Week 12 Prompt

Reader's Advisory Matrix: You Can Do It: Strength by Jasinda Wilder (You Can Do It #2)

Where is the book on the narrative continuum?

Highly narrative (reads like fiction)

What is the subject of the book?

In the second book of this trilogy, Jasinda is going beyond her eight week plan for health and wellness and adding in more strength training and other exercise aspects. It also builds upon the eating habits built in the first book.

What type of book is it?

It is part memoir part with the beginning as she tells her story and how she got where she is now and  plan for wellness.

What is the pacing of the book?

It is a very quick read and enjoyable.

Describe the characters of the book:

Jasinda, the author, is the main character since this is mainly about her journey to health and wellness but it also focuses on her husband and fellow author, Jack and their six children. All have gotten healthier because of these lifestyle changes.

How does the story feel?

Inspiring. She really wants the reader to relate and know that they can succeed with the plan.

What is the intent of the author?

To inspire and help the readers be the healthiest they can be.

What is the focus of the story?

Jasinda's health journey and how it can help others.

Does the language matter?

Yes, it is what makes it so readable.

Is the setting important?

Not for this book, no.

Are there details? Charts, graphs, etc.?

Yes: pictures, recipes, and info graphs that are very well described and useful to the reader.

Does the book stress moments of learning, understanding, or experience?

Yes to all three. It is not only trying to teach but to inspire. But Jasinda is also trying to show that she has been where many readers have and that they can succeed too. It is clear that she is rooting for them.

Why would a reader enjoy this book?

1. Characterization
2. Narrative continuum
3. Learning/Experience

Non-Fiction: You Can Do It

You Can Do It by Jasinda Wilder

You Can Do It Trilogy #1

Summary:
Jasinda Wilder asks one thing of the reader of this non-fiction book: will you give yourself eight weeks to try a new way to lose weight and begin a lifestyle change that will their health for the better. The main aspect of this lifestyle change is to give up sugar. She details an eight week plan where you slowly start to ween yourself off sugar and change your eating and exercising habits. Before you get to the plan she tells her story and how she got to where she is health wise. She also includes awesome recipes and fun extras.

Narrative Continuum: This novel is very easy to read and it reads like a first person novel. The way Jasinda wrote this book is as if she was sitting there talking with the reader. It makes it a quick and easy read and there is a clear progression of this "story."

Subject: Fans of Jasinda's fiction works expect fun and humor and even though this book has some serious aspects of it, it also delivers on the lighthearted humor that readers have come to expect from her. She is very open and honest about her health journey.

Type: This is part memoir part health, weight loss guide.

Appeal: 

Pacing: A great thing about this book is that the reader does not have to bring any knowledge of the subject into the reading because it is explained early on in the book. It is very narrative and quick to read.

Characterization: The author does want the reader to identify with them. Jasinda has gone through this process and details it in great depth.

Storyline: There is a great flow to this book. It is very readable and even though it is non-fiction, it reads like a fiction story.

Intent of Author: This book is mainly to educate but it also hopes to inspire and encourage readers who might be going through the same things she did or starting this journey to be the healthiest they can be.

Subject focused: While this book is very subject focused, the story is vital to the book as well. It adds to it and makes it more readable and enjoyable.

Detail: This book does have a lot of detail including, illustrations about the way to do the plan and recipes with pictures.

Learning/Experiencing: This book is a nice blend of the two. In the beginning Jasinda is sharing her story but it gets into more of teaching moments with her explaining the plan and why she is recommending the choices she is.

Language: The language in this book is part of what makes it so successful and easy to read. It is fun, lyrical and feels as if she is talking to you. It makes it a quick read.

Setting: The location is not part of the book.

Tone: The tone of this book is very light. She wants to inspire readers and that comes through in the writing.

Read-a-likes:

• 21 Days of Eating Mindfully by Lorrie Jones. 
• Running Like a Girl: Notes on Learning to Run by Alexandria Heminsley
• Trim Healthy Mama Plan by Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison

My Opinion of You Can Do It:

I loved this book! I had read a few of Jasinda's romance novels before so I was already a fan of her writing and when I found this I thought I would give it a try. I thought was very easy to read and an enjoyable read as well. She does a great job of adding detail and facts in a way that just fits the flow of the story and plan. It doesn't feel like an information dump. It was a very inspirational read. 

