"Stop, You're Killing Me!" is like one-stop shopping for mysteries; the site's near-exhaustive grasp on the genre makes it a staggering thing to explore for a novice mystery-reader like me, but even if you don't recognize most of the names on their lists of authors and titles, exploring all the crevices of this site is still vastly entertaining. And while perusing the site itself can occasionally feel like drinking from a fire hose, their free bi-weekly newsletter breaks up all the information into more manageable chunks.
The site's biggest strength is, without a doubt, its indices. They provide lists of mystery authors and their series sorted by location, historical period, genre, and the protagonist's profession and background. I had already pegged the mystery genre as one prone to extreme niche-ification, but the variety of those niches was made clear to me as I discovered that I could, if I wanted, find mysteries featuring a one-armed counselor to King Arthur (series by Tony Hays), a 60-something widowed Quaker meeting clerk (series by Irene Allen), several series featuring ex-jockeys turned sleuths (by Dick Francis, Sassacer Hill, John Francome, and Bill Shoemaker), and even a reluctant witch librarian (series by Shirley Damsgaard)! What these indices taught me most evidently was the breadth of the mystery genre, which I had suspected but never really seen before. It seems like this site might have a few suggestions to add to the sub-genres Prezi!
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Week Six - Assignment 3: Sub-genres and Mash-ups
Sub-genres
Urban fiction is definitely one genre with which I have zero experience. But from the few patrons I've had ask about it, I can recognize one or two names. Deja King comes first to mind, who wrote the Bitch series which features a young ambitious woman willing to do whatever it takes to gain the power she wants and protect the family she loves. Another Urban fiction author I've heard of is K'wan, who exemplifies the social aspect of the genre: he began writing as a form of therapy, and now works as a motivational speaker, mentoring at-risk children. And finally, I have discovered Sister Souljah, whose novels about a young man named Midnight are among the most popular in the Urban Fiction genre. Also a hip-hop artist and activist, Sister Soujah uses her novels to engage with serious issues of poverty, race, and violence in American ghettos. In general, I've learned that this element of social commentary (or at least a gritty realistic portrayal of the urban lifestyle) is one of the most prominent hallmarks of the genre.
Within the subgenre "comic fantasy" stand three major authors whose names came up quick and often: Terry Pratchett (who wrote the Discworld series as well as Good Omens with Neil Gaiman), Douglas Adams (who wrote Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy) and Piers Anthony (who wrote the Xanth series). Writers in this genre are famous for their puns (the name Xanth apparently is a play on the author's name, Piers Anthony), and often include parodies of other famous fantasy works, which result in a plethora of "inside jokes" that form the basis of these books' appeal. But reading this genre is also an opportunity to enjoy the imagination of fantasy without the accompanying weight of serious content - I get the impression that they are almost the "beach reads" of the fantasy genre.
The final subgenre I chose to explore was Supernatural Romance, and J.R. Ward was an obvious choice to typify this genre - it seemed like every other book we have was written by her! The Black Dagger Brotherhood series was not only humongous (14 novels with #15 set to appear in 2017), but its storyline combines the intimate interactions of individual characters with the larger-than-life events they are caught up in. The world politics of vampires and vampire slayers reminded me of the war between vampires and werewolves in Twilight, and it seems like a mainstay of the supernatural romance genre. My second author, Nalini Singh, I recognized from our audiobook collection, where she has nearly an entire shelf to herself! Her Guild-hunter and Psy-Changeling series introduce original beings such as the archangels and the Psy, a contrast the more common vampire stories. A final familiar name from this genre is one I've mentioned before: Sherrilyn Kenyon. Her books are world-building romances, set in a universe which (like J.R. Ward and Nalini Singh) deals in supernatural politics as well as individual passion. This seems to be a trend among the titles I've looked at, and is perhaps one of the main draws of the subgenre.
Mash-Ups
My first mash-up is Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton. I came across this title both when I was looking up urban fiction and when I was researching supernatural romance! This genre-bending mystery takes place among the competing vampire street empires in an alternate-universe American city. While investigating a series of murders committed by vampires, Anita Blake, a vampire hunter, falls in love with master vampire Jean-Claude, and eventually helps him upseat the current master vampire of the city, making her new lover king of the streets. Urban fiction, supernatural romance, mystery...what genres doesn't this book dip into??
