Oh, Discovery Channel, how you do love extreme climates. First there was “Deadliest Catch,” the benchmark for commercial fishing reality shows. (There are others. I’m not kidding.) And now you offer us “Flying Wild Alaska” and “Gold Rush Alaska.” Viewers can even flip over to sister station TLC and watch “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.”  But, cable channels aren’t the only ones celebrating the hearty stock of our 49th state, David Vann’s new book Caribou Island is getting its fair share of praise, too. When the construction of their dream cabin on an isolated Alaskan island is interrupted by an early Arctic winter, Gary and Irene find their marriage unraveling as they become stranded with their daughter, Rhoda, who watches helplessly as her parents drift further apart.

Direct your fans of the far north to these other Alaskan locales:

Drop City by T. Coraghessan Boyle
In the early ’70s, members of the Drop City commune are run out of California by “the man” and relocate to Alaska, where they inevitably clash with Alaskan homesteaders who make their living there.

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
In a world in which Alaska, rather than Israel, has become the homeland for the Jews following World War II, Detective Meyer Landsman and his half-Tlingit partner Berko investigate the death of a heroin-addicted chess prodigy.

Murder on the Iditarod Trail by Sue Henry
Sergeant Alex Jensen tries to find the person who is systematically killing the top competitors of the Alaskan Iditarod dogsled race.

Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner
Raised by his wilderness-loving father in a sod igloo, Catuk Hawcly learns to survive in his adopted Alaskan homeland, learning a way of life that will forever separate him from his peers elsewhere in America.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
This nonfiction bestseller asks, what really happened to Chris McCandless, a young man who embarked on a solo journey into the wilds of Alaska and whose body was discovered four months later?

A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow
When a National Park ranger is reported missing and the man sent to find him disappears as well, former investigator Kate Shugak decides to brave the cold wilderness of north Alaska to crack the case.

When Karen and I do our “Readers, Writers, Books, and Blogs” program for libraries, one type of blog we like to highlight is the cozy, chatty blog.  The ones that you just seem to stumble upon.  They may not be focused on one particular type of book, but that’s not what you’re there for anyway.  You’re there because you like the blogger’s sense of personality, maybe you like their sense of humor, or perhaps they just seem to write about the kind of books you enjoy.

Rhapsody in Books is one of those great, personable book review sites.  Jill and Jim are “two professionals who like to write and teach.”  Filled with over 375 book reviews across all genres and age ranges, you’re sure to find a book of interest here.

My fourth suggestion on how to Read Like a Patron:

- Choose your next book off of a display.  If you do all the displays at your library, try another library or a bookstore.  What appeals to you about this book?  Why did you decide to check it out?

The real question:  Would you have come across this book if it hadn’t been on a display?

Flickr user Enokson CC Attribution 3.0

Before Match.com, people used to look for love in the personal ads of a print periodical known as a newspaper. In the 1991 thriller, Loves Music, Loves to Dance, Darcy Scott dates her way into danger when she tries to set up a meeting with the same mystery man who has killed a string of lonely women he met through the ads. Part romantic suspense, part serial killer thriller, this is a two-night read sure to please adrenaline junkies of all stripes.

Whether your readers are giving Amy Chua’s controversial book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother cheers or jeers, book buzz is always good for business. Blithely called an “exercise in extreme parenting” by her publisher, Chua recalls the impeccably high standards she imposed on her daughters in her role as a “typical” Chinese mother. Some will think that threatening to burn your children’s stuffed animals if their daily music lessons don’t improve is too much. Others will admire her willingness to stick to a plan. How typical is Chua’s take on Chinese moms? These novels explore the challenges five different Asian mothers face raising their children the best way they know how.

A Thread of Sky by Deanna Fei
After her estranged husband dies unexpectedly, Irene Shun vows to reconnect with the women in her life by arranging a trip back to China with her feminist revolutionary mother and her three grown daughters.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
After learning that the belongings of former Japanese internees have been found at a Seattle hotel, Henry Lee recalls how his Chinese parents tried to stop his friendship with a Japanese schoolmate during WWII.

