RA FOR ALL...THE ROAD SHOW!

I can come to your library, book club meeting, or conference to talk about how to help your readers find their next good read. Click here for more information including RA for All's EDI Statement.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Sporty Reads

Here in Chicago over the next few days, we have the Bulls and Blackhawks in the NBA and NHL playoffs, Grant Park has become  “Draft-Town USA-- for the NFL, and our 2 baseball teams are not stinking it up yet.

People have sports on the mind, so today, I am sharing some of the lists of sports books that I have been using to help patrons.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Edgar Awards As RA Tool

Yes I am posting before the awards happen, instead of tomorrow morning after the statues are handed out. Why? If you don't know the answer to this already, you must be new to RA for All, or you just don't pay attention.

Because award nominee lists are an even better RA Tool than simply knowing the winner of that award.

Here is the post I wrote back in 2011 [and still refer readers to frequently] entitled, "Using Awards Lists As A RA Tool." There I explain how the short lists for awards are a treasure trove of information for readalikes, display ideas, and collection development [just to name a few things you can use them for].

But the Edgars are particularly great as a RA resource for a few reasons.  First, since they are the official awards of "The Mystery Writers of America," the association takes a very broad view of what classifies as "mystery," including a wide range of crime fiction titles in their nominations.  Take for example the best novel category for this year, which I have reposted from their site, below.


Best Novel

     

This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow) 
Wolf by Mo Hayder (Grove/Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)
The Final Silence by Stuart Neville (Soho Press)
Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown)
Coptown by Karin Slaughter (Penguin Randomhouse – Delacorte Press)

These are all excellent novels, but what is fantastic about them as a grouping is that we have mystery, suspense, psychological suspense, and horror all represented here. You can use each year's list of titles in the Edgar "Best Novel" category to take a snapshot of where crime fiction is at that moment in time. So for 2015, we are seeing here in the nominations a tendency towards darker titles with less of an emphasis on traditional mystery and more of a focus on elements of suspense. That is an accurate assessment of the overall state of crime fiction today. And all it took was looking at 1 category of 1 award to understand the current trends in an entire subsection of fiction.

Second, the sheer breadth of Edgar categories covering all age ranges, fiction and nonfiction and even media, is also very useful. You can help people who like crime from a whole collection perspective.

Third, past years' short lists make for awesome backlist reading suggestions, and the Edgar Awards make this easier than just about anyone else with their easy to use Edgars Database.  For example, I ran this search for the 2013 nominees for Best First Novel. Best First Novel nominees from 2 years ago are authors to watch out for now. But even less specifically, just looking at any nominee from the past is a great place to find satisfying crime reads that will be on the shelf.

Finally, the Edgars have a category that in and of itself has saved my butt numerous times as I help people who enjoy the books of Mary Higgins Clark but have read all of her novels. Clark writes in a particular style of intense suspense but without graphic violence. She is hard to find satisfying matches for. Each year the Mary Higgins Clark Award honors the best works of fiction of the past year that most closely resemble the novels of Clark. This list of all of the nominees is THE BEST RESOURCE out there to help with Clark readalikes. Here is the current list of nominees


Mary Higgins Clark
    

A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon Bolton (Minotaur Books)
The Stranger You Know by Jane Casey (Minotaur Books)
Invisible City by Julia Dahl (Minotaur Books)
Summer of the Dead by Julia Keller (Minotaur Books)
The Black Hour by Lori Rader-Day (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)

So that's why I posted now, before the awards are given out later tonight. I will be following who wins on Twitter, but just for the fun of it. For my work helping leisure readers, it is the list of nominees and the historical database that I love.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

BPL Book Discussion: The Rosie Project

Last Monday the group met to discuss the seemingly light romantic comedy, The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. I say seemingly because there is quite a bit of heft behind the fun here.  But that is for later in the post, for now, here is the publisher's summary:
Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially challenged professor of genetics, who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. And so, in the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers. 
Rosie Jarman is all these things. She also is strangely beguiling, fiery, and intelligent. And while Don quickly disqualifies her as a candidate for the Wife Project, as a DNA expert Don is particularly suited to help Rosie on her own quest: identifying her biological father.  
When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on the Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you. 
Arrestingly endearing and entirely unconventional, Graeme Simsion’s distinctive debut will resonate with anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of great challenges. The Rosie Project is a rare find: a book that restores our optimism in the power of human connection. 
Before I get to the discussion itself, I would like to urge all of you to look at the resources for this title on LitLovers because besides posting the publisher's questions (which are a resounding "meh" for this title) they had an addendum of a few more promising ones here.

