Week 3 - Recommendation Time

The first customer seems interested in literary stories with an emphasis on story and character – particularly strong women. This customer seems to read both fiction and nonfiction, so I would maybe offer one of each, especially since she’s looking for titles for a book club. I would recommend Life After Life by Atkinson because its literary fiction with a strong central female character. The plot twists should also appeal to this customer’s interest in story. I would also suggest Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History Making Race Around the World by Goodman. This historical narrative nonfiction should appeal to this reader because of the global settings, interesting story, and strong female characters. Both of these titles would be good choices for book clubs as they each have multiple discussion points.

The second reader seems put off by the Twilight series either because the main characters are teen or because of the romantic elements, or both. I would recommend the Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter. While there is a romantic thread to the series, it is dark fantasy and Jane is a strong, tough, vampire hunter. Book seven was just published this spring.

The third reader likes quick moving, true stories. While the reader referenced something historical, I don’t think the time period is as important as the pacing. I would recommend The President is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth by Algeo. This is the true and little-known story of Cleveland’s disappearance for five days in the summer of 1893 when he had surgery on a ship to remove cancer from his palate and jaw. This quick, thrilling read also documents what happened when the story was made public.