1) I have been a member of several book clubs in the past (my membership usually ended when I moved) and run on at my library now. Of the past book clubs I have attended, only one worked really well. I stopped attending one book club after the moderator had us read half of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol one month, and the other half the next month. That book is about 100 pages long. One meeting would have sufficed.
The book club that worked was an all girls book club I attended during grad school. We were all at a similar place in life and had a fantastic time reading classics we'd missed in school and meeting to eat, discuss and gossip. This and the book club I currently run are the most successful ones I have personally attended.
In regards to online vs. in-person, I prefer an in-person book club. For one thing, I love how chaotic and noisy book clubs can be. When a good discussion (either on the book or that favorite tv show) really gets going, there are interruptions, talking over each other, cheering, and the occasionally table slap. They are fun. You don't get this same feel in an online book club.
2) As previously mentioned, I already run a book club at my branch. It has grown over the past year and has become a fairly well established club. The members get along well and even do things together outside the library. Sometimes we pick books everyone likes (good discussions), sometimes half and half (bad discussions) and sometimes everyone dislikes the book (great discussions!). No matter how we feel about the book, though, we always have fun.
I did attempt to find a title to suggest to my group using Reading Group Guides. Ironically, the teen book recommendations sent me to another site I've looked at before, teenreads.com. We have already read several books on the list and there is one on here I've been trying to get the book club to read for months: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. I have had several people (and now a website) tell me this is a fantastic book club book. Maybe with these additional positive reviews, we will actually read it. (There is also a list of discussion questions for this book, which would be incredibly helpful.)
3) I searched for One for the Money by Janet Evanovich on LibraryThing, where it had an average rating of 3.98 stars out of 4, and on Goodreads, where it had an average rating of 4.07 stars out of 5. The LibraryThing rating is a tad higher, but both are comparable. I think it is safe to assume that a lot of people really, really love this book! Frankly, I don't find this surprising at all what with how popular that series is just with library patrons.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Books, Readers & Beyond: #53
I'm going to say this up front: I buy all of my book from Amazon (or a seller on Amazon), Barnes & Noble or Half Price Books. In my experience, independent booksellers usually can't match or beat the price a big retailer can set, so there's no point in shopping at the smaller stores.
1) The closest bookstores to my branch are, of course, the college bookstore and In & Out Textbooks. However, neither of these are mainstream book retailers, so they hardly count. (They also have no real web presence.) Another close bookstore is The Book Attic, which sells new and used books. It has a website which allows users to search books that might be available in the store and gives general trade information, etc. Because of the location of this library, there aren't really any close mainstream book retailers. The closest Borders or Barnes & Noble is anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes away. (These both have extensive websites that have already been discussed in this exercise.)
2) I searched for Janet Evanovich's One for the Money and found it available at most sites. On PaperBack Swap you can get the book for the cost of one previously mailed off book. On Amazon you can buy the book for $11.16 new or as little as $3.73 used. Ironically, HCPL does not have this book as a ebook or audiobook download. (And the HCPL site crashed my internet. Nice bonus.) Because the book is not in the public domain, it won't be on any free sites. You can, however, purchase an audio download of the book on Amazon.
3) I greatly dislike ebooks. I may have a laptop, but huddling under a blanket on the couch and reading a book online is just not the same as cuddling up with a nicely worn paperback. Certainly there are some advantages. A search function could be helpful, the ability to read while unobtrusively sitting at a computer. But there are more disadvantages. You are constrained by power, for one thing. If the electricity goes out, you either go without or use up all the battery power. If the power goes out and you have candles, you can still read a book. Reading a book for an extended period of time on a computer screen also tends to strain the eyes more than reading a regular book.
I suppose there are uses for ebooks, but I prefer the good old paperback, myself.
1) The closest bookstores to my branch are, of course, the college bookstore and In & Out Textbooks. However, neither of these are mainstream book retailers, so they hardly count. (They also have no real web presence.) Another close bookstore is The Book Attic, which sells new and used books. It has a website which allows users to search books that might be available in the store and gives general trade information, etc. Because of the location of this library, there aren't really any close mainstream book retailers. The closest Borders or Barnes & Noble is anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes away. (These both have extensive websites that have already been discussed in this exercise.)
