Week Three Prompt

So two things this week- first, I would like you to use Novelist if you are able (not every public library owns it, if you don't have access and want it, contact me and I can give you my access). Answer the following questions using Novelist (or another RA site) as much as you can - just to familiarize yourself with it if you aren't already using it.  Explain why you chose the books you did.

1. I am looking for a book by Laurell K. Hamilton. I just read the third book in the Anita Blake series and I can’t figure out which one comes next!
Yeah, I can look that up for you. I see here that the fourth book of the Anita Blake series is called The Lunatic Café. Let me look that up in our catalog to see if it is available for check out.
2. What have I read recently? Well, I just finished this great book by Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer. I really liked the way it was written, you know, the way she used language. I wouldn't mind something a bit faster paced though.
I can try to find that for you. If you want something that is a bit more fast-paced and have that romance in Prodigal Summer, I would suggest something by Iris Johansen. She writes Romantic Suspense novels, and a favorite one that I like is The Perfect Witness. It would be a bit faster paced than Prodigal Summer for you as well.
3. I like reading books set in different countries. I just read one set in China, could you help me find one set in Japan? No, not modern – historical. I like it when the author describes it so much it feels like I was there!
For sure! I’m also obsessed with historical fiction and the samurai culture. Let me just look this up for you. Do you have any other preferences when it comes to reading? Maybe mystery or suspense? Mystery? Alright I’ll keep that in mind with this search. I found the Tales of the Otori by Lian Hearn and I enjoyed reading those novels when I was in high school. They made me feel like I was in Ancient Japan with the descriptions of the settings and the culture as well.
4. I read this great mystery by Elizabeth George called Well-Schooled in Murder and I loved it. Then my dentist said that if I liked mysteries I would probably like John Sandford, but boy was he creepy I couldn't finish it! Do you have any suggestions?
I completely understand. I can try to find something that is more like Elizabeth George’s style of writing than John Sanford’s style.  I see that Well-Schooled in Murder is the third book in the Thomas Lynley series so I will look up the first two books, A Great Deliverance and Payment in Blood, in our catalog for you to check out.
5. My husband has really gotten into zombies lately. He’s already read The Walking Dead and World War Z, is there anything else you can recommend?
Do you know if he has read all the Volumes of the Walking Dead? He did, okay. I can see if there are similar books about zombies. There are a couple of novels that I can suggest that are similar: The Zombie Autopsies by Steven Schlozman, The Passage by Justin Cronin, Blackout by Mira Grant, The Dead Run by Adam Mansbach, and Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood. Let me write them down for you, and I can also look them all up in our catalog to see if they are in our collection.
6. I love books that get turned into movies, especially literary ones. Can you recommend some? Nothing too old, maybe just those from the last 5 years or so.
Sure! I can look that up for you. There are a couple works I found for you. I’ll write these down so I can look them up in our catalog: Life of Pi by Yann Martel, In Secret by Emilie Zola, and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews.
7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.
Yeah I can look that up for you. Do you have a preference of the kind of thriller, like legal or medical thrillers? No preference? Okay. The first author I can think of that writes with very little foul language or sex scenes is Carol Higgins Clark. Her Regan Reilly series has elements of suspense and I can look up the first book, Decked, in our catalog for you to checkout. Her mother Mary Higgins Clark is also a popular suspense writer, and she writes with almost no foul language or sex scenes as well so I can look her up in case we don’t have any works by Carol Higgins Clark.
Second, after you get a chance to do the readings and explore Mary Chelton's list of tools, I want to hear about how you find books to read. It could be a site or a resource you've just discovered or one you've used for years, one you use for yourself or for your patrons or family and friends.

 I usually search various library catalogs to find books that look interesting in the fantasy or history genres. I feel a little more familiar with library websites because it just feels more productive to acclimate myself to the library’s website when I know that I will using the library to check out the books. I also like just finding books that look interesting in those genres because I like the surprise of reading books, whether or not I will like book. That might not be the most productive way of finding books, but it is something I have done since I was a teenager when I would find books to read in young adult and teen section of my home library. I did use Novelist for this assignment, and I will use this tool in the future to find books that I will be able to read entirely.