Awards News Roundup

It has been a busy week in major literary awards. First, the Man Booker Award was announced.  This year's winner was Harold Jacobson for his novel, The Finkler Question, which thankfully came out this week in America.  You can click here for the official announcement. For a collection of reviews of the novel, click here.

The Man Booker Award and its historical list of past winners and nominees is a great list to use when selecting book discussion titles. I don't know what it is exactly about them as a group, but books singled out for this prize tend to lend themselves to an excellent book discussion, more so than any other award group taken as a whole.

On a personal note, when assessing my personal reader profile, I have noted that quite often, winning a Booker is enough of an appeal for me to enjoy a book. I don't know why, it just is. So rest assured, I am as weird as your patrons when it comes to why I like something.

In other book award news, the National Book Foundation announced their nominees for the National Book Award yesterday. Here is the full list.  What is of note here is the controversy around what was NOT nominated.  That would be Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.  Read more about it here.

I have to say, I was not surprised that it wasn't nominated. As you can see in my review, it was good, but not great.

The National Book Award winners will be announced on November 17th.

Page 99 Test?

Meetings, writing the new book, and a trip to the pumpkin patch put RA for All on hold yesterday. But fear not, I am back with a fun exercise.

A few websites and blogs I follow do something call the page 69 test. Basically, the idea is you can get a good sense of the feel of a book by turning to page 69 and reading it. There is a variant called the page 99 test, which Rebecca Vnuk blogged about on Book Group Buzz last week. This test is attributed to Ford Maddox Ford who said, “Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you.”

To see an archive of reviews based on the page 69 test click here. And for a list of page 99 test reviews, click here.

When I first heard of these tests a few years ago, I realized I had been doing something similar for years. At the BPL out tech services staff put the accession date for adult fiction in the spine of page 100.  Just for fun, I often turn to that page and read what is there.

I have to say from experience, reading a page of a fiction title a good chunk of the way in, is a useful exercise. You will not know the plot, but you will get a taste of what the book has to offer. Plot you can find on the book jacket or on Amazon, but the feel of the book is hard to get short of reading the book.

Try it for yourself. Also, I would suggest looking at the archives of the page 69 or 99 tests above and pick out a book you have already read. See if the reviewer got the feel of the book right or not, in your experience. If you cannot find one that works for you, compare this page 69 test of The Reapers Are the Angles to my review of the same book. I think it works.

I can see using this exercise with patrons. The next time a patron is not sure if she will like a book that I am suggesting to her, I will have her turn to page 100 and read what is there, reminding her to see if she likes the feel of the book.

If you try this yourselves or with patrons, please let me know how it goes.

50 Best First Novels and Me Live in La Grange

I am always looking for interesting book lists to pass on to my patrons who claim to have, "read everything you have here."

I also gather lists for when I am stumped (yes, it happens to the best of us). Sometimes you are having an off day, and your brain cannot come up with a good backlist title that is actually on the shelf.

However, a good list with a variety of options is hard to come by.; in fact, I use a large compilation of lists, a mash-up of you will, that I have accumulated over time.  But today I have one for you that has well written, well received, popular titles from many different genres.

From Learn-gasm (hate the name, but bare with me) is this list of the 50 Most Famous and Impressive Debut Novels of All Time.

Of course there are some obvious titles here like the first Harry Potter and The Hobbit, but there are also some great options like Player Piano and White Teeth.

The list is in chronological order and it goes up to 2007.

I would also suggest this list for book clubs who are in a rut. Which reminds me, if your book club is in a rut, I am presenting my book club program for patrons entitled, "Recharge Your Book Cub" on October 26th at 7pm at the La Grange Public Library. Use the link to register. It is free and open to anyone who can get themselves there.

First novels by famous authors is one of my popular tips to jazz up your book club selections, but in full disclosure, I originally got that trick from Ted Balcom back when he trained me to lead book clubs. Hope to see you there.

Monday Discussion: Let's Go Exploring

The BPL is closed today to celebrate Columbus Day. I am enjoying a day off with the kids, but I wasn't going to forget about the Monday Discussion. Just don't expect any other BPL staffers to comment today.

I wanted the discussion today to be in the spirit of the explorer. Yes, Columbus was not the true role model we learned about back when I was in school. Yes, he had no idea where he was when he landed in the West Indies. Yes, he then exploited the people he found there.

