WILL UNWOUND #666: “What is the Arc of Your Reading Life?”
January 26, 2012The conventional wisdom about readers advisory work is that you turn around the patron interview.
If the patron asks you for some good reading material, it’s effective to find out a little something about the patron. What authors have you enjoyed in the past? What topics are you mainly interested in? What format do you prefer? These are all good questions to ask.
But how about age? Do you take the age of the patron into consideration?
I bring this up because I am beginning to realize that age matters. The older I get the less I want to fritter away the time. Time is more precious than ever so give me something substantial. Something I can carry with me beyond the grave. Something that speaks to the soul. Something wise.
I’m embarrassed to admit it but I used all of you as guinea pigs last weekend when I asked you to respond to my post on wisdom imparting books. You Unwinders unwittingly did a great job of giving me some wonderful suggestions for my retirement reading. Thanks for taking the time. If you didn’t respond, it’s not too late. I can only read one book suggestion at a time. The reader reactions to Post #662 are something that I will always treasure. Thanks again.
A few years ago, Pete Hamill, an author I really like, wrote a very revealing book entitled A Drinking Life. This book reminded me of a book by another great author, Jack London, entitled John Barleycorn. Both books are about how alcohol drew the arc of each man’s life. They are at the same time fascinating and terrifying true confessionals.
If I were to write a true confessional the title would be A Reading Life. When did my addiction start? Blame my mother who read to me constantly. The literary character who really got me hooked was Freddy the Pig. Mom and I pigged out on this quirky but lovable porker until we had exhausted the entire Freddy collection at the local teacher’s college library, Glassboro State, which had a fabulous children’s collection. Then I was old enough to read on my own and it was baseball all day and under the covers at night with a flashlight. Mrs. DuBois, my legendary fifth grade teacher, introduced me to history, and at the age of 11, I had found my college major. In high school, I worked away at all those reading lists for “college bound” students…everything from Shakespeare to Salinger, and I got high on the classics. On to college and it was time for more heavy, hard core stuff – philosophy and theology. Then in graduate library school I enjoyed a second childhood in Mrs. Gehres’ kiddie lit class. I got to enjoy Freddy the Pig and Peter the Rabbit all over again. Then I got hooked on a very grown up rabbit with very grown up problems…the Rabbit tetralogy by John Updike. From there it was on to a third childhood with the births of my 3 boys. When my professional career veered into management, I found myself trekking through the messy muck of “how I run my business good” management fad du jour books (many of those businesses went south after publication date). Then four grandchildren suddenly arrived and I have been enjoying my fourth childhood ever since.
Conclusions:
- Children’s literature seems to be the one and only constant in my reading life. So all of you people who go to library school to become technogeeks, do yourself a favor and take kiddie lit. It keeps coming in handy.
- Age does make a difference…a big difference… with reading tastes.
- I don’t think I could get past page 3 of a baseball book today.
- I am still checking off titles from the “Reading List for College Bound Students” that I was given in 1964.
- Young adult literature never really existed when I was a young adult. Did I miss something?
- I have discovered that there is a Freddy the Pig chat group on the internet. Wow.
Questions of the Day in the Unwinders Tavern:
- In reader’s advisory work should we stop asking “what kinds of authors do you like?” and start asking “where do you want to take your reading in the future?” or better yet “where do you want to take your life in the future?”
- Are we in the library profession spending way to much time discussing format and not nearly enough time discussing content?
- Have a drink and tell us all about the arc of your reading life. I’ve got all day.
Slightly off-topic, but this is why I enjoyed “The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction” by Joyce G. Saricks. It was a class textbook I loved. It has very good recommendations, but it also makes recommendations for new genres based on genres you already like. E.g.: “Romance writers to try if you enjoy: adrenaline, fantasy, etc.” It gave solid genre recommendations along with recommendations to help you branch out.
My reading life: I grew up reading classics along with YA and children’s literature. (Two most-read books growing up were “Secret Garden” and “Treasure Island.”) Then after college, I discovered nonfiction, and now read mainly quirky nonfiction. (One of the books that helped introduce me to this genre was “Stiff: the Untold Story of Human Cadavers.”) During college, I barely read for pleasure, and I think that is a common experience. You just don’t have enough time or spare mental energy. That is why I read YA fiction exclusively in college. It gives you a quick, entertaining, and emotional journey that there will be no test on.
