day, she goes to be alone for a little while and makes a mistake. At this point in the novel, she is captured by vampires. We do not know that this world has the supernatural until she is caught. Then darkness is slowly brought into play. I really like how this is done by the author.

Sunshine uses her magical heritage to free a captured vampire who is supposed to dine on her and they escape together. I like that she tells the beauty and the beast story to Constantine, the vampire she is supposed to be a snack for.

Sunshine goes back to her muffin making world. At this point we learn, that the people who are inhabiting her cafe are rather odd. Her boyfriend Mel is covered with rune tattoos and many of the customers are SOF-- Special Other Forces whose job it is is to fight dark forces.

The setting is rather interesting. There has been a war between humanity and the others, vampires, werewolves, and demons. The werewolves and demons partially sided with humanity and the vampires are humanities mortal enemies. Constantine is different than most vampires, he is the vampire archtype you might see in the television show Angel, or the manga, Vampire Hunter D. In mystical terms he would be the hunter or woodsman who survives by drinking the blood of beasts.

I would call this novel a more mature version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sunshine we learn is the embodiment of light, her heritage comes from a wizard father who she knows very little about. She seeks help and gets it from her old landlady a wardskeeper who helps her come into her power. The evil vampire Bo does not leave her alone, he sends a vampire after her but she kills it with a kitchen knife something which is not supposed to happen.

She with the help of Constantine go to battle the Bo who is the embodiment of corruption. Sunshine takes out Bos heart and destroys it in a burst of pure light while Constantine fends off Bo's minions.

The story is very well written. It is not as dark as most vampire novels because the main characters personality and abilities are the embodiment sunlight and positive energy in many ways. Constantine serves to balance out her life with the darker aspect of heroism. He is not evil, because he has chosen to be alone in the darkness and hunt animals.

I also like that not all of the SOF-- Special Other Forces are good guys, some of them want to keep her locked up to study for their own needs. Also, some of the characters are half-other. One of the SOF officers turns blue in private.

There is a librarian character Aimil who helps Sunshine learn a bit about vampires. She is also a half- breed passing as human. When she was little she had an extra set of teeth that were removed. The details in the writing are very well done.

This is a quick, enchanting light read. It is a better more adult version of the lady vampire slayer story. If you like fantasy books this is a good choice to read.

Morning Thoughts

I've spent quite a bit of time looking through Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and Booklist at various titles which might be purchased. I also took some time to look at the New York Times Bestseller Lists and the Publishers Weekly Bestseller Lists. Only a few books on the bestseller lists interest me. Free Lunch by David Kay Johnston looks to be an appropriately United States populist anti-government spending book.

I put several books on reserve. Many of the books which I was interested in were not available currently in our library system. I put Deep Economy by Bill McKibben and Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken on hold. I found a near perfect book title Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would be Human by Elizabeth Hess about a chimp that was used for human language experimentation.

I also would have liked to get Matter by Iain Banks but no copy was available in our library system yet. There were a few other books that were not available as well, Simple Prosperity by David Wann, and Fueling Our Future: An Introduction to Sustainable Energy by Robert L. Evans. I often limit which books I can read to what I can get for free.

I checked by SfSite and Locus Magazine and picked out two relatively new titles to request. They are Dust by Elizabeth Bear about a generation starship, and Inside Straight by George R.R. Martin, a superhero novel part of the Wildcards series.

Some people may think, I can order any book for purchase that I want. This is not true. My tastes may not match exactly with the customers that borrow books from the library. Some of the books will match closely, others won't. Before I put a book in for purchase, I have to consider whether or not people will read the book in question. If I cannot convince myself and the other people at the library that the book will not be used multiple times I will not order the book for purchase.

Part of this decision is based on demographics who lives in the community, what ethnic groups, how many young people, how many old people, religious or philosophical affiliations. We try and match our books with the interests of the community. If the books and material don't match on some level not many people will use the library.

The other thing which we use is statistics. We keep track of what books are being used and how many times books are being read. We try and order materials that are used in specific subjects and by authors which people read. Having material which people are not interested in is counterproductive.

There is also the question of quality. This is a very hard thing to determine. Sometimes, we will order books simply because they are of exceptional quality or merit, even if they don't exactly match with the community. However, this is fairly rare. Most books or library material is not that exceptional.

Book Lust-- Recommended Reading For Every Mood, Moment, and Reason-- Nancy Pearl -- Review

Book Lust Recommended Reading For Every Mood, Moment, and Reason by Nancy Pearl (Sasquatch Books, c2003) is a selection guide for choosing books to read. Nancy Pearl is the Director of the Center for the Book and Programming at the Seattle Public Library. There is a library action figure done of her.

Nancy Pearl wanted to be a librarian since she was ten years old. She is a constant reader since she was very young.

This is an A to Z subject guide for books broken down into subject headings like Cat Crazy, Graphic Novels, and Irish Fiction. Each subject heading has about a page and a half of recommended readings. She suggests that someone should not read more than 50 pages into a book they don't like.

Most of the books being discussed are mainstream fiction and nonfiction. The subject guide is pretty comprehensive. The only subject which I found missing which we get a lot of questions about at our library is "urban fiction" books about street life, sex, drugs, and money in the ghetto. Authors like Noire, Zane, Eric Jerome Dickey, and Omar Tyree.

The focus is on the absolute best books by mainstream authors for fiction and nonfiction. Authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, George Macdonald Frazer, and Milan Kundera are discussed. The fiction comes from every part of the globe, Mexico, the Middle East, Africa, Ireland, Japan, Australia, China and many other locales. Fiction titles include romance, science fiction, fantasy, and westerns. She admits she is not a big fan of horror.

I also noticed that some of the more controversial titles are not included. For example Henry Miller and Anais Nin are not included in the section on sex books. The section on Robert A. Heinlein mostly focuses on his juveniles. While Stranger in A Strange Land is mentioned, Starship Troopers is not.

Her selection of favorite authors includes Jonathan Letham, Iris Murdoch, Richard Powers, Connie Willis, Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe), Gore Vidal, and Ross Thomas. These are all fairly mainstream novelists. I rather like Nero Wolfe myself.

Her popular romance section includes a few regency romances and popular novelists like Judith McNaught and Victoria Holt. It takes some courage to suggest romance novels. Many librarians and editors look down their noses at romance books.

In her graphic novels section she mentions a few comics lit titles that are popular like Maus and Maus II and Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Boy on Earth. She does not have a section on manga in this book.

Nancy Pearl's selection of popular science books is also quite good. Guns, Germ, and Steel by Jared Diamond is quite good. If you get a chance also read Collapse by Jared Diamond about what happens when a civilization exceeds its environmental carrying capacity.

Among the hundreds of listed books, I found a few titles to put on hold which I will look at to determine if I want to read them:

Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonders: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice On Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology by Lawrence Weschler.

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester

Freedom in Meditation by Patricia Carrington.

This is actually quite good. I usually am able to only find one book among selection lists to read.

She does a really good job of selecting mainstream fiction and nonfiction titles. If you are looking for more controversial writers like Audre Lord, Samuel R. Delany, or Charles Bukowski look elsewhere.

Nancy Pearl now has a deluxe library action figure of her with books, book carts, and a computer. It takes a real heroine to promote literacy and books these days.