Week 7 Prompt- Celebrity Book Clubs

Celebrity Book Clubs

This week we've had the opportunity to explore controversy over books, celebrity book clubs, fake memoirs and author mills.  While some of these are headlines I have skimmed in the past, it was interesting to read them with intent this week.

While the phenomenon of the Oprah Winfrey book club has slowed down over the years, there has to be something said for a book club that has been around for 26 years.  Yes, some of the hiatus' have been long and she has changed her format over the years from inviting the authors to her show to most recently to hosting the book talks on her Apple TV program and reducing the number of books each year, but we can't deny that she has brought books into the top of the book charts for many years.  As Butler, Cowen and Nilsson showed in their study "from 1996 to 2002, an Oprah endorsement was enough to bring a book up into the top 150 bestsellers in America, and almost certainly guaranteed a sturdy spike in the rankings in the beginning, followed by a prolonged period of strong sales for months to come."  Lucky are most the authors that have had a book selected for her book club.  Even author James Frey, whom years ago was called him out on television by Winfrey for his inaccurate account of his personal life unfolding in A Million Little Pieces, gained from being on her book club list.  Just recently she has been bound to another book/author controversy with American Dirt, receiving messages and letters from fans asking her to remove this book from her 2020 Book Club list.  While people might be calling for her to pull it from her list, the continued controversy continues to keep the book title in the news. 

Reese Witherspoon and Emma Watson also have book clubs, but far less controversial. Emma Watson's focuses on feminist classics while she is serving as a UN Ambassador.  While she encourages fans to read strong women literature it is done is a far more subdued and limited manner. 
Reese Witherspoon recently announced a position for her book club librarian and her Hello Sunshine Book Club encourages reading and an online discussion of books.  Notes from the authors give an extra insight to the books.  Will her book club garner notoriety of Oprah's, we don't know. 

Maybe celebrity book clubs will be a trend that will fade, but 26 years and counting tells me they have found a niche. Following celebrities via social media is a trend that is only growing and I would guess that as celebrity book clubs continue to build an online social media presence their popularity will continue to grow.  What I hope is that it is done out of a love for reading.  I hope their book selections are done based on what they want to read, not done as a financial gain.  I hope that their book clubs continue to inspire a love of reading. 

Butler, R. J. ., Cowan, B. W. ., & Nilsson, S. (2005). From Obscurity to Bestseller: Examining the Impact of Oprah’s Book Club Selections. Publishing Research Quarterly, 20(4), 23–34. https://doi-org.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/10.1007/s12109-005-0045-2
https://hello-sunshine.com/

Week 6 Prompt Response- Promoting Romance

Promoting Romance

I would use an integrated advisory to promote the romance genre; linking books, audiobooks and move resources within the library.  This would be a great opportunity to link a fun display with library resources and programming.

To:       ABC Library Director

From:  Jennifer Anderson

Date:   February 19, 2020

RE:      Promoting romance genre

Attached you will find my detailed plan for using a display and integrated advisory to promote the large selection of romance genre materials we have.  I believe this genre is currently under circulated based on perception and we can help patrons expand their reading prosectives and promote other library resources and services.  

An overview of this promotion would start with display, as we do for other topics, celebrations and genre's.  This book display would predominantly showcase a variety of romance genre books, sharing mostly fiction books, but when appropriate non fiction that would fit.  Display visuals would include statements like, "If you liked ___ then try ___"  This will include highlighting non romance books that might have some read alike features to a romance book, encouraging readers to try something new.  It would also include linking current romance novel readers to other romance (historical, relationship and mystery) novels, but also exposing readers to graphic novels, memoirs, poetry and nonfiction.  These "If you like ____then try ___" prompts will also include encouraging patrons to try audiobooks, and eBooks.  I would also include pairings of romance novels with movies that we have available on DVD or through streaming services offered.  To keep the display fresh feeling I would also include a "Blind Date with a Book" section with a fun raffle prize for returned date slips/reviews at the end of the promotion. 

I would like this to also include programs around the 'romance' genre that could include a book club with a romance book, promotion of nonfiction would include a cooking class, flower arrangement course

Romance Annotation- Lost and Found

Lost and Found

By: Danielle Steel

Synopsis: Maddie did what she felt she needed to when her children were younger. As a single mom of three she propelled all of her efforts into raising her kids and establishing a career to support them. She tried dating a handful of times, but eventually all three of the relationships ended when confronted with a decision of what to do next.

