1. Books and Authors:
The Top 5 of Another 5
With Barry Trott on Historical Fiction
David Wright on Literary Fiction
Rebecca Vnuk on Romance
Roberta Johnson on Science Fiction
and
Kaite Mediatore Stover on
Suspense/Thrillers
2. Handouts for this presentation can be
found on the new blog home for
Shelfrenewal:
http://shelfrenewal.booklistonline.com
3. Notes on the original 5 covered at PLA
2010 can be found online at:
http://shelfrenewal.com/programs/
pla2010presentation/
4. What’s this all about?
• Sometimes, we just need quick answers for
patrons who want “a good book”.
• Having a brain full of books in different
genres makes the RA experience a lot less
intimidating!
• One of the best ways to arm yourself at the
desk is to become so well-versed in your
collection so that it seems as though every
book you’re giving out is one you’ve
personally read and enjoyed.
5. What’s this all about?
5 popular categories of books and what
to know about them:
The books and authors we feel you
need to know about in each genre so
you can branch off from there and gain
a brain full of books, even if you don’t
normally read in these areas.
6. OK. We’ve lied a little…We really can’t shove 125
books at you in 75 minutes…but you can get all
the info from us online, we swear.
What we can feature today in each genre:
5 up-and-comers
5 trends
Our favorites
The online handout has the additional info:
Classics, Must-Know Books
7. Historical Fiction – Barry Trott
Historical Fiction has as its setting a period of history
and attempts to convey the spirit, manners, and
social conditions of a past age with realistic detail
and fidelity to historical fact. The work may deal
with actual historical personages or it may contain
a mixture of fictional and historical characters. It
attempts to portray a broader view of a past society
in which great events are reflected by their impact
on the private lives of fictional individuals.
- Encyclopaedia Brittanica
17. Literary Fiction – David Wright
Literary fiction is defined as critically
acclaimed, often award-winning, fiction.
These books are more often character-
centered rather than plot-oriented. They
are provocative and often address more
serious issues.
- Joyce Sariks, The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction
32. Romance – Rebecca Vnuk
The main plot of a romance novel must revolve
around the two people as they develop romantic
love for each other and work to build a
relationship together. Both the conflict and the
climax of the novel should be directly related to
that core theme of developing a romantic
relationship, although the novel can also
contain subplots that do not specifically relate
to the main characters' romantic love.
Furthermore, a romance novel must have an
emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.
- Romance Writers of America
39. Science Fiction –
Roberta Johnson
Science fiction is speculative fiction,
frequently set in the future. Setting is
crucial and invokes otherness of time,
place, and reality.
- Sariks
“If there are rivets on the cover, it’s
Science Fiction.” – Orson Scott Card
42. Science Fiction
Trends
Diversity – strong female characters have
been the norm for a while, but authors and
characters of color are more commonplace.
Humor: Kage Baker, Sean McMullen, Neal
Stephenson
Blurring of Science Fiction and Thrillers – As
our technology advances faster than we can
write about it, an exciting SF novel is a hair’s
breadth away from a techno-thriller.
43. Science Fiction
Trends
Young Adult Science Fiction –
especially dystopian futures
47. Suspense/Thriller –
Kaite Mediatore Stover
Even authoritative sources can’t seem to
settle on a definition. The terms seem to be
fairly interchangeable – and patrons don’t
care – so we're using the term Suspense
here to also cover Thrillers.
Don’t quibble on semantics.
The genre for readers too lazy to get on the
treadmill for a cardio workout.
