Practicing Novelist with Prompts

1. I am looking for a book by Laurell K. Hamilton. I just read the third book in the Anita Blake series and I can’t figure out which one comes next!

The Lunatic Cafe 
I was able to find the next book in the series by searching GoodReads. When patrons ask for the next book or the order of books in a series I rely mostly on GoodReads because their format is easy to follow. GoodReads also includes stories and novellas in the series breakdown for readers.

2. What have I read recently? Well, I just finished this great book by Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer. I really liked the way it was written, you know, the way she used language. I wouldn't mind something a bit faster paced though.

Anthill by Edward O. Wilson
To find this book, I used only Novelist. I have used Novelist before to find possible next reads for patrons before so I did not have much trouble navigating my way through it. The only issue I had was that I couldn't get feedback from the patron and do a through reference interview. I wanted to ask "Do you want to to stay with the environmental theme?" and "Did you want a book told from multiple perspectives like The Prodigal Summer". The patron could completely hate the blurb of this book but I won't know it.

3. I like reading books set in different countries. I just read one set in China, could you help me find one set in Japan? No, not modern – historical. I like it when the author describes it so much it feels like I was there!

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
For this book, I used a combination of GoodReads and Novelist. The issue I had with this prompt is that Historical Fiction is so vague. I am not sure if the patron has a certain time period in mind or if he or she is game for anything classified as Historical Fiction. The book I am suggesting comes very well recommended from both resources I used. It appears to be a fan favorite among readers who are interested in Historical Fiction with a Japanese setting.