Week 11 Prompt

Personally, I think that there is a lot of appeal to both ebooks and audiobooks. For ebooks I think that the lower price definitely comes into play. But it is also a way to free up space. Readers are now able to get a lot more books because with ebooks and audiobooks they do not have to worry about making room on a shelf for them. I am the kind of person that I like both regular books and ebooks. I don't really like one over the other. Sometimes I get ebooks instead of regular books because they cost less, they are immediately in one of the various apps on my phone and sometimes I tend to read ebooks quicker than I do regular books. But other times I like having that book in my hand. I know that a lot of people love audiobooks. Recently I've seen a lot more people come into the children's department of my library asking for the audiobook version of a book, even when we have the book in. For me, I have never been able to find an audiobook that I could actually get into. Even narrators with an accent haven't been able to get me to like them. Whenever a narrator goes to do a voice of the opposite gender, I usually can't get over the voice. It distracts me so much I completely get drawn out of the story. I keep hoping I'll find one that I like but so far, no luck. My aunt and I use to read a lot of the same books and because we were reading the same series I would usually just loan her my physical copy of the book. Because the writing was so small, it would take her a lot longer to read but now that she has an ereader and can change the size of the text, she is able to read faster and seems to really enjoy it more. Audiobooks are also great for car rides and a lot of patrons have come in saying they're going on a trip and wanted an audiobook or two to enjoy on the journey. Personally, having an ebook or regular book, I don't feel like one over the other helps determine or affects my knowledge of the genre. I don't go by book length when thinking about that. The cover usually has more input when I think about the genre type.

Historical Fiction-Cleopatra's Daughter

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

Egyptian Royals Series #3

Summary:

When Marc Antony and Cleopatra die, their surviving children are left at the mercy of their enemy, Octavian. Their children are taken to Rome in chains and only two survive the journey, the ten-year-old twins, Selene and Alexander. Told from Selene's perspective this story details their time in Rome as "honored guests" of Octavian. As they grow up in Rome they are faced with many challenges from the personal ambitions of Octavian's family who view the twins as threats to political uprisings in which they become personally involved. Selene is charming and intelligent like her mother and works to secure a future for herself with Juba II, son of the defeated king of Numidia.

Characteristics of Historical Fiction:

• This story was very well researched and includes a lot of accurate historical detail, including the setting, (both briefly in Egypt at the beginning as well as in Rome) Historical events were also used in the story, such as two slave trials which were based on two such trials that happened in Ancient Rome. 
• The tone of this novel is at times light such as when Selene gets to work on her drawings and sketching or in their school but at most the tone is more serious as the fate of the children comes into question. 
• The story line of this story focuses mainly on Selene's journey with brief instances of the other characters who interact with her. This novel also raises the moral issues of slavery in Ancient Rome and how Selene especially wants to change that, along with Juba. 
• Almost all of the characters, especially the main ones, were real and they do fit the time in which the story takes place. Whereas some might find Selene's education too advanced for a woman, we are reminded that she is the daughter of the woman who was considered one of the most learned women of her time. They were not allowed to be children and had to live in an adult world from a very young age, which is shown in the novel so it makes those parts fit within the story and time period. The characters' actions fit with the historical times and the details of that time period. The actions that Selene takes through the novel makes sense within not only the historical setting but also that of her character. She is portrayed as intelligent and bold and her actions fit those descriptions. 
• This novel is longer but it is a fast-paced and very intriguing story that pulls the reader in. Years pass within this novel but it never gets dull or boring. There is a great balance of historical detail and the plot of the story. One never over powers the other.
• While much of the novel is accurate and "authentic" the author took creative liberties with a few aspects to make it a better reading experience, such as changing wording to better fit what a modern reader is familiar with, such as using books instead of codices or changing the Roman practice of kicking doors as opposed to knocking on them. 

Read-a-likes:

Adult:

Fiction:

• Nefertiti and The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran (The first two books in this series which detail the life of the famous queens Nefertiti (step-mother of King Tut) and Nefertari (niece of Nefertiti and wife of Ramesses the Great)
• Lily of the Nile (Cleopatra's Daughter #1) by Stephanie Dray (Details Selene in Rome but with a fantasy aspect as she has powers which the ruler wants to use for his own gains as she fights to see her mother's dreams for Egypt come true.)

