Author: Karen Lord

Title: The Galaxy Game

Genre: Sci-Fi

Publication Date: January 2015-paperback edition

Number of Pages: 320

Geographical Setting: Four Galactic Planets (one is earth called Terra)

Time Period: Futuristic

Plot Summary (from Amazon): On the verge of adulthood, Rafi attends the Lyceum, a school for the psionically gifted. Rafi possesses mental abilities that might benefit people . . . or control them. Some wish to help Rafi wield his powers responsibly; others see him as a threat to be contained. Rafi’s only freedom at the Lyceum is Wallrunning: a game of speed and agility played on vast vertical surfaces riddled with variable gravity fields.

 Serendipity and Ntenman are also students at the Lyceum, but unlike Rafi they come from communities where such abilities are valued. Serendipity finds the Lyceum as much a prison as a school, and she yearns for a meaningful life beyond its gates. Ntenman, with his quick tongue, quicker mind, and a willingness to bend if not break the rules, has no problem fitting in. But he too has his reasons for wanting to escape.

Now the three friends are about to experience a moment of violent change as seething tensions between rival star-faring civilizations come to a head. For Serendipity, it will challenge her ideas of community and self. For Ntenman, it will open new opportunities and new dangers. And for Rafi, given a chance to train with some of the best Wallrunners in the galaxy, it will lead to the discovery that there is more to Wallrunning than he ever suspected . . . and more to himself than he ever dreamed

Characteristics of Sci-Fi Genre: This story is not lacking in the jargon that usually companies a sci-fi novel. From the name of the planets to the name of the characters, the reader can instantly tell that the story is set in a place much different than the one we currently live in. The story pulls you into a galaxy that makes you imagine the "What Ifs" and "If Only's" that could occur in another time or place. A story that appeals to the intellectual and speculative nature of this genre. You must remove yourself from the present and place your mind in a world unlike the earth of today. The situations in which the characters find themselves are beyond what we could experience currently, therefore the mind must create the world as the story unfolds. While we follow the three main characters through not only a coming of age story but an understanding of the world around them, the tone of the world is dark and does lend itself to the issue of war among the planets as characteristic of the genre.

Overall Thoughts: I normally do not read this genre as my brain doesn't do well with creating such worlds and scenarios that are so different from my own. I did fumble through with the bits that explained places and backgrounds because of the jargon used to describe them, but because I connected with the emotions of the characters in the story, I did find the book enjoyable. The felt the turmoil within the young people as they try to crave their place in a changing world riddled with power struggles, while trying to figure out how to balance their own power struggles created by their super human powers. 

Subject Headings:

Psychic-Fiction

Alien

Appeal: Other worldly, Furturistic

READ-ALIKES:

Enders Game

Harry Potter

Dune

Week 11 Prompt 
Ebooks and audiobooks are a part of our landscape. What does the change in medium mean for appeal factors? If you can't hold a book and feel the physical weight of it in your hands, how does that affect your knowledge of the genre? How about reader's being able to change the font, line spacing, and color of text-how does that affect pacing and tone? How about audiobooks? Track length, narrator choice, is there musics? For this week, I want you to think about how ebooks and audiobooks affect appeal factors-also think about appeals that are unique to both mediums. Please feel free to use your own experience and that of your patrons.

I think that the appeal factor for audiobooks and ebooks are both very different from the traditional hand held book and also from each other. Audiobooks, I believe appeal to those who like to hear the story being played out. The sound of a good narrator playing the different roles of the characters of the book expands the experience of the book. If you are like me, a person who doesn't care much about long details of the scenery or technical details in a story, then listening to the book helps to get through those parts I find dry and boring. As well as the parts that I find hard to read through. The Time Traveler's Wife was a very difficult book for me to read through because of the going back and forth and telling backwards, but listening to the story gave me the understanding of the story line I missed while reading it. This speaks a little bit to the pacing of the story. I have no control over how fast or slow the story plays out, unless I pause it or turn it off. I also like to listen to audiobooks while driving. I spend a lot of time in the car alone and enjoy having something to think about. The only problem I find is the fact that my car stereo appears to keep playing the cd ever after I shut it off or leave the car, so upon reentry I have to find my place by rewinding to the place I left off. Also if the narrator doesn't do a good job it can also ruin the whole experience on what could of been a great story. Sometimes I feel like the narrator's voice just isn't correct to tell the story of the character. Its like reading a book that comes to movie and the character who plays them looks nothing like the person described in the book version. So frustrating! Overall I do enjoy an audiobook, but I find myself very frustrated when I borrow an audiobook from the library and get to the last disc and it will not play due to being scratched. This is a problem for many patrons and I find myself encouraging them to use downloaded versions of the book in these cases. 

Ebooks are a different animal for me though. For the most part I would prefer to have a good old book to hold onto. I like the feel of the book, the artwork and the satisfaction of seeing my progress by physically turning the pages. Even though you do get some of the artwork and cover when you download an ebook, I don't know that it is the same. That is not to say there are not benefits to having the option of an ebook. As mentioned in the questioning, it is possible to be able to change to font for readers to see the print better. This opens up an experience for readers that may not be able to read a regular book. I also like that I can any number of titles available to me at any time and download books at anytime. When I worked a security job, I spent 12 long hours sitting. Having access to so many books on one tablet defiantly helped me through my long nights. 

I think having options is what makes these formats so wonderful. I don't know that one way is better than the other, or that you miss out on anything by "reading" them a certain way. It is just a matter of preference!!

