week 4

Goodreads is a great tool, and I've been using it to keep a reading log for a while. I place many holds based upon what like-minded friends are reading, what sounds intriguing that I maybe haven't heard of yet, and what gets stellar reviews from friends.

Up until this exercise, I had pretty much used Goodreads as a log of what I've read: no real organization other than chronological. I like to think of myself as a pretty well organized person, so adding some 'shelves' to my Goodreads should have been easy-peasy. And it is easy, but since the site is slow to load, it is proving to be a time-consuming process to categorize my backlog of reads. I may have to try from the app later, which zooms along much more quickly. Bottom line: it would have been easier to start out with shelves and organize as I added titles!

The Goodreads recommendations were...pretty general. They seemed to be subject-oriented, which may just hint at how difficult it is to recommend by appeal characteristics. Not always spot on, but I like that you can select "not interested" for titles that aren't your cup of tea. I wonder if Goodreads learns user preferences the way that Netflix does... hmm.

I recommended Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante to Yvette, based on her review of Reservation Road. Of course, I posted these to her blog, then realized I needed to post them to Goodreads instead, and now need to friend Yvette and repost! I will get the recommendations to the right spot eventually!

Here was my post:

Hi Yvette!

Based upon your review of Reservation Road, I'll recommend Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante and/or Before I Go to Sleep, by SJ Watson. Both books contain psychologically gripping stories, one surrounding a tragedy (in Turn of Mind), the other where the main character must piece together her reality while suffering from a memory disorder (Before I Go to Sleep). The fast pacing in both would be right up your alley. Before I Go to Sleep offers unclear characters that aren't immediately revealed as good or bad; I think you'd enjoy figuring it out.

Cheers,
Elizabeth

week 3

Conversation 1 : The Eat, Pray, Love customer

It sounds like the customer wants a personal story: she enjoyed the introspective elements of EPL. Oprah books also tend to offer emotionally engaging stories. She’s looking for a book club book, so something discussable.

What I’d recommend: Wild by Cheryl Strayed. The story also involves travel—a solo journey hiking the Pacific Crest Trail—but the journey acts as a parallel to her inner voyage processing the death of her mother and other personal hardships.

Conversation 2: The Not-Twilight customer

The customer wants a fast-paced vampire story sans the pining of Twilight.

I might recommend the Sookie Stackhouse novels—faster paced, yet still dark and… vampire-y. Also, perhaps Laurell K. Hamilton for compelling, steamier-than-Twilight novels.

Conversation 3: The fascinating, fast-paced narrative non-fiction customer         

The customer wants a narrative NF story that has a thrilling adventure element to it.

Novelist seems to want this customer to read more about Teddy Roosevelt, but I thought the customer was more interested in a true, captivating story than about TR. I’d suggest the Erik Larson titles, Devil in the White City, etc. for their quick pacing and can’t-believe-it’s-true storylines.

week 2 - recommendations

I posted two recommendations to Jana K.'s blog.

week 2

Appeal Factors

Great article on appeal factors-- a useful brush up on RS vocabulary that will undoubtedly inform my future recommendations for customers.

My usual reading diet consists of memoirs, quirky or literary fiction, a smattering of nonfiction, and graphic novels. For this exercise, I chose a graphic memoir and one of the most bizarre fiction books I've read in a very long time.

Calling Doctor Laura: A Graphic Memoir by Nicole Georges

Nicole has lived most of her twenty-odd years believing that the father she never knew was dead. When a psychic tells her otherwise, she begins to question her assumptions and eventually turns to radio’s Dr. Laura for guidance. A graphic novel memoir with a heartfelt tone and intimate detail, Calling Dr. Laura takes readers on a coming of age journey with a twist: what does Nicole’s family know about her father, and what does it mean about her identity?

Treasure Island!!! by Sara Levine

An unnamed young woman uses Stevenson’s classic Treasure Island as her life manual in this quirky and absurd novel. The wandering story follows her through several bizarre situations—working at a Pet Library, for example—and the seemingly illogical decisions she makes. Playful language and a humorous tone make for a bizarre and ridiculous romp of a novel that reads almost as an exercise in witty language.