Prompt Response - James Patterson

The James Patterson Controversy

There are several aspects to the James Patterson controversy. First, he has the audacity to write books that people enjoy reading. It seems that to some that is an affront. When he admitted that the sentences in his more recent books weren’t as pretty as previous ones because the better sentences get in the way of the story (Zaleski), one must admit that his writing is intentional. He did not set out to write thought-provoking books, or witty books, but he wants fast-paced entertaining books. Further, he stated in the article that the audience for fiction is important: it seems that he his writing is not about expressing something deep within himself, but rather his writing is designed to entertain his readers. For me, I suppose, this does not seem like a controversial thing. James Patterson is trying to write books that sell well, and he is succeeding.

The second part of the controversy is that he has co-authors. He does give the authors credit on the covers, so he is not hiding the fact that there are co-authors. However, he is not solely responsible for the books with his name on them. That is very true. He is not. There is an artist for the cover, the photographer for the back cover, and the accountants, and the shippers, and the people at Amazon and UPS who have handled his books. There are editors and publishers, and in his case there are other authors who assist. I suppose that may be somewhat unusual, but if one judges by results, his books are wildly successful.

I suspect that the authors would have had a difficult time selling as many books on their own. First, Patterson is supplying an outline (Zaleski). That might make a huge difference. The collaboration may have a huge affect on the mood of the other authors. The coauthored works may be substantially different from works written singly by either author. In any case, both authors know how the names will appear on the cover of Patterson’s books. Readers can (by squinting just right) make out both names on the cover. The coauthors my not get the same level of recognition, but they do get paid to write a book – and a best seller at that.

I can think of other coauthored books or series. David Weber and Anne McCaffrey have both co-authored books. Some of those collaborations were probably for different reasons. Perhaps there was an attempt to give a new author a chance. Perhaps there was a time crunch. Perhaps there was a personal crisis. Perhaps a series needed an infusion of new life. Some of those may apply to James Patterson. He seems to coauthor some books to focus his time on others. If Patterson has more ideas for books than he has time to write, what should he do? Should he simply forget the ideas for instant best sellers?

Again, I don’t see the problem. I will admit that after reading one of the later Daniel X books, the feel was different from the one before. After some examination, the later book had a co-author. So, in the future, I’ll avoid that particular combination of co-authors. I don’t blame James Patterson for trying.

James Patterson is also openly branding his books – the ones he authors and the ones he coauthors. He has given them a style and feel. They are full of action. They are easy to read. The chapters are short. I suppose that if there is a controversy here, it is that he is openly stating his books are not slow, are not weighty, and are not flowery. They do not require effort. So, consider two types of books. The first is the James Patterson style novel: fast, action-packed, and sells well. The second is a literary masterpiece, it has vivid imagery, it is thought provoking, the language is amazing, and nothing particular happens in the story. If the first type of book garners sales and the second sort of book wins awards, I would choose to write an action story – I’d write the one that sells.

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Zaleski, J. (2002). The James Patterson Business. Publishers Weekly, 249(44), 43. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Prompt Response - Book Talk - Batman: No Man's Land

Batman: No Man’s Land by Greg Rucka

Hi,

I’m Keith with Garfield Park Branch library, and I’m here to talk about Batman: No Man’s Land by Greg Rucka. Since Comic-Con is coming up, I thought I’d talk about a superhero book, and Batman is one of the long-time favorites.

This Batman story begins right after an earthquake that hits and destroys Gotham City. While some buildings are left standing, the repairs were going to be difficult, and the politicians were not interested. The result is that the US government orders the city of Gotham abandoned. After evacuating as many as they can, the government opens the doors to Arkham – the asylum for the criminally insane, mines the harbor and blows the bridges. The city is cut off from supply and handed over to gangs and criminals.

No Man’s Land begins at that point in Gotham’s history.

Many of the super villains from Batman’s rogues’ gallery are in the book as are several of the heroes who have strong ties to Gotham. For example, sections of the book are introduced with journal entries written by Barbara Gordon (a former Batgirl) to her father, Jim Gordon, the police commissioner, to be read in the event of her death. Jim Gordon and other members of the GCPD play a big role in the book as well.

It is a dark story of determination and a desperate and savage struggle to survive to just live and go on living in the continuing aftermath of a natural disaster.