Book Club Experience

S524

Chrisynthia Casper

                Starting a book club at a library branch, where you are new and only the third librarian in the 50 years since the library was first built is not a good idea. I wish I had heard these words before I became so obsessed with starting my own book club and actually listened to the warnings.

                The branch of the county library that I was promoted to run, was born approximately 50 years ago. A young couple who lived in this town decided it needed a library, so they purchased a house and contacted the county’s main branch library. They ran that branch for 25 years until it was taken over by the second librarian who also ran the branch for 25 years. You can imagine the surprise when the patrons and community seen my smiling face instead of the librarian they grew up knowing and loving. It took several months for the patrons to stop telling me how the last librarian did things and I was in fact doing it incorrectly. Over time they began to understand that I was in fact the permanent manager and they were stuck with me. This did not however result in high numbers for any program that I tried to plan. The numbers from previous were much higher and I felt like I was missing something. Where were the patrons? Somewhere amongst this time I decided I was going to have a book club. I have many readers in this town, they would just love to get together to talk about books, right?

                I have never run a book club before this time, only participated, so everything was very new to me. I did a large amount of research. I studied different formats for running the club and how to chose books for the club. I went to other branches in my area to see what they were reading and how they chose their books. I asked the members of these clubs for suggestions for how to start my own book club. Which discussion questions did they use and every other question I could think to ask from the obvious successful clubs in my area.  Once I had some ground work for how a book club should be run, it was time to talk to people about this wonderful idea. Every patron that came to pick up holds, or check out books, or just come into the branch, I told them about this great group that would be meeting and discussing books. I printed fliers, I made book marks with the first title and put in every hold for a month. I told people I seen on the streets, I posted it to social media and I planned for a huge turnout.  After all most people appeared to be excited about having a club and appeared interested. The day of my big program came and I was ready to present to them my great ideas. The time came and went….not a single person attended. I was devastated.

                So what now? Promotional materials are due for printing this week. Do I nix the whole club, do I try again next month, have a book club all by myself? Do the people in this town dislike me? What went wrong? My stress level was defiantly elevated. I spent several days asking advice from supervisors and the other book club leaders before I casually told this whole story to the owner of the café near my library. Her advice was the best I had heard so far since I have been working at this branch. She asked me, “ did you ever think about changing things up a bit. Just because the last two librarians did something a certain way the last 50 years doesn't mean that you have to do it that way to.” . The book club up to this point had been ran out of the library and with strict rules about membership and type of books to be read. Even the time slot that I had chosen was similar to the old book club. I appeared to be doing to same thing with my club as the past librarian had done and it was not very appealing to the people in the town.

 I decided to continue on with my club, to not give up so soon. I changed the time, the day and the location and I am thankful that I did. The café agreed to let us hold our meetings there and even donated drinks and pie. I really didn't do much more than that but put out the changes I had made, and the next meeting I had eleven members show up to get the first book. I could not of planned for a better group of people to sit at the table with and start my very own book club. Turns out that the people in the town needed a little bit of change. Something different than what had been done the last 50 years and they also want to feel involved in the process. It had nothing to do with whether or not they liked me after all. We had a great time compiling a list for the remainder of the year and I honestly can’t wait till we get together again.

Title: Me Before You
Author: Jojo Moyes
Genre: Women's Lives and Relationships
Publication Date:2013-paperback
Publisher:  Penguin Books

Synopsis: From Amazon
"They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.
Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.
A Love Story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?"
http://www.amazon.com/Me-Before-You-Jojo-Moyes/dp/0143124544/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425849650&sr=8-1&keywords=me+before+you

Characteristics of Women's Lives and Relationships
-Written by female
-Protagonist is female centered around her relationship with family and lover
-Story line focuses on one issue that affects the protagonist's life
-Leisurely paced

 Read-a-likes: 
-Barbara Whitnell-A Clear Blue Sky
-Jodi Picoult-Leaving Time
-Danielle Steel-Most of her novels

Thoughts:
This story started out slow for me, had I not been reading it for a book club I may have not read it. As a matter of fact, I think I have started this book previously and didn't get very far into it. However, after getting several chapters in I was hooked. I couldn't put down the book. The author does a great job of capturing the relationships between not only the lovers of the story but of the relationships that take place within families. The topic of the book is heart wrenching and made me question my own values and the decisions I would make if I found myself in this same situation. This author has been added to my favorite's list and I look forward to catching up with the previously released titles as well as the future releases.

This week's prompt-For our prompt this week, I want you to think about fake memoirs, author mills, and celebrity inspired book clubs. Basically write a readers' response to one of the articles you are reading for this week - or talk about a time when a book or author that made headlines affected you personally or your work.

I do not buy into the celebrity book clubs and author mills like others may do. Just like the fact that I do not enjoy other peoples reviews, I do not like that some books and authors get the extra attention and the book itself is not that great. There are far more titles out there to read that are better yet never make the bookclub by Oprah or get placed on an automatically yours list on publishers websites. Don't get me wrong, I try to keep up with what others are saying are popular from a Reader's Advisory stand point, but for my personal reading I tend to dislike what's popular and enjoy the book I found lost in a used book store someplace. I have read several titles that are popular just to be able to relate and talk with patrons about them. Titles such as 50 shades of Grey and Gone Girl were not on my reading list but got so much attention I felt like it was my obligation to read them just to be able to relate with what others were saying. I would like to find out about publishers or websites that offer some of the less known authors and titles and give these books some of the spotlight equal to big names.