In a very different vein, more genre mash-ups can be found among the works of Vannetta Chapman, who wrote two Amish mystery series. Both series combine the very specific setting and daily life and customs of an Amish village with the plot and pacing of a whodunit. One series - the Shipshewana Amish Mysteries - even centers on a pair of quilt-makers, which hearkens to another, albeit slightly different, mystery sub-genre: the knitting mystery.
Urban fiction is definitely one genre with which I have zero experience. But from the few patrons I've had ask about it, I can recognize one or two names. Deja King comes first to mind, who wrote the Bitch series which features a young ambitious woman willing to do whatever it takes to gain the power she wants and protect the family she loves. Another Urban fiction author I've heard of is K'wan, who exemplifies the social aspect of the genre: he began writing as a form of therapy, and now works as a motivational speaker, mentoring at-risk children. And finally, I have discovered Sister Souljah, whose novels about a young man named Midnight are among the most popular in the Urban Fiction genre. Also a hip-hop artist and activist, Sister Soujah uses her novels to engage with serious issues of poverty, race, and violence in American ghettos. In general, I've learned that this element of social commentary (or at least a gritty realistic portrayal of the urban lifestyle) is one of the most prominent hallmarks of the genre.
Within the subgenre "comic fantasy" stand three major authors whose names came up quick and often: Terry Pratchett (who wrote the Discworld series as well as Good Omens with Neil Gaiman), Douglas Adams (who wrote Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy) and Piers Anthony (who wrote the Xanth series). Writers in this genre are famous for their puns (the name Xanth apparently is a play on the author's name, Piers Anthony), and often include parodies of other famous fantasy works, which result in a plethora of "inside jokes" that form the basis of these books' appeal. But reading this genre is also an opportunity to enjoy the imagination of fantasy without the accompanying weight of serious content - I get the impression that they are almost the "beach reads" of the fantasy genre.
The final subgenre I chose to explore was Supernatural Romance, and J.R. Ward was an obvious choice to typify this genre - it seemed like every other book we have was written by her! The Black Dagger Brotherhood series was not only humongous (14 novels with #15 set to appear in 2017), but its storyline combines the intimate interactions of individual characters with the larger-than-life events they are caught up in. The world politics of vampires and vampire slayers reminded me of the war between vampires and werewolves in Twilight, and it seems like a mainstay of the supernatural romance genre. My second author, Nalini Singh, I recognized from our audiobook collection, where she has nearly an entire shelf to herself! Her Guild-hunter and Psy-Changeling series introduce original beings such as the archangels and the Psy, a contrast the more common vampire stories. A final familiar name from this genre is one I've mentioned before: Sherrilyn Kenyon. Her books are world-building romances, set in a universe which (like J.R. Ward and Nalini Singh) deals in supernatural politics as well as individual passion. This seems to be a trend among the titles I've looked at, and is perhaps one of the main draws of the subgenre.
Mash-Ups
My first mash-up is Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton. I came across this title both when I was looking up urban fiction and when I was researching supernatural romance! This genre-bending mystery takes place among the competing vampire street empires in an alternate-universe American city. While investigating a series of murders committed by vampires, Anita Blake, a vampire hunter, falls in love with master vampire Jean-Claude, and eventually helps him upseat the current master vampire of the city, making her new lover king of the streets. Urban fiction, supernatural romance, mystery...what genres doesn't this book dip into??
In a very different vein, more genre mash-ups can be found among the works of Vannetta Chapman, who wrote two Amish mystery series. Both series combine the very specific setting and daily life and customs of an Amish village with the plot and pacing of a whodunit. One series - the Shipshewana Amish Mysteries - even centers on a pair of quilt-makers, which hearkens to another, albeit slightly different, mystery sub-genre: the knitting mystery.
Week Five
Trying to catch up after falling a few weeks behind, I offer my lovely week-five post, which I had written but never actually posted! Enjoy :)
Assignment 1:
My biggest take-away from NPR books is that it has some of the most eye-catching and engrossing book reviews I've ever seen. From the way it lays out its ordinary book reviews - a short-and-sweet one-liner to draw you in to a 500-800 word analysis-rich review - to its special features and clever organizational flair, everything about the site seems expertly designed to draw me in and keep me reading.
