Week 5 - Assignment 2

I will use the things that I commented on already for Week 5 Assignment 1. I think I will mostly use the sight to keep up on what is new and on the horizon. This I feel is the most important use, at this time, for EarlyWord. As I explore it more I may find more uses. I do enjoy the site. My only criticism at this point is that like so many websites it is busy and takes time to take everything in that is available. I hope to explore more.

Week 5 - Assignment 1

I decided to follow EarlyWord in week one. I really like that you can find out about the newest titles coming, and it is right on the first page of the site.

I kind of stumbled across the section about authors and others associated with books and writing that have recently died. Though many times sad it does keep you updated.

I am impressed with the trailers, just like for movies, that are about books that are coming.

I like the Best Books of the Year section and how they are archived for older years. It is nice that they are the best books determined by different sources. This way you get a broader view of what were some of the best titles for a particular year.

Week 4 - Assignment 1

I basically like Goodreads, but I do find that some sections are not very intuitive. I think the best uses for me at this point are to keep a list of what I have read and get ideas of what to read from others that are on Goodreads.

I think the recommendations are probably mostly based on what I have read and matching those titles to similar ones. I like that it separated genres of the matches since I read in several genre.

I did a recommendation for Carmen Dearing on Goodreads and here is what I said: Carmen, I would like to recommend two titles that I feel you would like based on the fact that you like Beachcombers. The first one is True Colors by Hannah Kristin and While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky. Both of these titles have similar appeal factors to Beachcombers.

Week 3 - Assignment 3

Conversation # 1

I went right to our "You Might Also Like These..."  on the catalog under the title Eat, Pray, Love and would suggest Wild by Cheryl Strayed. I chose that title over the other suggestions because not only did it match a number of issues from Eat, Pray, Love, but it said that the main character deals with their own internal struggles. The customer said what she liked the most about Eat, Pray, Love was how the main character "sheared her inner thoughts"

Conversation # 2

To answer this one I used a number of sources, even Google. I kept finding titles that were like Twilight, so with Google I searched for vampire titles not like Twilight. Dracula came up more than once, but the appeal factors did not seemed to be exactly what the customer wanted. So, I checked for other titles like Dracula and looking at the appeal factors found the title Historian that in many ways had the appeal factors,
fast-paced, creepy, suspenseful, ccompelling, richly detailed, stylistically complex, that the customer was looking for. And no mention of romance. I would also still suggest Dracula.

Conversation # 3

I used the title River of Doubt to look up read alikes on Novelist. Then I checked the appeal factors for the ones recommended to make sure they matched the readers appeal factors. With that I found that War by Junger was a good suggestion. When discussing with a colleague the another one that she thought would work well was Perfect Storm also by Sebastian Junger.

I like the fact that when you use appeal factors you can really be more sure that it is a title or author that will better match the readers interests and not just recommend on the fact that it has been determined to be a read alike.

Week 2 - Assignment 2

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Medium paced with some quirky characters touching on the high school years and all the angst and thrills that come with that time. With some analysis of why teens act as they do. We hear the story as the main character tells his tale through letters he is writing to a friend.


Where Men Win Glory - In depth study of Pat Tillman's life and character, detailing his leaving the NFL and enlisting in the marines. Medium paced, with analysis by Tillman about his move to the military and his training to become battle ready. You meet his friends, wife, family and his brother who enlists with Pat and stay together the whole time even when they are sent to Afghanistan. Exposes the failings of the military leading to the death of Pat Tillman from friendly fire, and the investigation folowing the incident.


I made suggestions on Karin Kinzel's and Jennifer Riley's blogs about what may be similar to their favorite books.