Week 3 Prompt Response

Week Three Prompt Response - Reader's Advisory

1.  Patron just completed the third book in the Anita Blake series and would like to read the next book in the series:

The Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton is a popular urban fantasy series consisting of 28 books, to date.  The third book, entitled Circus of the Damned (1995) is followed by The Lunatic Café (1996) where Anita is dating a werewolf who questions his own self-respect.  The mystery thickens when the city's shape-shifters suddenly start disappearing.  Anita is confronted with requests to investigate the disappearance of George Smitz's wife, a person murdered by a shapeshifter, and the disappearance of shapeshifters and seeks to determine if these events are related and who or what is behind them.

2.  Patron seeks a book with a writing style similar to Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, but, would like a book that contains a faster pace.

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver uses a descriptive and detailed writing style to establish the characters and plot; a protector of wildlife, Deanna Wolfe, and her meeting and relationship with a pragmatic hunter, the relationship of two farming families amid their struggles with arguing neighbors, pesticides and invasion and detachment from their beloved natural environments.

Something Rising (2010) by Haven Kimmel Cassie Claiborne witnesses her mentally fragile mom after her dad acquires a new wife, and her sister, Belle, balances delicately between brilliance and fragility.  Cassie, frustrated with so many needing her care, finds respite on the pool hall, where she learns restraint and control and seeks to right unjust wrongs.  Kimmel provides a descriptive, lyrical style (similar to Kingsolver) that briskly sweeps the reader into Cassie's adventures as she undertakes the role of the good daughter in her small Indiana town and then sets off for excitement in New Orleans where she meets vivacious characters adding humor and a quickened pace to the story.

My Absolute Darling (2017) by Gabriel Tallent is a teenage survival story of Turtle Alveston, who, at 14, finds comfort as she wanders in the Californian forests, away from the despair of her mother's death and the impact of her tortured, charismatic father.  With an urgent pace and striking language, Tallent brings the reader into Turtle's emotional struggles and evolution as she wards off attempts of friendship and encounters someone she actually wants to know.  Tallent's novel includes characters with an environmental connection, a fast pace and descriptive language, aligning with the patron's request.

3.  Patron seeks descriptive writing style in a historical fiction novel set in Japan.

The Teahouse Fire (2006) by Ellis Avery takes place in 19th century Japan.  Avery uses an engaging writing style to compare two drastically different lives, the daughter of a respected tea advisor, Yukako and Aurelia, a French orphan.  When Yukako finds Aurelia hiding on the family's land, the Shin family adopts Aurelia.  Lively and lushly detailed, Aurelia tells the story of the two women as they navigate Japan in a time of extreme transition, when Japan accepts western influences. 

The Pure Land (2007) by Alan Spence portrays Thomas Glover, a young entrepreneur in 19th century Japan eager to take risks and make profits, secures a job in Japan just as the west is exploring the hostile east.  Unwise involvement in local politics stirs clan violence.  Glover finds and loses love, impacting future generations.  

The Dragon Scroll (2005) by I.J. Parker is a suspenseful mystery novel highlighting Sugawara Akitada, a low-level government clerk in the Ministry of Justice, and his investigation into the disappearance of a series of tax convoys.  Adventure and political Ingrid moves the story quickly as Akitada and his few alliances seek to uncover the town's secrets.

4. Patron seeks a read alike to the mystery, Well-Schooled in Murder by Elizabeth George, that is not as "creepy" as books written by John Sandford.

Background

Well-Schooled in Murder by Elizabeth George, is a suspenseful, violent novel about a missing student engulfed in sexual bullying an blackmail.  Using compelling writing, George lays out the independent school atmosphere and unspoken code forbidding students from reporting peer misconduct.  When a 13 year old classmate goes missing and is later found dead, investigators struggle to collect evidence among the silent student body.

Read Alike Suggestions

When gathering information from the patron, I would ask specific questions regarding his/ her description of "creepy" in an effort to limit the undesired features in the suggested read alike books.  

Promise Not to Tell (2018) by Jayne Ann Krentz is a thriller mystery that sews together cult culture, murder, secret messages and lost fortune.  When Virginia Troy, a gallery owner and cult massacre survivor, discovers the suspicious death of a client artist, Hannah Brewster, and paintings that she left behind, Virginia questions the cause of death.  With the help of Cabot Sutter and Max Cutler, both cult massacre survivors, they discover secret messages and a trail to a lost fortune, hidden in Hannah's painting. 

To Dwell in Darkness (2014) by Deborah Crombie is a suspenseful mystery where Duncan Kincaid, from the Scotland Yard headquarters, investigates a public explosion.  A young man, believed to be only a protestor who only set off to engage a smoke-bomb, is the victim.  Kincaid sifts through his discovery and finds turns and twists and the disappearance of a mysterious bystander.  When Kincaid's former boss is attacked, Kincaid considers the connection to the public bombing.  Including descriptive, compelling language and a detailed handwritten map, the story comes to life.

A Banquet of Consequences (2015) by Elizabeth George portrays the investigation of the murder of a prominent English feminist writer.  With a complex storyline that includes a tangled web of family dysfunction, suicide, murder, poisoning, lesbian relations and a graphic description of rape, shocking twists and connections are revealed throughout the lengthy novel.  George lushly describes the characters, adding light humor in Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers.

5. Patron seeks book for her husband who is interested in zombies and has enjoyed The Walking Dead and World War Z. 

When engaging in a reader's advisory conversation with this patron, I would seek additional information such as whether her husband has read all of The Walking Dead series books, if not, is he interested in reading more in the series, and what features, in particular, her husband enjoyed in The Walking Dead and World War Z?

Read Alike Suggestions

 The Rage by Pierre Boisserie is a fast paced, violent and compelling graphic novel illustrating the impact of a pandemic virus and spreads throughout the world, but, only affects children, turning them into mindless, blood-thirsty killers.  

A.D. After Death (2017) by Scott Snyder includes both comic, prose and illustrations is a three-part epic describing the world subsequent to a genetic cure for death.  One man questions eliminating mortality and in the process confronts his past and own mortality.