I was speaking to Stephen, a coworker at Catonsville, about this reading assignment and I remarked that, to me, the sections detailing the elements of appeal seemed to be maybe possibly just a little bit over-complicating a largely intuitive process. He told me that he'd been thinking about it in terms of music composition, which is to say in terms of all of the different elements coming together to make a cohesive whole. I really appreciated this perspective, as it helped me think about this reading in a different context. There have been artists that I have loved but that have one or two songs that I absolutely can't stand. In the same way, not every book written in the historical fiction genre is going to appeal equally to every person who loves historical fiction. It's important to understand the different elements of appeal, because not every book in the same vein is going to focus on the same things. Not every author has the same strengths, or displays them equally in every single book that he or she writes.
This new perspective made it a lot easier for me to appreciate and absorb the different types of reader's advisory described by the next part of the article. Over all, I would have to say that the first type is the method with which I've had the most success. In my experience, readers are much more interested in talking about their tastes than answering specific questions, and I've found that more often than not listening to someone describe what they enjoy and why allows me to come up with at least a few suggestions. For example, parents will often approach the desk and ask for suggestions for their kids, saying things like "oh, he's really into books with dragons" or "last year she was really into fairies but now I think we've outgrown them." What the second statement tells me is that the girl has an interest in fantasy settings, but that fairies have either started to bore her or she's outgrown them. In that scenario, I would probably recommend something that has an older target audience but still incorporates, if not fairies, something that has a similar feel and flavor. Perhaps some of Edward Eager or E. Nesbit's books, though they might be a little too old and outdated at this point, and definitely Cornelia Funke's Inkheart Trilogy. The doorway method also appeals to me as it doesn't rely solely on our very limiting and sometimes inaccurate genre classifications. All in all, this article proved to be a lot more fruitful than I thought it was at first glance. I'm excited to try out some of these new techniques!
Nevada is the first novel by author Imogen Binnie. The story takes a languid, thoughtful pace that reflects the more or less aimless journey that transgender main character Maria Griffiths sets out on. Binnie writes in a very stream-of-consciousness style, reflecting the scattered mental processes and almost crippling self-awareness displayed by her characters. Though arguably very little of note happens in the story, Binnie's characters are intricate enough to stand on their own, and her unflinching honesty as an author makes the reader want to wince in sympathy. Her true strength as a writer, however, is doubtlessly her ability to describe settings and incorporate them into the story. Whether it's the self-aggrandizing pretension of New York City or the almost surreal piece of decaying Americana that is Star City, Nevada, the reader will always get an almost visceral sense of where the characters are.
The Sculptor is the latest graphic novel by industry-name Scott McCloud, who also wrote the highly influential Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics. McCloud's art has changed slightly for this book, becoming more realistic in some places and more cartoonish in others, but generally speaking the same under-detailed simplicity of his character designs remains. The Sculptor finds artist David Smith with only 200 days to live and the ability to create great sculptures with his bare hands, and as far as stories with time limits go this one keeps a good pace throughout, only getting bogged down once or twice near the middle. The two main characters learn and grow from one another, as David helps love interest Meg handle her depression and Meg shows David that he does have something to live for. The Sculptor makes a powerful transition in tone as David's time starts to run out, tracking an arc from whimsical love story to desperate final hour that keeps the reader wanting to frantically turn pages until the very end.
How to Grow Up is the latest memoir written by San Fransisco-based author Michelle Tea about her life coming from a poor working-class family in Massachusetts, living as a destitute writer in San Fransisco, and eventually finding success and stability. Tea writes with a very honest voice, making the reader feel completely welcome in the chambers of her memory. She covers a wide variety of topics, transitioning smoothly chapter by chapter from love to substance abuse to the guilt of spending money after being poor her entire life. Even while jumping around different time periods in her life, Tea manages to craft a cohesive narrative that shows the reader just how drastically life can change when a person decides that they deserve to be happy and starts taking care of themselves. Richly written with strong imagery, Michelle Tea is definitely a writer's writer who can vividly transplant the reader and truly imparts her passion for the craft. 