No Man’s Land is a novelization of a story arc in the Batman comics and graphic novels that spanned several books. It is also available as an audiobook from Graphic Audio the “movie in your mind” people.

Thanks for your time!

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Also about the statement about only giving book talks on books I love and enjoy: I suspect that would be impractical. It would be ideal, I suppose, for me to have read the books I talk about. However, I know that I won't have enjoyed all the books that patrons ask about. While there is some little variety in what I read, for some audiences there would be little overlap with their tastes in books and mine. One of those audiences would be the typical "book club" that reads literary fiction books. I have read several kids books, fantasy books and science fiction books. I also read computer books. While I might have really enjoyed the fairies with the blasters in Artemis Fowl, and the battle against the vicious, hungry aliens in John Ringo's books, I don't think the ladies in the book club would be convinced in either case. (Their loss.) 

I suspect that some of them would secretly enjoy some fantasy, but it might turn the book club into a ten-step program: "Hi, I'm Nancy, and I enjoyed a fantasy novel this week. I didn't mean to, it just sort of happened. It seemed like a nice little story about times gone by, and then the dragon came, and I liked it. I don't know why." It would be interesting to see, but no. 

My intent is to find a way to describe what I know of the books, and what people have liked about books. I expect this knowing full well that the patrons and I will frequently disagree on nearly every point as to what makes a book a nice read. Strangely the one thing that the book club ladies and I would agree on would be to prefer novels over graphic novels. (I still have no idea why I don't like comic books more.)

I find myself more able to do reader's advisory for middle school kids in some cases.

As for the book club, my branch is unusual. When the branch was remodeled the community room was remade into the computer room. The number of public PCs grew, and the remodel included a projector and other equipment for computer programs. (This was good, as it was part of the reason they hired a computer lab assistant -- me.) However, the side-effect was that many kinds of programs either meet at one of the tables in the middle of the library or they don't meet in our physical building. This includes book clubs. I know there is one, but I'm not sure where they meet. If I do end up doing reader's advisory or a book club it might be virtual and geared for a different audience than the traditional book club crowd.

Prompt Response - Reviews

Ebook only books, which are increasingly popular especially in the romance genre, see little to no reviews in professional publications unless they have a big name author, and then still it's usually only RT Reviews (formally Romantic Times) or other genre heavy publications. How does this affect collection development?

If a book truly is e-book only, that would effectively eliminate several audiences for a book. When I think of some of the patrons at my branch, there are a couple of regular readers of romance novels who come to mind. They are older and do not have (or wish to have) an e-book reader of any kind. Likewise, I would ask about whether audiobook versions of the books would ever be created for these works. The other side of e-book only works is a technical one. There would need to be a mechanism for distributing the e-book along with the library’s other e-books. It is likely this would not be a problem, but if the publisher is a smaller one, that might not be the case.  Curiously, in an e-book environment, the books that are e-book only won’t be distinguishable from the other books. In online ordering sites noticing the format of a book takes effort, and over time the distinction in the book review sites may become minimal.

A similar distinction already exists in the library: some series are published directly to paperback. This would include Executioner, Star Wars, and Harlequin books, for example. For any of these a big name review for book #27 in a particular series would be surprising. Frequently in my system, these books are purchased as unprocessed paperbacks. Then (since the computer doesn’t know they exist) they disappear into the stacks.  Partly this is due to their status as a paperback-only series, and the lack of reviews may contribute to their being unprocessed paperbacks.

One is two reviews of an ebook only romantic suspense novel, one from a blog and one from amazon. Look over the reviews - do you feel they are both reliable? Do they follow the guidelines Erin talked about in her presentation? How likely would you be to buy this book for your library?

Both are short, and without reading the books it is difficult to judge if they give anything away. However, the blog mentions “Elise and Noel find passion in each others [sic] arms.” That might be giving too much away. Neither gives a sample from the book. While the Amazon review is clearer, both seem to say about the same things when boiled down to basics. As to whether or not to buy it – I have no earthly idea. These two reviews represent about my entire connection to the romantic suspense genre. However, I did learn that I would be unlikely to buy it for myself. After readings these reviews, I would be looking for “Large library romantic suspense package #1” when doing my ordering of romantic suspense novels. (I’m not looking for a position in purchasing any time soon.)

The other document contains some reviews of Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt, an incredibly popular memoir…. How do these reviews make you feel about the possibility of adding Angela's Ashes to your collection?

