Tag Archives: books

Stumper: book about an African Gray Parrot

Book sale loot (4552277923)
CMLE people – I found another library person asking for help identifying a book a patron is seeking. As you guys have collectively been good at finding these books in the past, I’m posting this here for you. If you know it, you can post it to the comments, or send me an email!

“I hope it’s OK to post stumpers to this listserv – if there’s a better place, please let me know!

Patron is trying to track down a children’s book they read to their kids in the ’80s.
The title is [Boy’s Name] Gray, where [Boy’s name] is a two-syllable name and Gray refers to his African Gray Parrot.
It’s ringing zero bells in my head, and searches in Books in Print & Amazon didn’t pull anything up. Thought I’d see if one of you clever people may recall the book or have A Level sleuthing skills and can track it down.
Thanks in advance!”

New releases to help with your 2017 Goodreads Challenge

Are you participating in a Reading Challenge on Goodreads this year? I decided to aim high this year, and set my goal to read 100 books. Since I’ve only finished 17 so far, I’ve got some work to do! Perhaps you’d like some extra motivation, or are just curious what other people are reading during their challenge.

This post from Goodreads shares some of the most popular new releases from this year that people are reading during their challenge. Here are a few from the list:

The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney
“In the tradition of The Girl on the Train, The Silent Wife, and Gone Girl comes an enthralling psychological thriller that spins one woman’s seemingly good fortune, and another woman’s mysterious fate, through a kaleidoscope of duplicity, death, and deception.”

 

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
“On February 22, 1862, two days after his death, Willie Lincoln was laid to rest in a marble crypt in a Georgetown cemetery. That very night, shattered by grief, Abraham Lincoln arrives at the cemetery under cover of darkness and visits the crypt, alone, to spend time with his son’s body.”

 

My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella
“Katie Brenner has the perfect life: a flat in London, a glamorous job, and a super-cool Instagram feed.
Ok, so the real truth is that she rents a tiny room with no space for a wardrobe, has a hideous commute to a lowly admin job, and the life she shares on Instagram isn’t really hers.
But one day her dreams are bound to come true, aren’t they?”

The article also links to their short reading suggestions, which is helpful if you’re like me and need to increase your numbers of finished books 🙂

Have you read a book you thought was the worst?

Library people generally love books and reading. But, chances are, since you spend a lot of time reading, you are bound to come across a book or two that you dislike…or even hate!

This article from Book Riot describes one man’s strong dislike of a certain book “that many literary critics and book reviewers say is a timeless classic, while I say it is complete garbage and hands down the worst book I have ever read.”

Read the article to find out which book he is talking about! If you also have feelings of strong dislike for a certain book, we are curious to hear about it! Share with us in the comments.

Personally, I tend to abandon books if I develop hateful feelings towards them, unless they are required reading for some reason. In that case, the last book I really didn’t care for was The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni.

Seattle Public library circulation data

2009-0604-19-SeattleCentralLibraryFrom the latest “Data is Plural” newsletter:

“A decade-plus of Seattle library checkouts. Last month, the Seattle Public Library released a dataset tracking the total number of checkouts for each title by year and month from April 2005 to December 2016 (so far). The dataset isn’t limited to physical books; it also includes e-books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, and more. Last year, the three most popular physical books were Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train (2,355 checkouts), Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies (2,151 checkouts), and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me (2,134 checkouts).”

Sign up for this weekly newsletter, filled with databases of information – a great resource for library people!

Get in touch with your collection!

This month we are looking at Reader’s Advisory tools and ideas. One of the best tools for recommending good books is the simplest one to do: Get in touch with your collection!

Knowing what books you have, what is available on your Overdrive account, and where you can ILL books makes everything so much easier for you.

Several years ago in one of my research studies, I looked at different ways library staff provided service. To look at RA work in public libraries I would go to the desk, tell them I had just read the newest Sue Grafton book and really enjoyed Janet Evaonvich’s books, and ask for suggestions on other books to read. Most people responded just as you would expect: they showed me to their mystery collection, or they offered some basic selections.

However, one library provided the most (unintentionally) example of “what not to do” that I have ever seen! Continue reading Get in touch with your collection!