We have had a book group at Crosby since 1994. It was started as an outreach project with the May Community Center in Huffman while it was still part of the Crosby service area. The Atascocita Branch opened in 1996. There was also a Ladies Book Group that met at the library but was not associated with it. Both groups continued to meet separately for a couple of years. The May Community Center group members would fluctuate but after a couple of years the numbers stabilized and for the most part not only were the same people in both groups but all of the ladies lived in Crosby. In 1996 when the May Community became very busy and had a hard time finding room for us, we combined the two groups and moved the group to the library. For the most part I've have lead the book group. Carolyn Allen lead it for a time but I took it back when her duties expanded and she didn't have enough time to devote to it. Personally, I like the opportunity to meet face to face to discuss the books.
The Crosby Book Group could almost be called a mystery themed group because that would cover the majority of the books. We have read in various genres from biographies, nonfiction, general fiction and classics, adult, young adult and children's but the most common genre is mystery. Suggestions are requested every month and I try to find books that will fill the requests. The one genre they will not read is romance, since most are widows I guess that makes a certain amount of sense. Sometimes they leave it up to me and I have used both NovelList Plus and ReadingGroupGuides for possible titles. For us, the book is always the starting point for the discussion. After that ... it could and often does goes anywhere.
For the last exercise I searched for the book Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey on both LibraryThing and Goodreads. In Librarything the book was owned by 3118 people and had an average rating of 4.02. On Goodreads, it was owned by 3554 and had an average rating of 4.09. The ratings are very similar with a comparable number of people which really didn't surprise me. Anne McCaffrey has been a very popular author for four decades and has a huge following.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Books, Readers and Beyond: #53 Finding Books Online
Unfortunately, the last bookstore in Crosby closed a while back. So, the closest bookstores to visit for me are in Humble. The two main stores are Barnes and Noble at Deerbrook Mall and the Half Price Bookstore in Deerbrook Plaza. Both have websites. Barnes and Noble has a full range of materials from books, magazines, audios, DVDs, etc. Half Price Books has a combination of both new and used books along with used DVDs, VHS, audios, magazines, etc. Humble does have a couple of other used bookstores that I drive by on a regular bases, the Hard-to-Find Book Store and Ye Olde Book Shoppe, they are listed in the phonebook but only the basic information is listed on the web.
For the second exercise I choose the Anne McCaffrey book Dragonflight and searched for it on both Barnes and Noble and Amazon. At Barnes and Noble, the book was priced anywhere from $.01 to $13.95 depending on whether it was new or used. It was available in both abridged and unabridged audios with prices between $1.99 for abridged and used and $29.95 to $43.97 for unabridged. The MP3 on CD edition was $24.95. At Amazon, the prices were similar, anywhere between $3.88 to $13.05 depending on whether it was new or used. A leather bound copy is listed at $112.50. It is also available in both abridged and unabridged audios ranging in price from $9.98 to $49.95 and the MP3 on CD goes for $24.95. The Kindle edition is $5.95. There is also a limited graphic novel edition starting at $19.95.
For the third exercise I went to Bartleby.com and read part of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The site has a very limited list of titles and all can be considered classics. Pride and Prejudice was from the Harvard Classics series and included a biographical note, criticisms and interpretations by six people including Sir Walter Scott and Lord Macaculey. A list of characters preceded the individual chapters. I found the ads on each screen distracting and waiting for the screen to download the next chapter a little annoying. I did like the font, it was easy to read. I also read the same book on Project Gutenberg as a comparison. I looked at the plain text version of the book, which was in Times New Roman. I've never liked that font because it makes it hard to read over long periods of time. However, they did have a bigger and better selection. In general, I'm not fond of reading a book on a computer screen. I prefer the hard copy of a book. I like the ability of moving from location to location that a book offers. It's hard to cuddle up with a computer screen. Perhaps the Kindle would solve some of these concerns. It's portable and as near as I can tell, there are no ads moving on the screen. I was at the DPS recently and saw a woman reading from her Kindle as we were standing in line. She seemed to enjoy it. I used the plain text version because I couldn't download on the computers at work. I like the idea of downloading either to a MP3 or Kindle. I also like the idea of the Playaways. But, for now anyway, the selection is very small and the cost is similar to cd. Maybe one day...
For the second exercise I choose the Anne McCaffrey book Dragonflight and searched for it on both Barnes and Noble and Amazon. At Barnes and Noble, the book was priced anywhere from $.01 to $13.95 depending on whether it was new or used. It was available in both abridged and unabridged audios with prices between $1.99 for abridged and used and $29.95 to $43.97 for unabridged. The MP3 on CD edition was $24.95. At Amazon, the prices were similar, anywhere between $3.88 to $13.05 depending on whether it was new or used. A leather bound copy is listed at $112.50. It is also available in both abridged and unabridged audios ranging in price from $9.98 to $49.95 and the MP3 on CD goes for $24.95. The Kindle edition is $5.95. There is also a limited graphic novel edition starting at $19.95.
