Week 4: Building Base Knowledge

I've been on Goodreads for years, and I've used it in place of those little spiral bound notebooks full of book titles kept and carried around by the sorts of women that I am bound to become eventually. Not only does it help me remember the actual titles of books I've read and enjoyed (helpful for readers advisory), but updates from friends have given me additional reading ideas, and the "Want to Read" option is useful.
I just created a few shelves, and checked out their recommendations based on them. Pretty accurate; I have actually already read (but not posted) a number of the suggested titles.

I suggested a title to Cynthia W., based on the high ratings she's given to well-written books featuring family stories in diverse cultures.

Week 3: Assignment 3, Conversation 3

A fast-paced, fascinating true story of an expedition into uncharted territory, featuring a U.S. President? I could go in a few directions here. Focusing on the presidential angle, I found through Amazon Scott Miller's The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century. If the expedition aspect was more compelling, Martin Dugard's Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone might please this customer. Novelist pointed me to David McCullough's Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914.

Week 3: Assignment 3, Conversation 2

Fast-moving vampire stories without teen angst? My first thought was to go old school with Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. I then used Goodreads to add something more current and came up with Laurel Hamilton's Anita Blake series, and Seth Grahame-Smith's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Week 3: Assignment 3, Conversation 1

This customer's attraction to an interesting and thoughtful nonfiction story of a woman's quest for meaning might lead me to recommend Alice Steinbach's Without Reservations: the Travels of an Independent Woman. Steinbach travels through Europe to discover who she was, away from the people and places that had up until then defined her.

Week 2: Assignment 3

I recommended some titles to Kathleen M.

Week 2: Assignment 2, Part 2

Ha Jin’s A Good Fall is a collection of short stories reflecting the Chinese immigrant experience in America. His subjects have come to America to improve their lives; many instead face loneliness, confusion and disappointment. The stories also provide a window into the community of Flushing New York, an area of Queens which has a Chinatown that rivals that of Manhattan. Written in eloquent prose, this volume would appeal to readers who are interested in the immigrant experience, Chinese culture, and family relationships, and who enjoy the quick read afforded by the short story format.

Week 2: Assignment 2, Part 1

M. C. Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth is the local bobby in the tiny village of Lochdubh in the Scottish Highlands. Unambitious (some say lazy), he is content to tend to his sheep, poach an occasional fish and live quietly with his dog and cat. However, his keen observational skills and gift for crime solving often put him in the limelight, either garnering praise (and possible unwanted promotion) for his investigative skills, or punishment and threats of firing for eclipsing the police work of his pompous superiors.

A quirky recurring cast of townspeople, a wonderful evocation of the Scottish Highlands, a touch of humor and a tiny bit of romance (will he ever settle down, with either patrician Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, or ambitious Elspeth Grant?), and 29 titles so far and no signs of stopping are factors to recommend this delightful series.

Week 1, Assignment 4

I've chosen to follow Stop You're Killing Me. I enjoy mysteries, but read the same few authors (funny ones, mostly), and would like to extend my range.

I am subscribing to Salon -- Books. I was a little perturbed by the auto-response when subscribing: "Thanks! You will now recieve Salon in your inbox."
I hope it will be all uphill from there.