Secret Shopper Summary

The secret shopper mission went so much better than what I thought it would be! Granted, I didn't really have ANY idea of what it would be like, but [name of librarian], you did a fantastic job! To the left is a picture of the handwritten notes and recommendations she gave me, which includes two different queries. 

First, I wanted to make it a bit of a challenge by seeing what sort of book she would recommend that would be my Romance Genre pick for the annotations assignment coming up. I do not normally read romance, and if I do, it's usually a secondary plot line to the main story. I was curious how she would find something for me with very little info. Her method?: asking about what TV shows and movies I enjoy. Seamlessly slipping into a conversation with me about my favorite TV shows and movies, she was able to start to tease out some books that I might enjoy that fit the category. The one I ended up picking was Landline by Rainbow Rowell, so if you haven't read it yet, be sure to check out my annotation for it when we discuss the romance genre! I actually started AND finished it earlier today before typing up the assignment, and was caught off guard how much I enjoyed it and it pulled me in. Kudos to you, [name of librarian], well done. 

The second query I had was to legitimately find something interesting to read for personal leisure time. If you read my reading profile post earlier, you know that I enjoy near-future sci-fi and thrillers that are grounded in real science, modern discoveries, and plausible scenarios. So that was the angle I took, curious to see if there were any she would recommend that weren't already on my "To-Read" list. Several of her initial recommendations hit on stuff I had already read, like Ready Player One and Jurassic Park, but finding out I had already read those only gave her more fuel to find other books. What she came up with is found in the picture to the left. I didn't check out any of them yet, due to my long list of books to read in the next few weeks, but I did add all three to my "To-Read" list for the future!

Week Three Prompt Response

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 fourth and next book in the series is titled "The Lunatic Cafe". If you like these books, then you are set for a while because the 26th book in the series was just released this last year! Happy reading!

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.
I would recommend the book called Strong Motion by Jonathan Franzen. Similar to Prodigal Summer, this book has a love story nestled inside an exciting story--this one about earthquakes in Boston. Among the compelling plot lines, the author also creates complex and complicated characters that drive the story. 

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!
I would recommend the book called Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. This book is written from the perspective of a woman retelling the complex and emotional story of her youth in vivid detail. Starting in the year 1929, she grew up in Japan being raised and trained to become a Geisha, a Japanese woman who entertains through art, dance, and singing.

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?
If you absolutely loved Elizabeth George and the main characters in Well-Schooled in Murder, then I have some good news for you: there are 20 books total in the Inspector Lynley series! So if all else fails, you have plenty to check out there. As far as other mystery books go, I would recommend checking out From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell. The first of a many part series centered around Inspector Wexford, and instead of focusing on the creepy gory details of her death, this book focuses on the clues and past life of the seemingly simple housewife, who has fallen victim in this murder mystery.

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?
I would recommend him looking into the book called The Dust by Jonathan Lynch. Instead of the story being set in the heart of the zombie apocalypse like Walking Dead and World War Z, this story takes place at the beginning of the virus, right as the crap starts hitting the fan. Set in Ireland, the main character must rush to save his pregnant girlfriend and grandmother to get immunized and protected from the virus before the ones who have already succumbed reach them first. 
And if your husband enjoys stories about the undead in general, I would also recommend I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. This is a story about the last man on earth as he makes his last stand in New York City against the creatures of the night, who used to be the rest of humanity.

6. I love books that get turned into movies, especially literary ones. Can you recommend some? Nothing too old, maybe just those from the last 5 years or so.
I would recommend checking out Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. The book was written in 2007 and the movie adaptation was released in 2011, which is just a bit outside your 5 year mark, but I think the literary value found in these will outweigh them not being brand new stories. It is a bestselling book about two people who fell in love working in a circus in 1932 and the complicated and twisted world that exists around them.

7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.
I would recommend the book called Thr3e by Ted Dekker. Written by a Christian author who is well known for this clean (not preachy) suspense, and thriller books, this book is a fast paced race to the end to find out who is threatening and blackmailing the main character into publicly confessing sins that he has never committed. 