But, Columbus and his contemporaries did have a drive to discover new things. They were not content with the status quo and could not live in a world that was not fully mapped. It is this spirit I want to celebrate.

As a Readers' Advisor and library educator, I am constantly reminding librarians that patrons should read what they want; we should not force them to expand their horizons if they do not want to. However, this is not true for the librarians. Those of us who help patrons, MUST read a wide variety of books. We cannot rest on our laurels and only read what we like.

Sometimes this message gets lost on staff.  We cannot help patrons if we do not understand the full scope of what choices are out there. To that end, library staff who help leisure readers, must explore outside of their comfort zone.

For me, that means I make sure that I read at least one book from every major genre a year (if not more). To go further, I then take my least favorite genres and spend a year reading more than 1 and spending time with the resources.

For example, last year, I read (or at least skimmed in detail) about 6 romances. I tried to hit different popular areas such as paranormal, historical, and contemporary. I also subscribed to the RSS feeds for a few romance centered blogs, and reaquainted myself with some other resources. Thus, I was exploring unknown territory.

This year, I have been trying a bit more hard science fiction. Again, I am doing a detailed skimming of some books and reading a few others. I have a bunch of RSS feeds that I am following every day (and boy those SF people post a lot) and as the year winds down, I will be spending some time with a few different resources.

The point I am trying to make is, I may not love these genres, but because I have honestly gone out and explored them in detail, I have achieved a new understanding of why they are appealing to the patrons who love them. My explorations always get me excited because when I am done, I can understand why people who love these books love them.  I am excited for the fans of those books. I do not need to love them myself to gain this understanding. I could not do my job effectively if I stayed in my comfort zone all of the time.

So for today's Monday Discussion, what do you do to expand you reading horizons? How do you find out about the books outside of your comfort zone? What exploring will you do in the future?

To follow past Monday Discussions click here.

RA for ALL in RUSQ

I received my issue of RUSQ this week but have been too busy writing to read it. Imagine my surprise when my RSS feed to Galley Cat had this link to Neal Wyatt's Alert Collector article entitled, "A Selection of Core Resources for Readers' Advisory Service," listing this blog, RA for All as one of the blogs of note. Click here for direct access to the page where RA for All is mentioned.

Neal's Alert Collector column in general is a must read for all Adult Services librarians, but this one in particular should be saved by any library staff members who are working with leisure readers. These are the best resources out there for assisting your leisure readers in the categories of books, articles, databases, websites, and blogs.

I am humbled and honored to be included on the list, but I am also just as excited to access some of the other resources. Most I have read and/or already subscribe to, some are by friends of mine, and one I even write for, but for many of the listed resources, the articles especially, I have not look at them since they first came out.

Every RA librarian, whether you are one of the ones creating these "core resources," or brand new on the desk, all of us, can use this list to better ourselves. We all need to continuously train ourselves, stay atop of the biggest trends, and understand the larger issues. No one is exempt from this.

I know what article my students will be reading first this spring. In fact, I think I can safely replace my list of suggested resources with this one core list. Thanks to Neal and her team for their hard work.

If you have a favorite RA resource that was left out, please leave a comment.

RA Tip: Reviews of Reviews

I read a lot of reviews. Reviews in journals, reviews in newspapers, reviews in magazines, and reviews on blogs.  Yes, I read some of the reviews because I am responsible for 50% of the fiction purchases at the BPL, but mostly I am reading to find out what is popular. I read many reviews simply because I know my patrons are reading them. I want to know what they are exposed to.

With so many different review sources available to readers through the web, it is not enough to follow the local book section (for me The Chicago Tribune) and The New York Times only. But I am only one person with too many jobs and a book due in 7 weeks. How to keep up?

One of the best ways "to keep up" is to read reviews which review the reviews. Huh? What did I say? I know it is crazy sounding but think about it. There are reviewers out there who gather the reviews for you, synthesize them, and let you know the overall picture.

The best resource for this is Bookmarks Magazine, in print or on the web.  In their print reviews, appearing 6 times a year, they give a synopsis of the book, present excerpts from at least 5 reviews, and then provide a general commentary on the reviews.  They even provide readalike options sometimes.

