Week 16 prompt

When I was younger I remember being excited to go to the school book sale to get a new book for myself. I still own that book that I bought in like 3^rd grade. The other was getting to go the school library to pick out what I wanted to read or getting to go to the bookmobile when it came near my house. Now I still go to the library to get books and also enjoy a good book sale whenever I can but now I also get a lot of ebooks and eaudiobooks as well. I sometimes look at the children books that have been made into digital read-along books that include animations. Books have come a long way since I was a kid when they weren’t any ebooks.

I feel in the next 20 year it will keep going the way it has been going with adding more ebook. I don’t believe we will ever get rid of all print book because they are nothing like holding a book in your hand. Most of the teens and younger adults that I work with don’t really like ebooks and if they are reading would prefer a print book. In the article ‘Stay awake’ talks about how it more about people not reading digital that is really hurting books (Le Guin). I also saw an article from Wired that talks about how even though people say they are not reading publisher are still selling lots of books. Some of what is hurting publishers are the ability of the writers to publish their own materials and cut out the middleman (Hughes). For example, Hugh Howey the writer of the sci-fi book ‘Wool’ choose not to sign with a publisher because he was making around $12,000 a month on the ebook and some self-published print book. He was offered several different book contract after his book started selling but choose not to sign with any of them till on offered to do just the print book but let him keep control over his own ebook (Hughes). If it continues to be easier for a writer to self-publish I see this being the way of the future. I again don’t believe print books are going to go away the real thing we have to worry about is if people just stop reading. With the way, people work nowadays they just don’t have time to read for pleasure and if work keeps going the way it is this might hurt the book industry. 

Hughes, Evan. “Book Publishers Scramble to Rewrite Their Future.” Wired, 19 March 2013. https://www.wired.com/2013/03/publishing-industry-next-chapter/

Le Guin, U. K. “Staying awake: notes on the alleged decline of reading.” Harper's Magazine, 2008, 316(1893).

Week 15 Prompt

              The three ways I would like to market my library fiction collection is through book displays, book discussion groups, and book talks. I do help with 2 out of 3 at this time. I put together different book displays on different topics. One display that we started doing last year and did again this year that I loved was a March Madness display where we found a writer from all 68 schools in the tournament. I did most of this display this year and it not the easiest to do but I had fun trying to find a writer from each school. I did fudge a few because the school had no authors that went to the school or we didn’t have them in our library. This year display went better than last years and people actually took some of the books. Other displays that I have helped put together are smaller displays usually dealing with something that we are doing in the meeting room and we want to help promote it and show what books we might have on the subject. We usually try to put a small display in the meeting room on the day of different events that deal with the topic or movie being shown. Displays are a very passive way to promote different books in the system. One more display that we have up all the time is the staff pick section. This display has different books that staff have read and would like to recommend to another reader at a glance. Any staff member in the library can put something on display on this shelf and at one time we use to put bookmarks in the books so patrons know who read the book. This help patrons have an idea of who might like the same books as them and know who they want to ask for a recommendation.

                I like using discussion groups to help patrons get out of their comfort zones. I start going to a book club to get myself out of the rut of just reading the same type of books over and over again. About a year and a half ago I was asked to run one of the library book clubs and I have loved the experience it has given me. I enjoy hearing what people feel about books and what they did or didn’t like about them. I at one point made read-alike bookmarks for all the books we read to give the member other books they might like if they enjoyed the book we were reading. I stop this because no one seems interested in these bookmarks or the books on them. I like being able to talk to people about different books and find books that I really enjoyed that I wouldn’t have read if it wasn’t for the book club. It is fun spending an hour once a month talking about a specific book with others who have read the same book, it is one of the funniest things I get to do.

                The last thing that I wish I got to do is book talks. My library doesn’t really formal book talks as a program.  I don’t know how comfortable I would be getting in front of a group of people to talk about books but I think I would like to try at some point. In the chapter about “Promoting and Marketing Collections and Services” by Saricks, she talks about how you don’t have to read all the books that talk about you can use other people experience the book (156). These talks are short 5 minute talks about each book you pick so depending on the time given will decide how many books you choose. Book talks are done a lot more for children and teens in a school setting but would work with adults as well. This is something I would like to at some point bring to my library. These are all ways to help promote the different books that the library has in their collection.