2) I searched for Janet Evanovich's One for the Money and found it available at most sites. On PaperBack Swap you can get the book for the cost of one previously mailed off book. On Amazon you can buy the book for $11.16 new or as little as $3.73 used. Ironically, HCPL does not have this book as a ebook or audiobook download. (And the HCPL site crashed my internet. Nice bonus.) Because the book is not in the public domain, it won't be on any free sites. You can, however, purchase an audio download of the book on Amazon.
3) I greatly dislike ebooks. I may have a laptop, but huddling under a blanket on the couch and reading a book online is just not the same as cuddling up with a nicely worn paperback. Certainly there are some advantages. A search function could be helpful, the ability to read while unobtrusively sitting at a computer. But there are more disadvantages. You are constrained by power, for one thing. If the electricity goes out, you either go without or use up all the battery power. If the power goes out and you have candles, you can still read a book. Reading a book for an extended period of time on a computer screen also tends to strain the eyes more than reading a regular book.
I suppose there are uses for ebooks, but I prefer the good old paperback, myself.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Books, Readers & Beyond: #52
Looking back, it seems I haven't participated in iHCPL since last March. That's a long time! I guess there's no time like the present to post again...
1) For the first exercise, I picked one of my favorite Meg Cabot books, Size 12 is Not Fat. It's a chick lit mystery. What could be more fun?
Using Novel List Plus (which is the slowest website known to man. I rarely use it when patrons are standing at the desk because it takes at least five years to load), I found an article with a nice list of mystery chick lit novels in the same vein as Meg Cabot's Heather Wells mysteries.
There were others, of course, but those were the most interesting looking. Ironically, none of these books were on the list from the What Should I Read Next site. That list was mainly filled with YA books. I know Meg Cabot writes YA, but this particular series is definitely for adults. That site was not helpful.
I tried using the two booklist sites, but they were too complicated to use for finding read-alikes for a specific book. They were both great resources, but seemed overly complex for this assignment. So instead I used the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought..." feature on Amazon.com. This is actually my favorite reader's advisory tool and the one I use most frequently. While the results there did lean a little more towards YA or chick lit, the Janet Evanovich series was included. Much more helpful than some of the other resources.
2) For this portion, I used Mid-Continent Public Library's Juvenile Series and Sequels database. Kids and teenagers like series books, so this seemed like a safe way to go. This site features a handy series subject search function, which brings up long lists of books on animals.
For the fourth grade girl interested in animals, I would probably recommend any of the books from Ben M. Baglio's Animal Ark series (#1 is Kittens in the Kitchen) or, for something classic, Hugh Lofting's The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.
For the thirteen year old boy interested in ghost stories, I ended up using a different site. I tried using the Library Booklists site because they have a link to horror stories for YA readers. Unfortunately, most of the links to the actual lists were broken. What an incredibly frustrating experience! Clearly, that site has not been well maintained. I did finally fine a worthwhile list here. I would probably recommend Andrew Nance's Daemon Hall and Anthony Horowitz's More Horowitz Horror.
3)Using Novel List Plus, I would recommend Dan Simmons, Charles Grant and John Saul. Using Library Booklists, I eventually (after a really long time) reached this site which had a link to a list that recommended Stephen King, Greg Bear and Peter Straub. Unfortunately, it took at least five years for the site, If You Like Dean Koontz" by Wake County PL to load. Inconvenient.
4) For this part of the exercise, I used Mid-Continent Public Library's Juvenile Series and Sequels database. I've used this database before and always found it incredibly helpful. (Of course, I always forget about it when I need it most and end up relying on the internet at large to answer my questions.) According to that resource, this Tamora Pierce book is the first book in the Song of the Lioness series. The whole series is as follows:
Pretty cool site!
1) For the first exercise, I picked one of my favorite Meg Cabot books, Size 12 is Not Fat. It's a chick lit mystery. What could be more fun?
Using Novel List Plus (which is the slowest website known to man. I rarely use it when patrons are standing at the desk because it takes at least five years to load), I found an article with a nice list of mystery chick lit novels in the same vein as Meg Cabot's Heather Wells mysteries.
1 - Foul Play by Tori Carrington (Sofie Metropolis mysteries)
2 - One for the Money by Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum mysteries)
There were others, of course, but those were the most interesting looking. Ironically, none of these books were on the list from the What Should I Read Next site. That list was mainly filled with YA books. I know Meg Cabot writes YA, but this particular series is definitely for adults. That site was not helpful.