Now on to our excellent discussion:
  • We had 7 liked votes, 0 disliked, and 2 so-sos who were both leaning more to like.
  • Some of our opening comments:
    • It felt too light and fluffy at first, but as I got into it, and in the last 100 pages, Don's transformation added depth and interest for me,
    • As a former University Dean, I liked how the book made fun of that world.  It was so true.
    • I felt like Don was too dismissive about his own Asperger's 
    • Actually, that's what I liked about it. It wasn't an issue novel, or "woe as me." Don knew he was different and found positive and negative things about it. This made the story move faster and was still informative about the challenges he faced.
    • This book was hilarious.
  • You cannot read this book without talking about Don, our narrator. Unanimously we all loved the narration here, even those who do not normally like first person. Comments...
    • I liked this book because of Don and his unique POV. Simsion stayed in Don's voice perfectly. The story stays within the narrow boxes Don requires to function in the world, but as Don opens up, so too does the story.
    • I liked that we got to know someone with Asperger's on a personal level by reading this story.
    • Don's lack of self awareness at the beginning of the story reminded me that we can all be like that--not as self aware as we should be.  His was just to an extreme.  Watching him learn to see himself better made me think about my own self. Wonderful!
    • Yes, a great example of this is how much Don, a geneticist, criticizes his friend Gene for poorly teaching "Intro to Genetics," yet Don ignores the fact that Phil could be Rosie's Dad.
    • The lengths Don went to in order to collect DNA made for great storytelling, but it also illustrated a lot about Don's character.
  • This segue-wayed us into a discussion about the "Wife Project" in general:
    • When the book began, I hated Don! He was such a jerk and objectifying women trying to find a wife with a questionnaire. But that was why the book was great. I got mad at Don but that was Simsion's plan.  As Don realized how bad his plan was, I began to love him.
    • This book was also enlightening to me on a psychological level. I too reacted poorly to Don at first, but I realized that the entire book is a statement on how we react when we first meet people who are so different. Everyone needs a chance, especially those who are outside "normal." Who knows what actually lies behind the behavior?
    • How different is Don's project from e-dating sites? He might have been "weirder" about it than e-Harmony, but still, it is the same idea.
    • We then began sharing stories of people meeting online using a dating questionnaire.
    • Even when single people meet in person, there is a lot of self selecting going on.
    • I loved how he kept changing the "scientific" survey. It showed how his reason was beginning to give way to instinct when it came to love.
    • Don and Rosie both had to change, but Don had to change a bit more.
    • The "Wife Project" served to teach all of us a lesson about how we are all unique and all need to adapt to survive in the world. We need to make concessions to live and work together.
  • Question: Can Don feel love?
    • Rosie is worried he could not love her the way she wants to be loved.
    • We decided that Don can feel love but Rosie needed to accept how Don will love her. It is different than the Rom Coms love that Don studies to learn from, but there is no question that he loves her.
    • This is a universal question that all couples must answer before they commit to each other.  This version was just more quirky, but that made us pay attention better. In reality, it applies to everyone.
    • We also all enjoyed reading a Rom Com/Chick Lit type book but from a male perspective.  Very refreshing. [Note: we are all women]
  • Rosie's Turn:
    • She had obvious anger/abandonment issues. It motivated all her behaviors and interactions.
    • She was against stereotypes to an extreme.  We pointed a few out that were amusing like a straight girl working at a gay bar, acting like a "dumb" bartender but she is actually a genius. It made us understand Rosie more as the book went on.
    • Before we learn more about Rosie, we definitely like Don much more.
    • We love how much Don accepted and adored Rosie's aggressive independence, but it also made him blind to her need for love and support for a time.
    • The NYC trip was perfect. They got to know each other and we got to know each of them better. They knew they could be a couple after that, but that realization scared Rosie.
  • Gene and Claudia:
    • We spent a good deal of time talking about them as a couple, as Don's true friends, and how they helped Rosie and Don get together.
    • Gene is portrayed as a buffoon, but he is really quite brilliant and very caring.
    • Gene knew Rosie and Don would be perfect for each other because she was smart enough to keep pace with him and her emotional issues could be helped by Don's extreme reasoning.  
    • Gene recognized that Rosie and Don each had skills and personality traits that the other needed.
    • Claudia was loved by us all.  She was the grounded, "mother earth" character. But we felt bad for her that the open marriage with Gene which she initially agreed to, was making her upset now. We were sad that she couldn't tell Gene herself, but were super happy when Don gained enough social awareness to recognize her change of heart and told Gene.
    • Claudia was a perfect therapist. She listened to Don and gave sound advice without ever telling him what to do.
  • We went back to the beginning of the novel to talk about Don and the talk he gave for Julie and her group of kids with Asperger's
    • This interaction to begin the novel set up 2 opposing views of Asperger's. Julie's view that it is a flaw in these kids which must be overcome and Don's view that it gives these children an advantage that they have to know how to exploit in the "normal world."
    • We come to understand Don better because of this interaction.
    • We then had a talk about Asperger's and how it is gaining more acceptance now. People shared stories of people they knew who they thought of as "different" but were probably just undiagnosed at the time.
    • Someone shared that she had just watched a Ted Talk about Asperger's where the speaker argued it is actually an advancement of the brain. He saw it as evolution of our mental powers as humans.  Very interesting.
    • We talked about how people with Asperger's need people like Don to bridge the gap.
  • The Title-- The Rosie Project:
    • There are so many projects here.
    • The Wife Project
    • The Dad Project
    • The Don Project
    • The Rosie Project
    • The title is from the last project because it is from Don's POV and that is the project that is the most important.  It is the result of all of the other projects.
  • Words to Describe This Book:
    • engaging
    • romantic comedy
    • unconventional [I love this word choice because it describes so many things about this book, both in content and construction]
    • humanizing
    • quirky
    • delightful
    • compelling
    • philosophical
    • self reflective
    • great characters
    • thought provoking
    • fun
Readalikes: There is a sequel-- The Rosie Effect-- which only 1 person had read so far. We vacillated between wanted her to tell us everything, and making her keep the details to herself so we could all read and enjoy it.

If you are looking for other discussable books with a quirky first person narration try The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (autistic child narrator), Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem (adult with Tourette's Syndrome) or Unexpectedly, Milo by Matthew Dicks (OCD).

Don reminded many of us of Sheldon from the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory.  If you like that show, you will enjoy this novel.

The novel is most similar to an old fashioned, screwball, romantic comedy, like those featuring Katherine Hepburn. Try Bringing Up Baby or The Philadelphia Story.

What I found most intriguing about The Rosie Project was that at its heart it was a quirky, romantic comedy with meat. Meaning that I had fun while reading this fun and touching love story, but it also got me thinking about larger issues beyond if the couple would end up together.  Two other books I have read that captured me in a similar way (with links to my longer reviews) were Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson.

If you enjoyed the awkward men finding love and coming to a better understanding of themselves in the process, NoveList suggests-  Us by David Nicholls, Addition by Toni Jordan or The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Monday Discussion: What's Your Favorite Free Resource?

I make no apologies that my first-line, go to resource for helping patrons find leisure reading options is NoveList. Yes, I have a contract to create content for the database, but it is only because I believe in what it can do. I am also very lucky to be a resident of Illinois, a state which provides a subside so that all public libraries can offer NoveList Plus to all card holders.

Coming up in 3 weeks, I will be providing an in-service program for 3 libraries in Michigan (more details about that soon), and we will be starting the day with my very fun and interactive RA for All program where I walk all staff through the very basics of helping leisure readers.

For this program I do not have a power point, rather I have a list of exercises we all do together, and the workshop is shaped by the staff who are participating in it. I do have one basic document that sits at the center of the presentation though, it is Becky's Ten Rules of Basic RA Service.

After the rules, I have a list of the 5 resources I cannot live without and NoveList is one of them; however, these three libraries do not have NoveList.  Of course, they have already alerted me to this so I can prepare and substitute.

It is really a very easy choice for me; the next best free option would be Fantastic Fiction.  It is not a perfect substitute, but it can be very helpful. But living in this Illinois, NoveList land of plenty got me thinking that I might be getting lazy, and maybe I am missing a much better options.

So that's where you all come in. Time to tell me what I am missing. \
For today's Monday Discussion let me know what your #1 go to free resource is.

I would prefer to hear about the resources that answer the widest range of questions, but if you have a favorite genre resource that you are dying to share, pass it on.

Who knows maybe it will end up in my presentation.

For past Monday Discussions, click here.


Friday, April 24, 2015

New Issue of NoveList RA News Featuring an Article by Me

The May 2015 issue of the NoveList RA News e-newsletter is about "Pleasure Reading." Click here to access the entire issue.  But below I have reposted, with the direct link, my article on the importance of considering frame as we work with leisure readers.

