Week Three Prompt Responses

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!
After number three, "Circus of the Damned," from 1995 comes "The Lunatic Cafe" from 1996!

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 recommend trying "A Chance to See Egypt" by Sandra Jean Scofield. Scofield writes in a similar lyrical style, but is faster-paced than the languid feel of "Prodigal Summer."

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!
I recommend "The Shogun's Daughter" and "The Iris Fan" by Laura Joh Rowland, as well as "The Garden of Evening Mists" by Twan Eng Tan. These have the same attention to detail about historical Japan. "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden is a standard in this genre. For a change of pace, you may try "A Scandal in Japan," by Keisuke Matsuoka, featuring the one and only Sherlock Holmes!

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?
Yes, John Sandford can be a little dark. You can try "Cover Her Face" by P.D. James, the first in the Adam Dalgliesh series, similar to the Inspector Lynley series by George. You may also like Martha Grimes' series about Inspector Armand Gamache, beginning with "Still Life."

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?
I recommend some anthologies of zombie short stories. There are two in a sort of series: One is "Zombies: The Recent Dead" with stories that feature zombies as the main character! The other is "Zombies: More Recent Dead." For a more fantastiscal take, you may like "Zombies Sold Separately: A Night Tracker Novel," by Cheyenne McCray, about a half-human, half-Drow (dark elf) PI who has to stop zombies in New York.

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.
I recommend "Julieta" by Alice Munro, book and movie from 2016.  "All the Right Places" by Jennifer Niven is coming soon to Netflix. "The Song of Names" by Norman Lebrecht takes place in wartime London and came out this past December as a feature film.

7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.
You might like a new title in a classic series: "Manuscript for Murder: A Murder She Wrote" mystery by Jon Land. The Constable Evans mysteries by Rhys Bowen are clean, yet thrilling. If you like a more supernatural take, you might like the Ophelia and Abby series by Shirly Damsgaard, in which the main character is a mystery-solving witch! The first one is "Witch Way to Murder."


How do you find books to read?
I use a combination of newer tools and word-of-mouth. I have a Goodreads account and have found some great reads through there by searching for similar titles. They also have recommendations that get more tailored to what you like the more you read and the more friends you have who rate similar books. Since I discovered NoveList last fall for another class, I've used that from time to time. I haven't used many of the other entries on Chelton's list, though, so I have some exploring to do!
   I'll listen to others who I know like the same types of things and look into the books they suggest. I'll also browse the new arrivals at the library and see what catches my eye (book covers are important!), as well as browsing a particular genre's shelves. If there's a particular author I'm into at that moment, I'll look up everything they've done and probably start reading through their list. Occasionally, there will be an ad for a book I'll hear on the radio or streaming audio services, or see a 'trailer' for on youtube or other video service online that looks interesting.

My Five Genre Choices

• Romantic suspense
• Horror
• Fantasy
• Non-fiction
• African American

My Reading Habits

The bulk of my reading growing up was in fantasy. The first series I read was David Eddings' "The Belgariad," followed by "The Mallorean" and his other series. Those, of course, led to reading Tolkien, McCaffrey, Lackey, Weis & Hickman, Lewis, and others. My senior thesis was on fantasy literature in the 20th century and I've continued my life-long love of fantasy.

I've also been a fan of science fiction, though not as much as fantasy as I find they can oftentimes get bogged down in the technological descriptions of things rather than the story. Eddings once said sci-fi tells you the kind of watch, how it was made, where it was made, who made it, and how to fix it; fantasy tells you the time and moves on with the story. I am a firm proponent of keeping fantasy and sci-fi separated in libraries and bookstores.

I worked for a long time for companies that recorded audio books for the blind and physically handicapped and was exposed to every kind of book you can imagine. Many genres for me have been not so much ruined but lessened for the constant exposure. Because of that, I tend to gravitate more recently to non-fiction. The last few non-fiction (non-MLIS) books I've read have been autobiographies, political tomes, memoirs, and histories.

I'm also a Shakespeare buff and am currently reading my way through the complete works; I'm in "2 Henry IV," right now. A lot of my non-fiction reading centers around Shakespeare history and criticism. I found a wonderful fiction book last year, though, titled "If We Were Villains," by M. L. Rio, through my Shakespearean obsession. Ian Doescher's Shakespearean Star Wars saga is a true delight.

I'm not a big fan of horror, so that's probably one I'll choose to annotate in this class to get more experience with it.

Favorite authors include:

• Shakespeare
• Eddings (of course)
• Anne Rice
• Mario Puzo
• Dashiell Hammett
• C.S. Lewis
• Tolkien
  
  and I'm probably forgetting a host of others.