2008 Reading List

The Reading List 2008

Established in 2007 by the CODES section of RUSA, The Reading List Council seeks to highlight outstanding genre fiction that merits special attention by general adult readers and the librarians who work with them.

The Council, which consists of ten librarians who are experts in readers’ advisory and collection development, select books in eight different categories: adrenaline titles which include suspense, thrillers, and action adventure; Fantasy; Historical Fiction; Horror; Mystery; Romance; Science Fiction; and Women’s Fiction. This inaugural juried list features established voices and debut novelists and suggests titles that will thrill avid fans and entice new readers.

Adrenaline

The Second Objective by Mark Frost
Hyperion, 2007. 978-1401302221

Fantasy

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Daw Books, 2007. 978-0756404079

Historical Fiction

The Religion by Tim Willocks
Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2007. 978-0374248659

Horror

The Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
William Morrow, 2007. 978-0061147937

Mystery

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2007. 978-0399154140

Romance

Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
William Morrow, 2007. 978-0060734572

Science Fiction

In War Times by Kathleen Ann Goonan
Tor, 2007. 978-0765313553

Women’s Fiction

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
Bantam, 2007. 978-0553805482

The Reading List Council 2007-2008 members are:

Katie Dunneback, Southeastern Library Services
Arlene Griffin, LSSI Library North Jackson Madison County Library, TN
Mirja Johanson, Perrot Memorial Library, CT
Lucy Lockley, St. Charles City-County Library District, MO
Robert Renwick, Brooklyn Public Library
Joyce Saricks
Jacqueline Sasaki, Ann Arbor District Library
Tapley Trudell, San Antonio Public Library
Neal Wyatt, Chair
Alan Ziebarth, Chicago Public Library

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating in the U.S. The blog is going on hiatus until sometime during ALA Midwinter. The holidays being one reason, and my committee work being the other. For anyone considering going for one of the many book award committees in ALA, be prepared to read. A lot. At this point, my projected reading schedule needs to be a book a day. And since I can't cut back my hours at the jobs, anything that's not job related or reading for the committee is not going to get done.

Also, as much as I adore being on the committee, I'm not going to seek reappointment to it for next year. Anyone who's loves adult genre fiction, and isn't afraid to spend a good chunk of your life reading for the next year, there will be an opening on the Reading List Council. You have to be a member of ALA's Reference and User Services Division (RUSA). The current vice-chair of the Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) makes the appointments. If you're at Midwinter in Philadelphia and are interested in being on the committee, be sure to introduce yourself to Michael Levine-Clark and fill out the volunteer form.

Keeping an open mind

I need to keep this short and sweet. I signed up for a Twitter account. Not to let everyone know what I'm actually doing, but as a way to easily update a "currently reading" feature on the sidebar over there. I like to tell people about what I'm reading because one of my long-standing interests is RA. As constantly updating the template through Blogger would be a bit of a pain, I thought this would be a good way to experiment with Twitter. We'll see. In the meantime, feel free to comment on the books I'm reading!

I'm off to the Iowa Library Association's Legislative Day, so look for the next update after I arrive in Baltimore for ACRL.

New 5 in 5 video

I'm getting better at this. It didn't require as many takes to get this one as down as it was going to get.

Too cool!

Lissa and Carrie at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library have done their own riff on 5 in 5:

For those interested in 5 in 5

If you're interested in participating in 5 in 5, here are some directions:

1. Take a video of yourself talking about the books. With the way my
computer's set up, I just keep going until I get a good run and then I
cut out all the other "takes".
2. Edit it for length, and if you want add in titles and credits. I
use Windows Movie Maker (Start -> Accessories) because it's free on my
computer, and I'm assuming most other XP and Vista based ones. Be
sure to save it as a .wmv file by going through the "Finish movie"
step if you use WMM as the default file type isn't anything you can
really use except to edit.
3. Sign up for a YouTube account. Upload your video. Be sure to have
Javascript enabled.
4. Join the 5 in 5 group at http://www.youtube.com/group/5in5.
5. Add your video to the group.

***OH! For those who do videos for 5 in 5, please use 5in5 as one of your tags. Thanks!

I have too much time on my hands...

Okay, I really don't, but once an idea burrows deep into my psyche, I can't get rid of it until I act on it. The latest one hit me yesterday as I was brainstorming for classes to develop for the fall as part of my new job.

Readers' Advisory, meet YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/group/5in5

Anyone can join in, so please do. Let's start a video RA meme.