An accident forces her to slow down and re evaluate those decisions. While recovering she sifts through an old box of memories containing letters and pictures from those three men. Where are they now? What would it have been like had she made other choices?

When confronted with the stark reality of growing old alone she decides to revisit the past. She travels across the country from New York to California, stopping to see the men from her past if the decisions she made in the past were the right ones. Only after confronting the ghosts in her closet can she look forward to the future and unknowingly heal relationships with her children.

Characteristics of a Romance:

Tone: The tone of a romance is full of strong emotional connections between all the characters. This emotional connection moves the story along quickly and typically to a happy ending, although sometimes with a twist.

In the first few chapters of Lost and Found, through repetitive writing, Steel builds the relationship between the reader and Maddie. She develops the background story of her life and paves the pathway for the rest of the story.

Characters: Characters are developed with vivid characterization that include looks and personality traits. Typically men are written as powerful and somewhat dangerous. Women are developed to be strong and independent, typically the back story develops these traits for the women. In most, one or more characters are forced to undergo a transformation in attitude or way of thinking.

Maddie is quickly developed as an independent and successful woman that outwardly appears confident. Her vulnerability is exposed as the story unfolds. She is joined by three men that have personalities that are powerful, confident and each offer their own sense of danger. Maddie’s three children also have varying personalities that she handles with great finesse.

Language: Language plays an important role is setting the stage for a romance novel. The
language is descriptive to create the characters, scenery and emotions.

Steel builds the setting in her story for readers to imagine looks of each characters and scenes. They will feel like they know exactly what the refurbished firehouse house looks like with all the charm. As Maddie drives across country readers feel like they are riding along seeing cities, cornfields, mountains and the California coast. The sincerity of the emotion will have readers hoping for a happy ending in romance and in healing relationships.

Pace: The pace is fast, with the author setting the reader up to fall for the characters. More of the writing is done in dialogue which moves the reader through the story quickly- looking for a resolution.

As with many books the first couple of chapters are spent setting up the characters and the emotional ties between them. This catapults Lost and Found into a quick read as readers follow the dialogue of the characters.

Read Alikes: 

The selection below touches on relationships with strong female leads. They each face something in their lives that they regroup from and start again. Self-discovery is a strong linking theme along with romance and relationships. Debbie Mcomber are ‘ensemble’ books, characters carry over from other books, however a new reader can pick up anywhere in the series. 

How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews
Starting Now by Debbie Mcomber

Week 5 Prompt Response

How do reviews affect collection development?
When reviews are sought out for collection development I think it is important to look at more than one review from more than one source.  While reviews are opinion, they still need to be credible.  Kirkus allows the reviewer to be as honest as they would like because they are anonymous, for me this opens up concerns and credibility of anonymity. "The knowledge of how BRs are written in different disciplines is of overarching importance to those interested in genre studies. Besides, cross-cultural investigations can be conducted in order to see how cultural specificities might affect the formation of BRs and whether the overall organization of a BR would remain intact across different cultures and languages," was the conclusion of Jaliffar and Tanivar in their study on book reviews, albeit academic focused, and the politeness factor used to reduce an FTA (Face Threatening Act), was an interesting point to consider.  If reviewers aren't anonymous will they be more guarded in their written review? 

Are the two review examples reliable?  How likely would I be to buy this for my library?
In my opinion all reviews need to be taken with grain of salt.  When I am reading reviews on anything that I might buy, read or watch I look at how many reviews there are.  One great and one terrible- then they cancel each other out.  Reviews are often written because the consumer was really happy with the whole product or at least most of it or they really disliked it and were unsatisfied. If an item or book has many reviews I find it more reliable, more people have read/used the item.  It is also important to note that reviewers on Amazon, as in the example have no connection to you, however if you are reading a review on a blog it is often because you follow that blogger.  You have already identified that you have something you like about the person or what they read and so you typically will value their opinion over that of a stranger that happened to read a book that you looked at online.

Would I buy this book for my library- probably not.  Although both reviews give it an average rating there is nothing about it that either reviewer is raving over. A short 185 page easy read most likely has dozens of read alikes within the library for patrons to read.