Sarick, J. “Prompting and Marketing Readers’ Advisory Collections and Services.” Readers’ Advisory Services in the Public Library. Chicago, ALA, 2005, pp. 136-160.

Week 14 Prompt

The library I work at use to have these section separated until we moved some sections around and we integrated them into the fictions section. I talked with my building manager and asked why we had them separated and why we put them back together. She said we had separated them at one point when the collection was smaller to show people that we had the section. The African American section we had longer than the LGBT section which was started about 2 years ago and then put in with fiction last May. We recently did a survey and she said we had some patrons that asked us to put the African American section back. At my library we have different genre separated out like mysteries, romance, inspirational, and western as well as having a general fiction collection so it didn’t seem a far stretch to have an African American or an LGBT section but when looking for other sources for this discussion it changed my mind. I wouldn’t separate these section because it constricted, it makes it harder for people to just stumble across these titles, and separating them by sub-genres doesn’t make sense.

First I found a blog from N.K. Jemisin author of “The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms called “Don’t Put My Book in the African American Section.” In this blog, she talks about how she hates the African American section and wished it didn’t exist. She is a black author but feels that her book doesn’t belong in that section as she says her book doesn’t have any black character and relates more to the science fiction section then the African American section. Jemisin goes on to talk about how when these books are separated out it hurt there exposer and constricts the amount the item is looked at. She talks about how most of these books are put in the back of the store with a label saying African American Interest “which might as well have read, ‘Everybody But Black People, Nothin’ to See Here. Move Along’” (Jemisin). We think when making these new section that the people who read these section want this but they don’t really, they want to be included with all the rest of the titles and not segregated just because the book is written by a black author.

Jemisin talks about how the reader who sent her the letter asking about being put in the African American section said that she was able to check out another section in the library because it was separated but had it not been for her looking for this specific book she wouldn’t have looked in that section. Wendy from the blog called “The Misadventures of Super Librarian” talked about how she hates genre sticker because it allows a patron to get stuck in a rut and only read the genre that they always read. If all the section on together you have a better chance as a patron to stumble upon something you may not have read because it is a different genre then you like to read (Wendy). I know I can sometimes fall into this habit of only reading books in a specific genre but I know when I read YA books I tend to venture out more into another style of book that I wouldn’t have chosen if they had specific genre stickers on them.

Wendy also talks about how separating into sub-genres doesn’t make sense because if the book is a historical romance it doesn’t matter if it has a white heroine or one of color it is still a historical fiction book. When you separate out the LGBT and the African American books you are taking them away from other books written in that same style just because they may have some scene in them that are gay or lesbian or that the book is written by an African American. Urban Lit is not the same as Jemisin science fiction book so why would you put them together. Wendy talks about how these sections have made some librarian lazy because they can just point to where the section is and not help them find the item or something else the patron might like in another section.

We should make sure that patrons find what they are looking for but not segregating book because we feel it will make it easier. Just because the book is written by a black author doesn’t mean that it is just like all the rest of the books by black authors and should be put with that one. We need to be more mindful of how we are separating different styles of books to make sure that if we do separate them that we are doing it in a meaningful way.

Bradford, Robin. “The Black Shelves are Over There….” Collection Reflection, 28 July 2011, https://cdstacked.blogspot.com/2011/07/black-shelves-are-over-there.html. Accessed 10 April 2018.

Jemisin, N.K. “Don’t Put My Book in the African American Section.” N.K. Jemisin, 26 May 2010, http://nkjemisin.com/2010/05/dont-put-my-book-in-the-african-american-section/. Accessed 10 April 2018.

Wendy @ TGTBTU. “The One Where Wendy Talks About Diversity.” The Misadventures of …. Super Librarian, 28 Jan. 2016, http://wendythesuperlibrarian.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-one-where-wendy-talks-about.html. Accessed 10 April 2018.

