This program is a condensed version of reader’s advisory guru Nancy Pearl’s 2010 Public Library Association half-day preconference program. In order to effectively match up a reader with just the right book, it’s helpful to understand how to apply the concept of “doorways” in suggesting reading material. This session will focus on defining, identifying, and using doorways in RA interviews.
Nothing cements a library in a community like providing the connections that service gives and this is a service EVERYONE has the chance to excel at on a daily basis.
Whole library RA – don’t be afraid to recommend an audiobook or a video on a subject someone might like. Also, readers need to discover that they can have the same reading experience by taking books from different parts of the library, not just the same area they always visit (i.e. the patron who only reads one genre/author).
RA isn’t like a reference interview. In a RI, the capital of Peru is always Lima but a person’s reading interests change depending mood.
Don’t feel like you can only suggest books you’ve read, it’s impossible to remember every book much less the plot details of each one.
RA is not about us. The reader should never know our opinion about a book unless they ask for it.
It’s essential to make an effort to read books in areas we wouldn’t normally read, especially if those areas are popular in your library. We need to be willing to read anything. Even if we don’t like it we only need to read it long enough to be able to answer the question, “What kind of reader would like this book?” Read promiscuously
The “shoe story” Provide three suggestions: one spot on, one similar, and a “reach” choice.
“suggest”, not “recommend” because “recommend” carries with it the subtle insinuation that the potential reader should have the very same experience with the book that you did.
Don’t ask what they like, but what they liked about it.
Invite the reader to come back and discuss the book with you.
The Doorways: Story, Character, Setting, and Language
Each book has all four but the difference is in the size of each doorway within the book.
STORY/PLOT
Possible display title: “Stories You May Not Have Heard”
The drive to know what happens next becomes the main motivation, “I stayed up all night, I just HAD to know what happened”, and “a real page-turner”
Harry Potter, Twilight, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Douglas Preston, James Patterson, Janet Evanovich, Dean Koontz
CHARACTER
Possible display title: “People You Ought To Meet”
“I felt like I knew him/her”, “That was my family”, “I know people like that”
Is the main character named or described in the title? This MIGHT be an indication of a character-drive book.
mystery series (a Detective/Inspector so-and-so…), sci-fi/fant series, memoirs/biographies/autobiographies, Alexander McCall Smith, John Green, , Julia Glass, Adriana Trigiani, Lee Smith, Amy Tan, Frank McCourt, Rick Bragg, Charlaine Harris, David Webber, Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge
SETTING
Possible display title: “Places You Should Go”
“This book just brought this place to life”, “I felt like I’d been there”, “I could see it clearly in my mind’s eye”
Is the place name in the title? This MIGHT be an indication of a setting-driven book.
SF/F world building makes great setting portals, westerns, dystopian fictions, Scandinavian mysteries, any sort of regional/ethnic literature (why do we like Southern literature so much?), Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil, Devil in the White City, 1000 Splendid Suns, James Michener, Bill Bryson, Undaunted Courage, Elizabeth Peters, Tony Hillerman, Lonesome Dove, Fannie Flagg
LANGUAGE
Built in lists in the literary awards: Pulitzer Prize, Man Booker Awards, Orange Prize, National Book Awards, etc.
Usually “the classics”, more literary, sometimes require more effort to read and get into, frequently feature complex plotting and potentially confusing viewpoints
Toni Morrison, Willa Cather, Zadie Smith, Faulkner, Joyce, Annie Dillard, Doty Roy, Thomas Hardy, Stegner, Chabon, Maugham, McEwan, Cormac McCarthy, Olive Kitteridge, Philip Roth, The Hours, Pat Conroy, Salman Rushdie, Jonathan Foer, Jeffery Eugenides, The Book Thief, Don Quixote, Wolf Hall
These are the EXTREMELY on-the-fly notes I took via Google Documents while session participants fired titles at me! Please forgive the informality of it all!
