Adult Reader's Advisory

 eBook and Audiobook Appeal I’ve only recently begun to borrow audiobooks, with my fancy new 45-minute commute to work, each way. And I’ve discovered that there are amazing audiobooks and average audiobooks and terrible audiobooks. The narrator, I think, makes a huge difference. After all, who wouldn’t want to listen to Stephen Fry reading Sherlock Holmes? And Edward Herrmann, who I adored as Richard on Gilmore Girls, has an incredible collection that he read, including Unbroken and The Tommyknockers . With the right narrator, an audiobook is almost more appealing that reading a physical copy, and that is not an opinion I ever thought I would have. My boyfriend participated in my final project, so I interviewed him and recommended The Way of Kings , the first in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive. He almost exclusively reads via audiobook and it is available through IPL on Overdrive. That was about 6 weeks ago, and he is already on Rhythm of War , the fourth book in the se...

  The Starless Sea By Erin Morgenstern Published November 5, 2019 592 Pages Summary Zachary Ezra Rollins leads a quiet, unobtrusive life, working through a graduate program in Vermont. He spends his free time scouring the library, preferring to live vicariously through fiction, immersing himself in the lives and worlds created by others. Until one day, when he comes across an unusual book, with no author and the title appearing only on an otherwise blank page inside: Sweet Sorrows . Intrigued, he begins to read, interested in the seemingly unconnected series of short stories until he comes across one about him, in a book printed far before he was born. It tells of a memory he keeps tucked away, that pulls on the edges of his mind, a memory of a door painted on a wall, a door he knew wasn’t a door but that he wanted to walk through anyway. A door that would have led him to the Starless Sea. Zachary’s investigations into the origin of the book attract attention and he soo...

Book Club I am involved with two book clubs at the moment, one through work and the other is a family one with my mom and two sisters that we’ve had going for about two years. For the sake of the assignment, I’ve chosen to record observations from my work book club; my family one is a lot more disorganized and involves a lot more wine, although it is tremendous fun and gives us something to look forward to, seeing as how we are currently scattered across Indiana, Kansas, and Utah. I work as a property manager for a luxury apartment community in Fishers, IN and our company hosts a virtual book club for each division, as we have communities all over the country. Each month, we get together to discuss a book about leadership/management that is chosen by the division’s vice president, and this month’s read was Start with Why by Simon Senek. For our division, my district manager leads the discussion. It’s a fairly informal discussion, done completely over Teams, although for this part...

 For my special topics paper, I wrote a persuasive paper detailing the benefits of reading classic literature, along with ideas for incorporating classic works into today's readers' advisory's and attempting to overcome the challenge of making classic literature entertaining, instead of obligatory.  One key benefit of reading classic literature is the connection we are able to make with past generations. Classic literature dates even further back than the written word, with works like Beowulf, a story re-told countless times throughout history, originating as an oral poem passed down among generations before being set in stone. By reading classic literature, we allow ourselves to make that connection with the people of long-gone eras; we see the same struggles in their lives, the same hopes and desires, and the same triumph of good over evil that we long for today. I love the idea of incorporating classic works into readers advisory by capitalizing on Banned Books week, eve...

This week, I read the article about the controversy surrounding Jeanine Cummins's  American Dirt .  Honestly, I knew very little about the origins of the controversy; I remember hearing about it not too long ago, though I think my sense of time for basically all of 2020 is a bit muddled. I did not realize the extent of the notoriety Cummins's novel received prior to even being published and I am surprised that she received as much acclaim as she did. Obviously, the subject of her book seemed important and relevant, but what role did she play in the Mexican immigration system? Other than a distant connection via a Puerto Rican grandmother, what authority does she have the subject? I would never presume that any research I did on a current topic like this would equate to an actual presence or connection. Criticisms that I read all seemed to agree that it's not so much that an Irish author deigned to write about the situation; it's that her writing is stunted, inauthentic,...

After the Funeral (originally Funerals Are Fatal) By Agatha Christie Published 1953 213 pages Synopsis Richard Abernethie is dead, but there is nothing unusual is finding an ill man dead in his bed. That’s what everyone thinks, until an offhand comment by his estranged sister, Cora, at the funeral that implies a more sinister cause of death: murder. Abernethie’s old friend and lawyer, Mr. Entwhistle, is stuck on her statement though and begins a line of inquiry, in order to dismiss her implication as nothing more than a joke, or so he makes himself believe. But before he can speak with her, she turns up dead in her home, only the day after the funeral, maimed by a hatchet. Her death seems too convenient to be a coincidence and Mr. Entwhistle enlists the help of another old friend, Hercule Poirot, to investigate Abernethie’s remaining family, each with their own motive and opportunity to commit either murder. When Cora’s companion and cook turns up at the local hospital with...