Week 13 prompt

As an avid reader of young adult books, I feel that they can be read by teen and adult alike. Now I am not that into graphic novels but that is just because I tend to read what is written and forget to look at the picture as I go. I still feel that they are a good choice for adults to read and if it gets them reading I think we should be encouraging them not discouraging. One thing I like about the young adult books is that you can choose a fantasy book and not have to worry about there being an explicit sex scene in the book. I fill like most adult books that I pick up that are fantasy tend to have very explicit sex scenes and that is not something that I care to read all the time so it is nice when I can pick up a good fantasy book that is a young adult and not has to worry about this.  Some of the books that have broken through to all different ages have been The Hunger Games series, Twilight, and Divergent series to name a few. These are some of the books that I see adults and teens both reading. In the article “What Girl Want” Caitlin talks about how “Twilight” was one of the books that got her back to reading. Like I said as long as people are reading does it really matter what they are reading if they enjoy it. We shouldn’t judge someone who comes to the library as an adult and asks for either a young adult book or a graphic novel, we should be helping them find what they are looking for. Just because I am not the biggest fan of graphic novels doesn’t mean I don’t feel that it is a worth form of reading for others.

Flanagan, Caitlin. “What Girls Want.” The Atlantic, Dec. 2008, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/12/what-girls-want/307161/. Accessed 3 April 2018.

Young Adult Annotation: Now is Everything

Title: Now Is Everything

Author: Amy Giles

Genre: YA Realistic fiction

Publication Date: 2017

Number of Pages: 357

Geographical Setting: New York State

Time Period: Present day

Plot Summary: Hadley family looks perfect from the outside but they are hiding a deep secret. She is the sole survivor of a plane crash that she does not think she should have survived. At 17 Hadley is forbidden to date but meet Charlie and starts a secret relationship. Hadley’s father, referred to by her friend as the drill sergeant, is very strict with her mom, her younger sister Lila but most of all on Hadley. She has to get up at 4:30 am every morning to go running with her father who constantly tells her she is not good enough. If she steps out of line at all her father beats her and does the same to her mother. The only one who is spared the beating is Lila because Hadley covers for her. Hadley best friend’s Meaghan and Noah don’t know that it is as bad for Hadley at home as it is. She tries to keep anyone from knowing and does a good job of this until one day Charlie see her bruises on her hip. He tries to get her to tell someone but she doesn’t believe anyone can help. Will Hadley be able to help get her family out from under her father rule before it is too late for her sister?

Subject Headings:

·         Abusive men

·         Child abuse

·         Family secrets

·         Seventeen-year-old girls

·         Survival (after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc.)

·         Teenage abuse victims

·         Teenage boy/girl relations

·         Teenage romance

Appeal:

·         Character: Authentic; Well-developed

·         Writing Style: Thoughtful

Elements of YA Fiction:

Audience: Geared toward teens between 13-19 years old. Reflects situations that teens can relate to.

Realistic fiction deals with events that could happen in a teen’s life. Situations usually deal with relations with boys/girls, family, and teachers. Talks about things that teen will do once leaving high school.

Elements are the same as the adult book in the same genre with the exception that the main character in the book is between the ages of 13-19.

Similar Authors and Works:

Nonfiction Works:

Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story by Jewel: This book is about Jewel struggles with abuse at the hands of unconventional and highly creative family members before rising fame and becoming a parent. This book shares the subject heading of child abuse.*

The Truth Book: Escaping a Childhood of Abuse Among Jehovah’s Witnesses: a Memoir by Joy Castro: This book shares the account of a woman who was psychologically and sexually abused along with her mother and younger brother by her revered Jehovah’s Witness stepfather, whose behavior was unquestioned by their congregation. This book shares the subject heading of child abuse.

A Child Called “It”: One Child’s Courage to Survive by David Pelzer: This is a book about David as a young boy being abused by his alcoholic mother. This book shares the subject heading child abuse victim.

Fiction Works:

If I Stay by Gayle Forman: is about a girl who is in a coma after her family has been in a car wreck. The rest of her family has died in the wreck and she is trying to decide if she wants to live without her mother and father. This book is similar because it talks about how 17-year-old Mia has to live without her parents after a horrible crash.

You Don’t Know Me by David Klass: This book is about a 14-year-old who creates an alternate reality in his mind to try and deal with his mother’s abusive boyfriend. This book is a realistic fiction and has the subject teenage abuse victims. 

A List of Cages by Robin Roe: This book is about a student who struggles with ADHD and has to track down a troubled freshman he discovers is the foster brother he has not seen in five years. This book is a realistic fiction and has the subject teenage abuse victims. 

