Librarians lay it on the line every day. Every day we offer reference desk service where we try to answer any question on any subject from anybody who stops by, calls or emails. We try to provide an answer from a reputable, authoritative source or refer the customer to the next best place to try. It takes a good long while to become confident enough in one’s own skills and knowledge to handle reference desk duty with aplomb.
For many of us the most challenging question a customer can ask is, “can you recommend a good book to read?” We call it reader’s advisory. This has always been a tough one for me. Chances are I don’t know you or what you like. I can’t tell by looking at you what you like to read. I feel like I could undermine your confidence in the library with a dumb answer. I usually try to interview you just to have a shot at giving you a good recommendation. I might ask, “Tell me about the last good book you read” or “who is or your favorite author” and work from there. If we are communicating well I might take a chance and recommend a book I recently enjoyed (see previous posts in this blog tagged “What I’ve Been Reading”).
Where am I going with this? People seem to love recommendations. Consider the success of Oprah Winfrey’s book club. People are willing to give a book a chance if somebody they know or respect has recommended it. As soon as Oprah adds a new title to her book club list our phone starts ringing.
Here at the IPL we have collected all of our online reader’s resources and put them in one place called “For Readers”. Please feel free to explore the links there and, of course, tell us what you think. Please take special note of the IPL staff recommendations hosted on the web site librarything.com and our subscription to the book recommendation database NoveList.
Librarything is a wonderful place where book lovers and readers gather to exchange their views about books. Some represent libraries, some are just readers. If you love reading good books and want to share that enthusiasm with other like you, this is your place.
NoveList is an amazing product that helps you find books to read by determining what you liked about books you have already enjoyed and finding others like them. It also has lists of the winners of all the book awards and prizes and many other features. If you find something you like in NoveList, click on the “Check Library Catalog” button and you can find out if our library carries the item. If you visit from home you may need your library card to log in.
Remember, if you can’t find something you like using any of these online resources you can still stop at the library and talk to us about it. If you enjoy something we suggest, please come back and tell us. Reader’s advisory may be difficult but when we know you liked the book we recommended it is all worth it!
March 3, 2008 at 8:38 am |
March 3, 2008
Blog Subject: What do I read next?
Before you advise anyone on what books to read, may I suggest
that you and the librarian staff reeducate yourselves with the
subject of the “World’s 500 Greatest Books”. The books on this
list covers the gamut of human experience; written by the best
authors from time immemorial. They are indeed recognized as
true literature being read and reread by generation upon gen-
eration of readers. Thus contibuting significantly to the enrich-
ment of our civilization.
Whereas popular literature, by its very nature, is short-lived. It
provides an “easy” read with familiar plots and story-lines.
Popular literature, in my opinion, is meant to be read quickly
and most often is forgotten in a week or two.
Let me present to you the top ten books from the New York
Times best sellers fiction list versus the top ten from “World’s 500
Greatest Books” list.
New York Times Best Sellers
hardcover fiction
(published March 9, 2008)
1. The Appeal, by John Grisham
2. Strangers in Death, by J.D. Robb
3. 7th Heaven, by James Patterson
4. Lady Killer, Lisa Scottoline
5. Duma Key, Stephen King
6. A Thousand Splended Suns, by Khaled Hosseini
7. World Without End, by Ken Follett
8. The Killing Ground, Jack Higgins
9. Strangers In Paradise, by Robert B. Parker
10. The First Patient, by Michael Palmer
500 Greatest Books *
1. Iliad (ca. 800 B.C.) by Homer
2. Odyssey (ca. 800 B.C.) by Homer
3. The Theban Plays: Oedipus the King,
Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone
(fifth century B.C.) by Sophocles
4. Oresteria (450 B.C.) by Aeschylus
5. The Aneid (30 B.C.) by Virgil
6. Beowulf (ca. 1000A.D.) by an anonymous poet
7. The Divine Comedy (1310-14) by Dante Alighieri
8. Canterbury Tales (1387-1410) by Geoffrey Chaucer
9. Don Quixote (Pt. I,1605; Pt II,1615) by Miguel de Cervantes
10. Paradise Lost (First Edition 1667;
Second Edition 1674) by John Milton
Which is the superior list? Honestly, is there really a comparison?
I think not.
Nothing more to say except that if we are to read at all, let us
choose books that make reading worthwhile.
Although the exact order may not be correct, you’ll find the “Greatest
Books” on the following website:
http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtward.html
Also, you may refer to the list in the book by Philip Ward titled
A Lifetime’s Reading the World’s 500 Greatest Books
published by Henry Holt & Co. 1984.
* a partial list with a synopsis is found in the book:
The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge
Second U.S. Edition: October 2007.
Thank you for your attention.
Bookrunner22
March 3, 2008 at 5:08 pm |
I think you are misunderstanding my post and the mission of the library. We advise people about what to read based on THEIR interests, not ours. If somebody says “I want to read the all-time greatest classics”, then by all means we’ll show them a list similar to the one you have sent. If somebody asks me to recommend a thriller or some science fiction I’m certainly not going to say, “You should be reading the classics!”
People read for a lot of different reasons. We don’t question them and we certainly don’t denigrate their choices. We try to match them up with something that will meet their stated area of interest not what we think they ought to read.
I looked at the Ward list and it is seriously low on female authors as well as authors from outside of Europe and North America so it is tough for me to buy into your “covers the gamut of human experience” bit.
This whole running down of popular literature is, in my opinion, specious. Many of the items from your top ten greatest books WERE the popular works of the day. Little is written in any era that is intended to be a classic. Aeschylus and Sophocles wrote plays to compete against each other in American Idol style competitions. Sure, we speak of them now with reverence but in his day Virgil was well known for erotica that would be considered tasteless, immoral or even illegal by today’s standards. Are the “classics” from the list great? You bet! Are they the only works “contributing significantly to the enrichment of our civilization”? No way!
I understand that you are saying that the current NY Times bestseller list doesn’t stack up with the all-time classics. Hard to disagree with that. But the classics list spans about 2500 years. Tough to compete with that.
Who is to say which of the bestsellers of today will be considered classics in the year 4508? It seems obvious that a few will be. Even though you have limited us to the list from one week, I nominate “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini. It may turn out to be a classic. Speaking of the “gamut of human experience” do any books from the all time classics list describe what is is like to be unlucky enough to live in a 20th century middle eastern country ravaged by wars resulting from repeated invasions from world powers and torn by religious strife?
By all means, read the classics. But read popular literature too. You don’t know what you don’t know. You might be reading a “classic” of the year 4508. Maybe not. You may be merely entertained. Not a bad thing in my eyes.