I tried using the two booklist sites, but they were too complicated to use for finding read-alikes for a specific book. They were both great resources, but seemed overly complex for this assignment. So instead I used the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought..." feature on Amazon.com. This is actually my favorite reader's advisory tool and the one I use most frequently. While the results there did lean a little more towards YA or chick lit, the Janet Evanovich series was included. Much more helpful than some of the other resources.
2) For this portion, I used Mid-Continent Public Library's Juvenile Series and Sequels database. Kids and teenagers like series books, so this seemed like a safe way to go. This site features a handy series subject search function, which brings up long lists of books on animals.
For the fourth grade girl interested in animals, I would probably recommend any of the books from Ben M. Baglio's Animal Ark series (#1 is Kittens in the Kitchen) or, for something classic, Hugh Lofting's The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.
For the thirteen year old boy interested in ghost stories, I ended up using a different site. I tried using the Library Booklists site because they have a link to horror stories for YA readers. Unfortunately, most of the links to the actual lists were broken. What an incredibly frustrating experience! Clearly, that site has not been well maintained. I did finally fine a worthwhile list here. I would probably recommend Andrew Nance's Daemon Hall and Anthony Horowitz's More Horowitz Horror.
3)Using Novel List Plus, I would recommend Dan Simmons, Charles Grant and John Saul. Using Library Booklists, I eventually (after a really long time) reached this site which had a link to a list that recommended Stephen King, Greg Bear and Peter Straub. Unfortunately, it took at least five years for the site, If You Like Dean Koontz" by Wake County PL to load. Inconvenient.
4) For this part of the exercise, I used Mid-Continent Public Library's Juvenile Series and Sequels database. I've used this database before and always found it incredibly helpful. (Of course, I always forget about it when I need it most and end up relying on the internet at large to answer my questions.) According to that resource, this Tamora Pierce book is the first book in the Song of the Lioness series. The whole series is as follows:
1 - Alanna: The First Adventure
2 - In the Hand of the Goddess
3 - The Woman Who Rides Like a Man
4 - Lioness Rampant
Pretty cool site!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Spring Cleaning #30 - drives
As I've mentioned in previous posts, I have only worked for HCPL for six months or so. I can honestly say that my Z: drive was in good shape.
The P: drive, however, was a shambles. I sort of inherited the YA folder on the P: drive, and hadn't done much in the way of cleaning. Until a couple of days ago, that is.
I don't think anything had been cleaned from that drive since the library opened 3 years ago. It was a mess! I deleted so many useless files from 2005 on; files that shouldn't even have been saved to begin with. Unfortunately, there is so much in that folder that it will take more than half an hour's cursory glance through to clean it up. It is definitely a work in progress, but I will slog through and come out victorious!
The P: drive, however, was a shambles. I sort of inherited the YA folder on the P: drive, and hadn't done much in the way of cleaning. Until a couple of days ago, that is.
I don't think anything had been cleaned from that drive since the library opened 3 years ago. It was a mess! I deleted so many useless files from 2005 on; files that shouldn't even have been saved to begin with. Unfortunately, there is so much in that folder that it will take more than half an hour's cursory glance through to clean it up. It is definitely a work in progress, but I will slog through and come out victorious!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Spring Cleaning #29 - email
I just spent fifteen minutes going through my email inbox. It's kind of insane how much builds up - and I've only worked here for six months!
That's nothing, though. My personal email has over 800 messages in the inbox. Over 800! But it's a Gmail account and they seem to have a limitless storage space. I should go through my inbox, delete things that are hopelessly out of date, but by this point, it would take so long that it's not really worth it. I suppose I could push that "Archive" button, but the thought of a completely empty inbox somewhat frightens me.
Relatively speaking, my work email is easy to keep track of. I haven't given that email address to any friends or family, so the only emails I receive are work related. Those fall into specific categories and I finally created folders to keep things more organized. From this point on, my goal is to make use of those (and possibly other) folders, and go through my inbox on a fairly regular basis.
So that's my big email organization plan. I'll strive to keep my work inbox up-to-date, folder-ed and clean, while my personal inbox expands to mammoth sizes. ;)
That's nothing, though. My personal email has over 800 messages in the inbox. Over 800! But it's a Gmail account and they seem to have a limitless storage space. I should go through my inbox, delete things that are hopelessly out of date, but by this point, it would take so long that it's not really worth it. I suppose I could push that "Archive" button, but the thought of a completely empty inbox somewhat frightens me.
Relatively speaking, my work email is easy to keep track of. I haven't given that email address to any friends or family, so the only emails I receive are work related. Those fall into specific categories and I finally created folders to keep things more organized. From this point on, my goal is to make use of those (and possibly other) folders, and go through my inbox on a fairly regular basis.
