E-Readers and Audiobooks

Electronic book formats appeal to so many different people I’ve ceased to be surprised when someone comes to ask for either format. Whether young or old, avid readers or those who don’t consider themselves a “reader”, all seem to find some part of electronic books they can enjoy. One aspect of both e-readers and audiobooks that often brings people in is the ease of travel. Long car rides with the family are made shorter with a good audio book coming out the stereo, and there’s no arguing over music choice! E-readers allow avid readers to bring tons of books on their vacation and they don’t need a separate bag for the backup books, or their backup backup books.

Ease of access with e-books is also a big draw. Not just leisure books are available, but textbooks as well. I’ve known many students who have chosen to have their textbooks on an e-reader instead of buying a print copy. This way is not only often cheaper, but also allows the student to bring several of their books without breaking their backs carrying them. Most e-books are often on the cheaper side and so draw people to the format. Often, one can find free e-books advertised and you only have to download them to enjoy. Audiobooks also give an ease to those with a busy lifestyle. Perhaps the reader can only enjoy a good book in their daily work commute, or have them play as they do some housework or sit down to do the bills. With today’s busy life, ease of access is often a top priority.

As for liking one format over the other, I’ve never seen a problem with how someone “reads” a good story. I myself have a Kindle and one of my favorite series is fully and only downloaded on the device. As long as someone is enjoying the story or learning something I don’t see the point in arguing over which format is better—everyone has their own preference. My brother-in-law only reads through audiobooks, because his attention can’t be caught with written words. While nothing will beat curling up on my favorite spot with a hot drink and paper book in hand, the new technologies have made books more accessible to people and that just puts a smile on my face.

Fantasy: Neverwhere

Author:  Neil Gaiman

Title: Neverwhere

Genre: Fantasy

Publication Date: 2015

Number of Pages: 460

Geographical Setting: London, England (Above and Below)

Plot Summary:

Richard Mayhew had a perfectly normal life; a good job, nice apartment, and a beautiful fiancé. But all that changed the night he stops to help a bleeding girl named Door. This one small act was Richard’s first step into the world of London Below, and out of his perfectly normal life. Richard learns he’s “fallen through the cracks” and to survive this city of shadow and oddity, of monsters and angels, he has to find Door again and help her with her own quest. Even if they do succeed, can Richard return to his previous life?

*You may have heard this story before, but the author has revisited the story many times and it may not be quite the story you remember. Also included is the short story of “How the Marquise got his Coat Back”, enjoy!

Appeal:

World-building- Gaiman’s twist on the normal world opens a door to an amazing new perspective with “London Below”. It lives alongside the human world in “London Above” and fascinates the reader with each new detail.

Magic- As with most fantasy stories, magic is a vital part of this novel. Those that “slip through the cracks” are so engulfed with this magic that it’s almost impossible to return to their previous life.

Characters- Neverwhere is full of different characters, all of whom the reader will desire more. Gaiman spins their stories wonderfully and has a full cast of both human and very non-human.

Similar Authors and Works:

King Rat by China Mièville: A character pulled out of normalcy. Something from beneath London has murdered Saul Garamond's father, and left Saul to pay for the crime.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher: A city with a magical side. Harry Dresden is Chicago’s only listed wizard, and he takes his job very seriously—most of the time.

Darkside by Tom Becker: A seedy underground full of monsters. This is a children’s novel with a similar concept; Jonathan discovers a world hidden in London, ran by Jack the Ripper's family.

Book Club Experience

            My experience for this assignment was wonderful! I’ll tell a deep dark secret and say I’ve never been part of a book club, but this one definitely turned me on to them. I’m not sure if I’ve never been to one because I received my fill with my undergrad classes (all English majors do is read and talk about what they read) but after being away for two years this experience was like a breath of fresh air. What I think I realized most was the great opportunity book clubs really are; giving a safe space to discuss books. I know that seems really obvious but like I said, I’d never been a part of one before. The meeting seemed to go along normal lines from our reading and from what I’d expected but just having the experience go so well made it seem amazing.

            The format of the time seemed to follow the outline we saw on ilovelibraries.org, although the timing was different. As people filled in the group did the socializing part and caught up with those they may not have seen. The group was small and I found out later that the members hadn’t changed much so I was a bit of a magnet for their attention. After the majority had arrived, the leader went into some issues the club had to discuss. This mostly included the fact that their next book was late and they needed to decide whether to wait or skip it and go to the next selection. Considering I was brand new, I was a bit surprised that my opinion was asked on this but it defiantly made me feel even more welcome and included. This altogether took about 45 minutes and the rest of the 3 hour time was spent on discussion of the book.

