Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Week Nine - Final Thougts
Being a new librarian, I was surprised at how little was completely new to me from this training - but, that is absolutely a positive reflection on BCPL and on the other librarians at my branch and not on me personally! Appeal factors, sub-genres, Goodreads, EarlyWord...I had already been clued in to so many things by my coworkers, who wanted to make sure I had the tools do the best job I could, that by the time the training came around it was more a refresher than anything else. Like many, it seems, I particularly enjoyed the subgenres section, which I thought was an effective way of giving me an overview of large swaths of fiction with which I was unfamiliar. I also really liked our practice RA conversation assignments from early on in the training; I think that I really needed that kind of practice, and would have liked to have done more of it. Overall, I am really happy with the training - I think (at least I hope!) it has made me more confident in Reader's Advisory, and more knowledgeable about the world of book culture in general.
Week Nine - Book Trailers
From reading up a bit on book trailers (I had never heard of them before), I get the distinct sense that they have increased in quality considerably since the medium was first introduced. That being said, I also had a hard time finding lots of adult book trailers from recent months and even years. The most popular book trailers on YouTube were all uploaded over a year ago, and the vast majority of articles and compilations I found dated from the late 2000s to the early 2010s (around the time our training blog was created, no?), and focused mostly on young adult books. This interested me, coming right from our exploration of teen fiction two weeks ago. I noticed, first, that almost every single one of the most viewed book trailers on YouTube were those posted by EpicReads, HarperCollins' YA site that I ragged on in an earlier assignment (whoops!). It isn't so surprising to me that YA fiction has more of an audience for book trailers, and neither am I surprised that children's book trailers still seem to be doing well (see sites like TeachingBooks.net and Book Trailers for Readers - particularly as school projects. Although they are a little more painful to watch, these amateur endeavors might, I think represent the niche that book trailers are most useful for. With the growing appeal of spending hours surfing YouTube, I feel like many children will be more willing to and excited about watching a video teaser for a book than listening to a librarian like me talk to him or her about it.
But if book trailers still seem to hold so much appeal for younger readers, why have they not caught on as well with adults? It certainly seem that the hype about adult book trailers has gone down in the last few years, so much so that I could hardly find anything to report from the past year or so. I had to go several pages into my Google search results to find more than a single article from this past year on adult book trailers - and many of them griped about how "Book Trailers are Ruining Everything"! One article in particular caught m attention; written for Slate this past February, it was one of the newest pieces I could find, and it asked the question "why are book trailers for literary fiction so self-loathing?"
The observation reminded me of a similar controversy that continually springs up in the art world, when artists (from Pablo Picasso to the British graffiti artist Banksy) seem to betray the integrity of their craft by "selling out" to consumer culture in order to make a profit. As with art, so with books: the "romantic view of literature," as the author of the Slate article puts it, leads us to imagine that "the artists crafting these books are...impervious to marketing strategies." "Creating a book trailer," on the other hand, "means acknowledging the financial dimension" of the literary industry, and those of us who love reading don't want to think of our books as no more than a product to be marketed and consumed.
But why should books be considered inviolable for advertising? The main focus of all the gripe I'm hearing about book trailers is that it is impossible to condense the complexities of a novel into a 2-to-3-minute video clip - but is that really the intent of a book trailer? Just like a movie trailer, a book trailer doesn't pretend to include all the complexities and intricacies of the book itself, but only to whet your appetite, to make you more likely to read it in its entirety. Although I'm not so sure that the appeal of adult book trailers has stood the test of time, I am certainly not opposed to well-made ones that effectively gain readership for quality authors - or even poorly-made ones, if they can do the same thing.
But if book trailers still seem to hold so much appeal for younger readers, why have they not caught on as well with adults? It certainly seem that the hype about adult book trailers has gone down in the last few years, so much so that I could hardly find anything to report from the past year or so. I had to go several pages into my Google search results to find more than a single article from this past year on adult book trailers - and many of them griped about how "Book Trailers are Ruining Everything"! One article in particular caught m attention; written for Slate this past February, it was one of the newest pieces I could find, and it asked the question "why are book trailers for literary fiction so self-loathing?"
