Michael Pollan's Cooked-week 5 assignment 3

One of the most highly anticipated books of 2013 is Michael Pollan's latest Cooked : a natural history of transformation. Here he once again uses his journalism background to discuss the history, culture and science of food. Informative and entertaining he advocates for Americans to take back control of their kitchens and the food they eat. This book will appeal to foodies and memoir lovers alike as each section he personally investigates the major elements of cooking. Readers of his previous books will finally learn what they can do to change our food systems.

I love recommending foodie memoirs to customers browsing the latest cookbooks. Some read alikes for Cooked include: Catching fire : how cooking made us human that explains how cooking civilized humans (good for history/sociology buffs), On food and cooking : the science and lore of the kitchen offers tips on preparation and considers the scientific aspects of the food we eat

week 5 assignment 2

I appreciate the diversity of reading lists EarlyWord provides and the convenience of having them all in one place. Links to publisher blogs or Library Journal help me keep up with trends and highly-anticipated new releases. Lists from amazon and Entertainment Weekly let me know what people are reading right now. Viewing these sites give us a snapshot of multiple genres and can clue me in to books that I wouldn't otherwise see because they're held up by patron requests. Knowing these helps me help customers find the titles they heard about.

I expect these lists will come in handy when patrons start looking for good vacation reads. For now, we at Towson are helping readers find titles for school projects and book reports and the Goodreads lists are very helpful for that.

Blogging about Blogs, Week 5

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/13936072 is my goodreads profile. I've combed my BCPL reading history to beef up my bookshelves and have begun following coworkers' reads. It's interesting to see books we have in common and how others have rated titles.

I enjoy seeing the recommendations for each of my shelves and look forward to seeing how they progress.

When a customer has a question about a series, author, or genre recommendations I've found it helpful to do a general google search and add "goodreads" to limit my results to lists from their site. For example, googling "Charlaine Harris goodreads" will access her GR account listing her bio, books written, and her series. This is especially helpful for when it's a common name shared by another celebrity and you ONLY want book-y responses.

http://www.earlyword.com/ is helpful book news that's updated frequently and shares info on upcoming movies based on books. My husband just finished Ender's game and was very happy to learn about the movie and watch the trailer I forwarded from the site. This helps us anticipate older books gaining new found popularity.

getting credit :) for week 2

I offered suggestions on both Laura G. and Matthew K's blogs.

The Physick book of Deliverance Dane is very similar to "A Discovery of Witches" About a Harvard graduate student working on her thesis finds that she's descended from a long line of witches

Arcadia by Lauren Groff is a great book about different children who grow up in an American commune. It's also character driven and as they grow into adults they reflect on how their unusual upbringing shaped who they are. Very bittersweet and thoughtful

bookish conversations

I would suggest Wild : from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail to anyone who enjoyed Eat Pray Love. A woman decides to walk 1,100 miles by herself in a journey of self-discovery full of laugh out loud situations. Serious self reflection with a hint of self-deprecating wit.

The last werewolf is a werewolf/vampire novel that is definitely more grown-up! If you're a fan of the "True Blood" series, you may like the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. Less racy, more serious choices would be Ann Rice's Interview with the vampire or A Discovery of Witches both featuring more sophisticated storylines.

Destiny of the Republic : a tale of madness, medicine and the murder of a president is another too crazy to be true story by the same author. This one's about the attempted assasination of President Garfield and the affect on the nation. In the garden of beasts : love, terror, and an American family in Hitler's Berlin is a fast paced, impossible to put down book about Hitler's rise to power

exploring ecosystems

Your backyard is wild by Jeff Corwin centers around 2 siblings who go to visit their cousin in New York City. While there, they explore major city landmarks and observe the wildlife that lives in the city. The tone of the book is quite educational (did you know that potato bugs are the only crustaceans that live entirely on land and that falcons help limit pigeon numbers?) A fun read that will appeal to junior explorers and their parents.

Appeal factors

I chose the book Fever by Mary Beth Keane. This historical fiction set in New York early in the twentieth century follows the cook who later became infamously known as Typhoid Mary. Lush details transport the reader to the gritty reality of life of an unmarried working class woman. Simple details convey deeper emotions as the reader can't help but root for this stubbornly tragic character as she evades a villanous medical researcher. The meandering pace allows the reader to follow her personal history of the outbreaks and understand her complicated feelings of responsibility. This is an intriguing read for those who appreciate fiction based on facts and the personal aspects that contribute to history.