            The leader was a librarian of the library that housed the book club and gave out the discussion questions. The questions were not necessarily deep but were involved enough to get people talking back and forth about what they thought about the book. The participants all talked and I wouldn’t say that anyone dominated. There were those that talked at every question but they allowed others to speak their mind. All in all the discussion was very spread out among the people and even the leader added their opinion but she often held it to last or only showed agreement to someone else’s statement. It was also very open and didn’t have any a set way or order people had to talk. However, people were very polite and didn’t try to talk over each other, one of the ways I could tell they’d been together for a while.

            I’d come a little early and had the opportunity to see the leader and another librarian that was part of the club discussing their next book choices. I already knew they’d chosen the books for the year as they have fliers out and a link to the book list on the library’s main website, so I could guess that they were discussing options for the next year. This goes against the advice of ilovelibraries.org as it said to not choose for the whole year. I think, however, that as it was a library they may have to in order to give out advertisement but I already mentioned a bit of an issue such a choice can cause. From the listing, they do have a good range of different genres and themes going on through the year.

            While the club was small it was obvious that it was a group that loved talking about books and being with people that wanted some good discussion. It wasn’t necessarily very formal, as they allowed anyone to join, but it was structured and the leader read off questions she had listed so it wasn’t as free as possible. It was a fun experience and one I look forward to repeating.

Special Topic: Graphic Novels in the Library

In recent years the medium of graphic novels has risen in recognition not only in the public arena but also in libraries of all kinds. With this recognition, we are also seeing graphic novels granted awards and being used by educators and other professionals. One hurdle that graphic novels had to jump was the image of being the same as comics. While these two mediums share similarities, they are in fact different altogether. Comics contain a story, but graphic novels have a plot that reads much more like regular text novels (Pinkley 1-2). Donald Cunningham’s 2012 study showed that even with library’s current lack of holdings, they do not necessarily reflect the views of the librarians or their patrons through a public survey and librarian interviews. The study also looked into the public’s opinion of graphic novels as well as those of librarians. One question was if the participants thought graphic novels “constituted proper/serious literature” and  60% disagreed that they “are not proper/serious books” showing their agreement that graphic novels should be housed in a library (Cunningham 43).

Along with a call for more graphic novels, Cummingham’s study showed that librarians also wished to see their graphic novel collections shelved in their own collection. The librarians that participated in the study all showed favoritism to a separate graphic novel collection opposed to shelving the medium within other materials. However, even though the librarians all share the same idea, there was no consistency shown in the placement of these collections (Cummingham 30-34). In Trauli’s chapter over cataloging in Graphic Novels and Comics In Libraries and Archives suggest that troubles with cataloging can start with the lack of communication and need for new cataloging policies. The old ways that catalogers may have adapted in order to fit graphic novels into the mold have shown not to work for the long haul. Taruli states that these practices “are no longer satisfactory” and now librarians have “to re-think current cataloging and shelving practices” (214).  

No matter how a library catalogs graphic novels, getting the word that they are available is the best way to get them off the shelves. Advising the patrons deals with showing that the library supports graphic novels and they are just as much as an option as any other resource. Past advising may only have brought up graphic novels when a patron came to ask for them, but do librarians always do this with the other collections? Reader’s advisory should cover a good area when giving books in the interview, adding graphic novels into the mix is a great way to spread the word that not only does the library have graphic novels but they are in fact for everyone. Another step for librarians to take to push graphic novels is to have experience with the medium and find out for themselves what graphic novels are. Librarians don’t have to read all the graphic novels but have a good understanding of the styles and what is available to readers (Goldsmith 11-13). Whether it’s by inclusion in an advisory interview or in a book display, librarians need to show their understanding and that they are once again the experts to look for when asking about books. No matter the medium.

Works Cited

Cunningham, Donald Philip. “The Cataloguing and shelving of graphic novels: A comparison of public librarian and patron perceptions”. School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington. New Zealand. June 2012. Web.

Goldsmith, Francisca. “Pushing Graphic Novel Advice to Readers”. The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Graphic Novels. American Library Association. 2010. 10-18. Print.

MacDonald, Heidi. “Graphic Novels in Libraries: How Graphic Novels Became the Hottest Section in the Library”. Publishers Weekly. 2013, May 6. 20-25. Web.

Pinkley, Janet & Kaele Casey. “Graphic Novels: A Brief History and Overview for Library Managers”. Library Leadership & Management. 27:3. 2013, May. Web.

Tarulli, Laurel. “Cataloging and Problems with Dewey: Creativity, Collaboration, and Compromise”. Graphic Novels and Comics In Libraries and Archives: Essays On Readers, Research, History, and Cataloging. Weiner, Robert G. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2010. 213-221.Web.