I think frame is an often overlooked appeal factor that is WAY more important that people realize.  I use actual patron and colleague examples (all anonymously attributed) to illustrate this point.

So read on. Oh, and yes, I chose that cheesy title on purpose. [Now you all have an ear worm too.]

*******************************************************************

It's All About That Frame

by Becky Spratford

*This article originally appeared in the May 2015 issue of RA News.*

Librarians are well versed at asking about genre and appeal preferences. We remember to bring up issues like preferred pacing, desired tone, and favored writing style but we often forget one vital question as we talk to leisure readers: Are there any special topics, places, or things that you enjoy when you encounter them in a book? In RA terms this is how we ask about frame. 

Frame is all the details that enrich the backdrop and make the world of the novel come alive. Some of this is setting, but there is much more to frame than the simple geographic location of a story. The easiest example can be seen in genres or subgenres which include details of a specific profession, such as legal thrillers. Readers who enjoy legal thrillers want all the legal frame that comes with them. They crave talk of briefs, witnesses, cross examinations, law office politics, and criminal justice system minutiae.

That is an extreme example where the actual subgenre is defined by its frame but there are plenty of other books where interesting frames pop up and add to the appeal of the overall story. Nora Roberts is an expert at this. As Joyce Saricks writes in her NoveList Author Read-alike article on Roberts:
One of the features fans appreciate in Roberts' books is her interesting background frames. Antiques, art, magic, fairy tales and legends, treasure hunting, larceny, horse breeding and racing, all find space in her pages, and readers feel as if they've learned something about an intriguing or unlikely profession or activity. In fact, these background frames are a draw for many readers, who like a little extra in their books.
I have found that there are some specific frames that I enjoy in my leisure reading. For example, as a transplanted but proud Jersey girl, I will read just about any book if it is set in New Jersey. I also love books with circuses, ones set on college campuses, titles with a Civil War background but which do not focus on the battles, and books with baseball in them. I will read any type of book in which these subjects appear -- fiction or nonfiction. Nine times out of ten, I will end up loving the book, even if it is not a genre or writing style I would normally enjoy. I can go against my appeal preferences if these frames are present because their presence in the story in and of themselves gives me great enjoyment.

Now think about yourself. When I first mentioned asking readers if there is a special frame they enjoy I am sure your first reaction was, "No." But as I travel around the country doing RA training, one of the first things I make library staff do is sit down and think about their own reader profile. As they think about their leisure reading preferences, most are surprised to find they have at least a couple frames which they particularly enjoy. Asking them to think about their own reading habits can make them more sensitive to addressing future patrons' habits.

Until you really force yourself to think about it, however, these likes and dislikes tend to stay hidden in your subconscious. Bringing them to the forefront of your own mind can only make you better at drawing these appeal factors out of others as you assist them at the service desk. So now, I ask you again, "Are there any special frames you enjoy in your books?"

Here are some (anonymous) examples of the frame preferences of friends and colleagues that I have gathered over the years: anything that mentions Faberge eggs, any genre as long as it is set in Tudor times, dragons, vampires, anything British, the Amish, books with "pink" covers," and discussions of pottery or the making of it.

Frames can also be limiters. Yes there are things that if they appear in a book will make someone hate the title even if they liked everything else about it, and I mean things beyond typical sex and violence issues. Again, here are some real life (anonymous) examples of friends' and colleagues' frame restrictions: anything with a circus, even the mention of cancer, dragons, vampires, anything British, apocalyptical situations, books with pastel covers, and anything featuring "crafts."

Yes, I realize some of the same frame favorites of one reader can become frame kryptonite for another. You can also see how strong people feel about something that may only be in one scene of a book, or in some cases, it may only be on the cover. This just goes to show how important frame can be.
Here is an example where understanding frame mattered for me. I was helping a reader for whom Haruki Murakami would be the perfect author. She enjoyed surrealist and mystical fiction with interesting characters and experimental styles, like she found in two of her favorite authors Paul Auster and David Mitchell. However, when the RA conversation came to talking about frame, she mentioned that she could not read a book with talking animals, no matter how perfect the rest of the novel would be for her. Well, that is one of Murakami's trademarks, he almost always has a talking cat in his novels. Even though Murakami seemed perfect for her in theory, in practice, she would have ended up not enjoying his novels solely because of talking cats who might only appear in one or two scenes in a 500 page book.

So as you are out there in the RA trenches matching readers with books, remember to stop and ask about any special interests.  You can easily put those frames into NoveList as a keyword search and you will find a plethora of options, many of which you might not have considered without asking about frame in the first place. And don't forget to offer your own reading quirks as examples to break the ice because sometimes it really can be all about that frame.

PRO TIP
Use NoveList cataloging to provide recommendatiosn after identifying reader frames. Using Becky's example frame "New Jersey, " try typing "SU New Jersey" in the search box. 
Did you like this article? Tweet it out  
Want more articles like this one? Subscribe to RA News

Becky Spratford is a Readers' Advisor in Illinois specializing in serving patrons ages 13 and up.  She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library.  She runs the critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All, and is on the Steering Committee of the Adult Reading Round Table.  Becky is also known for her work with horror readers and is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association.  You can share your favorite quirky frame with Becky on Twitter at @RAforAll

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Sisters in Crime Handout with Tons of Reading Suggestions for Every Type of Crime Fiction Reader

Last month ARRT and Sisters in Crime hosted a joint event. Just 3 shorts day after the March 25th event, I left for an extended vacation and then returned to a catalog conversion at my library.

So, there really wasn’t a wrap up post.  But never to fear. Cari, the library representative (bio in detail in this post) shared her notes from a previous SiC library program at her library in October 2014 AND the notes she compiled at out March 2015 one.  I have posted them below for all the share.  They include information about Sisters in Crime and the benefits of joining as a librarian.

But, I also did a lot of live tweeting of that event with some back and forth from the authors.  We used our #arrtreads hashtag, and as long as you are accessing this post between now and our next ARRT program in July 2015, they will be toward the top if you use this link.

If you are encountering this post at a later date, please get in touch with ARRT through our website, Facebook, or Twitter and reference this post and someone will help you out.

Here’s Cari’s handout.  Hope it helps you to help your crime fiction readers.