Week 12 prompt

The Readers’ Advisory Matrix

Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, (and Everything in Between) by Lauren Graham

11.       Where is the book on the narrative continuum?

a.       Highly narrative (reads like fiction)

b.      A mix (combines highly narrative moment with periods of fact-based prose)

c.       Highly fact-based (has few or no narrative moments)

22.       What is the subject of the book? This book is about the life of Lauren Graham and her time she acted on Gilmore Girls. It gives a brief history of how she got started as an actress.

33.       What type of book is it? Memoir

44.       Articulate appeal

a.       What is the pacing of the book? It has a fast pace and is a quick read.

b.      Describe the characters of the book. This story focuses on the life of Lauren Graham and the time she has spent acting. It goes from her early actress career where she wanted to be a Broadway start to her learning that she really didn’t want to be a headliner of a Broadway musical.

c.       How does the story feel? Happy, sad, and funny

d.      What is the intent of the author? To talk about her experience as an actress and inform everyday people some of the things you don’t know that happen behind the scenes.

e.      What is the focus of the story? Her acting career.

f.        Does the language matter? Yes

g.       Is the setting important and well described? The setting is several different places that she acted at. It is important to tell you about what she was doing at the different times.

h.      Are there details and, if so, of what? Yes about her life and the different sets she acted on.

i.         Are there sufficient charts and other graphic materials? Are they useful and clear? The only graphic materials that are in the book are pictures. These pictures represent different times in her life and help bring the story full circle.

j.        Does the book stress moments of learning, understanding, or experience? She has one part in particular that helps stress a learning moment but could be seen as all three, when she was auditing for a part that would have got her actor card and she had to show her nude butt because then needed to find the best butt. At the time before doing it she didn’t think anything about it but after she thought about it she realizes how deeming it was and that she didn’t feel comfortable doing it again if that was all the audition was.  

55.       Why would a reader enjoy this book (rank appeal)?

1.       Tone                                       2.  Pacing                       3. Detail

Literary Fiction: Atonement

Title: Atonement

Author: Ian McEwan

Genre: Literary Fiction

Publication Date: 2001

Number of Pages: 351

Geographical Setting: England

Time Period: 20^th century

Plot Summary:

Briony Tallis is in love with the written word and decides that she want to put on a play for her bothers return to the manor. She recruits her cousin who has come to live with them because their parents are splitting up. Briony gets mad at her cousin and calls off the play and decides to take a walk out on the ground on the night of the dinner and run into Robbie Turner (who is the gardener) and he gives her a letter to give to her sister Cecilia. Since Briony is curious she reads the letter which is not the letter Robbie attended to send and Briony becomes upset. When she later finds Robbie and Cecilia in the library she thinks that her sister is being attacked by Robbie. When the twins run away later that night and everyone is out looking for them Briony comes upon her cousin Lola being attacked in the dark she assumes it is Robbie because of the note and what she thought she saw in the library. This gets Robbie sent to prison and in order to get an early release, he joins the army. The second half of the book is Robbie track to Dunkirk. Briony tries to make up for what she did as a child once she figures out that it was someone else who attacked Lola. Will Briony be able to make up for all the hurt she caused as a child or will her sister and Robbie always hate her?

Subject Headings:

·         Sisters

·         Guilt in Women

·         Rich families

·         Shame

·         Thirteen-year-old girls

·         Former convicts

·         Rural life

·         Social classes

·         Regret

·         Redemption

Appeal:

·         Character-driven

·         Leisurely paced

·         Haunting

·         Unreliable narrator

Elements of Literary Fiction:

Style/Langue: Words are woven together elegant and the structure of the novel itself may be more complex (Saricks, 178). In this book, you notice that the langue seems to be very descriptive and picked very carefully. I remember thinking that the words were very important and he was able to paint the scene using them.

Characters: In literary fiction, characters can become more important than storylines, and the question is center more around characters then the story (Saricks, 178). This is true in this book that Brinoy is the character that has caused all the problems and is then trying to fix them. She is a multi-dimensional character and is often unpredictable.

Story Line: Are thought-provoking, often consider universal dilemmas and endings are often open or ambiguous (Saricks, 178). In this story, you have Brinoy who unwittingly accuses someone of a crime they didn’t comment and has to try and make up for these mistakes through her life. The ending is kind of ambiguous where you don’t know what happened to everyone in the end.