For the third exercise I went to Bartleby.com and read part of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The site has a very limited list of titles and all can be considered classics. Pride and Prejudice was from the Harvard Classics series and included a biographical note, criticisms and interpretations by six people including Sir Walter Scott and Lord Macaculey. A list of characters preceded the individual chapters. I found the ads on each screen distracting and waiting for the screen to download the next chapter a little annoying. I did like the font, it was easy to read. I also read the same book on Project Gutenberg as a comparison. I looked at the plain text version of the book, which was in Times New Roman. I've never liked that font because it makes it hard to read over long periods of time. However, they did have a bigger and better selection. In general, I'm not fond of reading a book on a computer screen. I prefer the hard copy of a book. I like the ability of moving from location to location that a book offers. It's hard to cuddle up with a computer screen. Perhaps the Kindle would solve some of these concerns. It's portable and as near as I can tell, there are no ads moving on the screen. I was at the DPS recently and saw a woman reading from her Kindle as we were standing in line. She seemed to enjoy it. I used the plain text version because I couldn't download on the computers at work. I like the idea of downloading either to a MP3 or Kindle. I also like the idea of the Playaways. But, for now anyway, the selection is very small and the cost is similar to cd. Maybe one day...
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Books, Readers and Beyond: #52 What to Read
The first exercise was to find a Read-alike for a book. I choose Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight. Novelist Plus gave me another book by McCaffrey. Also listed was Monster's Legacy by Andre Norton and Child of an Ancient City by Tad Williams. I next went to What Should I Read Next? After typing in my author, I got a short list of possible titles including some by McCaffrey and Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey and Heritage and Exile: The Heritage of Hastur by Marion Zimmer Bradley. On Fiction_L Booklists, I was able to select books in the following areas: Genres, Character, Setting, Author, Audience, "Best of" lists and Miscellaneous. I chose "Genres" and after reading through the list selected "Fantasy Fiction with a Female Protagonist" since the main character in Dragonflight is Lessa. The list was a nice length and McCaffrey was listed again as was another book by Marion Zimmer Bradley, this time it was Mists of Avalon but not Tad Williams. There was one by Andre Norton entitled To the King a Daughter. The easiest way for me to find a read-alike was through Novelist Plus .
I used Novelist Plus to find the books for both the fourth grade girl and her thirteen year old brother. When I got to the site I selected age range of "Older Kids" and choose dogs, I found over 2300 titles listed including both fiction and nonfiction. Two of the books are: a nonfiction entitled The Right Dog for the Job: Ira's Path from Service Dog to Guide Dog by Dorothy Patent and a fiction book entitled Fun Dog , Sun Dog by Deborah Heiligman. For her brother, after selecting "Teens" and ghost, I found Melvin Burgess' The Ghost Behind the Wall and All the Lovely Bad Ones: a Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn. Even though the site Read the Books was not listed in the posting, it is a database on HCPL. I was able to find various books for both of the siblings very quickly.
To find read-alike authors for the customer who liked Dean R. Koontz, I went first to Novelist Plus . After selecting "Author Read-alikes" I went to "Authors K-L" and clicked on Dean Koontz's name. I found a short article about him and some suggestions of other authors. Three of the authors listed are Dan Simmons, Greg Bear and Robert McCammon. The other site that I explored was What Should I Read Next? . After entering Dean Koontz's name I got a list of possible authors and titles. Three of those listed include: Stephen King, F. Paul Wilson and Phil Rickman.
For the final exercise I went to the Mid-Continent Public Library and searched for Tamora Pierce. The book, Alanna: the First Adventure is the first book in the Song of the Lioness quartet. The other titles in the series in order are: In the Hand of the Goddess, Woman who Rides like a Man and Lioness Rampart. The site Fantasic Fiction was real easy to use and gave me the info very quickly.
I used Novelist Plus to find the books for both the fourth grade girl and her thirteen year old brother. When I got to the site I selected age range of "Older Kids" and choose dogs, I found over 2300 titles listed including both fiction and nonfiction. Two of the books are: a nonfiction entitled The Right Dog for the Job: Ira's Path from Service Dog to Guide Dog by Dorothy Patent and a fiction book entitled Fun Dog , Sun Dog by Deborah Heiligman. For her brother, after selecting "Teens" and ghost, I found Melvin Burgess' The Ghost Behind the Wall and All the Lovely Bad Ones: a Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn. Even though the site Read the Books was not listed in the posting, it is a database on HCPL. I was able to find various books for both of the siblings very quickly.
To find read-alike authors for the customer who liked Dean R. Koontz, I went first to Novelist Plus . After selecting "Author Read-alikes" I went to "Authors K-L" and clicked on Dean Koontz's name. I found a short article about him and some suggestions of other authors. Three of the authors listed are Dan Simmons, Greg Bear and Robert McCammon. The other site that I explored was What Should I Read Next? . After entering Dean Koontz's name I got a list of possible authors and titles. Three of those listed include: Stephen King, F. Paul Wilson and Phil Rickman.
For the final exercise I went to the Mid-Continent Public Library and searched for Tamora Pierce. The book, Alanna: the First Adventure is the first book in the Song of the Lioness quartet. The other titles in the series in order are: In the Hand of the Goddess, Woman who Rides like a Man and Lioness Rampart. The site Fantasic Fiction was real easy to use and gave me the info very quickly.
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