*****************************************************
Books Recommended by Sisters in Crime – Twinsburg Library Event, October 5, 2014
If you like… cozies
Diane Vallere – The Mad for Mod series 
Kendel Lynn – Board Stiff
Joelle Charbonneau – Glee Club series

If you like… suspense/thriller
P.J. Tracy – Monkeewrench
Emily Arsenault – What Strange Creatures (darkly comic)
Author Nevada Barr
Robert Galbraith - The Silkworm
James Patterson – Alex Cross series
Authors John Grisham, Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke

If you like… historical
Author Dorothy Whipple (written in 1930s)
Author Laurie R. King (Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell)
Author Jacqueline Winspear
C.S. Harris – When Maidens Mourn

If you like… funny
Author Gemma Halliday
If you like… literary
William Kent Krueger - Ordinary Grace
Author Louise Penny
Lori Rader-Day – The Black Hour

If you like… YA
Dandi Daley Mackall - The Silence of Murder
E. Lockhart - We Were Liars

Non-Mystery& Nonfiction

Author Alice Hoffman
Heather Webber - Truly, Madly
Debra Lape – Looking for Lizzie
Robert Sberna – The House of Horrors


Authors Recommended by Chicago Panel – March 25, 2015

Tana French
Alan Bradley
Catriona McPherson
James Crumley
Donald Westlake
Jamie Freveletti
Julie Hyzy
Eva Gates
Alyssa Maxwell
Annalee Huber
Sam Thomas
Roddy Doyle

Who are your books like?

Lori Rader-Day: Ruth Rendell, Gillian Flynn, Donna Tartt, S.J. Watson
Clare O’Donohue: Lori Rader-Day
Susanna Calkins: Sam Thomas, Anne Perry, Rhys Bowen, Charles Todd


Sisters in Crime Info

We are a national organization of about 3500 members, with local chapters all over the country.  Local chapters are governed by independent boards, but fall under the national umbrella. Cari Dubiel is the library liaison to the National board. The library liaison can be based anywhere in the country (Cari is based in OH).  The Chicago chapter president is Diane Piron-Gelman, and her contact info is on the SinC website. There is also an interactive author map you can use to find authors near you and contact them directly.

Other things we do:
  • Provide news about the genre in our monthly SinC Links and quarterly inSinC newsletter
  • Give $1000 in grant money to one lucky library each month through our We Love Libraries program (this is so easy – you just take a photo of your staff with books from SinC authors and upload it to the website. If you are chosen in the random drawing, you win the money. It does not have to be spent on mysteries, but it does need to be spend on materials).
  • Supply networking and discussion opportunities through our listservs and chapters
  • Illuminate trends in the publishing industry through our periodic research and summit reports


Visit us at ALA in San Francisco this year – Booth 1427
We will have bookplates, book giveaways, bookmarks, author signings, and an iPad mini giveaway. If anyone wants to get on our mailing list, they can email librarian@sistersincrime.org. It is at maximum three or four emails a year. Cari emails out a list of the author signing schedule in May (subject to change, of course).

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Great FREE RA Continuing Education Opportunity with Duncan Smith in Chicagoland

If you live within 2 hours of Chicago, I highly suggest you join me at the RAILS HQ in Burr Ridge for the following program...


Duncan Smith Presents!

When: 
Tuesday, May 12, 2015 (2:00 PM - 4:00 PM)
Where: RAILS Burr Ridge Main Meeting Room / Videoconference Room (In Person)
Cost: Free
EBSCOhostDuncan Smith is the creator and founder of NoveList, EBSCO Publishing’s electronic readers’ advisory service. Smith is a nationally recognized trainer and researcher in the area of readers’ advisory service. “Books: An Essential Service for Essential Libraries” a recent article was published in The Public Library Quarterly.

You’ve heard of whole collection RA which focuses on not only promoting a library’s books but its entire collection—DVDs, e-books and audio. But whole person? Join NoveList co-founder Duncan Smith as he sums up over 25 years of thinking about readers’ advisory and introduces this new concept.

Whole person RA focuses not on the library’s collection but on the interactions between staff, readers and collections. Smith argues that delivering the service our users really want means:
1. Identifying the true product of RA services (it’s NOT pushing books).
2. Getting all staff involved.
3. Moving out from behind the desk
Type: Program
This event is sponsored by Reaching Across Illinois Library System.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I am very excited to be attending this program myself.  Duncan is always on the forefront of the evolution of RA Service.  I too have been thinking a lot about how public library services to adult leisure readers is evolving and changing, and I have already scheduled time this summer to explore the issue further so that I can help all of you better.  Attending Duncan's program will be a great first step.
I love webinars, but I learn so much better in a room with the trainer and other librarians. What I learn from my colleagues is often just as enlightening as what the speaker alone imparts. I know Duncan would agree.
So if you can make it, sign up. If you are anywhere in Illinois, I am pretty sure you can join the live video conference at a local library system HQ.
I will also be live tweeting the event, and will have a blog wrap up later that week. But again, if you are able to be there, come.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Genre Study Notes on Suspense and Romantic Suspense and Next Meeting on Psychological Suspense

This post begins with an announcement to ARRT members that the password protected notes for the April 2 meeting on Suspense and Romantic Suspense (which included an intense discussion on, James Patterson, or as I like to call him, the man that keeps us RA Librarians in business) are up and ready for download here.

You will be receiving your reminder email soon.

But I also wanted to plug the next meeting when we are tackling my all time favorite genre --psychological suspense-- in June.  Details on location and assignment here.

This is going to be a great meeting for a bunch of reasons.

First, I love the genre. Yes, I love it more than horror. I know, shocking. But those of you who know me, know I can be super enthusiastic about anything, but when I actually love something, I go to a whole new level.  You should come just to see that happen.

Two, psychological suspense is one of the fastest growing genres out there right now. I will discuss this tremendous and explosive growth with the group, but even with its popularity, psychological suspense is not recognized as its own “genre” all of the time and by all of the resources, which means that our meeting will be a great time for all of us to pool our knowledge to create our own genre resource.

Three, psychological suspense is the last of the genres we are tackling (before we move on to nonfiction and special formats and interests), and interestingly, while it shares much in common with the other crime genres, there is a lot that is different here too. We are going to work to place psychological suspense within the context of crime fiction AND all of popular fiction. I am thinking I might need to draw some venn diagrams for this meeting.  [Again, not to be missed, Becky drawing. Seriously, this is going to be one of the best meetings in terms of observing me at my most “Becky-ness.”]

And fourth, I have a super, extra special reason why this meeting will be worth your attendance.  Some of you know why, but I am not ready to announce it here yet.  That being said, you need time to read the assignments, so trust me, very soon you will have another reason why you will want to come to the Berwyn Library on June 4th to talk about psychological suspense.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Monday Discussion: Halfway to Halloween

We are slowly creeping up on one of my favorite times of year...the point when the calendar tips in Halloween's favor. Yup, it's the unofficial Halfway to Halloween time.