STORY/PLOT
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Vertical Run by Joseph Garber
James Patterson
Danielle Steel
Under the Banner of Heaven by Krakauer
Devil in the White city eric larson
L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
with series books - recurring characters vs chronological series
good starter question for nonreaders/reluctant readers - “what kind of movies do you like?”
imbd - literature listings on lower left
“best of” lists
nonrequired reading of the year lists
CHARACTER
their eyes were watching god by zora neale hurston
harry potter
sinclair lewis
olive kitteridge by elizabeth strout
jan karon - mitford series
memory keeper’s daughter by kim edwards
family linen by lee smith
lisbeth salandar series by stieg larsson
biographies
stolen child by keith donohue
sandman series by neil naiman
chronicles of vladimir todd by heather brewer
time traveler’s wife by Audrey niffenegger
encyclopedia brown series by david sobol
nancy drew series by Carolyn keene
junie b. jones series by Barbara park
fancy nancy series by jane o’connor
ramona quimby series by Beverly cleary
sherlock holmes series by Arthur conan doyle
graphic novels
SETTING
boneshaker by cherie priest
the forest of hands and teeth by carrie ryan
j.r.r. tolkien
to build a fire by jack london
skeletons on the zahara by dean king
blood and ice robert masello
travel writing
dune by frank herbert
yiddish policemen’s union by Michael chabon
song of ice & fire series by George r.r. martin
james michener’s books
historical fiction
shame by salman rushdie
midnight’s children by salman rushdie
midnight in the garden of good and evil by john berendt
jack finney time travel novels
connie willis’ doomsday book (another books in the Historians series - to say nothing of the dog)
world lit only by fire by William Raymond manchester
year 1000 by Robert lacey
travels with a tangerine by tim mackintosh-smith
LANGUAGE
the road by cormac mccarthy
make lemonade by Virginia euwer wolff
wolf hall by Hilary mantel
elmore leonard’s books
life of pi by yan martel
William faulkner’s books
james joyce’s books
ray bradbury’s books
claiming ground by laura bell
electric michaelanglo by sarah hall
post office by Charles bukowski
warlock by oakley m. hall
true grit by Charles portis
god of small things by arundhati roy
Late Afternoon Session
PLOT / STORY
harry potter series by j.k. rowling
twilight series by stephenie meyer
john grisham’s books
tom clancy’s books
douglas preston’s books
james patterson’s books
janet evanovich’s books
dean koontz’s books
anathem by neal stephenson
james rollins’s books
matthew reilly’s books
jack du brul’s books
stieg larsson’s millennium trilogy
skullduggery pleasant series by Derek landy
rick riordan’s books
incarceron by Catherine fisher
uglies series by scott westerfel
CHARACTER
olive kitteridge by Elizabeth strout
time traveler’s wife by Audrey niffenegger
memory keepers daughter by kim edwards
disreputable history of frankie landau banks by e. lockhart
girl with the dragon tattoo by stieg larsson
ahab’s wife by sena jeter naslund
anne tyler’s entire oeuvre
carl Hiaasen’s books
Edward rutherford - new york, london
david rosenfelt’s books
art of racing in the rain by garth stein
world war z by max brooks
terry pratchett’s wee free men series
stephen donaldson’s books
kite runner by khaled hosseini
jan karon - mitford books
thomas kinkade series
jane austen and spinoffs
dark tower series (characters from other books show up) by stephen king
SETTING
shutter island by dennis lehane
all dennis lehane’s books
travel writing
james michener’s books
roger zelazny (sp?) chronicles of amber
ringworld series by larry niven
dune by frank herbert
j.r.r. tolkein’s books
jon krakauer’s books
skeletons on the zahara by dean king
midnight in the garden of good and evil by john berendt
big burn by timothy egan
worst hard time by timothy egan
devil in the white city by erik larson
claiming ground by laura bell
LANGUAGE
awards
poetry
anne morrow lindberg’s gifts from the sea
c.s. lewis
paradise lost by milton
shakespeare
“the classics”
edgar allan poe
w. somerset maugham
boy’s life by Robert mccammon
markus zusak’s book thief and i am the messenger
If you didn't have the opportunity to attend either of these sessions, here's your opportunity to contribute to the discussion!'
Happy reading!
Holley
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