Angela's Ashes- how do the reviews make me feel about adding it to the collection?
Each of the exampled reviews of Angela's Ashes are vastly different.  The Kirkus review comes across as a brutal review of the father in the story, but ultimately makes for a compelling description and review of the book itself. I feel like all four reviews were positive for the book and the author and based on them I would purchase this book for a library collection.  

As a side note I found the Library Journal and the School Library Journal reviews written in a sterile matter of fact manor, while the other reviews drew me in and made me want to read the book. Interestly I just looked up reviews for a book I recently read and didn't really enjoy and it was compared to Angela's Ashes as a read alike.  So while the 4 reviews make me interested in reading the book, knowing it is comparable to what I just finished makes me less inclined to read it myself.  

Is it fair one type of book is reviewed a lot and others get little to no coverage?  
I did a search for Danielle Steel in Kirkus, Library Journal, and the New York Times Reviews.  I was surprised that I was unable to find any reviews.  I then search for another well known romance novelist, Robyn Carr and found reviews for her in both Kirkus and Library Journal.  In general I think romance novels get fewer reviews, especially those written by those well known in the genre.  I would venture to say their literature worth is deemed less important and once a fan has found their romance novels they tend to stick with them, with or without reviews.  Is it fair, probably not but they seem to have a good circulation without reviews. 

How does this affect a libraries collection?  
I think this has more of an affect on new authors than established ones, which then makes it difficult for a library to determine if it should be added to the collection.  While reviewers might not find value in them, the readers of this genre are typically loyal readers and it is a responsibility of the collection manager to provide a collection for all. 

How do you feel about review sources that don't print the negative?  Is that appropriate?  
I have a tendency to distrust those that don't allow for negative reviews.  It limits the purpose of the review of only positive reviews are made and it doesn't allow consumers/patrons to have all the information about the book.

If you buy for a library- how often do you use reviews?  
When I was purchasing books for the international school library I used reviews from Amazon, GoodReads, Scholastic or the site I was purchasing books on.  I took into consideration if the books I was purchasing were for students pleasure reading, if they were books we wanted to supplement english classes or if they were for our IPC (International Primary Curriculum) units.  The IPC site often had books that it recommended to include in a reference library to support the unit.  

If not, how do you feel about reviews for personal reading?  What are your favorite review sources? 
I've never been in the habit of looking up reviews on  regular basis for books I am picking up from the library.  I am either there to browse the shelves or I have a recommendation for a specific book I am looking for.  The recommendations are often verbal reviews from friends, although I will sometimes do a quick search for a book on Amazon or Goodreads for a review.  I just finished a book which I picked out during my secret shopper experience.  I just looked up a couple of reviews for the book which were mostly positive, however at the end of the book I can't say I would recommend it. Reviews are very personal and I think unless I know the reviewer or the person recommending the book it's a gamble.  However I will say if I check reviews for personal reading and they are positive I am far more likely to try a book and hope that I am not disappointed. 

Jalilifar, A. “Ahvaz,” & Tanavar, L. “Shiraz.” (2015). In search of the generic identity of the book review: a chronological and pragmatic study. Linguistik Online, 3, 51.

Kirkus Style Review

Sold on a Monday

Kristina McMorris

An innocent picture is taken by struggling the reporter, Ellis Reed, which exploits one family and forces others to face their own secrets. 

McMorris introduces Reed Ellis, feeding us bits and pieces of his past and his present.  He takes a picture of two children in front of a sign that says “2 children for sale’ “If Ellis’s brother had survived, he wondered, would they have looked just as similar?  Would they have both been wanted?”  Lily shares the picture with his newspaper editor and Ellis is given his first opportunity to write a real piece for the paper. An innocent picture and an innocent mistake.  All Ellis wants is to be a reporter that makes a difference and this might be his big break. What happens when the image is destroyed?  What happens when we act without thinking about the repercussions?  With each of the main characters having a secret to be exposed and romantic tensions interspersed some parts of the story become too predictable.  However, McMorris makes her readers wonder, what would you be willing to sacrifice in times of desperation?  

Each family faces their own secrets and tragedies and despite their misdoings, you will be left hoping for forgiveness and happiness for them all. 

Adventure Annotation

East of the Mountains
David Guterson

Synopsis: As a doctor Ben knows that death is inevitable, a part of the cycle of life. However when he is faced with his own impending death Ben determines that he will be in control of his ultimate demise, knowing all too well that medicine can’t help him. Without his families knowledge of his illness or his plans he starts out on a personal journey to end his life back where it all began.

