Is Suite Francaise Historical Fiction? Depends on Who's Asking.

When writing about my book discussion group's meeting on Nemirovisky's book, I forgot to talk about our discussion of historical fiction.

For the record, Suite Francaise is not historical fiction because Nemirovsky was not writing about the past, she was writing contemporary fiction both during and about the 1940s; it was simply not published until recently.

For you librarians, historical fiction is defined as a novel written about a time before the author's birth. So Pride and Prejudice is not historical fiction since Austen was writing about her own time, but the novels of Bernard Cornwell are.

That being said, if our patrons come up talking about how they love historical fiction and you ask what they have read recently and enjoyed and they say, "Suite Francaise," this is not the time for you to correct them. To that reader (to many in fact), Suite Francaise is historical fiction simply because it is about the past and is realistic. Go with their lead and find that reader novels set in the past (whether true historical fiction or not) that would fit with their overall reading tastes.

For specific historical fiction resources to help you help your patrons, click here. For things I have tagged histoical fiction, click here.

Podcast Interview with Me

If you want to hear more of my general philosophy about RA service in public libraries, you can hear me being interviewed by Sarah Long, Director of the North Suburban (IL) Library System. I am number 44 of her "Longshots."

Welcome to RA for All

RA for All is a showcase of the wonderful world of Readers' Advisory (RA). But what is RA? Readers' Advisory is a patron oriented, nonjudgmental public library service that strives to help fiction and nonfiction readers find books to read for enjoyment. Anyone interested in a more detailed description of RA Service should head to their local public library and look up Joyce Saricks' Readers' Advisory in the Public Library, 3rd edition (ALA, 2005).

So you like to read...there are many ways the local public library can help you find your next good read. This blog will highlight how the library can best help its patrons. I will post interesting links, lists, and news in the RA world. I will also highlight some of my student's work from the RA class at Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Science (IL)...Yes, there is an entire class on this stuff.

There are many great book review blogs, and while I will post quick reviews of my recent reads, this blog will try to provide a wider commentary on the world of leisure reading and public libraries.