Week 3: Assignment 3 "Readers Advisory"

Librarian: Hi, is there anything I can suggest?

Customer: I’m looking for a good story, you know, something that draws me in. But I don’t know where to start looking.
Librarian: What was the last book you read? Could you share something you liked about it?
Customer: The last book I read was Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Everyone is reading it so I had to pick it up. It was lovely. She is such an interesting woman and so brave. I enjoyed the descriptions of the countries she went to and what she did while she was there, of course, but I think what I liked most was how she shared her inner thoughts — so reflective but funny too. I thought it might be just light fluff or all me, me, me, me, but it was so much more than that. I read all the Oprah books and just love them. Anyway I wanted to ask you for a few suggestions for my book group. It’s my turn to pick the title.


Based on the customer's interest in reflective narrators and travel, I would recommend "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed. It's a good book group pick and a popular choice given it's recent movie adaptation.

Customer: Can you recommend any vampire books that are nothing like the Twilight series?

Librarian: Let me see how I can help you. What don’t you like about Twilight?
Customer: Everything, but especially that teen love story – way too much angst! And way too slow.  Have you read any good vampire stories lately? 


This is more in my wheelhouse. There are plenty of classic non-angsty vampire books. I'd recommend I am Legend by Richard Matheson. It's a book about the last survivor of a vampire apocalypse, so no romance and it's very fast paced. It actually inspired the film Night of the Living Dead and most of the zombie craze we're now experiencing through it's depictions of vampires not as counts or demons but as an infection. I would also recommend Anno Dracula by Kim Newman. It's an alternate history book about a society where vampires are a malevolent aristocracy that rule over humans. It's dark and fast paced but also fascinating in how the author incorporates characters like Moriarty and Lestrade from the Sherlock Holmes books with obscure characters like the 70's Blaxploitation vampire Blackula. Also The Girl with All The Gifts is technically a zombie book, about a young girl raised in captivity who doesn't realize she's a zombie, but her struggle to balance her humanity with her murderous impulses reminded me a lot of sympathetic vampire stories like Anne Rice's books.

Librarian:  Hi, are you looking for anything in particular? 

Customer: I just read this great book The River of Doubt.  It was about Teddy Roosevelt and this ill fated expedition to chart an uncharted river in the Amazon.  They lost almost all their provisions, the president was injured, and it turns out one of their crew was a murderer since there was a murder.  And the most amazing thing was that it true.  It was fascinating and really fast paced.  Do you have anything to recommend that is like that?


Based on the customer's interest in exploration, adventure, and history I would recommend The Lost City of Z by David Grann. It's a book about a 1925 expedition to find the mythical city of El Dorado and the British explorer who claimed to have found an undiscovered city called "Z" before disappearing during his attempt to return there. It's exciting, true and soon it'll be adapted into a movie so if you read it now you'll be ahead of the curve!