The first review did little. It was the combined review, and it was too long and for some reason the three books which were reviewed kept getting jumbled in my mind. That particular review was unhelpful.

I suspect that the book is already there. If I were in a purchasing position, I’d probably feel like the library would be obligated to buy a copy or five (for our twenty-three branches). I would further suspect that the book would see little circulation at my particular branch unless it was chosen for the book club.

Further, this another category of book that I do not read. The closest thing I have had read would be The Grapes of Wrath during US History in high school -- and that is not even a memoir. I would have little background to judge the contents of the reviews, other than that they say nice things about the book.

Do you think it's fair that one type of book is reviewed to death and other types of books get little to no coverage? How does this affect a library's collection?  

It is perhaps something that collection developers should keep well in mind. The review magazines are a business and will include reviews that their readership likes to read. That may or may not include the totality of what their readership may need to read to be fully informed collection developers. The other side to this is that it appears that some books are reviewed in comparison to some narrow ideal of a quality book. So, books like science fiction books seem to be picked and described in terms of their broader appeal and adherence to the standard of that ideal book. My preference would be that genre fiction like science fiction be reviewed as a work in that genre.

In a related note, there are only certain types of books that win awards. I tend to avoid books that receive certain awards, and I am suspicious of books that are universally well reviewed.

And how do you feel about review sources that won't print negative content? Do you think that's appropriate?

After thinking about this, it occurred to me that librarians do actually need to be able to say nice things about books that they know they would never willingly read. In that context, reviews which bring out the positive points of books (while perhaps leaving out some of the negative aspects) would line up with how books would sometimes need to be described to patrons. Also, the reviews may give some sort of advance warning of what is coming. However, it seems that the simpler way to create a magazine of positive reviews would be to ask publishers to submit the descriptions they provide. The service the magazine would provide would be nearly identical. It would be biased information, but if the reviews are uniformly positive, then the reviews are biased at present. Further, if the purpose is to inform readers on the content of the books, bias may play little part in the use of the material. To the extent that the reviews will be used to make determinations involving the quality of a work, a warning label should probably be put on the front cover noting that the reviews are all positive. Moreover, I suspect that while the reviews of some magazines may only say positive things, the silences may speak volumes to regular readers of the reviews.

If you buy for your library, how often do you use reviews to make your decisions?

I do not buy for the library other than toner and staples and such. At my branch the librarians do have an opportunity to buy books; however, the librarians at the branches are limited to selecting unprocessed paperbacks. They do look through reviews when making their selections. I suspect that I will look first to metrics of how popular the hardback versions of books were in the previous year, but that is just a guess. (If a math teacher and computer professional is put in a purchasing position, one would expect that computer reports full of numbers would be an important purchasing guide.)

If not, how do you feel about reviews for personal reading, and what are some of your favorite review sources?

Only recently have I started looking at GoodReads or LibaryThing. Other than that I generally do not read reviews. My branch receives Kirkus, Library Journal and School Library Journal, but they are held at the librarian’s desk. This week was the first time that I had really looked at Kirkus, and I have only flipped through the other journals on occasion. I do not seeing myself using the reviews in the magazines, but I will occasionally read the reviews (professional and otherwise) on Amazon when looking at items. I tend to see professional reviews as another form of advertising and treat them as such.  When looking at online sites, I frequently look the number of ratings, the rating and the popularity of an item along with other factors.

Kirkus Style Review - Live Free or Die

Live Free or Die

Ringo, John

Baen Books (404pp.)

2010.

Aliens have set up a gateway in space to provide Earth with a gateway that allows for interstellar travel, and along with the gate comes a set of rules governing its use. Among the rules is that anyone who pays the fee can make use of it – in either direction. The Glatun come to earth to find trade, and the Horvath came to find heavy metals. Quickly they offered an agreement: they would become earth’s benefactors and protectors in exchange for all of earth’s stores of heavy metal and all of its future production, or the alternative was to have all of earth’s major cities destroyed by bombardment from space.

Tyler Vernon was a wood cutter and grocery store clerk. He had been an IT manager and creator of a science-fiction themed web comic. However, after the arrival of aliens and alien technology, he worked where he could. Even with the Horvath benefactors watching from orbit, Tyler Vernon decided to try a little free trading with a Glatun. With Tyler firmly set against the Horvath, a resistance begins. It pits stubbornness, space engineering and unbridled capitalism against an unreachable, untouchable foe. There are lengthy discussions on the difficulties of extracting ores from asteroids and on the necessity of working around government bureaucracies.