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
Relying on the charity of a greedy aunt, Kimberly Chang and her mother struggle to adjust to life in Brooklyn after leaving Hong Kong. A gifted math student by day and a sweatshop worker at night, Kimberly takes on adult responsibilities as she uses her growing knowledge of American life and laws to help her mother and herself escape their poverty.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
80-year-old Lily’s memories of her sworn friendship to Snow Flower in 19th-century China include their efforts to be dutiful daughters, obedient wives, and life-long friends. One betrayal, however,  will change the course of their lives forever.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
This bestselling popular classic examines the lives of four sets of mothers and and their grown Chinese-American daughters who are kept at an emotional distance by a cultural divide neither fully understands.

Written by some of today’s leading mystery and crime writers, MURDERATI examines critical themes, historical archetypes and trends in publishing, marketing and the life of the published author. Notable contributers include Alafair Burke, Luise Ure, and Tess Gerritsen. For the most part, the writers write about…being writers. A great insight into how crime novelists see the world around them.

My third suggestion on how to Read Like a Patron:

If you don’t work at your local public library, go there and spend at least 30 minutes in their stacks.  Take note of how it feels to not know immediately where everything is.  Ask someone for a reading recommendation.  (Be nice!  This is not an entrapment exercise! You aren’t there to check up on them or trip them up in their job, you’re there to get a book recommendation from someone you don’t know.)

In addition to getting a new reading recommendation, try and glean something useful from searching their stacks.  What do you like or dislike?  As a patron, how did you feel navigating their collection? What ideas can you take back with you to your library?

(Needless to say, if you do happen to work at your hometown public library, then go to a library you are unfamiliar with!)

Who doesn’t enjoy a loveable “local boy does good” story? Hickam’s well-told memoir, of growing up a miner’s son in Coalwood, West Virginia, would be interesting enough on its own.  But it’s his journey from high school kid making rockets with friends NASA engineer that make this a stand up and cheer book. Rocket Boys is a wonderful coming of age tale you don’t have to be a science geek to enjoy. (Fun Fact: The movie October Sky was based on this book.)

What a pleasant surprise to see Dean Koontz debut at number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list again. In What the Night Knows, homicide detective John Calvino worries that the evil that inhabited his parents’ killer will someday come after him and his own family. A new series of family slayings point to that being the case. Help your patrons keep the shivers coming with these other dark and stormy reads.

Silent Children by Ramsey Campbell
When Hector Woollie’s child-killing spree is finally uncovered, he fakes his own death. But when young widow and her son move into the house where Wollie’s last victim was found, he can’t resist returning to Jericho Close to put some unfinished business to bed.

Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card
Computer game creator Step Fletcher’s oldest son has a hard time fitting in after the family moves to North Carolina. He pulls away from his close-knit family, spending endless hours playing video games and talking to his imaginary friends. His parents learn that his imaginary friends share the names of the young boys who have been disappearing from the area that and their concern turns to terror.

Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Rock star Judas Coyne never imagines that the haunted suit he buys through an online auction is inhabited by a ghost intent on killing him. Who would, really? A deliciously scary read by the son of horror master, Stephen King.

Black House by Stephen King
Jack Sawyer, the hero of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Talisman, helps a Wisconsin sheriff catch a child-killing fiend called “The Fisherman.” A rich, creepy blend of fantasy, horror, and page-turning terror.

Dark Matter by Peter Straub
Straub proves that digging up metaphorical skeletons can be just as dangerous as unearthing the real thing. Years after a friend died during a dangerous occult ceremony, one of the witnesses begins writing about his experience and resurrects some dangerous memories.

I was absolutely amazed to see story after story about the sales of eBook readers this past holiday season.  And libraries across the country are reporting that their eBook collections were wiped out the week after Christmas.

Me, well, I’ve had a Kindle for a year now and still have only used it a handful of times.  What can I say – my public library supplies me with all the print books I could ever want, and, Kindle doesn’t play nice with the library sites, so I can’t use my library’s eBook collection.  Waaah!

What I’ve really been waiting for is for the publishers to start offering their review copies as eBooks.  Enter NetGalley.  They offer eBook galleys to ” any professional reader: book reviewers, journalists, librarians, professors, booksellers, bloggers, etc. Anyone who reads and recommend books can use NetGalley for free.”  They feature over 30 categories from over 60 publishers.

I signed up last month and found 6 books I was eager to read and review… and then got the unfortunate notice this week that they are not able to offer them as PDF for Kindle any more.  Sigh.