The observation reminded me of a similar controversy that continually springs up in the art world, when artists (from Pablo Picasso to the British graffiti artist Banksy) seem to betray the integrity of their craft by "selling out" to consumer culture in order to make a profit. As with art, so with books: the "romantic view of literature," as the author of the Slate article puts it, leads us to imagine that "the artists crafting these books are...impervious to marketing strategies." "Creating a book trailer," on the other hand, "means acknowledging the financial dimension" of the literary industry, and those of us who love reading don't want to think of our books as no more than a product to be marketed and consumed.
But why should books be considered inviolable for advertising? The main focus of all the gripe I'm hearing about book trailers is that it is impossible to condense the complexities of a novel into a 2-to-3-minute video clip - but is that really the intent of a book trailer? Just like a movie trailer, a book trailer doesn't pretend to include all the complexities and intricacies of the book itself, but only to whet your appetite, to make you more likely to read it in its entirety. Although I'm not so sure that the appeal of adult book trailers has stood the test of time, I am certainly not opposed to well-made ones that effectively gain readership for quality authors - or even poorly-made ones, if they can do the same thing.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Week Eight
I was so excited to delve into this week's assignments - I was one of those readers who never read nonfiction until I happened upon a few titles and realized to my astonishment that I really enjoyed them. I absolutely agreed with the opinions expressed by several readers in the two articles we read that story and writing style can be more important than the fiction/nonfiction divide when choosing a good book.
When I sat down to pick my four examples, I realized quickly how many nonfiction books I've read over the past few months! Here are my final picks, though:
Mellencamp: An American Troubadour by David Masciotra (Biography)
This book is perfect for anyone looking for more than just the bare-bones story of John Mellencamp's life. This book reads as much like a work of music criticism as it does a biography, charting how the artist's life experiences influenced his music and vice-versa. The author does a great job of weaving these two modes of writing together, to create a believable narrative for Mellencamp's life that leaves readers feeling like they've come to know him from the inside out. This book can be found in the Biography section in BCPL under "Mellencamp."
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World by Dan Koeppel (History)
I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys quirky reads. Unlike survey histories which can often lose a reader's interest because of their breadth, this book's unique lens makes it endlessly memorable, and gives its readers the gift of being the only ones wise to the fact that bananas as we know them might well be extinct in our lifetimes (tragic, but true). The book can be found in the 300s with the books on economics (its specific call number is 333.95 K), but I might just as easily categorize this book as "Science" nonfiction for all the technical details it provides on the history of banana husbandry (seriously, it's a thing). I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the recently published nonfiction work Hair, which also traces the history of a common everyday item.
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Monroe (Science)
This book is highly entertaining even for a lay reader, but especially for anyone with enough knowledge and interest in science and physics to follow the author's hilarious extrapolations. I would absolutely recommend it as leisure reading for any of my overworked engineering student friends, who would enjoy it all the more because they actually understand the science behind it. The book lives up to both halves of its title, combining the whimsical absurdity of the original xkcd webcomic with the serious scientific background of its author to create the perfect specimen of entertaining but educational nerd culture, which can be found at the very beginning of the "Pure Science" Dewey section, under call number 500 M.
When I sat down to pick my four examples, I realized quickly how many nonfiction books I've read over the past few months! Here are my final picks, though:
Mellencamp: An American Troubadour by David Masciotra (Biography)
This book is perfect for anyone looking for more than just the bare-bones story of John Mellencamp's life. This book reads as much like a work of music criticism as it does a biography, charting how the artist's life experiences influenced his music and vice-versa. The author does a great job of weaving these two modes of writing together, to create a believable narrative for Mellencamp's life that leaves readers feeling like they've come to know him from the inside out. This book can be found in the Biography section in BCPL under "Mellencamp."
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World by Dan Koeppel (History)
I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys quirky reads. Unlike survey histories which can often lose a reader's interest because of their breadth, this book's unique lens makes it endlessly memorable, and gives its readers the gift of being the only ones wise to the fact that bananas as we know them might well be extinct in our lifetimes (tragic, but true). The book can be found in the 300s with the books on economics (its specific call number is 333.95 K), but I might just as easily categorize this book as "Science" nonfiction for all the technical details it provides on the history of banana husbandry (seriously, it's a thing). I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the recently published nonfiction work Hair, which also traces the history of a common everyday item.
