Week 6: Building Base Knowledge

Assignment 1 -

I blogged aboutTor-Affliction in a prior assignment, so I'll share some highlights from some of the other reading resources I said I'd check out.

Street Fiction Site - for my taste, this is well-designed & easy to use; some of the others are more cumbersome & not as useful without enough time to thoroughly peruse them. I like the explanations for Street Fic, Urban Nonfic, Urban Christian Fic, & Urban Teen Fic, & the differences between them. It also features a Librarian's resource list, including booklists. This is a site I would use more often.

Stop You're Killing Me - like my colleague, I find this site to be well-done & full of helpful information, including:  Stop, You’re Killing Me! is a resource for lovers of mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense books. We list over 4,100 authors, with chronological lists of their books (over 47,000 titles), both series (4,800+) and non-series. Use the alphabetical author and character links above or the special indexes in the left column. It's kind of like being in a candy store!

Locus - is a scifi & fantasy resource; some of its highlights include info on classics reprints, new in paper back, & the 2013 Audie Award winners for these & closely related genres - so many of our customers look for audio books & this is one useful resource.

Assignment 2 -

The genre Prezi created by Alex Herzberg & Sarah Jane Miller is just the tip of the genre-subgenre iceberg.

Assignment 3 -
Urban fiction> Hip Hop, Literary, & Christian

(An aside:  This is an overwhelming genre & assignment, not made to explore quickly or find pat, instant answers. From what I've discovered so far, it will take some time to fully explore & understand it. Perhaps I should have picked an easier subgenre - this can make your head spin! I absolutely think this is worthwhile, but the breadth & depth of it makes it better suited for a college course. I am fascinated by what I'm finding, but it only scratches the surface, & I'm frustrated that I can't give it my full time & attention. I have to skip this for now & return to it later. Getting too bogged down in Assignment 3/Week 6 - on to Week 7 to clear my head; I'll have to return to 6 later.)

Finding fansites was not a particularly easy task. Many were abandoned (2010, 2011), sites for book sales, or simply not especially useful. Interestingly, Goodreads came up most frequently when doing a general search. I spent a lot of time combing through fansites I couldn't use in the end.

Hip Hop Fic & Literary urban fic seem to be interchangeable, depending on who is explaining or describing it. Here's one description:  "Lit Hop is a hybrid art form that combines themes from traditional literature and storytelling with the music and poetics of hip-hop. The term is sometimes used to describe literature that is influenced by hip-hop music and culture, and sometimes used to describe highly literate or lyrically sophisticated hip-hop music. Lit hop is also used as a shorthand for any perceived thematic link between literature and hip-hop.^"   Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines are well-known for 70's classic, early urban fic or pulp fiction; Sister Souljah is another popular female author in this genre.

Urban Christian Fiction "is a genre in which conflicting stories of emotion and vividness mixes God, the urban church, and faith. Violence and sex is not purposely excluded, but are included whenever necessary for the story line. God is the center of the characters lives in Urban Christian Fiction and these stories usually portray African-American or Latino urban culture.^" And if that wasn't exciting enough, there are yet more subdivisions of urban Christian, such as urban renaissance and urban soul.
Well-known authors of this sub-genre include Kimberla Lawson Roby, Tony Dungy, & Serita Jakes (T.D. Jakes' wife).

Mashups of subgenres, e.g. steampunk westerns, are becoming increasingly popular. 
Steamfunk = a philosophy or style of writing that combines the African and / or African American culture and approach to life with that of the steampunk philosophy and / or steampunk fiction.

1.  Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman by Balogun Ojetade - set in Civil War period, alternate reality, supernatural action-adventure, dark fantasy
2.  Redeemer by Balogun Ojetade - science fiction urban gangster saga, time travel, adventure, fantasy

Readers of any one of these genres might be interested in these crossovers - it's like experimenting &  mixing all your favorite flavors into a big tasty drink - & steamfunk definitely has its niche readers. It's different & unique, & as with many things in the creative world, it likely appeals to those who like to be on the cutting edge of new or different. Urban Christian Fiction would have its niche followers, but might cross-over for those also reading "traditional" urban fiction. While the Urban Fiction genre & sub-genres are certainly popular among American black culture, they have an increasingly broad appeal and pull in not only American Latino, white, & other U.S. subcultures, but world-wide cultures, in particular those living an urban lifestyle.

