Need a Good Book to Read?

A lot of people think nothing of asking library staff for help when they need to find facts.  But what do you do when you “just” want a good read?  You can read the same authors you’ve been reading, read the authors on the various Best Seller lists, ask your friends and neighbors – all of which could satisfy you, but what if the author you’ve been enjoying for so long only produces a new title every year or so?  What if the best-selling authors just don’t seem to write what you’re in the mood for?  How do you tell a friend that the book they so enthusiastically recommended just didn’t hold your interest?  What do you do?

 

Well, you can come to the library and ask for help.  Yes, the staff there can help you find a book to suit your mood or to tide you over until your favorite author’s next book is available.  Maybe even find you a new favorite.  And no, we won’t get our feelings hurt if you don’t fall in love with something we suggest.  What our staff will do is ask you some questions about what you like to read and what you’re in the mood for – Western?  Romance?  Science fiction?  Fantasy?  Literary fiction?  Do you want more of the same, or would you like to try something different?  If you can tell us what it is that you like in a book, what made the last book you read enjoyable for you, we can find some other authors and titles that you can take a look at.  We don’t have any emotional investment in the authors we suggest — we just want you to find something to enjoy —  we will try our best to give you several authors and titles to choose from. 

 

If you enjoy a particular author’s work, we can check for what are called Read-Alikes.  These are authors whose content and/or style are similar to those of other authors.  We also have reading lists so that if you have read everything by one author in a genre and don’t know which other authors to try, we can give you a starting point. 

 

For example, the Romance basic formula is boy meets girl, obstacles arise, obstacles are overcome, boy and girl have happy ending.  But these days, there are a lot of different treatments for so such a simple-sounding plot.  There are contemporary romances, in which the focus is on the woman’s attempts to find success and happiness in both her personal and professional life.  There are paranormal romances, in which there is a heavy presence of the supernatural or unexplained phenomena.  Time travel romances are very popular today, with the displaced person finding love in a new time (past or future).  And there are many more romance subgenres than these – including western and suspense stories.  There’s a romance story to fit almost any reader’s taste, so you might want to experiment a little and see if one might just give you some reading pleasure.

 

Come on in to the Emily Fowler branch and check out the Readers’ Advisory service there.  The staff will be glad to suggest some titles or authors you haven’t tried before, or even help you find a new genre you might like to explore.

 

Then, when you’ve read the book, we would really like for you to come back and tell us what you think – Did you enjoy it?  Has it gotten you started on a new author or series?  Were we just a little off in our suggestions?  Either way, we ask that you be completely honest – we enjoy reading and want everyone else to have a good time, too.

And if you have a book club or other group that would be interested in learning more about Readers’ Advisory, just contact Mary Cresson at Mary.Cresson@cityofdenton.com or 940-349-8753 to arrange a date for a program about the services available.