For the second year in a row, I am celebrating publically in Neal Wyatt's Reader's Shelf column in Library Journal with a list of titles to remind you of how much fun it is to read horror books and how you shouldn't just do it in October!

For this year's list, I included backlist titles; books you should have available right now to put out on display. You can even print my list and put it next to it to make for an easy display.

But I was only allow 6 titles.  Let's start adding some more.  I am staying out of the suggesting beyond these 6 right now because you can just go to the horror blog for hundreds of more suggestions from me.

Today I want to hear from the rest of you. You always hear from me about horror reads.

What are some of your favorite horror titles? For today's Monday Discussion, let's make a list we can all use to promote HALFWAY TO HALLOWEEN at all of our libraries.

For past Monday Discussions, click here.

Friday, April 17, 2015

New RUSA Codes Conversation: Social Media and RA

The committee within RUSA which deals with RA issues is CODES [You can click here for their page on the RUSA site].
CODES occasionally runs email conversations on RA issues. You can click here for the links to past conversations as I reported about them on this blog.
I am permanently signed up to participate in these useful, stimulating, and fun conversations, so yesterday, I received an email notification of the next one beginning on May 12th entitled, Tweeting, Tumbling, & Pinning: Using Social Media for Readers’ Advisory.
I have attached a copy of the email below, but you click here to sign up and join for yourself.
I cannot stress enough how useful these conversations are. However, I also know that they deliver a ton of emails into your inbox, and that can be overwhelming to many.  So, before you sign up, please check this post I did back in 2013 about how to get the most of the conversations without being too overwhelmed.
************************************************
Hello,
You are receiving this email because you are currently subscribed to the CODES Conversation list. 
A new CODES Conversation begins Tuesday, May 12th and runs through Wednesday, May 13th.
If you wish to take part in the discussion you do not need to take any further action as you are already subscribed. 

Tweeting, Tumbling, & Pinning: Using Social Media for Readers’ Advisory 

Readers’ Advisory has been moving outside the walls of our libraries for years, from newsletters and listservs to blogs and online forums. The various platforms that comprise the social media universe open up a wide range of outlets for staff to use to help readers – of all ages. Don’t think that social media users are all under 30! A January 2015 Pew Research Center study reports the fastest growing demographic of various social media platforms are users 50 and older. 



If library staff are going to make reading a social activity, how do we harness the social media to help us do that? Join over 500 of your collection development, readers' advisory, and public services colleagues in a two-day come-and-go online discussion of social media and readers’ advisory. Share ideas, best practices, and success stories (unsuccessful stories welcome. We can learn from those, too).

Some of the topics we will address include:
How to capture an audience on social media?
Who is your audience for social media?
How to create virtual displays through social media?
What social media platforms are best for RA?
How do you tailor your RA to specific social media platforms?
How to measure success in social media?
What platforms work best with different types of readers’ advisory?

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Readers, Writers, Books, and Blogs Presentation

Today I am finally getting around to reposting Rebecca Vnuk ad Karen Kleckner Keefe’s presentation on the best blogs for RA librarians.

I love this program, and not just because Rebecca and Karen are some of my dearest library friends and not because I am listed twice [although those are very good reasons], but because it is the only place where we, the public library workers who help leisure readers each and every day, can go to find the most relevant blogs for us.

So much of the book-centric blog-o-sphere is publisher and book store centered. This presentation is led by library people for library people. And these women are straight shooters. If the blog is listed here it is because it is well done and useful.

Please use the link to watch the presentation AND make sure you save the handout because these are all sites you will use.

For the original post from Booklist Online, click here.
http://www.booklistonline.com/Readers-Writers-Books-and-Blogs-Vnuk-Rebecca/pid=7487297

Readers, Writers, Books, and Blogs.


Vnuk, Rebecca (author).

 
FEATURE.  First published April 13, 2015 (Booklist Online).
How to ReadWhile working on a “Library 2.0” initiative in 2008, I was shocked to find virtually no one on staff followed any library blogs. Karen Kleckner Keefe and I had just created the Shelf Renewal blog, and as we were getting the word out, we realized that not many librarians were investing their time following blogs. So we created a “virtual tour” of about 50 different library or book-related blogs, “Readers, Writers, Books, and Blogs.” We have presented this program at various library conferences over the past six years (we’ve dropped some blogs and added others), and the most recent update was videotaped at the RAILS offices here in Illinois. You can view the session on YouTube, and the handout appears below.

Readers, Writers, Books, and Blogs  
Presented by Karen Kleckner Keefe and Rebecca Vnuk for Booklistand RAILS, February 26, 2015.

General
The Booklist Readerhttp://www.booklistreader.com 
Early Wordhttp://www.earlyword.com 
Library Readshttp://libraryreads.org 
Indieboundhttp://www.indiebound.org 
Entertainment Weeklyhttp://www.ew.com/books 
Men Reading Bookshttp://menreadingbooks.blogspot.com 
No Shelf Requiredhttp://www.libraries.wright.edu/noshelfrequired 
Book Riothttp://bookriot.com 
The Millionshttp://www.themillions.com

Publishing 
GalleyCathttp://www.adweek.com/galleycat 
Nathan Bransfordhttp://blog.nathanbransford.com

Readers’ Advisory
RA for Allhttp://raforall.blogspot.com 
Reader’s Advisor Onlinehttp://www.readersadvisoronline.com/blog 
Blogging for a Good Bookhttp://bfgb.wordpress.com 
Lesa’s Book Critiqueshttp://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com 

Genres

Romance and Women’s Fiction
Smart Bitches Trashy Bookshttp://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com 
Liz and Lisa (formerly Chick Lit Is Not Dead): http://www.lizandlisa.com/blog
Smexy Bookshttp://smexybooks.com 

Historical Fiction
Reading the Pasthttp://readingthepast.blogspot.com 

Horror
RA for All: Horrorhttp://raforallhorror.blogspot.com 

Graphic Novels 
Comics Worth Readinghttp://comicsworthreading.com 
No Flying, No Tightshttp://noflyingnotights.com 

Mystery 
The Rap Sheethttp://therapsheet.blogspot.com 
Cozy Mystery Listhttp://www.cozy-mystery.com 
In Reference to Murderhttp://inreferencetomurder.typepad.com 
Stop You’re Killing Mehttp://www.stopyourekillingme.com 

Science Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal
Wicked Lil Pixiehttp://wickedlilpixie.com 
SF Signalhttp://www.sfsignal.com 
Locus Onlinehttp://www.locusmag.com 

YA
Forever Young Adulthttp://www.foreveryoungadult.com 
Guys Lit Wirehttp://guyslitwire.blogspot.com 
The Hubhttp://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub 