Pace: slower since these books are usually densely written (Saricks, 178). This story does have a leisurely pace more so at the beginning and starts to pick up some when you get to the second half of the book.

Tone: Usually dark because of the seriousness of the issues (Saricks, 178). I found this book to be very dark because it is dealing with falsely accusing someone of rape, then later that person is sent off to war, and Briony is never sure if she is going to be able to make it up to Robbie or her sister.

Similar Authors and Works:

Read-alikes Nonfiction

The Innocents by Taryn Simon: for those who want to read more about people that have been falsely accused of a crime they didn’t commit.

Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore: for those who would enjoy reading more about Dunkirk which Atonement talks about in the second half.

Life After Death by Damien Echols: This book is a biography about a man that was falsely accused of a crime and spent 18 years on death row. This would be for someone who was wanting to read more on the falsely accused.

Read-alikes Fiction

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson: both are literary historical novels set in the 20^th century, spanning both war and peace times.

The Outcast by Sadie Jones: Both are literary novels set in the 20^th century England, reflective narratives of secrets, and shame and guilt. In both children make decisions that have unintended consequences.

The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee: Both books examine events that occur early in characters’ lives that impact who they become.

Week 11 prompt

I use both ebooks and audiobooks on a near daily bases. Ebooks are nice for me when I read at night so I don’t have to use a light which bugs, my husband, less but I hate using them on kindle since it only gives you percentage and speed time and not page numbers. This makes it so much hard to judge how much of the book I have left and how long it is going to take me to finish the book. I like audiobooks for when I am driving to work or to see family, when I go for walks or mow the lawn, and for when I am just sitting on the couch and knitting. In the article “Reading With Your Ears” Kaite Mediatore talks about how “commuters with long drives or regular traffic snarls find cars the perfect place to catch up on reading and keep tempers in check” (318). I never thought about how books can help with keeping tempers down in these types of situations but it makes sense if you mind is on some other things it will help keep you calmer. Pacing can be affected in both audiobooks and ebook depending on the way they are recorded. When thinking about ebooks Katie Dunneback states that “pacing is also affected by how much text is visible on the screen, so the larger the text, the less there is to indicate how quickly the story is moving” (328). This is one of the things I like about ebooks is that I can change the font size I never thought about it affect the pacing of the book itself. Pacing can also be affected in audiobooks by the narrator who can read the story to slow or too fast and change what the pacing of the book should be (Mediatore, 319). I had one patron tell me that she loved listening to mystery books but determined she shouldn’t be listening to them in the car after she ran a stop sign because she was too into a book. Knowing what people are looking for in an audiobook is important there have been several books that I stopped listening to because of the narrator and instead went and read the print book and loved it. When listening to audiobooks I enjoy ones that make a full production out of them. They keep me better entertained, one that I still remember to this day is “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien which was the broadcast that was on the National Public Radio and later recorded. I just remember enjoy the fact that when they were at Bilbo Baggins house and started signing that there was singing in the background on the audiobook.  

Works Cited

Dunneback, Katie. "E-books and Readers' Advisory." Reference & User Services Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 4, Summer 2011, pp. 325-329.

Mediator, Katie. "Reading With Your Ears: Readers' Advisory and Audio Book." Readers' Advisory, vol. 42, no. 4, Summer 2003, pp. 318-323.

Book Club

I attend a book club that meets once a month at a bar here in town. This group is lead by one of the librarians from the Muncie Public Library, named Anthony.  Anthony will ask questions about the book but will let others answer those before he adds any input himself. The group has anywhere between 8 to 12 people at each meeting. This past month we discussed “A Wrinkle in Time”. The first part of the meeting was talking about whether or not we liked the book. This helps to get the discussion going and I always enjoy hearing why people did or did not enjoy a book. For this particular book, it was about 50/50 with people who liked it and those who didn’t. There is one lady that comes every month and she has only enjoyed one book that we have read in the last year and a half but she still enjoys coming to discuss the books. From the initial point, Anthony asks more questions to get the conversation going. He usually only has to ask around 5 questions for the evening in order to cover the whole book. He looks up information from different websites to help build on the conversation. The questions that he asks are ones that take more than a yes or no answer. If that is all that is given he asks for people to elaborate.

