Week 2: Appeal Factors

The Middlesteins  by Jami Attenberg

An accomplished lawyer, Edie’s weight has ballooned over the years and her health crises affect three neurotic generations in this contemporary family story set in the Chicago suburbs.  At times both comic and moving, the vivid and recognizable characters in this fast-paced novel are brought to life by an omniscient narrator who flashes forward and back to recount how the Middlesteins reached this dysfunctional point.  Wry and compassionate humor help create a messy family portrait.

 Habits of the House  by Fay Weldon

Because the Earl of Dilberne has gambled away the family fortune at the tables alongside the Prince of Wales, his son must marry for money—and soon.  Fans of Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs (for which Weldon wrote the pilot episode) will enjoy the rich detail of London in the Gilded Age and lively characterizations of the entitled elite, the newly wealthy and the servants who make their self-absorbed lives possible.  This quick-paced and witty comedy of manners is the first of a trilogy.

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I've made two suggestions in response to Zeke's blog postings: take a look (his choices are very different than mine!)

Week One: What I Already Knew

Week 1

I loved the assignments this week: designed to be confidence builders, no doubt.  Thirty-five years of slinging books paid off in the book cover quiz; I scored 20/20 for adult titles and 16/20 for the children’s books (the pinhole revealed too small a sample for me in some cases…).  Cindy Orr’s Golden Rules of Readers’ Advisory Services summarized nicely all the things we try to learn and remember.   The genre covers were so typical they were mostly easy-peasy; even surprised myself by knowing the subgenres of Sci-fi.  The only cover that really threw me was “Techno”: I thought it was Spy/Espionage, but I guess I have drones on the brain ever since I listened to Rachel Maddow’s scary Drift : the Unmooring of America’s Military Power.  The six-year-old guessing the content of classic books by their covers seems to have an infatuation with robots—that STEM indoctrination is paying early dividends….

My constant companion web sites will be Nora Rawlinson’s “Early Word” and “Stop, You’re Killing Me!”  I’ve been subscribing to Early Word’s weekly alerts since last fall’s RS Training.  I love that it covers adult, teen and children’s materials, the fact that it includes breaking news and media tie-ins, and the understood crossover appeal that is stressed between publishers and libraries.  And it covers everything!  I love its lists, its spreadsheets, its prominent link to Nancy Pearl, Early Word Kids—even its ads are interesting!

I’ll also follow the mystery site “Stop, You’re Killing Me!”  I know the line between Fiction and Mystery can be hazy at times and although “classic” mysteries have always made me feel stupid, I can appreciate a good story, well-told—and so can many of BCPL’s hard-core readers.  SYKM looks like a great resource to become more familiar with mystery’s many sub-genres, to refresh my memory with the authors I recognize and to introduce many newer authors that I should know more about.  While not as flashy and chatty as Early Word, SYKM looks jam-packed with resources that can help answer What Mystery Readers Need to Know.

Let's Get Ready To R U M B L E !!!!

To quote Sponge Bob, "I'm ready!   I'm ready!   I'm ready!"