Week 3 Prompt: Novelist

I used Novelist to find books for the following scenarios:

1. I am looking for a book by Laurell K. Hamilton. I just read the third book in the Anita Blake series and I can’t figure out which one comes next!

The Lunatic Cafe, by Laurell K. Hamilton

I chose this book because it is the fourth book in the Anita Blake series. I searched by series for "Anita Blake" and found it quickly.


 2. What have I read recently? Well, I just finished this great book by Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer. I really liked the way it was written, you know, the way she used language. I wouldn't mind something a bit faster paced though.


Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall


I found these books by searching for books that shared the same writing style as Prodigal Summer (Lush, Descriptive, and Lyrical). Animal Dreams is another book by Kingsolver, which the patron may appreciate, while The Book of Summers is an option if they want to try someone new, while maintaining the same style.




3. I like reading books set in different countries. I just read one set in China, could you help me find one set in Japan? No, not modern – historical. I like it when the author describes it so much it feels like I was there!

The Ghost In the Tokaido Inn by Dorothy Hoobler
The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama
Rurouni Kenshin volume 1 by Nobuhiro Watsuki

I found these options by searching for Japanese hisorical fiction set in Japan. The Ghost In the Tokaido Inn is an awarding winning Young Adult book, and the first in a series. If the reader would prefer an adult book, The Samurai's Garden is rated highly. And if the reader is feeling adventurous, Rurouni Kenshin is a classic manga series that is well loved by many, including myself.


4. I read this great mystery by Elizabeth George called Well-Schooled in Murder and I loved it. Then my dentist said that if I liked mysteries I would probably like John Sandford, but boy was he creepy I couldn't finish it! Do you have any suggestions?

A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George
The Cut by George Pelecanos

A Banquet of Consequences is another Inspector Lynley novel by Elizabeth George, so the reader may enjoy it. It is also fairly recent, so they may not have read it yet. I found The Cut by searching for the same tone as Well-Schooled in Murder (Strong sense of place, Suspenseful, and Violent). By matching the tone, I tried to find a similar book that wasn't too creepy.







 5. My husband has really gotten into zombies lately. He’s already read The Walking Dead and World War Z, is there anything else you can recommend?

 Cell by Stephen King
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
The Living Dead by various

If the reader would prefer a serious zombie story along the lines of Walking Dead or World War Z, I would recommend Cell. However, if they would like a humorous twist on the genre, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies may be appealing. With a movie adaptation on the way, the reader may have been considering this book already. The Living Dead is a collection of short zombie-themed stories by popular authors like George R.R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, Laurell K. Hamilton, Stephen King, and Clive Barker. This impressive list of authors should provide something for the reader to enjoy.



Now as for ways that I personally find books, I use three ways. My library's OPAC, Amazon, and Wikipedia. My library's OPAC is useful, because I can immediately check out or place a hold on the item. I use Amazon religiously for several kinds of shopping, so it is no surprise that I find books there as well. Wikipedia is fast and convenient. I know that it is not as comprehensive or well-structured as other tools, but I have the app on my phone, and I can quickly search for an author to get their list of works. It isn't the best way, but it is by far the fastest.

Reading Profile

This post will be divided into two sections, because while I do read often, my medium of choice is the comic book or graphic novel. Because the nature of this medium differs from traditional novels, I think it would be best to talk about my reading preferences from both graphic novels and regular novels. While many would not consider reading graphic novels to be "real reading", I would argue that it is a valid form of reading, but not as compact as a novel. While I could easily read a graphic novel in about an hour (depending on length), reading a full-length novel would certainly take more time for me to process. As far as graphic novels are concerned, I tend to stick with the superhero genre, particularly books published by DC Comics. I also dabble in other genres, including manga occasionally. As for regular novels, I read science fiction more than most other genres. I also jump on the bandwagon and pick up popular young adult novels, so I can see what all the buzz is about (for better or for worse).

Graphic Novels/Comic Books

Favorites:
Batwoman by J.H. Williams III
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Green Lantern by Geoff Johns
Superman Unchained by Scott Snyder
Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello

I should point out that each of these are a series of comic books that were published monthly in a magazine format. They are then collected and bound together into graphic novels. For example, Brian Azzarello wrote 38 issues of Wonder Woman, which are collected in six volumes. Geoff Johns wrote Green Lantern comics for nearly ten years, and his incredibly large story is collected in about 40 volumes. All of these series focus on superheroes, except for The Sandman, which is a horror/fantasy story (as expected of Neil Gaiman), collected in ten volumes.


Novels

Favorites:
Dune by Frank Herbert
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The Haruhi Suzumiya series by Nagaru Tanigawa
Star Wars novels by various authors

Yes, Harry Potter is over-rated. But it still holds a special place in my childhood memories, and it always will. I have a love-hate relationship with the Hunger Games series, as I found the first book to be mediocre, and the last to be....less than mediocre. However, I found Catching Fire to be very entertaining. Haruhi Suzumiya is a series of young adult novels from Japan. It has been adapted into an anime, and is well-loved by many nerds around the world. As for Star Wars, I couldn't pinpoint a single favorite, as I really just enjoy the world of Star Wars, and the novels flesh out that world so much more than the movies ever did.