Week Three Post

 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 next book in the Anita Blake series is Lunatic Cafe. I found this on Novelist by looking at the author's series and choosing the Anita Blake series. Lunatic Cafe is listed as the fourth book after Circus of the Damned. 

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.

I found the novel Champion of the Scarlet Wolf on Novelist. Once I looked up the novel The Prodigal Summer. I was able to use the terms that describe the writing in the novel and search for other novels that fit those descriptions. From there I was able to refine the search to look for fast-paced which is how I found this novel. 

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!

I would recommend the novel The Teahouse Fire, by Ellis Avery. I used one of Novelist's field codes in order to find a book that was set in Japan. From there I used the limiters to find a book that was historical fiction and descriptive. After I had books that were based on the limiters, I chose a novel based on the popularity of the book. 

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?

For this, I would recommend The beekeeper's apprentice: or, on the segregation of the Queen by Laurie King. This novel shares a lot of similarities with Well-Schooled in Murder. I used some of the descriptions of the Elizabeth George novel to find a list of books that were similar and then modified that to exclude any works by Elizabeth George. I found the 15th book in the series Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mysteries and chose to recommend the first book. 

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?

I recommend Quiver by Jason Fischer. This book too is also about zombies, has many of the same themes, and is plot-driven much like The Walking Dead. I was able to use many of the same descriptors and then chose a book that was new and popular. 

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.

I was able to use Novelist's "Page to Screen" option under "Quick Links." I wasn't sure that becoming a movie or show after some sleuthing, I discovered that "page to screen" was a searchable genre.  I searched GN "Literary Fiction" AND GN "page to screen." From there, I used the limiters to only show books from the last five years. I had to use Google a bit to make sure the one that I chose was a movie rather than a show. I would recommend Cherry by Nico Walker. The movie stars Tom Holland as the titular character Cherry. 

7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast-paced.

When I first started searching, my first instinct was to overdo it with the field codes. I quickly discovered that it would not yield results. I chose to forgo all field codes in my next search except the Genre field code (GN). I used boolean operators to remove sex and swearing from the search. I came across a new book by Dolly Partin and James Paterson called Run, Rose, Run. I would recommend that as I think it would be interesting to read a thriller that Dolly Parton had something to do with. 

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Typically, I find things to read by walking around Barnes and Noble with an hour to kill and a Starbucks drink from the Cafe. When I am not doing that (which is not all that much- every time I head over to the shopping area I find a reason to go in. AND my seven-year-old sister also encourages "Barnes and Wobbles" visits - I've created a monster), I tend to find my next read on TikTok or Amazon through the various algorithms that dictate what is served up to me for my consumption. And if those fail (and that would only be through divine intervention), I have a best friend, who I mention in my reader's profile, who has BIG opinions on the books is should be reading (and how I should feel about them - but that is neither here nor there). Lastly, now that I am in a library setting five days a week, I get recommendations from coworkers, BookPage, a "Popular review source of new books for readers," Novelist, and NextReads, a "subscription email service developed by the creators of NoveList (Chelton, 2008)."

Reference

Chelton, M. (2008). Readers advisory tools for adult readers: a five-year retrospective selected bibliography, with a few earlier exceptions. from https://www.webjunction.org/documents/webjunction/Reader_039_s_Advisory_Tools_for_Adult_Readers_A_Five_Year_Retrospective.html