•In reader’s advisory work should we stop asking “what kinds of authors do you like?” and start asking “where do you want to take your reading in the future” or better yet “where do you want to take your life in the future?”
Unless a patron is really stumping the sprinkles outta me, I never ask what kinds of authors they like. I lead with Nancy Pearl’s “Tell me about a book you’ve liked,” and I listen to the way they frame their response. I listen for genre preference cues, “doorway” cues (plot, character, setting, language), author loyalties, reading level, etc. I then suggest a few books and give a very brief booktalk for each, playing up similarities between the book I’m proposing and the stuff the patron liked about the book they described. Then I get the heck out of the patron’s way and let them decide what, if anything, is speaking to them today. Repeat as necessary.
•Are we in the library profession spending way to much time discussing format and not nearly enough time discussing content?
I don’t know. I couldn’t find a job in the library profession. We don’t have that problem in the administrative assistant profession, though.
•Have a drink and tell us all about the arc of your reading life. I’ve got all day.
I’m going to create a format for this answer: I’ll reply with years and book titles. Boris, could I get a dark-chocolate hot cocoa with Chambord, please? Plenty of whipped cream on top, if you would, though I’ll fix it if you’re busy.
1987: Each, Peach, Pear, Plum
1992: Grimm’s Fairy Tales*, re-read for decades
1994: The Curse of the Blue Figurine, followed by all things Johnny Dixon
1996: A Wrinkle In Time, The Devil’s Arithmetic
1997: Anne of Green Gables series
1998: The Secret Language of Birthdays
2000: The Beat Book, Harry Potter series* (such as existed at that time)
2001: Dragon’s Winter, Chronicles of Tornor
2002: The Prophet*, Deptford trilogy*
2003: His Dark Materials trilogy*
2005: Gender Outlaw, Tastes of Paradise
2006: The Book of Nightmares, Vampire Loves, Cornish trilogy*
2007: Bizenghast
2009: Weetzie Bat
2010: Dark Tower series*, The Transition Handbook
2011: The Magician King*
2012: The Book Thief*, The Night Circus
*book that might fit in on your “wisdom” list, though any of them could go there depending on what you’re able to glean wisdom from.
Dick and Jane
================ at this point nothing else has been a “stop” in the progression and most are simultaneous topics in greater or lesser time spans…========================
Shakespeare
Fiction
American Indians
Fiction
Dinosaurs
Fiction
Civil War
Fiction
Geology
Fiction
Archaeology
Fiction
History
Fiction
Sciences
Fiction
Military History
Fiction
Science Fiction
Fiction
============and then we hit college and list explodes into the future/past – lol…
I too do RA work by asking the patron who is looking for something new to read what he, or she, has read in the past and then use that as a guide. And if they can’t come up with a title or author then I inquire as to what kinds of books they like mysteries, suspense, fantasy, historical novels etc. and from their go on to further investigate, if necessary, what types of books within a genre. For example, cozy mysteries, British mysteries, fantasy mysteries etc.
Of course the greatest challenge is trying to find a book for someone that just wants something new and then indicates that he, or she, doesn’t a book in any specific genre or like any author he or she has read before but then…that patrons doesn’t care for the books you suggest as he, or she, doesn’t really care for procedural mysteries or that hot new bio of George Washington etc.
RA can be a real challenge! And fun too as I frequently find out about books I wouldn’t other wise read because they’re not included in the genres I usually read.
And on a related note, I think Will is right that age, and of course background too, makes a difference into what people read. I wouldn’t ask people about their background simply because I think that is a privacy issue – but you can look at most people and have a general idea of how old they are and use that as a RA guide as applicable.
The fun thing about RA is that each person requires different handling. I’d never ask a person “where do you want this book to take your life?” but I do ask, “are you looking for something in particular” or “what are you in the mood for today?” And usually they don’t know those simple question so why would I dare touch on their life’s plan? Most of them just want something “good” (like that’s an easy thing to determine for them!) that they can lose themselves in for a few hours.
We’re a small enough library that there are the regulars who I can predict what they’ll like & dislike–know that Woman A will only read Christian fiction while Man B likes to read Danielle Steel & westerns. And don’t assume age dictates what a person will or won’t read. One of the most fervent Stieg Larsson fans in our library is a 90+ oh so proper woman & there are several females in their 20′s & 30′s who don’t want any kind of sex in their books (for me it’s no dying dogs).
