Earlyword

The Award Winners links are really efficient.
I use them often, especially when recommending kids books to parents who want "something good."
I always try to show them the site and the links on the sidebar.


I have completely ignored the Archives, but after spending a little time in them this week, they are my new favorite thing.
Looking back reminds me of what I meant to read,  as well as reminding me of what I actually read!

knowledge is good

NPR Books has 23 Genres!
Now I know.
It helps to read all the words on a page...
I had "followed" this site for years -   just reading (when I got a chance) the newest stories that popped up.
Following the links embedded in these stories always gave me more than plenty for my must-read list.

But since I started the Bookish training I have spent some time exploring the page ( !)
One link I "discovered" and have started using often is the BROWSE GENRES link.
I have used it when customers are looking for a "good read" whether in Historical fiction, Young Adult, or Faith & Spirituality
I have also used the NPR BESTSELLER LISTS link on the right of the page, which follows the sales of Independent booksellers.
Customers like lists!

Goodreads

Goodreads, which I had joined (but ignored) a few years ago, was a lot of fun to explore.
I loved rating my reads and getting suggestions.
It is an easy way to keep up with colleagues but I don't like seeing everything they do first thing!
I applied filters unsparingly!!! 


I recommended The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill to Katy because she likes books about animals and their interactions with each other and with humans. This is a fascinating memoir about a man who discovers the intricate, hidden lives on this hilly neighborhood in San Fran.

After Nancy Pearl's suggestions -  I need to hit the consignment shop for another bedside table.

Conversation # 1
This reader likes to read what's popular (Oprah).
Learning/discovering - about people (including the author) and places - seems to be important, as well.

I would recommend Wild by Cheryl Strayed.
Like Eat, Pray, Love, it is the story of a young woman who puts herself in a challenging environment in order to find herself. Strayed's descriptions of the people and the natural world she encounters on the Pacific Coast Trail would appeal to this reader and it would be a good discussion book for the bookclub.


Coversation #2
This reader wants a fast-paced, unsentimental, (possibly gritty) vampire book.

 I'd recommend Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire which though descriptive, so not necesarily action-packed, is a compelling, dark read.
Atmospheric old New Orleans is the back drop  to the story of  these jaded, all-too-human vampires.

Or if they are looking for something more contemporary,  I'd recommend Charlaine Hariss' Sookie Stackhouse series which is a bit lighter but lacks the saccharine teen romance.


Conversation #3
The reader appreciates that this book is a tru-life adventure story.
Adversity makes it interesting.

I would recommend Into Thin Air,
which is a fast-paced read about a deadly trek up to the summit of Everest.
That the author was part of the party makes it even more compelling.

read that? read this!

I posted two suggestions to Drennan N's blog

Broken & Beautiful

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The city of Mumbai is one of the many exotic, heart-wrenching and ultimately familiar characters in Katherine Boo's Behind the beautiful forevers.

Boo's Lyrically-written reportage chronicles a year in the life of Mumbai airport's local slum.
Two hundred yards away, it sat on a stretch of road, " where new India and old India collided and made new India late."

The sharply-drawn residents squabble over space, the trash they ( illegally) pick from the nearby airport and their fiercely-guarded reputaions.
Power is wielded through political corruption and envy is the fuel that feeds their feuds and spurs their up-ward mobility.
Boo is most interested in how people rise out of poverty and in this sad, beautiful book, "each evening, they returned down the slum road with gunny sacks of garbage on their backs, like a procession of broken-toothed Santas."

Let me just say, I loved this book. The language was beautiful...

(which many of my customers know since I cannot help saying so every time I hold it).

Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park  is a character-driven YA love story whose pingpong style allows for a fast, satisfying read.
The two main characters' stories are told in short, alternating chapters.
Eleanor's desperation in a severely broken home is the darkness against the highbeam of their physical and emotional attraction to each other.

The interplay of themes of being "other" and the all-consuming thing that is first love balances and grounds the story.
Highschoolers will recognize the shorthand of playlists and the hierarchy of the daily busride.
Humor and a somewhat hopeful ending keeps the reader from the prozac bottle.