Overall Book Nerdery 
Kent District Library’s What’s Nexthttp://ww2.kdl.org/libcat/whatsnext.asp
ShelfAwareness:   http://www.shelf-awareness.com 
Flashlight Worthyhttp://www.flashlightworthybooks.com 

Podcasts
That Stack of Bookshttp://www.thehouseofpodcasts.com/that-stack-of-books
NYTBRhttp://www.nytimes.com/ref/books/books-podcast-archive.html
Bookwormhttp://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/bookworm 
Books on the Nightstandhttp://booksonthenightstand.com 
New Yorker Fiction Podcasthttp://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner
Selected Shorts:   http://www.selectedshorts.org 
Slate’s Audio Book Clubhttp://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_audio_book_club.html 
Circulating Ideashttp://circulatingideas.com/ 

Tumblr
Master Listhttp://mashable.com/2014/03/13/tumblrs-for-readers 
Maud Newtonhttp://maudnewton.tumblr.com

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

BPL Book Club Ballot and Becky's Thoughts on Picking Titles for Your Group

One of my most popular trainings is my Re-Charge Your Book Club program.  Over the years it has evolved and changed based on what I have learned, both by leading a book club for over 14 years AND by going out and doing the trainings, talking to other group leaders and group members, and learning from everyone I have encounter over the years.

All of this experience has led me to add two unique things to the book discussion world conversation, things that no one else out there is doing or saying.

The first, is my group and leader norms.  I have developed these, used them, and honed them with my group over the last five years and have passed on the idea to dozens of book groups. You can see a summary of these norms in this article I wrote for NoveList RA News on how to assess your group's dynamic.

The second, is what I am going to write about today-- how my group chooses the books we are going to read. Today I am going to go over in detail what we do and how we make it happen.

But before I begin, I want to stress that this is the process that works for us. It has evolved over the years and we are currently in a place where this process is a perfect fit for our current group. However, this does not mean that it will continue to be right for us going forward (tweaking is always an option you should keep open) AND this also does not mean our process is the correct fit for your group. I am sharing our procedure to help you to think about and assess how you pick the books your group will read because I firmly believe that the success of any group starts with HOW you pick what you are going to read (notice I did not say with WHAT you read; for more on how I feel about that contact me about doing a training for you and your group).

So now on to today's main topic-- how my group votes on its books.  Below you will find the text of the actual ballot our Wednesday group will receive tonight.  My Monday group will get the same ballot in a few days.

There are some key things to notice about how we construct the ballot.  First, although you cannot tell here, I always make sure that the choices are on 4 pages-- 2 double sided sheets, with a 5th page being the actual ballot on 1 single sided sheet.  This is so people can keep the list of books and their descriptions after they have turned in the ballot. Many of our participants love this because often a book they really wanted to read does not emerge as a winner. This way ensures they can use the list to remember the title and read it on their own. Some of them end up reading every book on the ballot.

Second, this list consists of books that I think would be good book club choices, books that have been on the list and received some votes in the past 2-3 rounds of voting (but not enough to be chosen), and titles patrons have suggested.  I have the books that have been on multiple ballots at the top, then the other 2 categories mixed together.

Third, although our group does not have a rule as to how many fiction vs nonfiction we read in a 6 month period, historically the vote has tended to fall to a 4:2 ratio of fiction to nonfiction.  I keep them separate on the ballot just so the voters are aware of into which category the book falls. Often they vote based on their preferred ratio.

Fourth, I have included page numbers.  This is because we have a rule that the book needs to be 400 pages or less.  Each year we discuss changing this rule, and each year it stays in place. I include the page numbers because the group has said they like considering the length, and often won't pick too many long books in the same cycle-- which is another reason to allow books a few cycles on the ballot.

Fifth, when you look at the ballot below, you will notice that the descriptions of the books are supplied by the publisher.  I purposely do not write my own annotations of these titles, nor do I use reviews or book jackets.  Why? I do not want to unduly influence their choice. I am using the most standard description of each book in order to let people make their own choice.  Some of my ladies just use the ballots, others go on Goodreads or NoveList to get more information, but the ballot itself is presented with as little opinion as possible.

Sixth, as you scroll down to the actual tear off voting page, you may be confused to see that I am asking for each person to choose 8 titles for only 6 slots.  Ahhh, this is the sneakiest and best thing I have added to the ballot.  Now is the time to mention my secret weapon.  This ballot is not a pure democratic process, rather it is what I call a "Dictatorial Democracy." When we had only 6 votes for 6 slots, we ended up with 2-3 definite winners and a big mess of maybes-- I'm talking at least 10 books that all had a few votes. It was as if no vote had happened at all.  I was being a dictator for at least half of the books by simply picking the final 3 that I most wanted to read.  People were unhappy with the choices, and rightfully so. There was too much dictatorship.  But with 8 choices for 6 books, we always have 4 if not 5 that clearly rise to the top of the heap.  Then, I only need to consider 3-4 titles which just missed the cut and had a good numbers of votes to fill out the last 1-2 slots.  In this case, I get to be a little bit of a dictator but I have democratic guidance-- thus a "Dictatorial Democracy" was born.

Seventh, I want to comment on our timeline for voting and planning. We are in month 4 of the 6 month cycle.  We hand the ballots out in month 4, ask for a response no later than the month 5 meeting. Tally the votes immediately after both groups have met in month 5 and have the list set and ready to go for month 6.  After month 6, we start over at month 1 again.  So, this means at the month 6 meeting to end the current cycle, I can hand out the next 6 month cycle list and the book for month 1. Then I get months 1-3 off from planning (except for collecting suggestions of future titles from the group which I do always) before the voting cycle starts all over again. It is a finely tuned rhythm that works well.

So that's the ballot breakdown.  As I mentioned above, this streamlined ballot took years of trial and error to get right, but the hard work has paid off.  Yes I know this has been a long post, and I have listed many steps, but seriously, it is worth it. For the last couple of years, the voting process has been painless from start to finish because we all know what to expect, everyone's voice is heard, people feel like the process has been fair, and they are happy with the selections overall (even if they grumble about a book here or there). In fact, when I get a lot of unhappy participants on a specific title, I remind them of how we voted and ask them if changing how we initially pick the books would make things better.  Every time, after thinking about it, they realize that way more often than not, the process gives us great selections. So because they are invested in and trust our well constructed dictatorial democracy, they are willing to let a few "stinkers" slide.

Being happy with HOW we pick the books has made the group itself happier and our discussions better.