Since my reading time is somewhat limited, I make sure I only choose books that truly pique my interest. I don’t care if they’re best sellers or weighty tomes or pure escapism–if it catches my fancy,then I’ll finish it. If not, it gets put down & I reach for the next one on my pile. I’m not a fan of classics so I don’t read them. Sue me. Maybe when I’m retired with more time on my hands I’ll turn to them but for now, I want something that’s fast-paced with interesting characters. Until tomorrow, when I may long for long descriptive passages. That’s the joy of books–there’s something out there for everyone & my job is to lead people on the journey of finding just the right one. Sometimes this is the best job imaginable.
Working RA with the YA crowd if I were to ask these questions “where do you want to take your reading in the future” or better yet “where do you want to take your life in the future?” I am sure I would get the deer in the headlights stare. I find it best to ask what they have read and enjoyed. For instance just the other day a girl of 15 came looking for a recommendation, she indicated that she liked mysteries – this can have many meanings in YA. So after finding out what she read recently and really enjoyed I discovered that she liked contemporary fiction that dealt with tough subject matter.
Because we are a small town library we all wear many hats. My reading is all over the place, I need to read YA in order to keep up with current trends as that is my main area, (I will tell you I am not a big fan of Twilight inspired vampire books), many adults in addition to YA’s will ask me for recommendations so I also need to keep up with adult fiction. To help increase my reading load I have taken to listening during my commute.
In my own young adult to early twenties I was a big fan of the fast paced murder mystery. It was during my stint as an elementary school librarian that I discovered my enjoyment of historical fiction. Currently listening to 11-22-63 and I highly recommend this book in either print or audio format, although if you are going to read it I would recommend reading it on a Kindle or other e-reader. I also like the blending of genre’s such as Libba Bray’s Beauty Queens, it blends mystery, fantasy with a dose of realism.
Ahhh Libba Bray. Love her!
I was a precocious reader. According to my parents (this dates from when I was so young I can’t remember it), I almost got in trouble with my pre-school teacher because I was standing in front of her looking down at the book as she was reading during story hour. She told me to sit down, but I protested I was just reading along with her. She made me prove it, which I did. Think about that – not only was I able to read at an early age, but I was able to read upside down.
As for the books that hooked me, I think I’m probably like a lot of people my age: Doctor Seuss, Doctor Seuss, Doctor Seuss. There’s a Wocket in my Pocket was a special favorite, and I still have an inordinate fondness for neologisms and outrageous characters.
I know I was 13 when I read the book I mentioned on the other post – Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Later on I read some trash (the “Cheerleaders Series” was a low point), lots and lots and lots of sci fi (Heinlein & Asimov), fantasy (McCaffrey especially), and with a few exceptions I always read stuff that was “too mature” for me.
My reading tastes now are too varied to go into in a blog post comment. To give you a taste, though, right now I’m in the middle of three different books:
1. Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/140535 (Yes, I’m reading it because of a conversation you & I had in the comments on your blog, Will.)
2. Alberic the Wise & Other Journeys by Norton Juster http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/79054389 (Middle grades, short stories)
3. Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/49394891 (The audio book version during my commute to & from work)
Finally, about the way tastes change when you get older… I’m hoping none of the other unwinders will burn me in effigy for saying this, but I can’t read Heinlein or McCaffrey anymore. I tried to reread a couple of them, but I ended up yelling at those books – aloud no less – “C’mon! Give me a break! People don’t talk like that in the real world!” So yes, my tastes have changed.
Oh, and I so rarely get a chance to do RA that I wing it every time. I know a lot of the members of my community well enough that I end up being more of a book pusher than an adviser: “Hey, Professor Curmudgeon Who I Converted To Liking Graphic Novels, you should look at THIS.”
FForde– You know you’ve read well all your life when you get all the jokes he tosses into Tuesday Next or the Nursery Crime books! The Eyre Affair hooked me. Jane has been a yearly re-re-read for me for GON how many decades…and I do prefer Tuesday’s ending.
I don’t ask where people want to take their reading, because very few people would have a clue. But I do ask them to tell me about a book they liked and would like to read more of. That usually works. I also ask if they’re reading for pleasure, and if so, what sort of pleasure (do they enjoy a good cry, a scare, some escapism, deep thoughts, or what)? If not for pleasure, then what is the motivation? Is it to solve a problem, or for a class, or what? It’s amazing the number of people who think Danielle Steele will teach them how to repair a bad relationship…
As far as my own reading, it started when I was very little with such gems as Aldous Huxley’s “Crows of Pearblossom”, which my mother assures me was my FAVORITE story at age 2-3. Later she read “The Hobbit” aloud to me and my brother, which made me love Fantasy for the rest of my life. And I adored the Grimms, Lang, and all sorts of folklore.
