Week Three Prompt Response

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!

There are 26 titles in the Anita Blake, vampire hunter series. The fourth title is The Lunatic Café published in 1996 (Novelist & KDL What’s Next Book in Series)

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.

For my selections I focused on the patrons love of the writing style rather than the genre. Novelist describes Prodigal Summer as being written in a lush, lyrical, and descriptive manner. So I searched for books with this writing style but with fast pacing. My results included Champion of the Scarlet Wolf book one and two by Ginn Hale. These books are epic fantasies / LGBTQIA fiction with a romantic tone and a strong sense of place. Also fitting this writing style are Yellow emporer’s cure and The miniaturist both by Kunal Basu which are historical fiction with a dramatic steamy tone.

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 this query I searched for richly detailed historical fiction set in Japan. The thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchel and The Teahouse fire by Ellis Avery are the two first recommendations by Novelist.

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’m guessing Sanford is to violently graphic and dark. I would first be curious to know if the patron read all of the Thomas Lynley mysteries by George. If not, I would have them start at book one with A great deliverance. Otherwise I would recommend the Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James mysteries by Deborah Crombie. Staring with A Share in Death. Like the Thomas Lynley series they are British Police procedurals that are intricily plotted and leisurly paced. The Chief Inspector Wexford mysteries by Ruth Rendell may also be a good fit.

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 Did a quick search for books with a theme of Zombie apocalypse, the following titles and series look promising.

·         Day by Day Armageddon series by J.L. Bourne

·         Cell by Stephen King

·         Dawn of the Dead by George A. Romero

·         Rot and Ruin, Warrior Smart Graphic novel series by Jonathan Maberry

·         The Enemy by Charles Higson

·         The zombie autopsies: secret notebooks from the apocalypse by Steven C. Schlozman

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.

For this query I searched for fiction works with the genre as “books to movies” and limited returns from 2014 to present. For this search I received 46 results. I then ordered them by popularity based on the folksonomy premise (which is not always true) that popular movies tend to more well done. Promising results:

1.       The girl on the train by Paula Hawkins

2.       The Martian by Andy Weir

3.       A man called Ove by Fredrik Backman

4.       Orgin by Dan Brown

5.       The Children Act by Ian McEwan

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

For this query I searched for fast paced books in the gentle reads genre. Promising titles / series:

·         Better off read: a bookmobile mystery by Nora Page

·         The Psychic Eye Mysteries series by Victoria Laurie

·         Aurora Teagarden mysteries series by Charlaine Harris