Prompt Responses #1

 

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!

I checked under books in Novelist, and the fourth in the series is “Lunatic Café.” 

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 went to Novelist and picked through the choices, and I thought “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens would be a good suggestion.  It is similar to Prodigal Summer in the use of language but at a leisurely pace.   

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!

Novelist listed under Japan, Gai-Jin: A Novel of Japan. I thought “Shogun” by James Clavell would be a good pick. When I think of Japan and history, I think of the Geisha culture.      

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?

“Still Life” by Louise Penny is what I would recommend.  Police procedure seemed to be her defining picture of what they wanted to read, so I wanted to go with that fact.  Louise Penny is a highly regarded author; people always request or say it is their favorite in our library. Hopefully, the person finds Still Life not so creepy.               

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’ve read both books, so I looked up good zombie books on Google.  One of the choices was “Rot & Ruin” by Jonathan Maberry. I started this book with a good premise but was reading too many books to let it slip the radar.  I checked Novelist, and it felt like I had good and bad mentions of zombie fiction.  A few suggestions were George Romano's “Living Dead” or “Warm Bodies” by Isaac Marion.         

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 three literary books turned into movies, which I googled.  So, I recommended “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker and “Ballad of Songbirds and Snake” by Suzanne Collins. The third is “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr.  I thought all three were strong contenders. I liked The Hunger Games, so the prequel looked interesting. I used the judgment that I enjoyed it, and so I used that as justification.  “All The Light We Cannot See” is on my to-be-read list.          

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

I had a problem with this one and Novelist.  The only way I could figure it out was to use Christian thrillers.  Such as “The Terminal List” by Jack Carr and Colleen Coble's book “Fragile Designs.”  

 I recommended three books, “Pretty Girls” by Karin Slaughter, “Sometimes I Lie” by Alice Feeney, and “Before I Go to Sleep” by S.J Watson.  On Google,  I looked up thrillers and clean novels; they were in their recommendations.     

I have several ways where I learn about books.  My favorite is Fantastic Fiction because it shows books in series order and the estimated date of when a book will come out in the series. I like using GoodReads to search for books!  It is a great place to get book suggestions from my co-workers since I put up Staff Picks for my library’s Facebook page, or they tell me of a good book.   I look at book reviews as a part of my job when ordering, like Kirkus Reviews and Publisher’s Weekly, so I find books that way.  I find books by scrolling through Facebook, other Social Media sites, and Local News.