I always read “above my level” – I remember reading Agatha Christie, Andre Norton and Heinlein as a pre-teen, then moving on to Sci-fi and fantasy as a teen, tons of historical romance (I swear all I know about English history I learned from Jean Plaidy), and murder mysteries of all kinds.
Nowadays my diet is almost all teen fiction (I’m a YA Librarian), graphic novels (I’m on the Texas Mavericks committee), and science non-fiction (my favored pleasure reading at this time). I’m sure next year I’ll be back to bodice rippers or cat stories…
My husband is an author, and I’ve discovered something about myself since I started editing his books: I’m mortally sick of series where the same characters get into the same scrapes in the same places. Almost sounds like the definition of insanity (expecting different results from the same actions). There are a few series I used to enjoy, until I started looking at them from the producer’s side and saw all the flaws.
I now read whatever happens to catch my eye when I’m in a bookstore (where I write down the title and borrow it from my library) or shelving books at work, whether that is fiction or nonfiction. Lately I’ve gotten caught up in the Jane Austen zombie spoofs (some are better than others), balanced by my large and growing collection of “Unshelved” and “Sheldon” comics. And every once in a while, I return to such classics as “Phantom Tollbooth” or “The Westing Game” and enjoy them anew.
I do so little RA that I don’t have ready questions for the library patron who asks for a good book to read. We have no ebooks here (yet — our director has declared that WILL change this year), so format is limited to print or CDs.
The arc: Outside re-reads of assorted Harry Potter (amazing how Rowling got all those details sneaked in early that loom so large later on ) my “reading” of late has all been audio books —
My early reading was magazines (Boys’ Life, Saturday Evening Post & Reader’s Digest cover to cover ); lived in rural setting with no library & few books at home. Attended one-room grade school; the school got a box of assorted books from the County Superintendent’s office a few times a year.
For “fun” reading in adulthood read all of John D. MacDonald, & several other mystery series in my 30s & 40s. Had a go at science fiction for a while — some Frederick Pohl, Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov, etc. Never could get into DUNE or the sword & sorcery tinged stuff. Some early Stephen King — not The Stand or the Dark Tower series. Tom Clancy.
I guess in our library users get the impression we’re scurrying too fast to engage in conversations about reading recommendations; I’ve had very few discussions of that sort in 28+ years. Although I field a lot of “what comes after XXX in the VVV series ” type questions where I have to dive into Novelist or the Bowker database to find out because I’ve never heard of the series.
In regards to fiction, I spent the first (approximately) 20 years of my life addicted to historical fiction, whether it was the classics, or books set historically. I enjoyed some contemporary fiction, but I absolutely could not get into science fiction or fantasy. In college, I took Children’s Lit (I agree – everyone needs to take it), and fell in love with fantasy, and from that, sci fi. Due to my reading almost entirely that, with a few exceptions, I suspect that will take me until approximately age 40 (so I’ve got another 10 years to continue to play catch up on fantasy/scifi). I suspect that I will then get into mysteries, because it seems to be the genre I have left, and that I have the most friends who read… Don’t ask me what that means I should start reading at 60 though!
Through all of this, I have always been a fan of non-fiction as well though, and that’s gone through phases as well, but not quite so clearly…
I agree with CarolAnn that you can’t reduce readers’ advisory to a formula. There are too many differences between people. You have to trust your instincts and your accumulated knowledge to guide you and the customer.
I learned to read at age 4 by memorizing a Little Golden Book that I had my mother read a number of times. From there on, I was mostly on my own and reading from several years above my age level to thoroughly adult nonfiction. Some books that were favorites along the way include Bambi’s Children, the Swiss Family Robinson, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Space Cadet, Ivanhoe, the Complete Sherlock Holmes, the Pickwick Papers, the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings, the Chronicles of Narnia, and Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. In more recent years, my reading has focused more on religion and on World War II, with whatever assorted fiction and nonfiction that happens to pique my interest. The other day I finished a book about type fonts called “Just My Type” and really enjoyed it.
