Prompt 1: Practice Readers' Advisory Questions and Answers
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 fourth book in the “Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter” series is The Lunatic Cafe.
[Found on Fantastic Fiction: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/laurell-k-hamilton/ ]
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.
Some other books with a similar writing style to what Kingsolver used in Prodigal Summer (descriptive, lush, and lyrical) are Devisadero by Michael Ondaatje, The Maytrees by Annie Dillard,Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier, and Sisters of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.
[Found on NoveList Plus by finding the writing style of Prodigal Summer and then searching for books with that same style.]
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!
Some highly-rated historical novels set in Japan include Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, The Tokaido Road by Lucia St. Clair Robson, The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, and Shōgun by James Clavell.
[Found using Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/historical-fiction-japan ]
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 might like books by Ruth Rendell, Peter Robinson, Tana French, or Louise Penny.
[Found on NoveList by searching for read-alike authors to Elizabeth George.]
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?
He might enjoy I, Zombie by Hugh Howey (no relation to the TV series or graphic novels). If he enjoys literary fiction, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith is very popular; if not, Cell by Stephen King could be a good choice.
[I, Zombie was highly recommended to me by a friend and coworker a couple years ago. I haven’t read it yet, but the brief synopsis she gave me has stuck in my mind! The other two suggestions I got from NoveList by searching for zombie fiction and then sorting by popularity.]
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 enjoy Romeo & Juliet (2013) based on the Shakespearean play, Victor Frankenstein (2015) based on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (but told from Igor’s perpective!), Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) based on the novel by Lewis Carroll, or Murder on the Orient Express (2017) based on the mystery novel by Agatha Christie.
[Ideas found on Mid-Continent Public Library’s “Based on the Book” page: http://www.mymcpl.org/books-movies-music/based-book ]
7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.
Try Michael Crichton and Richard Doetsch. Both authors use very little profanity and sex in their stories. If you don’t mind a small foray into the suspense and mystery genres, the authors Mary Higgins Clark and her daughter Carol Higgins Clark, might be right up your alley.
[Found by reading Goodreads message boards on this topic, e.g.: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1472641-thrillers-that-r-clean ]
Where do I find new books to read?
When I need a new book to read – a rare event, because I have a looooooong to-read list already – I often look on Goodreads for recommendations. That said, my current to-read list is almost entirely populated with books given to me by friends or family or books highly recommended by friends. Occasionally, I’ll add a book after hearing the author interviewed on the radio or a podcast.
Oh, my gosh! I never knew that Hugh Howey wrote anything besides the Silo series! Now I have to put that on my to-read list, along with the Silo series (because for whatever reason I can't get that series out of my head recently).
ReplyDeleteI suggested the James Clavell books as well. Finding books that weren't relatively contemporary was, honestly, kind of difficult: I saw a lot of novels that took place in post-WWII Japan, but finding something a little further back was hard. Luckily, I recently finished reading "Silence," by Shusaku Endo, which is about Portuguese priests in the 16th/17th century, so I had an easy suggestion right away. But finding other titles that were along the same vein was tough. In the end, I suggested Clavell, and then a non-fiction book called "The Bells of Nagasaki," which--while obviously still pretty contemporary--says a fair bit about Japanese culture at the time of the bombings. I think I like your suggestions better, though, because they seem a bit closer to what the 'patron' was looking for.
Silence sounds intriguing! Thanks for the ideas!
DeleteGreat prompt response! You did an excellent job outlining resources used and steps taken to answer the queries. Full points!
ReplyDelete