New Providence Memorial Library's Online Reading Group discussion

I was thinking today about read-alikes. This is a way of prolonging a good book. If you've come to the end of a series or you want to stay in a certain time frame or you love the environment that an author has created, what do you when you've read all their books? Well, find another author that writes in a similar style or on similar topics.

We have some great tools to find read-alikes. BookBrowse is a wonderful resource for finding your next book and includes ideas for book groups, author bios, reviews and featued new books. The read-alike for Mr. Winchester suggests not just authors but authors based on some of the specific books that you have enjoyed in case you were fond of some books and not of others.

Based on the suggested authors, I have some work to do. I have read and enjoyed Dava Sobel, Walter Isaacson and some Erik Larson but have read no Margaret Drabble or Dave Eggers.

Read-alikes can be a good way to approach the huge number of books in the stacks, too. Some days the choice and volumes of books and authors just seems overwhelming and it's nice to have an approach to choosing a next book.

What about you? Do you sometimes consciously look for read-alikes or do you like to try completely different things?

I have read a book because I read somewhere that it was similar to _____. Recently I read "The Girl on the Train" because it was supposed to be the next "Gone Girl". Well, it was a book I kept going back to, a 'page turner', but not the next "Gone Girl". Titles escape me but it is rare that I read a 'like this' book and agree. However, it is similar genre or time or place, so I guess that matters. Thanks for this posting - I must remember to check this feature out more often if I'm looking for a book to read. (Most times, I've more books on my shelf or TBR list so I don't go searching!)
Last part of your post --- I like being in book groups because I then read books I normally would not choose and it's good to get away from the familiar to try something new.

I agree with Marilyn on many counts! I belong to a book club for the same reason, to read something other than what I gravitate to. And I also am always way behind on my TBR list and can never remember the names of books I've read. I have found that reading books on ELibrary is even worse than that as I'm never looking at a book cover.

Just read two books with WW11 as the time frame - The Paris Architect and Life After Life. Will stay away from that for a while. Read two books about young black men in inner cities, who makes it and who doesn't, Brick City (Newark) and The Other Wes Moore (Baltimore). both were good, but if I had known how similar they were I wouldn't have read them so close together.

Roseanne: I read The Other West Moore for a book group, otherwise probably would not have picked it up. I also read Life After Life for BC and liked it but discussing it made it even better for me.

Many years ago I had put a reserve on a title at the library, got call that it was in, picked it up and was looking forward to starting it after the kids were all done with homework and in bed. I think it was Ludlum and I loved his books at the time. Well...I got a few pages in and realized that I had already read it! Since then I keep a journal on the computer. :-)

it's funny...i have read some wonderful books (as well as duds, and in-betweens) recommended by book browse "read- alikes" or a similar goodreads feature, although they often have very little to do with the original book.

it makes me wonder... do we (should we?) try to find a book that is similar in every way ? nothing will, or should be, exactly the same, right ? it would detract from the book we enjoyed so much. what are we looking for with a read-alike? some sites are clear in that they say WHY it's listed as such ("character driven" for example, but the book can be of almost any genre and have nothing to do with a similar time period or similar plot of the original book.) in other words, those "read-alike" recommendations perplex me sometimes ;-) but they are often very worthwhile reads.

i usually have a couple of books going at once. an audiobook in the car, and a regular/nook book. mostly both a non-fiction and fiction simultaneously (easier to keep separate that way). it's wonderful to get out of one's comfort zone, and a book club/read alike recommendation is a great way to do that. my book choices are so different (and better!) now than 10 years ago, and that's a matter of "spreading wings"

I like doing read-alikes, but I think sometimes the second book gets treated unfairly. If I loved the first one, the second one can hardly meet my expectations. And sometimes the reverse is true. I loved The Girl on the Train and didn't enjoy Gone Girl (which I read first), but I guess if it weren't for Gone Girl, I wouldn't have tried The Girl on the Train. Hmmmm.....

I did just finish All the Light We Cannot See and absolutely loved it. I'm not sure I'm in the mood for WWII for a little while.

Another site to help you find read alikes.

http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/

Karen, when you're ready to return to WWII books, i'd recommend The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, about 2 sisters in France, and the behind-the-scenes role of women in the second world war. hmmm... i wonder if this would come up as a "read alike" for All the Light We Cannot See. (that was an amazing story. now i want to read all of Anthony Doerr's books. )

initially i was reluctant to pick up The Nightingale b/c Hannah is primarily a juvenile fiction writer, and i was afraid it would be either JF or "chick lit." although there were glimmers of both i did really enjoy it.



from Goodreads...

"FRANCE, 1939. In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates around her, she must make one terrible choice after another.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real--and deadly--consequences.

With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah takes her talented pen to the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime."

Sangeeta: you may have talked me into returning to WWII sooner than I thought!

I don't exactly know the process by which read-alikes in the various portals are chosen but I suspect it works something like how library subject terms are assigned. It involves a human assigning terms from what we call "controlled vocabulary," i.e. defined subject terms such as automobiles, WW II, etc. based on their assessment of the work and how people would search for it.

So in this case, each portal has its own subject terms - Novelist uses historical fiction, literary fiction, WW II along w/ Dramatic and Compelling which are Novelist-invented terms. They also give a Reason statement for each choice and put a staffer's name by it which is a nice touch. btw, Novelist does not include The Nightingale as a read-alike for All the Light....

You can then search for the attributes yourself in whatever combination you choose, i.e. Dramatic and Compelling w/o WW II.

I agree w/ Sangeeta's assessment that a read-alike may detract from the book we loved so much b/c the appeal doesn't usually boil easily down to time period or genre or whatever attribute you can name. A good author combines language, characters, place, story and mood to create a universe. So, even a book w/ all the same attributes still may not appeal as a read-alike if the style or intent of the story is much different.

My usual approach after reading something so compelling is to cleanse my palate w/ something completely different. Sometimes it works and sometimes not.

great point. i deliberately read something very different from a book i've just finished, if i really like it, so as to allow time to absorb/enjoy the first one. also agree with you Karen, that we may be setting up the read-alike for an unfair comparison.

very interesting information on the library subject terms and how things are classified !