Week 3 Prompt

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!

Using NoveList I was able to see a list of Hamilton’s books and view them grouped by series by using the “Series” tab resulting in the following:

 The lunatic cafe (Jan 1996)
By: Hamilton, Laurell K. 

Preternatural expert Anita Blake meets an interesting array of monsters that includes jealous vampires and killer zombies, but her work with a group of besieged werewolves is threatened when she falls in love with its leader.

Series: Anita Blake: vampire hunter, 4

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 would suggest, based on my NoveList search, Edward O. Wilson's novel, Anthill.  Wilson and Kingsolver's novels are both described by NoveList as having a writing style that is "lush" and "lyrical" which should satisfy the customer's delight in the way Kingsolver "use(s) language."  Also, based on the plot description of Anthill, there is a tense back and forth between the protagonist, Raff, and condo developers who are failing to appreciate the endangered nature of the area they wish to develop which seems to lead to NoveList describing the tone of Anthill as "suspenseful."  Suspense does not seem to be a significant part of Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer and its inclusion in Wilson's Anthill promises a faster pace than the "thought-provoking" tone Novelist describes in 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 would suggest David Kirk's Child of Vengeance.  NoveList identifies this novel as Historical Fiction with a tonal quality of "strong sense of place."  Also, in the book's description there is this line, "this gripping biographical novel skillfully evokes a time, place, and way of life" which further suggests to me that the customer will "feel like they are there" in 17^th century Japan as they read Kirk's novel. 

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?

 Though George and Sandford have many things in common, NoveList often describes Sandford books as "gritty" which is not an element of the writing style that shows up in George's novel, Well-Schooled in Murder, and what may have led to the "creepy" factor for the customer.  Though I would have to ask this customer more questions about exactly what appealed to them in Well-Schooled in Murder I would probably suggest an author like Tana French with her "complex" characters set in "suspenseful" "police-procedurals," all details shared with Well-Schooled in Murder.  I might also suggest Louise Penny because her Inspector Gamache novels also have "complex" characters in "police procedural" situations but are also "leisurely paced" like Well-Schooled in Murder.   A straight up title read-alike I might suggest would be Dror Mishani's A Possibility of Violence.  Like Well-Schooled in Murder this novel has "complex" characters involved in "police procedures" that has a slow but suspenseful build in a "richly-detailed" school setting, much like George's "exclusive boys' prep school."

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?

 Considering the subject of zombies and the "books to movies" quality that NoveList identifies of the two above mentioned titles I would begin by suggesting M. R. Carey's The Girl With All the Gifts.  According to NoveList both World War Z and The Girl With All the Gifts rely heavily on plot and share the appeal factor of a "compelling" writing style.  Intuitively I feel there is an effort on the part of both authors to reimagine how a zombie story might be written and told and feel the customer who enjoyed the "oral-history" nature of World War Z might be up for a less than typical "intelligent zombie" story as in The Girl With All the Gifts.  (If the customer could be convinced to give vampires a go I would also recommend Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, but that may be a stretch they're unwilling to make.)

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.

 In NoveList by doing an advanced search in the GN (Genre) field for "Books to Movies" and "Literary Fiction" I was able to generate a list of books for the reader.  The list initially came up sorted by "Relevance," but I was able to re-sort it by newest to oldest enabling me to help the reader browse a list of books beginning with Alice Hoffmann's The Rules of Magic.  Some of the books on this list have not been directly made into movies themselves and there aren't that many within the last five years or so, but this list is a good starting place for the reader.  I would be able to quickly tweak appeal factors and dates to broaden the search if needed.

7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.

In NoveList's advanced search I looked for "Thrillers" in the GN (Genre) field and used a Boolean "NOT" to search in the AP (Appeal factors) field for "Gritty."  I then added the "Fast-paced" filter to the list that I generated and got a list of books beginning with James Patterson's The People vs. Alex Cross.  I also considered adding the "Threat(Psychology)" filter to help stay away from violence and sex, but since I didn't find any "Thrillers" in NoveList that also had a "Chaste" or "Thoughtful" appeal factor I would also recommend that we add the term "Christian" in the Keyword field of the advanced search.  This generated a list of over 300 books for the reader to browse through that should often avoid “foul language and sex scenes.”

I like lists, especially lists of notable books.  Often by notable I mean award-winning or critically successful, but I'm also interested in any book that has made a huge splash, thus I am attracted immediately to Chelton's suggestions of lists like Booker Prize winners, National Book Award winners, and the Pulitzer Prize winners, but I'm also interested in a list like "Extreme Classics: the 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time" from Adventure magazine.  I'm also interested in 100 Great American Novels You've (Probably) Never Read by Karl Bridges or Ted Goia's New Canon: The Best in Fiction Since 1985.

Currently I've been actually reading through all of the Pulitzer winners and am up to the 1980s.  After that I'm interested in exploring the bodies of work of Nobel winners or reading some more literary classics (another informal list I suppose) like Mrs. Dalloway or A Passage to India.  I do also read books I hear about by word of mouth and have been known to venture out on a limb to try something new to invest in a new friend and gain some unlooked for insight into the larger world.  For example, I'm not too into Sci-Fi but a friend of mine has talked glowingly about Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and how it's a book that for her melds the best things about Heinlein together in one neat package.  For me Heinlein is a notable/culturally significant name as a writer and given the chance to read a representative book of his recommended by someone I appreciate almost makes it a must.  I've yet to get to reading it, but someday soon I'm sure to find the time.