Readers' Advisory with Christina

  The television show Bridgerton , based on the books by Julia Quinn, has become immensely popular in the last couple months. Set in London in the early 1800s, the series is a romance about a rich family. People are binging it and wanting more. To promote our library’s romance collection, I want to make a display of materials to read, watch, or listen to if someone is wanting more Bridgerton . It will of course include the original book series as well as other romance books set in similar locations and time periods. All formats of these books; including print, audiobook, and graphic novels; will be promoted. It will include non-fiction books and movies based on that time period, such as Mad and Bad: Real Heroines of the Regency by Bea Koch. Cookbooks based on foods in the 1800s will be included. Historical romance graphic novels, like Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron by Julia Quinn, will be displayed as well. Quinn uniquely created a fictitious world where regency era Black...

  Image text Author: Christina Lauren Title: Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating Genre: Romance Publication Date: 2018 Number of Pages: 309 Geographical Setting: Portland, Oregon Time Period: Contemporary Series (If applicable): Standalone   Plot Summary: Told from the alternating perspectives of both Josh and Hazel, this book follows their romance as it unfolds. Josh and Hazel have a history of meeting in awkward situations and although Hazel has always been interested in him, somehow they have never ended up dating. Hazel is a free spirit with no filter and is unapologetically herself. Josh is more mellow and finds his life shaken up when Hazel decides they are going to be best friends. They go through a long series of double dates and find themselves becoming more and more interested in each other. Subject Headings: romance, contemporary, adult, humor, fiction, chick lit   Appeal: Frame Romance appeals first to the reader’s emotions. It has...

  Amy Poehler's autobiography is a combination of advice and stories from her life, much of which will leave you laughing. Fans of Parks and Recreation or Saturday Night Live should check out this book. Poehler recounts stories from her childhood to the present, interspersing life advice along the way. She champions self-empowerment and being grateful, polite, and kindhearted. Fans of her television work will enjoy stories from behind the scenes. Fans should know the memoir contains serious sections and not to expect laugh-out-loud content in every chapter. Without going too deeply into the personal details of her life, Poehler shares advice and stories about parenting, marriage, and growing older. If you can get your hands on both the audio and hardcover formats, do so. Poehler puts on a dynamic, high energy performance narrating the audiobook and includes special guest speakers. The hardcover book incorporates various documents, such as lists and snippets of scripts, and photos...

  Book reviews are one of the ways I decide whether or not to purchase a book and how many copies to get. Not having reviews for e-books only books is going to make the number of those purchased much less. Not only does it make it difficult to decide if they will circulate well, but it also makes them harder to discover. Although one review for The Billionaire’s First Christmas was more formal than the other, I do find them both reliable and helpful for someone looking for a book. Both reviews describe the plot and how the reviewers felt about the book. For the most part they followed John Updike’s guidelines for reviewing books. Although neither review quoted the book, they did give brief summaries that didn’t give away the plot and the more informal review cited where the reviewer felt the book was deficient. Whether or not I agree with his review that the plot being “too Christmassy” and centered around the CEO’s hatred of Christmas makes the plot “odd,” I appreciate that the...

I called two libraries simply because the first call was so short. At the first library the person who answered asked a few questions like if I was looking for a book for myself or someone else, what I normally like, and what requirements the books needed to fulfil for my class (I told her I needed a science fiction book for school but don't normally read sci-fi). She took down my phone number and said she would ask a librarian, who would call me back today or tomorrow.  This was interesting to me because I did not get to speak to the librarian directly. The woman I spoke to was very friendly and asked helpful, relevant questions, but I did not get the back-and-forth conversation I normally would with a librarian.  However, within half an hour I received a call from the librarian. I was glad I was able to pick up the call so that I could then have a conversation with her. She suggested Finder by Susanne Palmer; The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which she said is very fu...

  One 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! Book number 4 in the Anita Blake series is called The Lunatic Cafe . Two 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.   Because the patron liked the use of language in Prodigal Summer , I looked at the terms on Novelist under the writing style for that book. “Descriptive", “lush”, and “lyrical” were all used to describe the writing style. I did a search of books that also used those words to describe the writing style and then narrowed them down to books that are listed as fast-paced. Yellow Emperor’s Cure by Kunal Basu and Champion of the Scarlet Wolf by Ginn Hale were a couple of the books that fit this description. Three ...