Thanks for your attention on this longer post.  I hope it helps your group. The ballot is below in its entirety.
*************************************************

 Book Discussion Possible Choices
July – December 2015

Fill out the last page with your name, phone number and 8 book choices.  You will only be voting once.  Please return that page at the May book club meeting or before. 

(All summaries from Amazon or the book jacket)

Fiction
Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
1878 Paris. Following their father's sudden death, the van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction from their lodgings seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opera where she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work as an extra in a stage adaptation of Emile Zola's naturalist masterpiece "L'Assommoir." Marie throws herself into dance and is soon modeling in the studio of Edgar Degas where she meets a wealthy male patron of the ballet, but might the assistance he offers come with strings attached? Meanwhile Antoinette, derailed by her love for the dangerous Emile Abadie, must choose between honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde.  397 pg.

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen
Andrew Yancy-late of the Miami Police and soon-to-be-late of the Monroe County sheriff's office-has a human arm in his freezer. There's a logical explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its shadowy owner. Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, the sheriff might rescue him from his grisly Health Inspector gig. But first Yancy must negotiate an obstacle course of wildly unpredictable events with a crew of even more wildly unpredictable characters, including his just-ex lover, a hot-blooded fugitive from Kansas; the twitchy widow of the frozen arm; two avariciously optimistic real-estate speculators; the Bahamian voodoo witch known as the Dragon Queen, whose suitors are blinded unto death by her peculiar charms; Yancy's new true love, a kinky coroner; and the eponymous bad monkey.  300 pg.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde girl running through the trees. This little girl, known as Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child seemingly from a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.  416 pg.

Half Broken Things by Morag Joss
Jean is a house sitter at the end of a dreary career. Steph is nine months pregnant and on the run. And Michael is a thief. Through a mixture of deceit, good luck, and misfortune, these three damaged loners have come together at a secluded country home. Now all three have found what they needed most: a new beginning, a little kindness, a little love. Living off the manor's riches, tending its grounds, they leave the outside world far behind and build a happiness long denied them. That is, until the first unexpected visitor arrives...igniting a chain reaction that is spellbinding and disastrous. 303 pg.

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Between 1854 and 1929, so-called orphan trains ran regularly from the cities of the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest, carrying thousands of abandoned children whose fates would be determined by pure luck. Would they be adopted by a kind and loving family, or would they face a childhood and adoles-cence of hard labor and servitude? As a young Irish immigrant, Vivian Daly was one such child, sent by rail from New York City to an uncertain future a world away. Returning east later in life, Vivian leads a quiet, peaceful existence on the coast of Maine, the memories of her upbringing rendered a hazy blur. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. Seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer knows that a community-service position helping an elderly widow clean out her attic is the only thing keeping her out of juvenile hall. But as Molly helps Vivian sort through her keepsakes and possessions, she discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they appear. A Penobscot Indian who has spent her youth in and out of foster homes, Molly is also an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful tale of upheaval and resilience, second chances, and unexpected friendship. 378 pg.


What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
Alice Love is twenty-nine years old, madly in love with her husband, and pregnant with their first child. So imagine her surprise when, after a fall, she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! she HATES the gym!) and discovers that she's actually thirty-nine, has three children, and is in the midst of an acrimonious divorce. A knock on the head has misplaced ten years of her life, and Alice isn't sure she likes who she's become. It turns out, though, that forgetting might be the most memorable thing that has ever happened to Alice. 432 pg.

Ruby by Cynthia Bond
Ephram Jennings has never forgotten the beautiful girl with the long braids running through the piney woods of Liberty, their small East Texas town. Young Ruby Bell, "the kind of pretty it hurt to look at," has suffered beyond imagining, so as soon as she can, she flees suffocating Liberty for the bright pull of 1950s New York. Ruby quickly winds her way into the ripe center of the city—the darkened piano bars and hidden alleyways of the Village—all the while hoping for a glimpse of the red hair and green eyes of her mother. When a telegram from her cousin forces her to return home, thirty-year-old Ruby finds herself reliving the devastating violence of her girlhood. With the terrifying realization that she might not be strong enough to fight her way back out again, Ruby struggles to survive her memories of the town’s dark past.  Meanwhile, Ephram must choose between loyalty to the sister who raised him and the chance for a life with the woman he has loved since he was a boy. Full of life, exquisitely written, and suffused with the pastoral beauty of the rural South, Ruby is a transcendent novel of passion and courage. This wondrous page-turner rushes through the red dust and gossip of Main Street, to the pit fire where men swill bootleg outside Bloom’s Juke, to Celia Jennings’s kitchen, where a cake is being made, yolk by yolk, that Ephram will use to try to begin again with Ruby. Utterly transfixing, with unforgettable characters, riveting suspense, and breathtaking, luminous prose, Ruby offers an unflinching portrait of man’s dark acts and the promise of the redemptive power of love. 368 pg.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does, even down to how he butters his toast. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning the mail arrives, and within the stack of quotidian minutiae is a letter addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl from a woman he hasn’t seen or heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye. Harold pens a quick reply and, leaving Maureen to her chores, heads to the corner mailbox. But then, as happens in the very best works of fiction, Harold has a chance encounter, one that convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. And thus begins the unlikely pilgrimage at the heart of Rachel Joyce’s remarkable debut. Harold Fry is determined to walk six hundred miles from Kingsbridge to the hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed because, he believes, as long as he walks, Queenie Hennessey will live.Still in his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold embarks on his urgent quest across the countryside. Along the way he meets one fascinating character after another, each of whom unlocks his long-dormant spirit and sense of promise. Memories of his first dance with Maureen, his wedding day, his joy in fatherhood, come rushing back to him—allowing him to also reconcile the losses and the regrets. As for Maureen, she finds herself missing Harold for the first time in years. And then there is the unfinished business with Queenie Hennessy.A novel of unsentimental charm, humor, and profound insight into the thoughts and feelings we all bury deep within our hearts, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry introduces Rachel Joyce as a wise—and utterly irresistible—storyteller. 384 pg.

Me Before You by Jo Jo Moyes
They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose.Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living. A Love Story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart? 384 pg.

Worthy Brown’s Daughter by Phillip Margolin
Known for his contemporary thrillers, Phillip Margolin explores intriguing new territory in Worthy Brown's Daughter, a compelling historical drama, set in nineteenth-century Oregon, that combines a heartbreaking story of slavery and murder with classic Margolin plot twists. One of a handful of lawyers in the new state of Oregon, recently widowed Matthew Penny agrees to help Worthy Brown, a newly freed slave, rescue his fifteen year old daughter, Roxanne, from their former master, a powerful Portland lawyer. Worthy's lawsuit sets in motion events that lead to Worthy's arrest for murder and create an agonizing moral dilemma that could send either Worthy or Matthew to the hangman. At the same time, hanging judge Jed Tyler, a powerful politician with a barren personal life, becomes infatuated with a beautiful gold-digger who is scheming to murder Benjamin Gillette, Oregon's wealthiest businessman. When Gillette appears to die from natural causes, Sharon Hill produces a forged contract of marriage and Tyler must decide if he will sacrifice his reputation to defend that of the woman who inspired his irrational obsession. At Worthy's trial, Matthew reveals a stunning courtroom surprise and his attempt to stop the deadly fortune hunter ends in a violent climax. 345 pg.

Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall
In the summer of 1963, nine-year-old spitfire Starla Claudelle runs away from her strict grandmother’s Mississippi home.  Starla hasn’t seen her momma since she was three—that’s when Lulu left for Nashville to become a famous singer. Starla’s daddy works on an oil rig in the Gulf, so Mamie, with her tsk-tsk sounds and her bitter refrain of “Lord, give me strength,” is the nearest thing to family Starla has. After being put on restriction yet again for her sassy mouth, Starla is caught sneaking out for the Fourth of July parade. She fears Mamie will make good on her threat to send Starla to reform school, so Starla walks to the outskirts of town, and just keeps walking. . . .  If she can get to Nashville and find her momma, then all that she promised will come true: Lulu will be a star. Daddy will come to live in Nashville, too. And her family will be whole and perfect. Walking a lonely country road, Starla accepts a ride from Eula, a black woman traveling alone with a white baby. The trio embarks on a road trip that will change Starla’s life forever. She sees for the first time life as it really is—as she reaches for a dream of how it could one day be. 308 pg

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
One of the first questions people ask about The Things They Carried is this: Is it a novel, or a collection of short stories? The title page refers to the book simply as "a work of fiction," defying the conscientious reader's need to categorize this masterpiece. It is both: a collection of interrelated short pieces which ultimately reads with the dramatic force and tension of a novel. Yet each one of the twenty-two short pieces is written with such care, emotional content, and prosaic precision that it could stand on its own. The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and of course, the character Tim O'Brien who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three. They battle the enemy (or maybe more the idea of the enemy), and occasionally each other. In their relationships we see their isolation and loneliness, their rage and fear. They miss their families, their girlfriends and buddies; they miss the lives they left back home. Yet they find sympathy and kindness for strangers (the old man who leads them unscathed through the mine field, the girl who grieves while she dances), and love for each other, because in Vietnam they are the only family they have. We hear the voices of the men and build images upon their dialogue. The way they tell stories about others, we hear them telling stories about themselves. With the creative verve of the greatest fiction and the intimacy of a searing autobiography, The Things They Carried  is a testament to the men who risked their lives in America's mostcontroversial war. It is also a mirror held up to the frailty of humanity. Ultimately The Things They Carried and its myriad protagonists call to order the courage, determination, and luck we all need to survived. 272 pg.

Non-Fiction
Counterclockwise: My Year of Hypnosis, Hormones, and Other Adventures in the World of Anti-Aging
by Lauren Kessler
At this moment, one in three Americans is entering midlife, and many are wondering, "How did I get to be this old?" Plenty will turn to miracle creams, injections, fillers, and surgery to reverse the hands of time, but Kessler investigates the largely unexplored side of anti-aging: what it takes to be younger, not just look younger. Guided by an open but pleasantly skeptical mind, a thirst for adventure, and a sense of humor, she investigates America's youth obsession and decides, on a very personal level, what to do about it. She is at once the careful reporter, the immersion journalist, the self-designated lab rat, and a midlife woman who is not interested in being as old as her driver's license insists she is. "Counterclockwise" is a lively quest to discover how to maintain stamina, vitality, fortitude, and creativity right to the very end.  256 pg.

A Brief History of Time by Stephen W. Hawking
A landmark volume in science writing by one of the great minds of our time, Stephen Hawking’s book explores such profound questions as: How did the universe begin—and what made its start possible? Does time always flow forward? Is the universe unending—or are there boundaries? Are there other dimensions in space? What will happen when it all ends? Told in language we all can understand, A Brief History of Time plunges into the exotic realms of black holes and quarks, of antimatter and “arrows of time,” of the big bang and a bigger God—where the possibilities are wondrous and unexpected. With exciting images and profound imagination, Stephen Hawking brings us closer to the ultimate secrets at the very heart of creation. 212 pg.
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War. The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.  In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit. Text before notes is right at 400 pg. mark

Eliot Ness: The Rise and Fall of an American Hero by Douglas Perry
Eliot Ness is famous for leading the Untouchables against the notorious mobster Al Capone. But it turns out that the legendary Prohibition Bureau squad’s daring raids were only the beginning. Ness’s true legacy reaches far beyond Big
Al and Chicago. Eliot Ness follows the lawman through his days in Chicago and into his forgotten second act. As the public safety director of Cleveland, he achieved his greatest success: purging the city of corruption so deep that the mob and the police were often one and the same. And it was here, too, that he faced one of his greatest challenges: a brutal, serial killer known as the Torso Murderer, who terrorized the city for years.Eliot Ness presents the first complete picture of the real Eliot Ness. Both fearless and shockingly shy, he inspired courage and loyalty in men twice his age, forged law-enforcement innovations that are still with us today, and earned acclaim and scandal from both his professional and personal lives. Through it all, he believed unwaveringly in the integrity of law and the basic goodness of his fellow Americans.  352 pg             

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail  by Cheryl Strayed
A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—-and built her back up again. At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—-and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone. Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her. 315 pg.

Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air: An Unconventional History of Ballooning by Richard Holmes
 Falling Upwards resurrects the daring men and women who first risked their lives to take to the air in balloons. Richard Holmes gives us another of his unforgettable portraits of human endeavor, recklessness, and vision, weaving together exhilarating accounts of early balloon rivalries, pioneering ascents over Victorian cities, and astonishing long-distance voyages. The terrifying high-altitude flights of James Glaisher helped to establish the science of meteorology as well as the notion of a fragile planet, while balloons were also used to observe the horrors of modern battle during the American Civil War. Here too are the many writers—Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, and more—who felt the imaginative impact of flight and allowed it to soar in their work. Holmes tells the history of ballooning from every angle—scientific to poetic—through the adventurers and entrepreneurs, scientists and escapists, heroes and fools who were possessed by the longing to be airborne. 404 pg (with all the notes and index)




REMEMBER:  Return this page at the May book club meeting or before.



Name:____________________  

Phone #__________________



Email:_____________________________



1._________________________________

2._________________________________

3._________________________________


4._________________________________


5._________________________________


6._________________________________


7._________________________________


8._________________________________