So You Want a Good Book... I Have Just the One.

Fake memoirs, author mills, and celebrity inspired book clubs are nothing new—there used to be a running gag in our medieval literature classes about John Mandeville’s ‘Travels’; there are so many different sources, perspectives, and entire books masquerading as this single titled memoir (Moseley 1974), it’s a joy to read the absurdity that went on under one name. The ‘Travels of John Mandeville’ were read when reading was a communal activity and not a silent, solitary act. We might even approximate an evening’s read to an informal book club experience.   The research that goes on concerning the subject now is much more discerning about the different perspectives about foreign nations, the methods of travel and glimpses of material culture—not to mention views on religion and contemporary politics—in order to gain an idea of what kind of a story captivated a great number of people during a certain period of time.   In other words: the fact that these stories ...

I think promoting classic horror at my local library would be fun; integrated advisory would be a snap! It would be possible to do this close to Halloween and make it a seasonal event as well.   We could host a movie night with films already in the public domain; there are several starring Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and Orson Welles on The Internet Archive alone, let alone the more obscure films which might be just as enjoyable. Popcorn and retro candy from the period (Smarties, Necco wafers, Dots etc.) could be serves as refreshments along with rootbeer floats; it could be done fairly cheaply but we could expand it depending on our budget (if we really want to spend money, we could show some of the Universal Classic Monsters films, or do a costume contest with prizes!). If there’s an audience for it, we could talk about the local history of cinema in our town (my town has a *new* drive-in movie theater just this year, but lots of folks remember the old historic movie the...

I have posted two more documents in the week five files. One is two reviews of an ebook only romantic suspense novel, one from a blog and one from amazon. Look over the reviews - do you feel they are both reliable? How likely would you be to buy this book for your library? Looking over the romantic suspense novel reviews, I think they are both good and bad for different reasons. The Amazon interview has a brief synopsis and some descriptions of how the book is written but it is entirely positive (I tend to not trust these kinds of reviews for a book’s quality, maybe that’s just me?). The blog review was not professionally written nor did it have any literary criticism to impart, but it was honest, and it sounds like a review from someone who read the book and is talking to someone else about it frankly and informally, without a stake in the book or the writing of the review.   If it seems like something my patron base would be interested in, sure! I would buy it f...

Newly orphaned Harriet met and married Guy Pringle over the span of one summer, then moved back to Romania with him. It was 1938 and she didn’t speak the language… This first volume of ‘The Balkan Trilogy’ follows the couple’s minor relationship problems, major moral issues, and constant drama between friends and native residents of the country they've chosen to live in. Olivia Manning is ruthless with her racism and misandry; anything Romanian is at once morally corrupt and physically grotesque, and men! Oh, faithless! Uncomprehending!  Harriet pretends to be an intellectual liberal but really is only pleased to be passé about extramarital affairs, to mention menstruation in casual conversation at a fancy restaurant, and loudly refusing to be quiet when a drunk colleague of her husband’s tells her to “shut up”. The book was published in 1960, but was it a shocking epic of love and deceit and the banner of intellectual freedom even then? The pace of the novel ...

I chose a rather large library away from my usual setting (besides, the librarians know me in our surrounding areas because this assignment is similar to other observations and interviews I’ve done), and felt a bit out of place. I must have come at an odd moment when the other librarians were taking their break or helping other patrons because I could only find the one librarian at the desk.   She was kind and professional (exhibiting RUSA-touted listening behaviors) as she listened to my question, then followed up with some of her own. “Just any type of book?” Perhaps, one that would be relaxing, or help me get out of my own skin for awhile. “Fiction or non-fiction? Well, probably fiction.” I agreed. She then pointed me to a section of shelving marked “Staff Picks”, and said I should look around there. I asked her if she could recommend anything in particular, but she said she hadn’t had much time recently for reading, though the reviewing librarians usua...