Final Assignment

For my Adult Reader’s Advisory project, I conducted face to face interviews with my five participants.  I felt that it was important to gain confidence in working with patrons face to face which would provide me with some sort of time length limit.  If I received an email or survey, I would have had hours or even days to determine my results, but I wanted the feeling of a little bit of pressure of having that patron standing in front of me as I would have in a public library.  I also procured the materials for my participants as I did not want to inconvenience them further than having them read my recommendations. 

Participant A

            Participant A is a 53 year old male.  When asked to describe his reading habits, participant A responded, “I don’t really have reading habits.  I don’t read books, but I do listen to them on audiobook.  I am a professional truck drive, so I drive for 8 to 10 hours a day.  I listen to audiobooks on CD when I am driving because I get tired of listening to the radio.”  The genre that he listens to the most is westerns and he has listened to most of the Louis L’Amour audiobooks.  The reason that he enjoys westerns is because the good guy always wins, the description of the landscapes, and the unsettled territory. 

In addition to L’Amour, the participant also likes Robert Parker, the author of Appaloosa and the Jesse Stone books (these are nonwestern murder mysteries) and had recently started reading the William Johnstone books.  The patron usually borrows books or buys them as they are available, so he does not always have the opportunity to start a series from the beginning. 

I asked the patron if he wanted a classic western or if he was looking for something different.  The participant had a very specific request as he had recently started Johnstone’s Mountain Men series.  He had started the books in the middle of the series, so he did not quite understand some of the connections between the characters.  Because of this, the participant wanted to know the first book of the series so that he could restarted the books chronologically.  I used the series feature of NoveList to find the order of the series.  I recommended William Johnstone’s The First Mountain Man and provided a list of the additional books in the series. 

Participant A really enjoyed the audiobook and is looking forward to the next book of the series.  As there are 60+ books in the series, the patron was excited to have something substantial to listen to since he has finished the L’Amour books.

Participant B

            Participant B is a 50 year old female.  The participant’s genres of choice are murder mysteries and biographies/autobiographies.  When I asked her what sort of recommendation she was looking for, she requested a murder mystery.  In a murder mystery, the participant is looking for a female detective or a strong female protagonist.  She is typically not interested in the murder/crime itself but enjoys further characterization in regards to the lead character.  She likes to know personal information about the detective and what led he or she to fighting against crime.  I asked the participant how much violence that she wanted in her murder mysteries.  She said that she likes details and does not mind violence but does not particularly seek it out.  The last book that she read was Shane Gericke’s Cut to the Bone which is about a female detective whose father was also a detective.  She was looking to something specific to this book.  The participant also mentioned that she enjoyed Sue Grafton’s Alphabet Murder series. 

            Using NoveList, I looked up Gericke’s book which led me to some subject headings and appeal terms including suspense stories, fast-paced, detectives, policewomen, and women detectives.  Using these terms, I was able to pinpoint books that also features these phrases in their description.  One of the first authors that resulted in the search was Sandra Brown.  I read the participant the description of Brown’s Low Pressure which is based around a murder and a family secret.  I discussed this book with the participant and she believed that this was a book that she would enjoy.

            The participant enjoyed Brown’s book and the description of the characters.  She has decided to read more books by Brown and is starting with the some of the author’s older books. 

Participant C

            Participant C is a 25 year old male.  He generally only reads one or two books  a year.  He reads very sporadically and usually does not finish a book that he starts unless he is really interested in the material.  He usually reads nonfiction books.  He likes books about basketball and enjoys essays by Chuck Klosterman and topical nonfiction by A.J. Jacobs.  The participant’s favorite book is A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.  When asked what he liked about the book, the participant said that he enjoyed its interesting characters and sense of humor.  He said that he also enjoyed Catch 22 by Joseph Heller for the same reasons.  Pacing was also important to the participant as he said that if the book had too many slow parts, he would stop reading.  He needs something that is fast-paced with short chapters to keep his interest.

            The participant was not looking for anything specifically so I used NoveList to find books similar to both A Confederacy of Dunces and Catch 22 which has the commonalities of darkly humorous and character-driven.  Looking through the list, I suggested Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon.  The reader had heard of this author and had seen the cover of The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay before and so he was interested in reading it. 