Non-Fiction:

• Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day by Philip Matyszak (Ancient Rome)
• Plutarch's Lives, Volume 2 (Modern Library Classics) by Plutarch (Historical figures of Ancient Rome)

Online resource:

• http://www.michellemoran.com/books/cleopatra/background.html This is a great resource, not only about how Moran went about writing the book but also about the research she did. There is ton of awesome information. She has this type of information for her other books too. I found it fascinating.

My opinion of Cleopatra's Daughter:

I absolutely loved this novel! Normally I lean more toward romance because historical fiction can sometimes get really bogged down with all the detail but Michelle Moran does a great job of finding that balance between the detail and the plot. I really loved the first two in this trilogy too so these are three I would recommend to anyone interested in historical fiction or Ancient Egypt and Rome. I've always been interested in Ancient Egypt but this was the first I had heard of Selene and I thought it was great!

Book Club Experience

            I chose to go to a book club at a small local library. I also told them that I was there as part of my class since they were asking if I had read the book or not. The moderator was actually the branch manager of this local library. (It seemed to only have about three people there at a time; it is also a small two-room library with one room being a meeting room where the book club meets.) This book club meets every Wednesday morning. They decide how much of the book they want to read for the next week depending on the size of the book and the schedules of the members. I was not the only new person there either, there were two new members, one who had read the book and his wife who had not read it.

            For this meeting there were seven people there including the moderator and myself, though they did say that there were a few others who could not make it that week. The moderator did lead the meeting, asking the first few questions but everyone contributed, not only to answering the questions but also for asking follow-up questions. The leader also let the others answer before she contributed her own thoughts on the book.

            The questions were not ones that could be answered with a yes or a no but that required an in depth answer. One such question was when they were asked what they thought of a character’s wife and her actions and responses to what her husband was being accused of. (The book was an historical fiction book set during the Holocaust.) One thing that I was really happy to see was that everyone answered and engaged, even the new members. There were not one or two people who either spoke too much or too little.

            The book club meets in the small meeting room of the library and it is a very friendly, lively atmosphere. Those of us that were new, whether we’d read the book or not, we were instantly welcomed and they encouraged us to contribute as well. There were drinks provided as well. This book club seems to read a variety of books but ones that they hope will encourage an engaging discussion. This current book covered the Holocaust and it looked like the next book or two would be similar. I was told that a book they had read earlier was Follow the River by James Alexander Thom, which is about the Native American captive, Mary Ingles, who escaped and walked all the way home by following the river. After speaking with the moderator after the meeting she said that she was also considering the book, Salt to the Sea by Ruta Septys. I loved that book so I thought it would be a great one for that book club to read.

            Overall, I thought this book club was very successful. It was engaging and everyone participated and they seemed to really have an insightful and thorough discussion over the book and the topics it brought up.

Summary of Special Topics Paper

For my special topics paper I chose to write about the evolution of the romance genre. In this I examined not only the way the genre itself has evolved with the addition of sub genres and the explosion of self-publishing but also the way romance readers are gaining the respect that other readers have.

Romance novels are now being included in literature courses because scholars and other academics are seeing that romance novels are not inferior to other works of literature. In many cases it was thought that the writing in romance novels was simplified for the reader so that they would not have to think very hard while reading and that thinking is changing as critics see that not only can the plots be very complex but that the writing is of a quality that can hold its own in an academic setting. This is also enabling readers to be more open about their love of the romance genre and that many do not feel that they need or should be embarrassed to express how much they enjoy reading romance novels, no matter the sub genre or subject matter.

Self-publishing has been huge in the evolution of romance novels as it has opened up the door for other sub genres to be explored that might not have been considered by traditional publishers or not published to the extent that self-publishing can, such as dark, taboo or m/m romances.

Not only is the romance genre continuing to evolve and change as time passes but it is losing the stigma that people held toward it and the readers who love romance. The genre and its readers are gaining the respect that readers of the other genres have. It also shows that romance novels are of a quality that deserves to be included with other literary genres.

References used in paper:

Dugger, J. M. (2014). "I'm a Feminist, But..." Popular Romance in the Women's Literature Classroom. Journal Of Popular Romance Studies, 4(2), 1.

Regis, Pamela. 2003. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Wyatt, N., Olson, G., Ramsdell, K., Saricks, J., & Welch, L. (2007). Core Collections in Genre Studies. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 47(2), 120-125.

Veros, V. V. (2012). The Romance Reader and the Public Library. Australian Library Journal, 61(4), 298-306.