If you like to read the full reviews from the source for yourself, Bookmarks Magazine has this database compiling all of the reviews in the past week. There is also this link to the most reviewed books over the last 8 weeks.  A simple scanning of the titles appearing on these lists, give you, the RA librarian a great sense of what books are being talked about all over media. It makes your job of knowing what is garnering the most buzz pretty easy. And, you will be ready when someone comes in asking for, "that new book about houses." (It's At Home by Bill Bryson, by the way)

I personally have a subscription to Bookmarks, as does the BPL. You can also join Bookmarks Magazine as a friend on Good Reads or Shelfari (where I am one of their friends).

The Amazon.com book blog Omnivoracious, does "Old Media Monday," where they also review the reviews. This is a little more traditional as they simply report on what appeared in some of the major print sources in the last week and quote a sentence or two from the review. I follow this blog through RSS and spend a few minutes every Monday going through this list. Really, anyone at your library who helps leisure readers in any way, should be looking at this list.

My point is that anyone working with leisure readers needs to know what the patrons are being exposed to outside of your building. We need to be able to anticipate their needs, be ready when they get the titles and/or authors wrong, and just have a general knowledge of trends and media darlings. Reviews of reviews are a quick and easy way to be prepared. Try one of these resources out for yourself.

Nobel Prize to Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa

Well, he wasn't listed in the official odds last week, but yesterday I was hearing buzz that the pick would be from South America.

Mario Vargas Llosa it was early this morning. He is the first writer from South America to win the prize in Gabriel Garcia Marquez won in 1982. I am just happy that I have read Llosa before. In the last few years, I have been hard pressed to have even heard of the winning authors.  Click here for the official announcement.

Also click here for a wonderful article about Llosa from NPR.

Llosa is an author whose works you should already have on your library shelves. So pull them out, make a sign, and share this information with your readers.

Since this announcement comes during Hispanic Heritage month, you may want to highlight a few other South American writers with Llosa. It is a nice tangential display.

I would suggest including Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges, Isabel Allende, and Roberto Bolano. Every public library should have books by all of these authors. And if you do not already, you really need to add some to your collection.

The point I am trying to make here, is to take these major literary prize announcements and use them to draw attention to as many books as possible. So, today everyone will be talking about Llosa. Build off of their interest by starting a conversation about South American writers in general.

It is fine and dandy to put out Llosa's books, but our patrons can look him up in the catalog themselves. As the RA librarian, you need to take the next step for your patrons. I am not talking elaborate displays here. Just find some empty space, on the service desk even, and put out some books by South American authors. I bet you will be shocked by how many leave the building.

What I'm Reading: Freedom

Last month I read Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. For the record, I like the way Franzen writes. I loved The Corrections when it came out back in 2000, and I did enjoy reading this book, but (you knew a but was coming) I am not sure it deserve all of the accolades it has been receiving.

Let's start with a really quick plot. Freedom is the story of Walter and Patty Berglund. It is the story of how they met, their marriage, and how it falls apart. But in true Franzen fashion, the appeal of this novel is not in the plot, it is in how Franzen slowly unveils the story of the Berglunds. 

Franzen tells this story through multiple points of view: Patty, Walter, Walter's best friend, the rock star Richard Katz, and the Berglund's son, Joey. It is an episodic story. Each chapter is told from either one of those points of view, or from an all-knowing omniscient narrator who is commenting from somewhere above the situation. The story is not always completely linear and there are holes where we do not know everything that happens. In one big case, 8 years of holes with only a few dozen pages filling it in. Personally, I am fine with this stylistic choice, but I know many readers who do not want either the multiple points of view or the episodic storytelling in their leisure reads. This needs to be pointed out even more than the plot to potential readers as it could be a huge impediment tho their enjoyment of the novel.

These chapters are long and involved, but Franzen is a wonderful writer, and as you read, you are caught up in that character, their individual story, and how it all fits into the overall story. I was riveted by sections and chapters, yet annoyed by others.

The characters are what will stay with you here, whether you like them or not. I for example, was not a fan of Patty, but Joey grew on me. I liked spending time with each of them though. However, in the end, I was not completely satisfied with Freedom. When I finished The Corrections, I couldn't stop thinking about it; I still can't. But with Freedom, I am glad I read it, but it will not stay with me 10 years later.