The year's review of books, which recently came out for 2015, fascinated me, as it offered unique but highly useful categories like "Seriously Good Writing," "Book Club Ideas," and "Rather Long"/"Rather Short." It's use of "Eye-Opening" as a category even helped me put a name to an appeal factor I often look for but had never known how to express! And the way you can mix and match categories to find the perfect book I found very helpful - and rather reminiscent of WhichBook.
Other features on the site equally interesting, and I was disappointed to find that they hadn't been updated in almost two years: "Three Books," which groups titles thematically in clever ways, such as out-of-body experiences, mid-life crises, and the darker side of quilting; "My Guilty Pleasure," where authors share the books they are embarrassed to admit to reading and loving; and "This Week's Must Read," which pairs a recent headline with a book that offers some sort of commentary on it. I only wish these had been kept up to date, so I could see what each is recommending now!
But sometimes I felt, when browsing happily through all of this engrossing material, that so much effort was put into making the features sleek, eye-catching, and engaging, that perhaps it detracts from the site's practicality. For example, a recent special series on transportation-related books would definitely keep my attention, but as a librarian, whose main reason for reading reviews is not to find a book for myself (after all, I am surrounded by books and book-lovers everyday, surely I don't need any extra help from NPR!), but instead to prepare for reader's advisory, would this kind of set-up be most useful? Contrast this with EarlyWord, and I see the great difference between book resources for librarians and the general populace.
EarlyWord I found to be a bit cluttered. Especially after the glossy feel of NPR's book page, which was directed more toward my pleasure and amusement, it felt like this site was all business. And rightly so, as a site dedicated to keeping librarians and library professionals abreast of the book scene for the benefit of their customers. Once I employed a bit of willpower and went digging, I found a lot of really useful info. The site (and the sites it link to) seems like a fairly reliable place for me to find out more about the books I recognize from our branch's shelves. This makes it a good alternative to NPR Books where, although I really enjoyed its reviews, I found very little overlap with the books circulating in my branch. There, even when book was reviewed weeks ago and touted as a great read, I seldom saw it on a shelf display, or heard it mentioned in conversation with a customer. But on EarlyWord, I found lots of short blurbs about the books whose covers I see all the time, but never got around to picking up and perusing. While I may continue looking at NPR's reviews because they are so engaging and well-written, I think I will rely mostly on EarlyWord from now on to fill in the gaps in my Reader's Advisory knowledge.
Assignment 2:
I've learned to identify "what's popular" in my branch by what names I know now that I had never heard of nine months ago when I started working in a library. Having come right from college where I spent all my time reading for class, I don't think I even knew who James Patterson was, let alone such now-familiar names as Janet Evanovich, Harlan Coben, David Baldacci, John Grisham, Clive Cussler...Although I have still not read many of these popular authors, the fact that I recognize their names and can describe vaguely the appeal factors of their books tells me that I've had enough conversations about them to retain at least a little. Coming to the branch as a kind of "clean slate," I think that how my name recognition skills have grown is a pretty fair representation of my customers' preferences. In a way, they've molded me to fit their needs!
Assignment 3:
Since I confess that I still largely judge books by their covers, I chose Everyone Brave is Forgiven to examine from the Amazon "Best of the Month" list. As a student of history, I was drawn to the striking image of bombers over London on the cover - and I was not disappointed.
The book's setting, and to an extent its plot, made me think of such recent hits as All the Light We Cannot See and The Nightingale. War, as a powerful catalyst of human action, has always been a fruitful backdrop for literature, but it seems that popular authors have been taking particular advantage of that lately, and in really wonderful ways. Turning the attention away from the daring escapades of soldiers on the battlefield and toward the smaller intimate struggles has opened the "War story" genre to a wider audience, and I think that readers who have recently been turned onto this category of books will be eager to get a hold of this new novel. Plus, the fact that the story is based on the love letters sent between the author's grandparents is an added bonus that will likely pique readers' interests!
Assignment 1:
My biggest take-away from NPR books is that it has some of the most eye-catching and engrossing book reviews I've ever seen. From the way it lays out its ordinary book reviews - a short-and-sweet one-liner to draw you in to a 500-800 word analysis-rich review - to its special features and clever organizational flair, everything about the site seems expertly designed to draw me in and keep me reading.
The year's review of books, which recently came out for 2015, fascinated me, as it offered unique but highly useful categories like "Seriously Good Writing," "Book Club Ideas," and "Rather Long"/"Rather Short." It's use of "Eye-Opening" as a category even helped me put a name to an appeal factor I often look for but had never known how to express! And the way you can mix and match categories to find the perfect book I found very helpful - and rather reminiscent of WhichBook.