        During the meeting, all the participants contribute to the conversation. Every once in a while there is one person that will try and take over the discussion but Anthony does a good job at trying to bring others into the conversation. When this person is talking he is talking about the book and will answer the question that is being asked. Every once the conversation will stray into other areas of life and the world but Anthony will bring the focus back to the group purpose. The majority of the people that come to book group will read at least 50 percent of the book so the discussion will follow along with the themes of the book well.

        The meeting is held on the third Thursday of every month at the same bar.  This particular location is typically not very crowded, looks pleasing and is not very loud.  In the past, we have asked the owner to turn the music down during discussion times and they have been really easy to work with. Since we are at a bar most of the participants buy themselves a beer or a glass of wine.  Since the bar doesn’t have food Anthony will sometimes bring in snacks but it seems to rotate with others in the group sharing this, ‘responsibility’.

        This group reads books that are at least 20 years old or older. We have done “The Handmaids Tale”, “A Wrinkle in Time”, “Mrs. Dalloway”, and “Brave New World” to name a few. Each year Anthony comes up with a list of 100 books that he asks us to pull from for 25 titles. He then narrows it down to the 12 that we read through the next year.

Special Topic Paper

My special topic paper was on in-person and online RA. I looked at what in-person RA is which could be indirect or direct. In-person RA can be anything from a person coming to the information desk asking for a good book (direct) to a book display within the library on a specific topic (indirect). I go on to talk about the different ways libraries on using online RA.

With in-person RA I talked about Mary K's Generic rules of RA which she developed after having her student do secret shopper interactions. They were a total of eleven rules but I just pulled out the following:

• Listen to the user and try to find out what the person likes and/or loathes reading before you do anything else.
• Ignore what you like to read unless you're sure it matches what the reader likes.
• Find out if the person wants something else by the same author before suggesting it.
• Use the library's catalog only after you have a clear idea of what the person is interested in and be sure to verify any suggestions with the library's collection (that they are owned, on the shelf, etc.)
• Explain what you are doing as you search, especially if you are using an electronic tool, such as NoveList. Tell them how they can use it themselves.
• Unless the user tells you that there is some urgency, ask for some more time and offer to phone or email a result at a later time (Smith, 13).

These were just a few that I put in the paper that I felt were the most important. 

Online RA is blogs, microblogs (Twitter), Facebook, Pinterest, and form-based RA. Form-based RA was said to have started in Williamsburg (VA) Regional Library where they created a form to be either filled out online or picked up in the library, filled out, and then turned back in. This gives the librarian time to make better selections for patrons. I listed the following libraries that I found that have form-based RA on their website:

• Anderson Public Library: https://www.and.lib.in.us/looking-for-a-good-book-adults
• Hamilton East Public Library: https://hepl.lib.in.us/my-next-book/
• New York Publick Library: https://www.nypl.org/books-music-movies/recommendations/ask-us
• Brooklyn Public Library: https://bklynlibrary.org/bookmatch
• Jefferson-Madison Regional Library: https://jmrl.org/pr-readers.htm
• Williamsburg Regional Library: https://www.wrl.org/books-and-reading/adults/find-good-book/looking-good-book-reader-profile-forms

Many different libraries use blogs to post book review and suggestion. Microblogging has become popular to post book title and library events. Pinterest has become a place where some librarians have made booklists. 

Smith, Duncan. “Readers’ Advisory: The Who, the How, and the Why.” Reference & User Services Quarterly, vol. 54, no. 4, Summer 2014, pp. 11-16. Academic Search Premier, https://www.statelib.lib.in.us/inspire/authenticate-eds.asp?url=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26AuthType%3dcookie%2cgeo%2curl%2cip%26geocustid%3ds8475741%26db%3daph%26AN%3d103412239%26site%3deds-live%26scope.

Women's Lives and Relationships Annotation: The Undomestic Goddess

Title: The Undomestic Goddess

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Genre: Chick Lit

Publication Date: 2005

Number of Pages: 384

Geographical Setting: England

Time Period: Modern day

Plot Summary:

Samantha Sweeting is a top lawyer at Carter Spink, one of the best law firms in London and is about ready to make partner, her dream she has been working for the last 7 years. On the day she finds out she is going to make partner she decides to clean off her desk which over the years has become a mess because she doesn’t have a second to clean it up and she finds a document on her desk for a claim she never filed. When she realizes she made a mistake she freaks out and jumps on a train out of London. She has no idea where she is going she just goes and ends up in a small town. When she walks up to this house off the main road to ask for directions she is mistakenly taken for the housekeeper that Geiger was trying to hire. After accepting the job because she had nowhere else to go at the time, she meets Nathaniel the gardener. After watching her disasters attempt to make super for the Geiger the first night he asks her if she wants cooking lessons from his mother. You watch as Samantha learns to try and relax and take time for herself and find out what she wants to do next in her life.