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Monroe (Science)
This book is highly entertaining even for a lay reader, but especially for anyone with enough knowledge and interest in science and physics to follow the author's hilarious extrapolations. I would absolutely recommend it as leisure reading for any of my overworked engineering student friends, who would enjoy it all the more because they actually understand the science behind it. The book lives up to both halves of its title, combining the whimsical absurdity of the original xkcd webcomic with the serious scientific background of its author to create the perfect specimen of entertaining but educational nerd culture, which can be found at the very beginning of the "Pure Science" Dewey section, under call number 500 M.
MySecret: A PostSecret Book by Frank Warren (Overcoming Adversity)
This compilation of anonymous postcard confessions is an "easy read" only in the sense that it can be devoured in less than half an hour - but its contents are often anything but "easy." While several of the postcards are lighthearted, many reveal the dark secret's of the sender's past or the deep struggles of their present. The abundance of illustrations makes it great for readers with short attention spans, while its frank, raw tone may appeal to readers who want to think honestly about the abundance of struggles people deal with, day in and day out. Hearing, in short snippets, the confessions of perfect strangers, who could easily be the person you pass on the street every day, can be comforting to those dealing with painful secrets of their own, to know that they're not alone. Reflective of this therepeutic benefit, this book can be found among the pharmacology and therepeutics books with call number 615.851 W.
This compilation of anonymous postcard confessions is an "easy read" only in the sense that it can be devoured in less than half an hour - but its contents are often anything but "easy." While several of the postcards are lighthearted, many reveal the dark secret's of the sender's past or the deep struggles of their present. The abundance of illustrations makes it great for readers with short attention spans, while its frank, raw tone may appeal to readers who want to think honestly about the abundance of struggles people deal with, day in and day out. Hearing, in short snippets, the confessions of perfect strangers, who could easily be the person you pass on the street every day, can be comforting to those dealing with painful secrets of their own, to know that they're not alone. Reflective of this therepeutic benefit, this book can be found among the pharmacology and therepeutics books with call number 615.851 W.
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Week Seven
Assignment 1
I was really impressed with the flow chart from the Lawrence Public Library. I found it very thorough, and was impressed with the variety of elements it covered, any one of which might have been "the thing" that hooked a reader. I especially loved the inclusion of some classic works at the end!
Assignment 2
The first article I read was "New Adult: Needless Marketing-Speak Or Valued Subgenre?" from Publisher's Weekly. In this article, the author described this new genre and the issues surrounding it as "slippery," "fluid," "in flux." I definitely agree; reading her article makes me think only more strongly that trying to pin down such a nebulous thing as age is a losing battle, and that trying to force it into neatness by subjecting it to endless subdivisions is a time-consuming and - in my opinion - pointless endeavor. Because age is so fluid, there will of course be gray areas between any two publishing classifications (just ask parents of young children, who have to figure out how to place their children along a spectrum of difficulty levels in children's literature!) But how do we know how far is too far to go with these subdivisions? Once the can of worms is opened, it is easy to imagine the slippery slope forming. We covered genre-bending books last week - how do we classify those books that are "sort of romance, but also sort of mystery?" Why does BCPL separate out its science fiction books but not its urban fiction? Some subjectivity is always going to creep into these supposedly objective organizational and institutional policies, but I think that at the core of each should be the needs of the customer, and in this article, Lucia Macro, whom the author quotes, admitted that the "New Adult" classification is useful primarily to publishers, and not for readers. In fact, the second article I read, "Who's buying Teen Books?" affirmed that many of these readers are not "new adults," but adults between ages 30 and 44. If they can bridge the age gap without any hesitation or utter humiliation, then 18-to-23-year-olds should be able to do it as well.
The second article I mentioned, "Who's Buying Teen Books? Lots and Lots of Adults" really struck a chord with me when it said that YA books appeal to adults for the "less complicated fashion" of their writing. Perhaps Teen books are less intimidating to adult readers who are less confident in their literary prowess or who just want the "quick literary fix without the padding." Perhaps teens are a kind of sweet spot audience, and the fact that many YA books are well-written enough to satisfy an adult reader's thirst for meaningful story and compelling characters yet simple and straightforward enough not to become heady or esoteric, means that these books strike the perfect balance. The appeal of depth without complication also struck me as I read several middle grade novels for our "Battle of the Books" event. What I enjoyed about reading these titles was exactly what the author describes in this article: simple and easy-to-read writing that incorporated meaningful commentary on serious subject matter.