Week 5 - Building Base Knowledge - Part Deux

Assignment 1 & 2:

I've been monitoring TOR- Affliction Fiction, but also other resources to get a sampling of the different genre blogs. Reading coworkers' blogs also gives a nice cross-section of genres & new & interesting finds. I've added earlyword to my regular resources, signed up for the newsletter, & have recommended it to a handful of customers.

From Earlyword I found Flavorwire, which covers the latest book-to-television series titles, movies and more. Many of our customers are interested in AV materials & I do a lot of readers' advisory for it.
Like Flavorwire, TOR highlights series re-watches, encouraging readers to watch along & discuss. Currently they are rewatching the first season of The X-Files (a series I missed - horrors!), currently streaming on Netflix & Hulu. For sci-fi geeks this is exciting stuff. TOR also features original stories, comics, & artwork - readers may be part of the process when the next big thing blows up.

It's been fun to check the different resources & share new info with fellow staff. My coworker, Debbie K., working on Week 6, was excited to find new things on Stop You're Killing Me - here's an excerpt from her blog -  I chose to use SYKM for my genre site.  It's chock-full of information  "for lovers of mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense books."  The lists are endless...authors, titles, series, awards, reviews, characters, locations, read-alikes, etc.  It's fun to explore, but it can be overwhelming.  The sheer volume of characters indexed is astonishing!  I know what site I'll be checking out next!

My other coworker, Karen H. found a kid's link on earlyword that said, "If you get music stuck in your head, do not push this button!" So much to read, so little time! :-)

Many of our customers at PI enjoy popular fiction and authors, particularly thrillers and suspense fiction. They may be counted on for reserving all the On-Order titles for Patterson, Baldacci, Silva, Scottoline, Archer, Child, etc. We have a display dedicated to this genre & are endlessly restocking it. We also have a dedicated nonfiction display that is very popular - bios/memoirs, narrative non-fiction are most popular. Our Staff Picks rounds out the dedicated display trio - on that you'll often find popular fiction, mysteries, book-club titles, literary fiction, & a smattering of other things like Sci-fi and audiobooks.

Assignment 3:
 Vampires in the Lemon Grove  by Karen Russell.
Collection of short paranormal/fantasy stories, lyrical  language, magical, mystical characters and settings. Readers of Russell's first novel, the highly acclaimed Swamplandia, are likely to read Vampires, as both have many of the same characteristics (listed above), plus Vampires is a collection of short stories - an appeal all its own.

As an aside, Amazon has a handy feature whereby customers can see other titles liked by customers who bought a particular title. That is one quick-y cheat when doing R.A. on the fly.

Week 4: Goodreads

I have a good cross-section of friends, coworkers, & colleagues on Goodreads. It's like having a widely-read team sharing lots of new and different titles.

I'm hearing about hot titles, classics, unique reads, under-the-radar items, and more. Somedays it's great, other days it's a lot to keep up with! ;-)

I've made a number shelves which are filling, especially my Want to Read shelf!

I made a recommendation to Becky Hass as she is currently reading (& enjoying!)

Becky Hass is currently reading

Panini Express: 70 Delicious Recipes Hot Off the Press

by Lauren Chattman

Here is my recommendation:

you sent a recommendation to Becky Hass:

delete

The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches: Recipes, History, and Trivia for Everything Between Sliced Bread
by Susan Russo

30 minutes ago · like · 1 comment   Based on your recent interest in panini's, I'm thinking you might enjoy this title. Russo, an apparent devotee, scoured the globe for the world's most delicious sandwiches, including recipes, construction tips & tricks, & fascinating history and trivia. Know your sandwich's history! And then eat it.(less) 0 minutes ago · delete Write a comment...

Goodreads is a fun tool, but isn't necessarily intuitive or easy for all users. My coworker, as an example.

Week 3: Readers' Services Conversations

Conversation 1:

You're right, that's a really popular travel narrative. There are actually many interesting, funny, compelling, exciting travel narratives, both classic and contemporary - it's a great genre.

Eat, Pray, Love combined the adventure of world travel, a strong, independent woman, & the honest, personal accounts of her experiences. If you'd like something similar, you might enjoy Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman.

In summary, midlife crisis and wanderlust take a middle-aged housewife from LA on a trip of a lifetime, first to Mexico and eventually across several continents. Similar to EPL, the setting includes diverse and exotic locales, and Gelman shares deeply personal, sometimes painful realizations and observations of self and others, culminating in her personal discovery and growth.

