Prompt Response #1

 Prompt Response #1

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!

            The next book in the series is The Lunatic Café. 

I found that by going to the Fantastic Fiction site and searching for the author. I use this site often at work and it’s what most of my colleagues use as well (that’s where I first learned about it). I did try to find the series list on NoveList and didn’t find it. 

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.

            I wonder if you might be interested in Anthill  by E.O. Wilson. It is listed as having a suspenseful tone, so it might be faster paced. It is a considered a green read and the writing style is lush and lyrical, similar to Prodigal Summer. Or you might enjoy Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. It has a romantic tone like Prodigal Summer, but is leisurely paced. Another possibility is Wayfaring Stranger by James Lee Burke. It has a similar writing style but is a faster pace, and has complex, flawed characters. Would you like to try one of those novels?

I found this information by searching in NoveList. I searched for Prodigal Summer and looked at the read-alikes presented. I read their appeal factors and chose some that I thought matched well. I found Wayfaring Stranger by doing an appeal mixer using lyrical writing, intensifying pace and complex character.

 

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!

            The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery might be interesting to you. It’s set in 19^th  century Japan and has a tone with a strong sense of place and has a sweeping storyline. The Pure Land by Alan Spence might also be a good fit. It has a sweeping storyline and a thoughtful writing style. It’s sent in the 1800’s. Child of Vengeance by David Kirk is another option. It’s set in 17^th century Japan. It will have more violence in it.

I entered “historical fiction” and “Japan” in the search bar in NoveList. I selected adult and fiction as limiters, and then set writing style as strong sense of place. Then I scrolled through the list looking for books that were set in the 1800’s or before, just to get out of WWII history. I would normally ask the patron more about the time frame, but using the “not modern” term I decided to go further back in history.

 

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?

You could certainly read the rest of the books in the Lynley series. So if you haven’t read the previous ones I would suggest starting with the first, A Great Deliverance. Another author you might enjoy is Martha Grimes and her Richard Jury series. The first of those is A Man With a Load of Mischief. She does bring more humor into her books and they are not quite as dark as George’s are. Another book to consider is Still Life by Louse Penny.  Like George, her characters are complex, her stories are leisurely paced and the storyline is character-driven. 

This was a fun question because I love Elizabeth George and read lots of mystery (never ready John Sandford, though). Anyway, I went to the Fantastic Fiction site to see the list and suggest the first novel in the series. Then I went to NoveList and looked up Well-Schooled in Murder to see what they suggested. I saw Martha Grimes and agreed (since I like them both). I also saw Louise Penny and agreed (again, from my own experience). I realize I have a lot to learn about RA because even though this is my area, those two author’s names did not immediately jump into my head when reading this prompt!

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 suggest he tries Rise again: a zombie thriller by Ben Tripp. It is about the zombie apocalypse with a plot-driven storyline, is face-paced and has a compelling writing style. Another possibility is The Passage by Justin Cronin. It’s the first of series so if he likes it he’ll have a few more books to read (there are three books in the series).  He might also try Quiver by Jason Fischer. It’s set in England and has a strong female character but is also fast-paced with a compelling writing style.

For this search I typed both titles into NoveList. One is a graphic novel and the other is not. I decided to look at read-alikes for World War Z. I wanted ones that were fast-paced, with a plot-driven storyline and a compelling writing style, but I didn’t see any like that. So entered “zombie apocalypse” in the search bar and then limited it to adult, fiction, and those above appeal elements. I did go to the Fantastic Fiction site to check on the series The Passage is in.

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.

            You might try The Woman in the Window, by A.J. Finn. The book was written in 2018 and the movie made in 2021. It’s a psychological suspense novel. Another book would be Where the Crawdads Sing (2018) by Delia Owens. It’s a coming of age novel and is more leisurely paced. You might also try Dune by Frank Herbert. This is not a new book, but a movie version came out in 2021. The movie doesn’t actually make it to the end of the book! But there are several movie adaptations available.

I wasn’t sure how to find this information. I played around in NoveList a bit and then went to Google and typed in “books made into movies.” I found Bookbub.com had an article “43 of Our All-Time Favorite Book-to-Movie Adaptations” (https://www.bookbub.com/blog/best-movies-based-on-books-all-time). Those were all too old. So, I went to ChatGPT and asked it what are recent movies made from literary books. After reminding me that its last update was Jan., 2022, it gave me a list of five. I then put those titles in NoveList and learned that there is a genre “Page to screen”. I entered that in the keyword search and found a few more options.

7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.

            I would suggest you try The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, which is definitely fast-paced and you should find it free of foul language and sex scenes. Another option is The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, which is a mystery, but action-packed. It has a creepy tone but it should be clean. A third possibility is The Reversal, which is a legal thriller. It is about a child murderer but it apparently is considered a clean read.      

Once again, I wasn’t sure how to search for this with NoveList, or in Goodreads or Fantastic Fiction. So I turned to ChatGPT (since I felt it helped on the previous question). It gave me a list of 9 books. I then took those to NoveList and tried to figure out if they would be clean and fast-paced. I am not so confident about the “clean” aspect. I found that Goodreads does tag books as clean reads, but I couldn’t really find thrillers.

Part 2 – How do I find books to read?

 

            I find books for myself in a lot of different ways. Sometimes I just browse the shelves of the mystery section (my favorite genre) or fiction (when I’m in that mood). Sometimes I search in my library’s catalog. I’ve been working on reading books set in NYC in the early 1900’s so I have searched for those. I'll put in search items like subject headings, and sometimes if I find a book that I like then I'll click on that subject heading to find more like that one. I do this for fiction and non-fiction. I do track my reading in Goodreads so it will give me ideas. Sometimes a friend will recommend something on Facebook and I’ll add it to my “want to read” section. I really look forward to hearing what others do because I feel like I’m really behind in this area. I haven’t done very much RA in my job so far and I want to get good at this!