Week 3 Prompt response- NoveList and other search strategies

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!
Result: Circus of the Damned.
How: I refined my search to “series”, then entered Anita Blake, and easily found book 3 in the series.


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.
Result: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.
How: I started with Prodigal Summer in the title search. Once I came up with that record, I scrolled down to “search for more”. Under “writing style”, I selected “descriptive” and “lyrical” to address the patron’s enjoyment of the writing style. Under “character”, I selected “complex”, and under “tone, I selected “thought-provoking”. I was given at least a dozen results, many of which were Faulkner or Updike, and in my personal experience, I do not find these writers to be “fast-paced”, so I further isolated the search by selecting “fast-paced” under “refine results”. This yielded just one title, Maddaddam, by Margaret Atwood. This title is the third in a trilogy, so I found the first book in that trilogy, which was Oryx and Crake.


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!
Result: Child of Vengeance by David Kirk
How: I started a Browse By Genre search, and used the terms “Japan realistic fiction”. I then refined results to “adult” and “time period, 16th century”. This yielded the result Child of Vengeance. The annotation suggested that it “skillfully evokes a time, place, and way of life that should appeal to fans of historical fiction set in feudal Japan”, which seemed to perfectly fit what the patron wanted.


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?
Result: Still Life by Louise Penny
How: I began here with an author search to find out more about Elizabeth George. The right-hand column listed read-alikes, so I started with the first, Ruth Rendell. There were some similar traits, but it was specifically stated that she was “creepy”, so I moved on. Louise Penny caught my eye because I have seen her name on a lot of “best of 2017” lists. Her profile had many traits in como with George, including writing style (lyrical), pace (leisurely), and storyline (intricate), but without any of the creepiness of some of the other read-alikes. The book I suggested is the first in the Inspector Gamache series, so if the patron enjoys it, there’s more where it came from!


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?
Result: Autumn by David Moody
How: I began with a keyword search for “zombie”. Then I refined the search to “adult” and “apocalyptic fiction”. At this point I knew I was on the right track, because World War Z was the first hit on the page. I finally decided on Autumn because the annotation suggested it had a lot in common with the themes of World War Z and Walking Dead-that is, it is based on “the struggle of a small group of survivors” trying to make it in this new world full of disease and fear and literally walking dead, which is about as classic zombie as you can get. However, it is not a very well-known author, at least in my experience, so it is possibly a hidden gem. This is also first in a series


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.
Result: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
How: Under Quicklinks, I selected Books to Movies, and isolated to Adults and Older Teens. This list starts at 2018 and goes down from there, so it was easy to ensure that I would stay within the 5-year mark. From there, I scanned the titles, mentally eliminating anything I knew would likely not be what the patron wanted (Stephen King’s IT, Fifty Shades, etc.) I am an avid reader of literary fiction, so this was the sort of question for which I could really use my subject-area expertise. I was looked for titles that I had either read or were on my to-read list, and I quickly found this book, which I have wanted to read for some time, and has been on several lists the past few years, and always pops up as suggested reading for me on various book searches when I am looking for something for myself.


7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.
Result: Run for your Life by Jean Holbrook Mathews
How: This was probably the most challenging for me, because most of what I found (without employing some of my tricks outside NoveList) are Christian-based thrillers. And while there are certainly readers that don't mind, I hesitate to recommend distinctly Christian books unless the patron specifically asks. That being said, I managed to break into a genre I knew very little about. By performing a Make Your Own Appeal Mix, I chose past-paced but chaste, and came up with a decent amount of titles. However, the one I chose here really caught my eye as being a good fit for this patron’s needs. It is fast-paced, clean, suspenseful, and intricate. So even if the reader isn’t necessarily wanting Christian fiction, there is still plenty of appeal that will hopefully make it a good match.





Second, after you get a chance to do the readings and explore Mary Chelton's list of tools, I want to hear about how you find books to read. It could be a site or a resource you've just discovered or one you've used for years, one you use for yourself or for your patrons or family and friends.

My desktop at work has several bookmarks directly in the toolbar that I use daily. The first is Good Reads. This site is my go-to when I quickly need a full listing of a series. I find that many authors’ websites, for whatever reason, are not always easy to navigate. Sometimes they have too many flashy things happening, or too many links, or its out-dated, etc. Good Reads is a reliable, straightforward source for when I need series listings right away. I also use it for read-alikes, but it tends to be a bit repetitive at times, so i have to be really choosy about which lists to explore. I also use Good Reads to track and archive my personal reading, although I don’t keep up as religiously as I would like. I’m not a huge social media fan, but Good Reads satisfies that need to interact with my peers, but it’s only about books, which makes it much more tolerable. I love to know what other people are reading, what other people are interested in, and Good Reads’ algorithm for showing recommendations is pretty impressive. I always find 2 or 3 other amazing titles while searching for one.

Powell’s Books is a GREAT website for a mixture of new, old, fiction, non-fiction, popular, and obscure. Staff picks is always a favorite feature of any site, library, or bookstore, and Powell’s is no exception. Furthemore, the Powell’s best seller lists isn’t necessarily going to reflect the New York Times bestseller list, which is why I love it. For instance, right now, the top 5 bestsellers at Powell’s are all Ursula K. LeGuin books. So while many best seller lists reflect the mainstream, Powell’s has it’s pulse on what “everyone else” is reading. It is just as easy to get lost in that website as it is in the store itself (ok, full disclosure, I’ve never been into an actual Powell’s). Finally, Powell’s has a blog, which is chock-full of absolute hidden gems!

On the other end of the book store spectrum, Barnes and Noble’s “book graph” feature is probably one of the coolest tools of the trade right now. It’s not super-precise, but works through the use of controlled vocabulary to show you branches of book recommendations based on one selection. If there were ever a time to use the term “down the rabbit hole”, this would be it. I have gotten lost for countless minutes letting the formula show me books I never knew I wanted to read, and watching it draw connections between things that would have never occurred to me.

To keep up with current book reviews and trends, NPR books is my go-to. They have excellent book reviewers, book lists, interviews, and in general they tend to discuss the types of books that I like to read. I visit the NPR books page at least every week, if not every day.