Subject Headings:

·         Household employees

·         Workaholics

·         Mistaken identity

·         Single women

·         Women lawyers

·         Country homes

·         Men/women relations

·         Errors

·         Psychic trauma

·         Life change events

·         Secrets

·         Cooking

·         Housekeepers

Appeal:

·         Flawed

·         Funny

·         Witty

Elements of Women’s Lives and Relationships:

The mood is humorous but with an optimistic outlook. Well, Samantha has never cooked or cleaned before she was optimistic about her ability to be able to do it.

The protagonist is female and has one close friend who is always trying to get her to do things that she would normally do even though she turns them down.

The storyline reflects the issue of women in highly demanding jobs and at one point talks about feminist vs intellectuals.

The setting is contemporary and set in modern-day England.

The writing style is humorous and tells personal stories.

The pacing is unhurried but draws readers into the story.

Similar Authors and Works:

Read-alike Non-fiction

Fairly Equal: Lawyering the Feminist Revolution by Linda Silver Dranoff: for anyone who wants to learn more about women in law.

The Tao of Martha: My Year of LIVING; or, Why I’m Never, Ever Getting All That Glitter Off of the Dog by Jen Lancaster: for the one who enjoyed reading about the disasters that befallen Samantha when housekeeping.

Dishing with the Kitchen Virgin by Susan Reinhardt: This is a collection of stories about food disasters and recipes.

Read-alike Fiction

A Crowded Marriage by Catherine Alliott: both books have heroines face major turning points in their life.

Not Working by Lisa Owens: both books have flawed but likable characters who blow up their lives with sudden career shifts.

Bridget Jones by Helen Fielding: both books have a quirky protagonist who finds themselves in strange circumstances that they must overcome.

Week 7 Prompt

I found it interesting how a book can go from unknown to bestseller just because a celebrity talks about the book. Take Oprah book club selections, the paper “From Obscurity to Bestseller: Examining the Impact of Oprah’s Book Club Selections” talks about how “Oprah endorsement was enough to bring a book up into the top 150 bestsellers in America, and almost certainly guaranteed a sturdy spike in the rankings, in the beginning, followed by a prolonged period of strong sales for months to come” (Butler et. al., 32). While Oprah has not picked as many books as she use to when she had her talk show her influence is on the books she picks. It kind of funny that we are talking about this subject right now since this week we got the newest pick “An American Marriage” by Tayari Jones in the new books to process today. In the past, I have had people get upset with me when we didn’t have one of her picks from several years ago. They were like but it was an Oprah pick what do you mean you don’t have a copy. Mind you the one they were looking for was from 7 years before and all of the copies had been lost, stolen, or damaged.  

I remember when the I saw that Emma Watson was going around Paris putting out copies of “Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood and thinking I wish I was there. This book had become popular not because she started putting out copies but because of the TV show. I do think some celebrities are just trying to promote reading and literacy but at the same time I feel some are just doing it for self-promotion but if celebrity book clubs get people reading I say the more the merrier.

Butler, Richard, et. al. “From Obscurity to Bestseller: Examining the Impact of Oprah’s Book Club Selection.” Publishing Research Quarterly, Winter, 2005, pp. 23-34.

Week 6 prompt

I would make a horror display for a program that we would have coming up. Last year around Halloween we did a program called is your library haunted where we had a local ghost hunter group come in and do an investigation at our Carnegie library. Leading up to this program we did a display of horror novels and paranormal nonfiction books. We then did a program where we did a story time out at the graveyard for adults. We had patrons come out to one of the local cemeteries in our area and tell a story that either they had witnessed or heard of. We could incorporate integrated advisory next time we do this program by bringing books that people can either read from or take home after the program to read at a later point. Another program that can be done to incorporate horror novels is doing a horror marathon with a collection of novels that are related to the movie that is being shown to give the patrons a chance to check something out to take home with them.