W2A2 -  Book Annotations
--The Outlaws of Sherwood Street: Stealing from the Rich, by Peter Abrahams - Fast-paced story line, set in Brooklyn, NY; good mix of young characters from different socio-economic backgrounds, element of mystery and suspense throughout; the theme is a modern urban twist of Robin Hood's tale.

--The Light Between Oceans, by M.L. Stedman - Set in Australia, mysterious Baby-Daddy element, (lol, yes I had to go there); has a bit of a learning experience for anyone not familiar with lighthouses; suspenseful tone keeps the reader interested; story line leads reader to ask "what would I do in this situation?"

--Love Finds You in Sugarcreek, Ohio, by Serena Miller - Mysterious character, rural Amish setting, secrecy, suspense, police quest, a building relationship leads to a romance.

W2A1 - Novelist Appeal Factors - I liked learning about the three different approaches, or ways, of working with appeal.  The second and third ways are interesting because they seem to streamline and simplify the RA process.  One approach was modeled by Joyce Sarick - grouping books under four areas of appeal: adrenaline, intellect, emotion, and landscape.  I can easily place myself in two of these categories - adrenaline first, then intellect - which again has me thinking I should be giving science fiction a shot (really?...).   The other approach is Nancy Pearl's idea called "the doorway method." This approach groups the way readers enter a book: through the story, setting, character, or language.  I'm definitely NOT a character person.  I found that out when I read "The Language of Flowers." I hated it because it was all character, no real change of scenery, no suspense, no climax or building of plot...  It read to me like "a day in the life" kind of story, and all the days in her life were depressing and dreadful.  Needless to say the book dragged on for an eternity.  I apparently enter a book through the story or setting; I'm not really interested in the language.   Both approaches keeps it simple, which is what I will remember.  Glad to have learned this:).

W1A5 - Judging a Book By Its Cover -  The Steppenwolf comment was my favorite.  The six-year-old says, "This story is about a very very hairy eagle who hangs out with fancy ladies." lol.

W1A4 - Recommended Links - I chose NPR Books and Mystery Readers International for my two recommended links.  The NPR website attracted me because of its familiarity - I tune in to the station periodically, but also because their website is more visually appealing and easy to navigate.  I wanted to just hang out there longer!  I also like that it has audio summaries of many books, and audio interviews with authors.  Mystery Readers International, well... the website is pretty low budget, but I'm sticking with it because it claims to be "the largest mystery fan/reader organization in the world," so I'm curious to find out why.  I also plan to visit EarlyWord frequently to catch the latest updates, but their website is a little too busy for me.  Lots of good information, but way too much going on.

W1A3 - Golden Rules of Readers' Advisory - I like this list, particularly Rules #2 and #6.  Rule 2 is "Write, Write, Write."  I record the books I read, but tend to rely on my memory to recall detailed information about the book.  Writing it down will help me remember things that may not stick as well.  Rule #6 is "Don't Pigeonhole the Books."  Since I'm not a Science Fiction reader, for example, I assume they are all the same, but alas - apparently they're not!  So this rule will help me to approach genres in a different open-minded way, and not under the assumption of "that's so not me!"

W1A2 - Genre Cover Matching - This quiz gave me exposure to subgenres that aren't as commonly known, like Regency, Cipher, Techno, Alternate History, etc...  I scored 10 out of 12.  Some answers were more obvious, and others I could narrow down to two possible answers.  Fun quiz!