By contrast, Stackedbooks.org seems to be much more librarian-oriented. The two administrators, Kelly and Kimberly, are currently or have been librarians, and with drop-down menu items like "In the Library," "Professional Development," and "The Publishing World," it isn't hard to see where these librarian's focus for the site lie. One article I particularly enjoyed demonstrates this: a list of 6 Hardcover to Paperback Makeovers is fascinating to me, but not what I would think a teen reader would care to read about. Likewise with their more serious features: the most recent post, summarizing Kelly's contributions to BookRiot, one of which in particular also demonstrated the very librarian-tailored atmosphere of the site: "'Stories will Help You Understand Yourself': An Interview about Censorship with Kate Messner." This article revolves around the censorship of the YA book Messner recently published, The Seventh Wish, and analyzes the place of age-appropriate engagement with serious topics in children's and YA literature. Although I'm not saying that children and teens wouldn't be interested in this topic, this sounds a lot more like something a library employee would look for in a blog post - in fact the author directly encourages those who "work with children or teenagers and books" to read it.
Assignment 4
In both Harper Collins' and Random House' teen sections, I found a preponderance of sci-fi and fantasy, as well as a tendency to include dark subject matter in realistic fiction. Although Harper Collins' teen site, EpicReads, was disappointing both for it's location (tucked away at the end of a drop-down menu and swallowed up by the several children's categories it was lumped with), and for content (much of which was vapid vapid quizzes and shallow posts that seemed to exist more to make the site a Buzzfeed wannabe than a serious site about books), underneath it all it did provide a good perspective on these two teen book trends. Their list of the "17 Most Anticipated YA Books to Read in June," for example, reflects these tendencies with several fantasy and dystopian novels such as My Lady Jane and the Marked Girl, alongside dark, serious realistic fiction like The Loose Ends List amd Run. Random House follows the same pattern, with fantasy bestsellers including the Eragon and 100 Cupboards series and dark or serious realistic fiction such as The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and a Penny from Heaven. Some newer releases (I say newer, not new because one was released in 2014!) include All the Bright Places and Brandon Sanderson's Reckoners series, prime examples of realistic fiction with serious subject matter and action-packed dystopian sci-fi.
I was really impressed with the flow chart from the Lawrence Public Library. I found it very thorough, and was impressed with the variety of elements it covered, any one of which might have been "the thing" that hooked a reader. I especially loved the inclusion of some classic works at the end!
Assignment 2
The first article I read was "New Adult: Needless Marketing-Speak Or Valued Subgenre?" from Publisher's Weekly. In this article, the author described this new genre and the issues surrounding it as "slippery," "fluid," "in flux." I definitely agree; reading her article makes me think only more strongly that trying to pin down such a nebulous thing as age is a losing battle, and that trying to force it into neatness by subjecting it to endless subdivisions is a time-consuming and - in my opinion - pointless endeavor. Because age is so fluid, there will of course be gray areas between any two publishing classifications (just ask parents of young children, who have to figure out how to place their children along a spectrum of difficulty levels in children's literature!) But how do we know how far is too far to go with these subdivisions? Once the can of worms is opened, it is easy to imagine the slippery slope forming. We covered genre-bending books last week - how do we classify those books that are "sort of romance, but also sort of mystery?" Why does BCPL separate out its science fiction books but not its urban fiction? Some subjectivity is always going to creep into these supposedly objective organizational and institutional policies, but I think that at the core of each should be the needs of the customer, and in this article, Lucia Macro, whom the author quotes, admitted that the "New Adult" classification is useful primarily to publishers, and not for readers. In fact, the second article I read, "Who's buying Teen Books?" affirmed that many of these readers are not "new adults," but adults between ages 30 and 44. If they can bridge the age gap without any hesitation or utter humiliation, then 18-to-23-year-olds should be able to do it as well.
The second article I mentioned, "Who's Buying Teen Books? Lots and Lots of Adults" really struck a chord with me when it said that YA books appeal to adults for the "less complicated fashion" of their writing. Perhaps Teen books are less intimidating to adult readers who are less confident in their literary prowess or who just want the "quick literary fix without the padding." Perhaps teens are a kind of sweet spot audience, and the fact that many YA books are well-written enough to satisfy an adult reader's thirst for meaningful story and compelling characters yet simple and straightforward enough not to become heady or esoteric, means that these books strike the perfect balance. The appeal of depth without complication also struck me as I read several middle grade novels for our "Battle of the Books" event. What I enjoyed about reading these titles was exactly what the author describes in this article: simple and easy-to-read writing that incorporated meaningful commentary on serious subject matter.