Other features on the site equally interesting, and I was disappointed to find that they hadn't been updated in almost two years: "Three Books," which groups titles thematically in clever ways, such as out-of-body experiences, mid-life crises, and the darker side of quilting; "My Guilty Pleasure," where authors share the books they are embarrassed to admit to reading and loving; and "This Week's Must Read," which pairs a recent headline with a book that offers some sort of commentary on it. I only wish these had been kept up to date, so I could see what each is recommending now!
But sometimes I felt, when browsing happily through all of this engrossing material, that so much effort was put into making the features sleek, eye-catching, and engaging, that perhaps it detracts from the site's practicality. For example, a recent special series on transportation-related books would definitely keep my attention, but as a librarian, whose main reason for reading reviews is not to find a book for myself (after all, I am surrounded by books and book-lovers everyday, surely I don't need any extra help from NPR!), but instead to prepare for reader's advisory, would this kind of set-up be most useful? Contrast this with EarlyWord, and I see the great difference between book resources for librarians and the general populace.
EarlyWord I found to be a bit cluttered. Especially after the glossy feel of NPR's book page, which was directed more toward my pleasure and amusement, it felt like this site was all business. And rightly so, as a site dedicated to keeping librarians and library professionals abreast of the book scene for the benefit of their customers. Once I employed a bit of willpower and went digging, I found a lot of really useful info. The site (and the sites it link to) seems like a fairly reliable place for me to find out more about the books I recognize from our branch's shelves. This makes it a good alternative to NPR Books where, although I really enjoyed its reviews, I found very little overlap with the books circulating in my branch. There, even when book was reviewed weeks ago and touted as a great read, I seldom saw it on a shelf display, or heard it mentioned in conversation with a customer. But on EarlyWord, I found lots of short blurbs about the books whose covers I see all the time, but never got around to picking up and perusing. While I may continue looking at NPR's reviews because they are so engaging and well-written, I think I will rely mostly on EarlyWord from now on to fill in the gaps in my Reader's Advisory knowledge.
Assignment 2:
I've learned to identify "what's popular" in my branch by what names I know now that I had never heard of nine months ago when I started working in a library. Having come right from college where I spent all my time reading for class, I don't think I even knew who James Patterson was, let alone such now-familiar names as Janet Evanovich, Harlan Coben, David Baldacci, John Grisham, Clive Cussler...Although I have still not read many of these popular authors, the fact that I recognize their names and can describe vaguely the appeal factors of their books tells me that I've had enough conversations about them to retain at least a little. Coming to the branch as a kind of "clean slate," I think that how my name recognition skills have grown is a pretty fair representation of my customers' preferences. In a way, they've molded me to fit their needs!
Assignment 3:
Since I confess that I still largely judge books by their covers, I chose Everyone Brave is Forgiven to examine from the Amazon "Best of the Month" list. As a student of history, I was drawn to the striking image of bombers over London on the cover - and I was not disappointed.
The book's setting, and to an extent its plot, made me think of such recent hits as All the Light We Cannot See and The Nightingale. War, as a powerful catalyst of human action, has always been a fruitful backdrop for literature, but it seems that popular authors have been taking particular advantage of that lately, and in really wonderful ways. Turning the attention away from the daring escapades of soldiers on the battlefield and toward the smaller intimate struggles has opened the "War story" genre to a wider audience, and I think that readers who have recently been turned onto this category of books will be eager to get a hold of this new novel. Plus, the fact that the story is based on the love letters sent between the author's grandparents is an added bonus that will likely pique readers' interests!
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Week Four
I had been hearing about Goodreads for a few years before being hired by BCPL, when I finally joined, and since then it's proved super useful for helping me keep track of what I've read, what I'm reading, and (perhaps most importantly) what I can read next.
As it has from the very beginning, Goodreads' Listopia blew me away: I feel like I could spend hours looking around in there, and would undoubtedly come up with WAY too many new books for my "to-read" shelf. But Listopia has also proved a life-saver for reader's advisory; the lists have gotten me out of more than one tough situation (I even found a list for one of last week's scenarios: "Great Vampire Books That Aren't Twilight"!). I find that I turn to Goodreads more quickly than to Novelist or other sources when a customer is looking for a specific sub-genre that would likely not have its own keyword elsewhere. I had a customer come in the other day, for example, who was participating in BCPL's Reading Challenge and was looking for a Maryland author appropriate to her reading level. I probably could have found this out other ways, but I went immediately to Goodreads because I knew Listopia would have a list for that.