I have never done reader’s advisory, so I’m not sure how it functions. I can tell you that most librarians encountered growing up either were trying to dissuade me for reading books I wanted to read or would ask me what I read and suggest a myriad of different books based on my like or dislike of the one I had just read. About 75% of those librarians were of the former breed.
As far as what I read: anything and everything. I don’t too much care where it takes me or my life in the future (heck, I might get hit by a bus tomorrow). And for me, content is what you make it and depends heavily on your own background.
The arc of my reading life, Will? Really? You know, that’s kind of personal, like asking to check my underwear drawer or the contents of my bank account.
There are bars that attract a high-end clientele in which a guy could get slapped for asking for the arc of a woman’s reading life. Maybe even have a drink thrown in his face. (Though I would hope that university women would be classier than that and merely transfix the offender with a sharp bon mot.)
Which reminds me that a dating website based on arcs of reading lives would probably work pretty good. I’ll have to scare up some venture capital for that.
Honestly, I stopped reading YA lit when I was 10 or 11 because I wanted more character development, more plots and subplots, and longer books to keep me occupied. I’ve read a few YA books recently and find myself wishing for the same things. There are a few YA books I’ve really enjoyed (The Beautiful Between by Alyssa B. Sheinmel, for one) but in general, I’ve always preferred “adult” literature.
I’m with you Elise. I stopped reading YA in my early elementary and didn’t read it again until it was a requirement for a job in my twenties.
Post #666! Very metal.
Regarding Will’s questions:
+I think the author question can lead into “where would you like your reading to go/take you?”–many people haven’t read certain authors because they had a bad experience (such as Dickens) or are intimidated by them. Talking about genre isn’t always helpful either; I like fantasy, but I don’t like G.R.R. Martin or Tolkien, and I enjoy reading fantasy based in non-European myth systems. Knowing that is more helpful than knowing just that I like fantasy.
+Based on the discussions this blog has had regarding comic books, I think Biblioterra at large may be focusing too much on format and not enough on content.
I love YA fiction (and still read every book of Tamora Pierce’s which comes out). I have always loved fantasy and science fiction, starting with Anne McCaffrey and ending up, currently, with Jo Walton and Dan Simmons. I loved “classics” from a young age when I read The Last of the Mohicans and The Swiss Family Robinson, and now own all of Thomas Hardy and Edith Wharton’s bibliographies. I had a phase of horse books (chiefly Marguerite Henry) which ended when I was 13 or so. I rarely read romance, westerns, or thrillers, though I had an Agatha Christie phase in high school. And in undergrad, I discovered comic books, which I had not been allowed to read as a kid, and have been loving them since.
Is this where I must admit that I do not ever read fiction and I am, therefore, a really lousy reader’s advisor? I can tell you what’s popular (but you’ll have to place a reserve to get it). I can tell you what I’m reading (which, at the moment, is, “Shiny Objects: Why We Spend Money We Don’t Have in Search of Happiness We Can’t Buy”, by James Roberts). I can use Novelist to give you some suggestions. What I can’t do is talk off the cuff about popular fiction. Does that make me a lousy librarian? I don’t think so. I was hired to answer reference questions, which I think I do fairly well, and until someone starts paying me to read fiction in my spare time, I will continue to be a really lousy reader’s advisor (unless, of course, you tell me that your favorite author is Tracy Kidder). Life is too short to spend your limited spare time reading books you don’t enjoy.
I’m still amazed that people actually want someone else to suggest books for them to read. For me, one of the greatest joys in life is to wander around in a bookstore or library discovering new authors and wonderful new books. Are people today so pressed for time that they can’t spend a few moments browsing on their own?
I have to agree with you. I am dumbfounded at the patrons who bring their children to the library and ask for good picture books. Is it so hard to pull a few off the shelf and LOOK at them?? Children inherently place value on what their parents put time to. Take the time to show them lots of picture books now, and they will choose lots of material for themselves later.
I never did understand the whole idea of reader’s advisory librarianship (I can understand it if the person looking for a book to read is a child; age and subject would factor in to what s/he should be reading); doesn’t an adult know what s/he likes, even if s/he isn’t an avid reader? I guess I wouldn’t make a good reader’s advisory librarian, since a lot of what I’ve been reading right now has been in the subject area of European studies. Most of my reading is non-fiction.
I think I’m of the same mindset. Collection development is about as close as I come and that is based on research and classes, not on what someone necessarily “wants” to read, but what they need for study.