Conversation 2:

The good news is that there are indeed other vampire stories besides Twilight! So, avoiding slow-paced, vampire teen angst, let me tell you about a couple different titles that might appeal to you.

There is no shortage of vampire stories - classic and contemporary titles, historic and modern settings, horror, paranormal romance, science fiction, fantasy, teen, adult - there are lots of choices.

If you like classic horror you might try these B.T. (before Twilight) adult titles: Bram Stoker's Dracula or Anne Rice's modern interpretation with the Vampire LeStat series. If you like humorous try Christopher Moore's tongue-in-cheek vampire "love stories" - Bite Me or You Suck, or Charlaine Harris' southern-flavored Sookie Stackhouse series (which were made into the popular True Blood HBO series). These are just a few, so let me know where you're leaning & we'll go from there....
Conversation 3:

That sounds like a great read! There are actually many interesting, funny, compelling, exciting travel narratives, both classic and contemporary - it's a great genre.

As for River of Doubt it sounds like you enjoyed these basic elements:  historical, fast-paced action-adventure, exotic, dangerous locale. Based on that, I think you might enjoy a classic true travel adventure,
Journey without Maps by
 Graham Greene.  
In 1935 Greene and his cousin Barbara set off on a 350-mile, 4-week walk-about through Liberia hoping to find the "heart of darkness" in Africa. Using a vague U.S. government map, the two rely on the kindness of strangers as they explore the interior marked only as "cannibals".

This historical account is old-school adventure travel, complete with exotic, dangerous locale and vivid descriptions of people, time, and events.

Week Two: Recommendations

Tweaked the assignment to visit more blogs, use more RA tools, & exercise more RA muscles.

Made one recommendation to Kim Preis' blog -  The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

Made two recommendation to Tina Pickens' blog - one, a link to TOR.com for science fiction & related genres, and two, from the list of May paranormal romance titles on TOR.com, a particular title that she may like - "His Broken Angel - The Glorious Victorious Darcys #1" by Beth Ciotta

Week Two: Annotations

I have not read this series...

...but I have listened to all of the Flavia de Luce mysteries by author Alan Bradley. These pleasantly old-fashioned mysteries are brought to life through the talents of British narrator, Jayne Entwistle, who deftly creates a panoply of  memorable voices for each of the colorful characters, most especially Flavia.

Set in 1950s Britain, the action revolves around Buckshaw, the de Luce ancestral country estate, and the little village of Bishops Lacey. Told from the perspective of Flavia, the unforgettable 11 year old precocious protagonist who fancies herself an amateur sleuth, the storylines center around Flavia's clever unraveling of each new mystery. In addition to her powers of deduction, Flavia is also a brilliant young chemist, with poisons her particular interest. Better living through Chemistry might be her modern-day motto.

Day to day interactions with her eccentric family, villagers, and occasional visitors are made all the more intrigueing by Flavia's charmingly wicked dialog, full of period Britishism's, and crackerjack descriptions of people and place. While the pace is often leisurely, like a country ramble, it is accented with wizard twists and imminent peril, with the promise of more.

The Execution of Noa  P. Singleton – Elizabeth Silver

In this gripping debut novel, complex layers unfold and become an examination of innocence, guilt, morality, and capital punishment.

Noa Singleton is a young woman on death row for the first-degree murder of another young woman, much like herself. During her trial, Noa never utters a word in her defense, and remains maddeningly silent throughout the 10 years she waits for the chair.

Six months before her execution, Marlene Dixon, high-powered Philadelphia attorney and mother of her victim, contacts Noa with a bargain – tell what happened on the night of the murder in exchange for Marlene’s influence to commute her sentence.  So begins a fierce interplay and battle of wills between the two.

Full of tension, twists and turns, the storyline focuses on relationships and how they can become torn and twisted, and seemingly beyond one’s control. The dialog and interplay between characters is the core of the story and sets the stage for an unforeseen unveiling of secrets and wrenching ending.

Looks like everyone is doing well with the Bookish assignments! It's great to share with other staff to learn more.

I'll be sharing and following on Goodreads. I've got a well-populated community as many staff members and friends are also members.

I've decided to follow science fiction on Tor - Fiction Affliction to learn more about that genre and subgenres and its readers. I like its clean look, and easy access to additional information.

I'll likely check in on the other genre links to further my knowledge. The PI branch is an excellent place to broaden and practice readers' advisory skills!