I agree with Sue Corbett's opinion in her article "YA Comes of Age," that the spectrum of depth and quality in YA fiction is no different than the similar spectrum to be found in adult fiction. Sure, there are bound to be Teen books that suffer from all the flaws the genre's naysayers highlight: over-simplicity, vapidity, shallowness, mediocrity...But YA fiction does not hold a monopoly on easy satisfaction; there is plenty of quick, easy-to-read stories with not a lot of depth in adult fiction, but we know enough not to generalize this element to the entire canon of adult literature. The same is true of YA literature; as Meg Wolitzer asserted in her article "Look Homeward, Reader: A Not-So-Young Audience for Young Adult Books," "there’s just far too much variety in Y.A. to define it or dismiss it."
Assignment 3
I really enjoyed exploring Teenreads.com - they seem to make a real effort to come up with fun and engaging articles and features (I'm especially thinking of their "Side by Side" section, which is very clever, and the "Ultimate Reading List," which I wish I'd had as a teen trying to find "the best" books to read!) I appreciate the variety in their book reviews, but I also find that their intended audience can be easily gleaned by what kind of books they include and how often. By far their most numerous reviews are from the "Young Adult 12+" and "Youth Fiction" categories, with a large percentage being Fantasy and Graphic Novels. I also like that they have a Teen Board, which would hopefully keep their readership involved.
I really enjoyed exploring Teenreads.com - they seem to make a real effort to come up with fun and engaging articles and features (I'm especially thinking of their "Side by Side" section, which is very clever, and the "Ultimate Reading List," which I wish I'd had as a teen trying to find "the best" books to read!) I appreciate the variety in their book reviews, but I also find that their intended audience can be easily gleaned by what kind of books they include and how often. By far their most numerous reviews are from the "Young Adult 12+" and "Youth Fiction" categories, with a large percentage being Fantasy and Graphic Novels. I also like that they have a Teen Board, which would hopefully keep their readership involved.
By contrast, Stackedbooks.org seems to be much more librarian-oriented. The two administrators, Kelly and Kimberly, are currently or have been librarians, and with drop-down menu items like "In the Library," "Professional Development," and "The Publishing World," it isn't hard to see where these librarian's focus for the site lie. One article I particularly enjoyed demonstrates this: a list of 6 Hardcover to Paperback Makeovers is fascinating to me, but not what I would think a teen reader would care to read about. Likewise with their more serious features: the most recent post, summarizing Kelly's contributions to BookRiot, one of which in particular also demonstrated the very librarian-tailored atmosphere of the site: "'Stories will Help You Understand Yourself': An Interview about Censorship with Kate Messner." This article revolves around the censorship of the YA book Messner recently published, The Seventh Wish, and analyzes the place of age-appropriate engagement with serious topics in children's and YA literature. Although I'm not saying that children and teens wouldn't be interested in this topic, this sounds a lot more like something a library employee would look for in a blog post - in fact the author directly encourages those who "work with children or teenagers and books" to read it.
Assignment 4
In both Harper Collins' and Random House' teen sections, I found a preponderance of sci-fi and fantasy, as well as a tendency to include dark subject matter in realistic fiction. Although Harper Collins' teen site, EpicReads, was disappointing both for it's location (tucked away at the end of a drop-down menu and swallowed up by the several children's categories it was lumped with), and for content (much of which was vapid vapid quizzes and shallow posts that seemed to exist more to make the site a Buzzfeed wannabe than a serious site about books), underneath it all it did provide a good perspective on these two teen book trends. Their list of the "17 Most Anticipated YA Books to Read in June," for example, reflects these tendencies with several fantasy and dystopian novels such as My Lady Jane and the Marked Girl, alongside dark, serious realistic fiction like The Loose Ends List amd Run. Random House follows the same pattern, with fantasy bestsellers including the Eragon and 100 Cupboards series and dark or serious realistic fiction such as The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and a Penny from Heaven. Some newer releases (I say newer, not new because one was released in 2014!) include All the Bright Places and Brandon Sanderson's Reckoners series, prime examples of realistic fiction with serious subject matter and action-packed dystopian sci-fi.
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