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.

week 1

Assignment 1: The cover quizzes were nifty. I got 21/24 of the "adult" titles, and basically bombed on the children's with 12/20. Catcher in the Rye is always a plain white cover in my memory. Also, for some reason I thought the Lord of the Flies cover was anything but; Last of the Mohicans, anyone?

Assignment 2: I did fairly well on the cover/subgenre matching, predictably missing the SciFi and Fantasy ones, as I don't gravitate toward either genre. The urban fantasy was the only one of those two genres I accurately guessed.

Assignment 3: Good tips, thanks. I particularly liked the "don't pigeonhole" tips; it can be all too easy to generalize about a genre we don' t know very well.

Assignment 4: I will follow Earlyword and Stop You're Killing Me. Earlyword has great breaking book news and keeps me briefed on recent titles getting publicity. Stop You're Killing Me will help me with mysteries, as we have many mystery lovers at Parkville and I am not one of them. Mysteries are definitely a weak spot for me.

Assignment 5: This little girl was hilarious. Every other word seemed to be "magical," "robots," or "trees." Love it.