Live Free or Die is the first book in the Troy Rising series by John Ringo. Owing to a focus on engineering and trade rather than military actions, the language is less gritty and the action is less gory than John Ringo’s long-running Legacy of the Aldenata series. The political and social commentary is also more plain.

Ringo’s fans will enjoy it if they like space battles fought with scientific ingenuity, determination and unabashed capitalism.

Adventure Annotation - Poseidon's Arrow

Poseidon's Arrow by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler

Adventure. Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons in 2012.

An out-of-control freighter interrupts Dirk Pitt’s vacation. A mine is attacked. Other freighters have gone missing. When researchers who are developing a prototype for a fast attack submarine vanish, Dirk Pitt and NUMA, the National Underwater and Marine Agency are called as consultants to assist NCIS agent Ann Bennett in the search. The search leads to an action filled adventure that has Pitt, Ann and NUMA teams hopping around the globe to exotic locations on land, on the seas and on the ocean floor.

The action is non-stop, and most chapters have someone or something being shot, stabbed, blown up, burned, wrecked or drowned. While it shows Pitt as happily married, there is not a romantic dimension to the story. The plot focuses instead on the action of the unfolding events and moves from one danger to the next.
The characters are fairly cut and dried. Pitt, Ann and NUMA are action heroes, and there is a villain with a world-spanning evil plot.

The tone is urgent: need to move, need to catch up, need to get away, or need to keep breathing.

The language is mostly uncomplicated. However, there are some descriptions of ships and naval equipment. Also, for a book with non-stop action, mayhem, and piracy it was notably devoid of profanity.
GoodReads.com has some information on this and other series: this book is the 22^nd in the Dirk Pitt series. Poseidon’s Arrow was co-authored by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler. There are related series with Clive Cussler as an author. The most recent in the related NUMA Files is Ghost Ship by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown. The most recent in the Oregon Files is Mirage by Dirk Cussler and Jack Du Brul.  All three series are marine adventures series.

On GoodReads.com some of the books mentioned as ones readers also enjoyed were:

• Threat Vector by Thomas Clancy
• Pandora’s Curse by Jack Du Brul
• Empire of Gold by Andy McDermott

Novelist has the following read-alikes:

• Terminal Run by Michael DiMecurio
• The Templar Legacy by Steve Barry
• Ice Station by Matthew Reilly
• Hawke by Ted Bell

Secret Shopping Experience

                First, to set up the situation, I’ll describe me. I like science fiction and fantasy. I also like YA and juvenile titles, provided that the titles are science fiction and fantasy. The textbook by Saricks says this about science fiction fans (about me):

Science fiction fans are among the most elusive yet outspoken readers who use our libraries. Elusive, because they often spurn our offers of assistance and certainly our suggestions; outspoken because they know what they are seeking and the feel it is unlikely that we can offer them new directions – unless they see us as fellow fans… They know what they like – the “good” Science Fiction—and ignore, reject even, everything else (251).

This is perhaps accurate – allowing for the fact that I also read fantasy. However, I am probably not an easy patron to help with reader’s advisory.

                The library I visited for my secret shopper assignment was a nice library, but it was difficult not to draw comparisons to my home branch and system. The library is a one branch system, and as such the library was bigger than my home branch, but smaller by far than my home system. That necessarily places a few limitations on the library: it has a limited selection (which all libraries do at some level) and there was only one librarian on duty that I could see. He was the children’s librarian according to his tag.

                When I asked for help finding a book to read, he asked what I like to read. I mentioned that I like science fiction and fantasy. He then mentioned that he was not familiar with science fiction, and he added the science fiction and fantasy was mixed into the normal fiction, and that it made it difficult to browse the collection. But, he said that he would be happy to take a look.

When he asked, I then mentioned two examples: Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance and Midst Toil and Tribulation. He quickly found that both are parts of series. (Actually, both are the most recently published books in their respective series.) He mentioned that the first book was by Lois McMaster Bujold, and that they had a fantasy title by her: The Curse of Chalion, and that that was the only title they had by her. I added that I had read that as well. The second title was by David Weber. He mentioned that this author was familiar to him. He also said that they had several titles available. I mentioned that I had read the books he mentioned. (In fairness, this was more than one series.)