Fate interferes with his initial plans with a minor car crash. That crash leads him into the lives of a young adventuring couple, a drifter, Mexican immigrants, a stranger on a bus and a family from his past. Each of their lives impacts Ben. Meanwhile he wrestles with questions of life, how to live it, how to end it and if it should include his family.

Characteristics of an Adventure:

Pacing: The pacing in the adventure genre is generally brisk paced, escaping one danger only to

experience another. The story takes place generally over a short period of time with date/time stamps in the chapter.

While this story set up takes a few chapters, begins to unfold as he leaves for his hunting trip and moves at a steady pace as he experiences each event, while not necessarily dangerous they quickly move the reader through the story. Moments in the story are interrupted with flashbacks to his childhood, marriage and war- each adding another adventurous episode.

Storyline: The storyline focuses on action, a mission and the obstacles that the ‘hero’ faces along the way to his/her generally happy ending.

Ben’s adventures are more low-key than others in the genre, however equally effective to move the story along as the ‘hero’ faces his own immortality.

Hero: The main character that readers relate to and hope that he succeeds in his mission.

Ben is the obvious hero, however he has the readers hoping for a failure in his mission as he grapples with his plan to take his life.

Details: Location is key in an adventure story, detailed descriptions draw the reader into feeling like they are there in the action. Maps often accompany adventure books as readers follow the hero.

Gulterson spares no details in East of the Mountains, using all five senses to make the reader feel like they are travelling along on the adventure. Road signs, descriptions of valleys, the taste of the fruit detail the adventure from the west coast over the mountains to his childhood.

Read Alikes: 

The selection below follows the adventure genre with pacing, storyline and details as the ‘hero’s’ face their own obstacles on their journeys, each of these also contain elements of a psychological fiction as does East of the Mountains.

The Round House by Louise Erdrich
A Small White Scar by K.A. Nuzum
Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Secret Shopper- Summary

I made two visits to two separate libraries and I can't say that either was a good secret shopper/readers advisory experience, in fact it was nearly non existent.  However the experience cemented my belief in customer service and how it adds value to a library.  When community libraries rely on community support and tax funds it is vital to 'sell' the value of the library both in quantitative evaluation, this can be simply circulation numbers, and qualitative evaluation, peoples experiences.  If you haven't taken courses on evaluation I highly recommend it for all specializations but especially for school and public libraries!  Practical Evaluation Techniques for Librarians by Rachel Applegate lays out the procedure and data collection from conducting secret shopper evaluation within your own library.  Honestly until I tried it in the last two weeks I wasn't sold on it effectiveness as an evaluation technique- however my thinking has changed!    

So what was my experience that led to this?  We are relatively new to this community and I don't know any of the librarians by name although they most likely recognize me as we are in the library on a regular basis. We were at the circulation desk and the librarian asked if there was anything else she could help with.  It was the perfect in!  I said I was in a bit of a reading rut and asked for some book recommendations. I was really hopeful- so far so good.  But that's where the questions ended.  There were no follow up questions about what I had read recently that I like/disliked, what my interests were, if I liked thrillers or romance.  

She said "Well have you checked out the books on this shelf here- they are are our newest books".

She pointed out a fantasy and a couple of others and left it at that.  Now I could have been more aggressive and followed up with her.  I could have asked if there were any on the shelf she had read and would recommend, but I felt like that would have been a bit of a role reversal.  I know that this library has Novelist, a great tool as we discussed last week and it wasn't used or even suggested I try it on a library computer. 

I wondered if this interaction was lacking in assistance because I am a regular there, although I would hope that even regular patrons would get more readers advisory assistance than I did. 

So I decided to try again as a new face in a new library and drove to the next town over.  If you can believe it, the experience was even worse!  The librarian didn't recognize my entrance into the library and I had get her attention in a desk back behind the circulation desk.  I wanted to confirm that I could used my card at this library.  She said yes and without another word she went back to her desk.  She didn't ask if I needed help finding anything or give me a general layout of the library even though it was obvious I was a new patron to this library.  I browsed the shelves and listed for other patron interactions, there were two others that cam in after me, but no interaction between them and the librarian.  

So while I do value and appreciate that these community libraries are available for patrons I left feeling disappointed for myself and the community. 

Applegate, R. (2013). Practical evaluation techniques for librarians. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.