I also like Listopia because it is reader-mediated. I feel much more confident, if I do not know a genre well, recommending a book that other readers have added overwhelmingly to a "best books" list than one that received a good review or has been selling well.
When it comes to Goodreads' recommendations, however, I am less blown-away. The site seems to favor only certain appeal factors and ignore others. I, who enjoy books more for their tone, mood, and characters, than for their storyline and setting, find this frustrating. East of Eden, for example, is not my favorite book because I really enjoy multi-generational family sagas set in the American West; I loved it because of its philosophical bent, the slow build up toward its deep message, and the rawness of the characters. Likewise, I am not likely to pick up another piece of medieval Sufi poetry because that is a genre I necessarily enjoy; but the Conference of the Birds is on my favorites shelf because of the richness of its imagery and the depth of its observations. On the whole, I've stopped looking at Goodreads' recommendations, because I think I can find more helpful suggestions elsewhere.
As it has from the very beginning, Goodreads' Listopia blew me away: I feel like I could spend hours looking around in there, and would undoubtedly come up with WAY too many new books for my "to-read" shelf. But Listopia has also proved a life-saver for reader's advisory; the lists have gotten me out of more than one tough situation (I even found a list for one of last week's scenarios: "Great Vampire Books That Aren't Twilight"!). I find that I turn to Goodreads more quickly than to Novelist or other sources when a customer is looking for a specific sub-genre that would likely not have its own keyword elsewhere. I had a customer come in the other day, for example, who was participating in BCPL's Reading Challenge and was looking for a Maryland author appropriate to her reading level. I probably could have found this out other ways, but I went immediately to Goodreads because I knew Listopia would have a list for that.
I also like Listopia because it is reader-mediated. I feel much more confident, if I do not know a genre well, recommending a book that other readers have added overwhelmingly to a "best books" list than one that received a good review or has been selling well.
When it comes to Goodreads' recommendations, however, I am less blown-away. The site seems to favor only certain appeal factors and ignore others. I, who enjoy books more for their tone, mood, and characters, than for their storyline and setting, find this frustrating. East of Eden, for example, is not my favorite book because I really enjoy multi-generational family sagas set in the American West; I loved it because of its philosophical bent, the slow build up toward its deep message, and the rawness of the characters. Likewise, I am not likely to pick up another piece of medieval Sufi poetry because that is a genre I necessarily enjoy; but the Conference of the Birds is on my favorites shelf because of the richness of its imagery and the depth of its observations. On the whole, I've stopped looking at Goodreads' recommendations, because I think I can find more helpful suggestions elsewhere.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Whichbook
I recently came across Whichbook, - an offshoot service of Opening the Book, a library design and supply company - that generates book recommendations when readers indicate the appeal of certain factors on a spectrum.
What I like about Whichbook is that, unlike something like Goodreads' suggestions and "What Should I Read Next?" it doesn't rely solely on your previous reads. Sometimes, you just want something new, and more of the same just won't cut it! I also like the spectrum approach to appeal factors, and the unconventional categories they use: "expected/unexpected," "larger than life/down to earth," "easy/demanding," etc. Best of all, this approach doesn't exclude any genres, so it may help to diversify a user's reading experience! As the site puts it: "If you know you want a particular genre - crime, say, or fantasy - there are lots of websites to give you information. But what are the things readers long to know and are unable to find out?"
Despite these advantages, their database is extremely limited: in order to be included, a book must be either fiction or poetry, published in the last 10 years, and must have been read and reviewed by one of their staff. They also like to concentrate on "books people won't find by themselves," and so don't include many of the most popular and widely-read titles. This means that a great number of the suggestions the site makes aren't available in our catalog!
Even with its major drawbacks, however, I'd recommend checking out Whichbook, if only because it's a lot of fun to play with!
What I like about Whichbook is that, unlike something like Goodreads' suggestions and "What Should I Read Next?" it doesn't rely solely on your previous reads. Sometimes, you just want something new, and more of the same just won't cut it! I also like the spectrum approach to appeal factors, and the unconventional categories they use: "expected/unexpected," "larger than life/down to earth," "easy/demanding," etc. Best of all, this approach doesn't exclude any genres, so it may help to diversify a user's reading experience! As the site puts it: "If you know you want a particular genre - crime, say, or fantasy - there are lots of websites to give you information. But what are the things readers long to know and are unable to find out?"