He then mentioned John Ringo as another possibility. I mentioned that I had also read books by him. (David Weber and John Ringo wrote a series together, and I had discovered him in that way earlier.) However, he did mention that there were several titles by him.

He then mentioned Edgar Rice Burroughs and the series including Princess of Mars. This I had not read. I forget exactly what I said, but I might have asked if that was old enough to be in the public domain (or something like that). At this point I did ask where he was looking for his info. He mentioned that he was looking at tor.com (the publisher web site). I had looked at Baen’s site before, but not Tor’s site.

He also mentioned David Feintuch. Neither of us had heard of him, and they didn’t have any title by him, but he did say that both authors were mentioned as suggested authors for him. He also mentioned Elizabeth Moon, for whom they did not have any titles. However, I have actually read and enjoyed several books by her.

He then took me over to the shelves and pointed out the titles that they did have and the unprocessed science fiction (which was separated). He then left me to browse. I was struck by how much of a difference it made that the science fiction and fantasy were not separated. I believe that I had read all of the books available on the shelf by the authors he mentioned. I was sort of stuck at that point; I could either look through all the fiction or give up. At that point I  left without picking out a book.

However, interestingly, my system does have a couple of e-books available by David Feintuch, the first of which is Midshipman’s Hope. I might give it a try. So, I’d have to say he really may have helped me find a book. If I were a librarian at that branch, I would likely find the size of the collection frustrating.

The biggest thing that struck me during the interview was that he told me that the books were arranged in a way that made browsing difficult. As a secret shopper, that really made an impression. I mentioned this back at my branch because I have had to say something similar before: the urban fiction is not separated out at our branch. I mentioned this impression to my branch manager and we discussed it for a bit. The other category that some of our patrons occasionally ask about is Christian and Amish fiction. I was left wondering what the effect of categorizing the fiction (even imperfectly) might have on the patron experience.

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Saricks, J. G. (2009). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction. Chicago: ALA.

Classic Thriller Annotation - Coma

Coma by Robin Cook

Medical Thriller. Published by Little, Brown & Company, 1977.

Coma is a classic medical thriller written by Robin Cook in 1977. It was Robin Cook’s second novel, and he has written several others since. Some, like Coma, were stand-alone, and some are part of a series. Also, there was a movie based on the book. GoodReads.com says the following about Coma:

Still considered one of the best of the genre, Coma propelled Robin Cook to the top of his field and earned him a reputation as the "master of the medical thriller" (New York Times).

In Coma, at the prestigious brownstone Boston Memorial Hospital, a new group of third year medical students is about to start their rotation. At the same time, something is happening at the hospital. People are coming in for minor surgery, and everything is fine, except that some of the patients are having an idiosyncratic reaction: they aren’t waking up. Dr. Susan Wheeler wants to know why.

Dr. Susan Wheeler is the main character in the book. She is just beginning her third year and just starting out her surgery rotation at the hospital. Honest enough to know she is untrained, new enough to not be unmoved, her idealism drives her forward. She is focused, and she is female. In addition to the main story, a significant part of the story is about the struggle of a female medical student in a male-dominated field of surgery.

The action also builds through the story. By the end there are several interesting twists and complications. Some of the action is not traditional in a sense – death by coma is not active, but it can be chilling or terrifying. The ending is not quite what one would expect, and it makes for an interesting read. From the middle of the book onward, there are some more traditional action scenes as well.

The pacing builds slowly but methodically. The sections are short and marked with a dates and times which show the steady forward progression. At times the clinical and scientific presentation can make the story feel slow.

The tone is somewhere between bleak and menacing. The book is a medical thriller, and there are several surgeries and situations described in some detail – including anatomical and scientific details. Some aspects of the descriptions can be gruesome. While medical science has progressed in the last three decades, to someone without a background in medicine the explanations still sound plausible.

For similar reads, among the LibraryThing.com recommendations are the following:

• Contagion and other books by Robin Cook
• Terminal Man and The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
• Gravity by Tess Gerritsen

If a patron would be interested in books that become movies, LibraryThing.com has the following in their recommendations for Coma as well:

• Congo by Michael Crichton
• Jaws by Peter Benchley

Among the GoodReads.com suggestions are the following:

• Harvest by Tess Gerritsen
• Natural Causes by Michael Palmer