In terms of finding my own books to read, I usually get lost in the world of Goodreads and often go down the rabbit hole of recommended reads. I have yet to be at a loss for what to read next because my "To-Read" list is growing at a rate faster than what I can read. Not the worst problem to have, especially for an aspiring librarian, but I haven't really felt the need to branch out to other resources because of all that Goodreads has to offer. After reading over Mary Chelton's list of tools, however, I am excited to start exploring some of the genre specific resources that made the cut!

Reading Profile

As a kid, all the way up until high school, I was an avid reader--to the point where my parents punished me by taking AWAY reading time. My grade school years were filled with reading books as fast as I could, squeezing in a few pages any chance I had, and leading the class in AR (Accelerated Reader) points.  In those days, there were three main series that I couldn't devour fast enough, and I re-read them many times while waiting for the sequels to be released. Those series were:

1. Redwall by Brian Jacques

2. Eragon by Christopher Paolini

3. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Needless to say, I have been a fan of the fantasy genre ever since. Just typing out those titles gave me a rush of nostalgic goosebumps. 

During the decade from high school to 2016, somehow my love of reading was squelched by busy schedules, life, and a bajillion other things. What saved me from that life of boredom was my then-girlfriend: she is an avid reader and it is her favorite way to pass the time. When we started dating, she would often spend lazy Sundays curled up on the couch reading. Not wanting to be left out of something so important to her, I started picking up books again to read with her and keep her company. Thanks to her, I found the joy of reading once more, and have been reading over 40 books a year ever since. My goal for 2019 is to break 50!

Oh yeah, I also married her this past September, so I guess I'll just have to keep reading as my number one hobby......oh darn......

These last few years, my reading interests have evolved and I now enjoy reading just about anything (except straight romance, I'm still trying to work on that one, hence it being the first genre I picked for the annotation assignment). The most recent fascination has been with science fiction, and after reading up on appeal terms from "The Secret Language of Books: A Guide to Appeal" from NoveList this last week, I can now pinpoint specifically what aspects of science fiction I enjoy. It turns out, I really like near-future sci-fi that has a connection to our world today, yet pushes the boundaries slightly. It's kind of hard to describe, so I'll try and give some examples. I LOVED Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton because, while it is fiction, he lays out the plot so well that it seems so gosh-darn possible. Another example is a teen book I read last semester for class called Warcross by Marie Lu: Lu crafts a riveting plot and weaves it seamlessly into a near-future setting where virtual reality (VR) has taken the world by storm and a game the vast majority of people play in VR, Warcross, is now the most popular sport in the world. What I find so fascinating is that, in present day, VR is just now coming into its own in pop culture, so the future that is painted in the book is one that seems entirely plausible. Make more sense? I'm planning on using this explanation for my secret shopper assignment, because now that I have pinpointed a specific aspect of sci-fi that I love, I am hungry to get my hands on more!

I'll leave you with some of my favorite books and highlights from what I read in 2018:

1. The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin - Seriously, check this trilogy out if you have not heard of it. ALL THREE of the books won the Hugo Award (sweeping the award for the last three years)! They are an amazing blend of science fiction and fantasy, so if either of those is your jam, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!

2. The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer - This is one trippy, creepy, and heady tale that VanderMeer created, but it is also the kind that I felt really pushed me as a reader. His writing is all about rich and thick descriptions of the settings, and if you can wade through, he will transport you to a different reality that leaves you both utterly fascinated and totally horrified. A science fiction and horror hybrid, I would highly recommend this to any who are up for a reading challenge. 

3. The Princess Bride by William Goldman - I had seen the movie, like most warm-blooded creatures, and had only heard good things about the book that inspired it. Well, this year I finally got around to reading it and it did not disappoint! The humor of William Goldman is so dry and dead-pan, that it almost catches you off-guard, but the wit and intelligence that he brings to the story is incredible. If you are a fan of fairy tales, but also enjoy poking a bit of fun at them, then this is the book for you. The uniqueness of the book is the dual perspective: it's essentially a story within a story--there is the actual "Princess Bride" fairy tale and then there is the snarky commentary and abridgements of a writer who loved that fairy tale as a child. Both of which are fiction, created by the brilliantly hilarious mind of Goldman. 

5 Genres for Annotations

The five genres that I will be reading for this class are as follows:

1. Romance - Landline by Rainbow Rowell
2. Science Fiction - The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch
3. Historical Fiction - The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
4. Non-Fiction - The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King
5. Young Adult - To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han