Despite these advantages, their database is extremely limited: in order to be included, a book must be either fiction or poetry, published in the last 10 years, and must have been read and reviewed by one of their staff. They also like to concentrate on "books people won't find by themselves," and so don't include many of the most popular and widely-read titles. This means that a great number of the suggestions the site makes aren't available in our catalog!
Even with its major drawbacks, however, I'd recommend checking out Whichbook, if only because it's a lot of fun to play with!
Monday, May 9, 2016
Week Three
To do this week's assignment, I had to resist the urge not to jump on NoveList or go digging elsewhere on the internet to find a good suggestion - I wanted to recreate as nearly as possible the kind of response I would actually give when faced with a customer. This means that I had to rely on my first impressions and the books that come most quickly to mind. They may not be the ideal suggestions, but they do reflect my skill level as it stands - which is, I hope, not that bad!
Scenario 1
What I noticed:
Engaging story
Strong female character
Detailed descriptions
Introspective
Touches on serious content
Inspirational
What I'd recommend:
The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson. Like many of the books I recommend to patrons, I heard about this one on Between the Covers! This means that I haven't actually read it myself, but from the review I read, it sounds like the author's self-reflective journey through a foreign country, and his detail-rich account of the places he visited might appeal to this reader.
Scenario 2
What I noticed:
Fast-paced
Supernatural
What I'd recommend:
This one was the hardest for me to come up with suggestions for - not least because I don't think I've ever read any vampire books, including the Twilight series! However, I do know about - and have recommended before - the works of Sherrilyn Kenyon, whose fast-paced, intense, and often racy novel series feature supernatural creatures, including "daimons" - which are basically vampires.
Scenario 3
What I noticed:
History
Exotic locales
Survival stories
Fast-paced
What I'd recommend:
P.T. 109 by William Doyle. This nonfiction title is also a thrilling survival story in an exotic locale centering on a U.S. President. An added bonus is that, if the patron enjoyed the book, he or she could always follow up with the 1963 film starring Cliff Robertson!
Scenario 1
What I noticed:
Engaging story
Strong female character
Detailed descriptions
Introspective
Touches on serious content
Inspirational
What I'd recommend:
The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson. Like many of the books I recommend to patrons, I heard about this one on Between the Covers! This means that I haven't actually read it myself, but from the review I read, it sounds like the author's self-reflective journey through a foreign country, and his detail-rich account of the places he visited might appeal to this reader.
Scenario 2
What I noticed:
Fast-paced
Supernatural
What I'd recommend:
This one was the hardest for me to come up with suggestions for - not least because I don't think I've ever read any vampire books, including the Twilight series! However, I do know about - and have recommended before - the works of Sherrilyn Kenyon, whose fast-paced, intense, and often racy novel series feature supernatural creatures, including "daimons" - which are basically vampires.
Scenario 3
What I noticed:
History
Exotic locales
Survival stories
Fast-paced
What I'd recommend:
P.T. 109 by William Doyle. This nonfiction title is also a thrilling survival story in an exotic locale centering on a U.S. President. An added bonus is that, if the patron enjoyed the book, he or she could always follow up with the 1963 film starring Cliff Robertson!
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Week Two
After reading Neal Wyatt's article on appeal factors, I found that I most enjoyed Joyce Saricks' approach, focusing on adrenaline, intellect, emotion, and landscape as the four major appeal areas. I was surprised to find, after writing these three book reviews, that in each case my enjoyment of the book was rooted in the intellect - now that I know which group appeals to me, it's time to become more conscious of the others!
Anyway, here are my three book-talks...
Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress
Anyway, here are my three book-talks...
Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress
I first encountered Nancy Kress through her short story "Pathways," published in the 2014 Year's Best Science Fiction. Centering on a young woman with a rare degenerative brain disease, I enjoyed the story for its effective blending of biomedical technobabble and human interest. Wanting to read more from this author, I turned to Steal Across the Sky, which had the most captivating tagline of all of Kress's works: "The aliens appeared one day, built a base on the moon, and put an ad on the internet." These aliens, who call themselves the Atoners, claim to have done humanity a grievous wrong and ask for 21 volunteers to act as their "witnesses." Three of these volunteers - Cam, Lucca, and Soledad - visit the twin planets Kular A and Kular B and attempt to tease out what the Atoners meant for them to see as they interact with the local populations.