            The participant is roughly half way through the book currently.  While he enjoyed the plot itself, the participant found the author’s use of Yiddish as distracting and thought that it broke up the flow of the story.  Because of the Yiddish, the reader felt that he was missing some of the humor which was causing him not to completely enjoy the story. 

Participant D

            Participant D is a 26 year old male.  He typically only readers 1 chapter a time, so he likes a book that he can easily put down and take breaks from reading.  He hates nonfiction and usually reads fantasy or science fictions.  Although he does not typically like realistic books, he does usually enjoy American classics which he considers distinct.  He really likes authors like John Steinbeck but does not enjoy the descriptions of an author like Dickens.  He is a slow reader and does so on purpose so that he can take his time with the story to remember details.  His favorite books include Harry Potter, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Road.  He recently finished A Wizard of Earthsea which he really liked.  He also likes Stephen King books although he has not read very many.  He enjoys graphic novels and his favorites are Fable and Hellboy.  He likes for books to have strong, unique distinct characters.   Although he loves the Game of Thrones television show, he does not have interest in reading the books because he feels as if there are too many characters and would blend together.  He wants a story that is original and creative and prefers short chapters.  Long chapters turn him off from reading the book. 

            During the time of the interview, the participant said that he was rereading Harry Potter and decided he wanted a more realistic book.  He had just finished Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut and wanted something more similar to this.  After we started discussing various books and what he was looking for in a book, the participant wanted to first look at classic science fiction options.  I offered classics such as 1984, A Clockwork Orange, Alas Babylon, The Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451 all of which the participant said that he had read and did not enjoy or did not want to read based on the description.  The participant then switched back to his original feelings of wanting a realistic, American classic book.  One of the suggestions that was presented from A Clockwork Orange was One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey.  The book has appeal terms such as witty, books to movies, and satirical fiction that I knew that the participant would enjoy.  The book’s description also mentioned the strong, unique characters of those in the mental hospital in which the book is placed. 

            The participant, although picky and intimidating in his requests, actually loved the book.  As I had gotten a library copy for him to borrow, he recently purchased the book to add to his personal collection.      

Participant E

            Participant E is a 25 year old male.  He reads in spurts—he might read a book intensely for one week and then leave it alone for a month.  He likes a book that he can pick up and put down.  He is a slow reader and likes to take his time with the book.  He enjoys books with a lot of action and if he’s caught up in a book and there is a good narrator or character that he really likes, he will read heavily.  He also enjoys graphic novels.  The last book that he read was To Kill a Mockingbird and was reading The Black Dahlia during the time of our interview.  When asked what appealed to him in a book, he said that he likes a good adventure story.  He also likes books that make him laugh.  He also enjoys books that are suspenseful.  His favorite literary character is Sherlock Holmes who he described as funny, smart, and witty.  He likes the suspense of the mysteries and the drama of Sherlock’s personal life.  He appreciates Watson as the narrator. 

            As the participant liked graphic novels and Sherlock Holmes, I asked if he knew that there are authors who write Sherlock Holmes based graphic novels.  He listed off some of the stories that he had read and I selected a title that the participant had not yet read which was The Sign of Four by Ian Edginton.  The participant was excited to try a new way of looking at the Holmes’ story as he loves the movie and television adaptations. 

            I knew that my recommendation was risky as the participant mentioned that he was very particular about the style of the artwork in a graphic novel.  Although he liked the idea of the graphic novel, he did not love this particular author’s interpretation or artwork.  He felt that the frames were two tight on the scene and wanted wider viewpoints.  Although he did not love this version of the story, he still was hoping for another variation of this type of story. 

Conclusion

            Overall, I found the advisory process more challenging than I expected.  I did feel more pressure because these were people that I knew and am close to.  I wanted to provide them with a positive reading experience and look “good” at what I have learned over the course of the semester.  While I did not have a 100% success rate with all of my suggestions, I learned from my mistakes (such as not considering the language/dialect with participant C) and these experiences will only make me better at providing recommendations in a real world setting.  I gained confidence in my discussion skills and my use of tools as, prior to this course, I had never used NoveList before.  Instead of feeling intimidated from recommending materials in the future, I am excited to have conversations with patrons and learn more about them as readers and about myself as a librarian.