I need to ask myself why I felt this way though. I think I was left most unsatisfied by the tidy conclusion. These flawed and complicated characters deserved a more nuanced ending. Their lives were too complicated for the happily ever after I felt they got. Also, every member of the family, except the daughter gets a chance to tell their story. Why leave her out?

Finally, I was disappointed by the simplicity of the novel. It is called "Freedom" and every single character thinks they want freedom from the specific thing that is binding them; however, every single one also finds the freedom they achieve unsatisfying and they each go back to their previous situation. Every... single... one... of... them... I would have been much happier with the book and its message if "Freedom" meant something to different to each character.

I guess what I am saying is, I liked reading the book while I was reading it, but when I closed it, I was unimpressed. I wish there was more ambiguity. Each character was individually crafted and unique, yet their reactions to their chance at freedom, were all the same. This was highly unsatisfying.

Also, click here for another review, this one in video form.

Three Words That Describe This Book: character-centered, family dysfunction, episodic

Readalikes: The first place I would direct you for readalikes to Franzen is this list I made a few years ago.

I read Brady Udall's The Lonely Polygamist a few months ago and wrote about it here. I think this is a better novel of a family falling apart. It is also told in a episodic fashion with shifting points of view.

Other books about family's falling apart that readers may enjoy are Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates or The Ice Storm by Rick Moody and my personal favorite of this bunch, Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson.

Freedom also reminded me of Don DeLillo's Falling Man and Chang-rae Lee's Aloft (which I read here). All these books share their character centered stories of people who are a bit "lost" and need to find themselves.

In terms of nonfiction, after finishing Freedom, readers may want to know more about mountaintop removal mining or the Cerulean Warbler.

Monday Discussion: Feeling the Fall

Here in the Chicagoland area, we are feeling the change of temperatures. Fall has moved in with full force. The furnace has been fired up. The leaves have begun changing, and I am going apple picking this coming weekend.

When the seasons change, many readers like to change up their reading a bit too. One of the most popular genres for fall is a horror title.  Halloween puts us in a creepy mood.  For help there, here are links to some of my horror lists, including one called "Horror for the Squeamish," for your novices.

But that is not all. I know that many people tend to switch to longer slower paced books in the Fall and Winter. In summer, in general, patrons are looking for faster-paced reads. Books they can take to the beach, books they can read in snippets, books that are best read outdoors. These are many of the requests we get in the summer.

As the weather turns and the nights get longer, I see more patrons asking for books they can curl up with on the couch. They want characters they can spend time with, stories that will last them a bit longer. They also ask for books that are part of a series, so they can read a bunch of books with the same characters.

On the other hand, I have patrons who, as soon as they have to turn on the heat at home, want to switch to books set in warm places. I am not even sure they know they are doing this on purpose, but year after year, I see them coming in and checking out books set in the summer, or hot and steamy romances, to warm them up.

For me personally, I do tend to tackle the longer books as the weather gets colder. In the summer, if there is a long, involved book I want to read, I tend to check it out on audio. This way, it is still portable (via my ipod) for outside reading. Also, I have an easier time starting and stopping a more in depth book as a listener than a reader, but this is purely a personal quirk of mine.

But overall, in the Fall and into the Winter, if I think about it, I definitely look for those longer books. We are a family of readers (shocking, I know), and with the coming of the cold weather, me, my husband, and the kids, spend many an afternoon and evening, all curled up on a couch or chair in our living room, having family reading time. A nice heavy book, fits well in the lap for these reading binges.

So for today's Monday Discussion, do your reading tastes change with the seasons? Are there any specific books or types of books that you turn to in the fall?

To follow past Monday Discussions click here.

Nobel Odds

October is Nobel season. Throughout the month of October, beginning this year on the 4th, the Nobel  Prize Foundation will begin making their announcements on this year's winners every couple of days.  Click here for the full schedule.

The literature prize does not have a scheduled date yet, but that has not stopped people from posting the favorites with official odds. Click here and here for details.

As a librarian I love the fact that someone cares enough to post odds on a literature prize.  As usual, Philip Roth (who has a new book coming out next week) and Joyce Carol Oates make the short list, as well as Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo. But the rumored favorite is Swedish poet and translator, Tomas Tranströmer.

In terms of attracting readers though, the Pulitzer Prize is much more popular than the Nobel at the BPL with the National Book Award coming in second. For the record, the Pulitzer is announced in April and the National Book award in November.