So that's my big email organization plan. I'll strive to keep my work inbox up-to-date, folder-ed and clean, while my personal inbox expands to mammoth sizes. ;)
Spring Cleaning #28 - GTD
I love lists. Lists make the world go round. They really, really do. If listing be the stuff of life, list on!
What I don't like is someone telling me how, where, or when I should create my lists. That really bugs me. In the quarter century I've lived, I've come to the (entirely true) decision that what works for one person is not guaranteed to work for another person. That's the beauty of humanity, right? That we aren't all the same, that what makes one person tick isn't the same as what makes the other 6 billion people on the planet tick.
At the beginning of iHCPL we briefly discussed the different learning styles people exhibit. It stands to reason that if people learn differently, they would organize differently. I, for example, have to make a list with good, old fashioned pencil and paper. The act of writing everything down, combined with the ability to doodle, scritch things along the sides, draw arrows pointing to various things, and, when the task is down, draw a thick, black line through the item, is both necessary and awesome. I make to do lists on a weekly (often more frequently) basis and scads of lists on any topic under the sun. I just really love lists.
I do use Google Calendar, and it helps to a certain extent, but mainly with my finances and keeping bill due dates and Paycheck Thursdays in order. I took a look at Remember the Milk and it has some interesting features, but I think I'll stick to my pencil and paper lists for now.
What I don't like is someone telling me how, where, or when I should create my lists. That really bugs me. In the quarter century I've lived, I've come to the (entirely true) decision that what works for one person is not guaranteed to work for another person. That's the beauty of humanity, right? That we aren't all the same, that what makes one person tick isn't the same as what makes the other 6 billion people on the planet tick.
At the beginning of iHCPL we briefly discussed the different learning styles people exhibit. It stands to reason that if people learn differently, they would organize differently. I, for example, have to make a list with good, old fashioned pencil and paper. The act of writing everything down, combined with the ability to doodle, scritch things along the sides, draw arrows pointing to various things, and, when the task is down, draw a thick, black line through the item, is both necessary and awesome. I make to do lists on a weekly (often more frequently) basis and scads of lists on any topic under the sun. I just really love lists.
I do use Google Calendar, and it helps to a certain extent, but mainly with my finances and keeping bill due dates and Paycheck Thursdays in order. I took a look at Remember the Milk and it has some interesting features, but I think I'll stick to my pencil and paper lists for now.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Sound #26 - social networking
Two or three years ago a friend of mine told me she had created a MySpace account. My response? Why would she do that if she already had a LiveJournal, which is blogging with a healthy dose of social networking and a distinct lack predators? She said it was because a number of her favorite indie bands had MySpace pages with concert updates, etc that she could only see if she had her own account.
Tricky, tricky.
Unlike my friend, who never updates her MySpace page, but uses it only for the band information it gives her access to, I resisted the urge entirely and have kept a safe distance. For reasons that have nothing to do with music and everything to do with my sense of personal safety, I refuse to create a MySpace account. I can (vaguely) see the appeal for those who are heavily into the indie music scene, but it has far too many issues for me.
I did spend some time poking around Imeem and Project Playlist, both of which are interesting sites all about sharing music in a playlist form on any blogging or social networking site. I am seriously considering putting together the occasional playlist for a post on my personal blog. In the past, my friends and I have posted monthly lists of Seven Songs I am Currently Obsessed With. Those lists would be far more exciting if I could post a playlist to play the songs my readers might not be familiar with. It's a handy tool, one I was (mostly) unaware of.
Tricky, tricky.
Unlike my friend, who never updates her MySpace page, but uses it only for the band information it gives her access to, I resisted the urge entirely and have kept a safe distance. For reasons that have nothing to do with music and everything to do with my sense of personal safety, I refuse to create a MySpace account. I can (vaguely) see the appeal for those who are heavily into the indie music scene, but it has far too many issues for me.
I did spend some time poking around Imeem and Project Playlist, both of which are interesting sites all about sharing music in a playlist form on any blogging or social networking site. I am seriously considering putting together the occasional playlist for a post on my personal blog. In the past, my friends and I have posted monthly lists of Seven Songs I am Currently Obsessed With. Those lists would be far more exciting if I could post a playlist to play the songs my readers might not be familiar with. It's a handy tool, one I was (mostly) unaware of.
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