Although this book features rich and varied characters and several exotic extraterrestrial cultures, the driving force behind this book is really the mystery of what the Atoners are atoning for. Fast-paced and engaging, clues come fast and quick once the witnesses touch down that help unravel this burning question, but unlike a traditional mystery the big reveal, when it comes, doesn't bring satisfaction and closure. Instead, the action returns to Earth for an emotionally-charged second act that focuses more on the human than the alien, as the witnesses and the rest of the planet respond to the revelation. Overall, this book is a genre-bending mystery-turned-social commentary wrapped in science fiction that is engrossing, easy to read, and over too soon.
Shylock is My Name by Howard Jacobson
Shylock is My Name by Howard Jacobson
As soon as I heard about the new Hogarth series of Shakespeare stories re-imagined by modern authors I knew I would have to read them all, and so far I have not been disappointed. This book (and its predecessor The Gap of Time by Jeannette Winterson) beautifully tread the line between Shakespeare's timeless tales and the developments of the modern world. Both Winterson and Jacobson manage to shed new light on the characters Shakespeare created without going too far afield; their stories are firmly their own, but there are definitely "a-ha" moments where the lights come on and you realize exactly where you are standing in the original play.
Jacobson makes this push-and-pull between the historic source material and the modern world all too evident by transporting the character of Shylock from the pages of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice and making him a house guest of his main character, Simon Strulovich. That the impossibility of this feat is never addressed perhaps speaks to a fantastical strain in the novel, but the serious and lengthy conversations that ensue between these 17th century and 21st century Jewish fathers spare nothing for profundity, plumbing the depths of what it means to be Jewish, what it means to be a father, and what it means to be human. Jacobson's masterful (and often darkly humorous) dialogue reveals Shylock as more than just the stereotype he is often in danger of becoming, and instead paints him as a man of incisive wit and passion.
While this masterful adaptation of The Merchant of Venice doesn't attempt (naively) to tie up all the unanswered questions of the original play, it does offer new insights into the characters and their stories that will delight avid Shakespeare-readers. However, the book would appeal equally to readers who are strangers to the Bard; its raw portrayal of complex and flawed characters is perfect for readers who like character-driven existential dramas and who can stay afloat in a heavily literary writing style.
Lucifer's Hammer by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven
Lucifer's Hammer by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven
A mailman who manages to survive the end of the world with his career intact...a scientist who preserves human knowledge in the most surprising of ways...a preacher who uses disaster as a springboard for a new gospel message...in these and many other personalized stories, it is the individual experiences that intertwine in this sci-fi novel to create a compelling picture of life after the sky has fallen, and a believable world after armageddon.
Unlike many apocalyptic stories, which place the moment of total destruction as either the opening scene or the finale, Lucifer's Hammer makes armageddon (here brought on by a comet which collides with the Earth) the centerpiece of the book, which gives it a very distinctive pacing. Beginning with a slow, plodding exposition that becomes incrementally more frenetic as the chances of collision grow larger, the pace of the story mirrors the reality of life for the characters, which then shifts into high gear with the comet's impact, nearly dead-center in the book. Once "the Hammer" falls, events unfold in rapid succession, yet the author's maintain a startling standard of realism, following the repercussions and consequences of choices made mere days after "Hammerfall" as they play out over weeks and months in the new post-apocalyptic civilization.
The large cast of characters that populate this story might make one worry about getting quantity over quality in terms of characterization, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that no character seemed to exist only to serve a purpose in the plot. Shifting perspectives frequently among a dozen or so characters whose personalities become more familiar and nuanced over time, the authors allow us to see into characters' minds and hearts through introspective moments which make the story more relatable and believable.
If I might dare to borrow terminology from the fantasy sub-genres, I would say that Lucifer's Hammer is very firmly a work of "low" science fiction - not in the sense that it is unsophisticated or sub-par, but because it takes place in a recognizable modern world, instead of "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." Its projection of a classic sci-fi trope - the end of the world coming via collision - into a very detailed and realistic world make it a supremely believable work that would appeal even to non-sci-fi readers for its depth of characterization and complexity of plot.
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