Why I Don’t Like Readers’ Advisory

True confessions of a public librarian:  I don’t actually care much for that hallowed library tradition, Readers’ Advisory. “Read these 10 books if you like Sci-Fi!”  “Read these 10 books to be more American!” “Read these 10 books if you’re gay!”  I mean, who do we think are, really?

Yet I am trying to open up my heart to Readers’ Advisory.  Lately I’ve been trying to think of it not as the prescriptive “you have to read this if you want to be that,” but rather as a more descriptive “here as some things I thought were really neat, maybe you’ll think they’re neat too.”  And I’m definitely not just sticking to books!  Here are 10 titles  I’ve been pretty into lately — I guess the theme would be creativity and resistance (most of the following photos & summaries are from WorldCat):

Be Kind Rewind “Two local outcasts attempt to save a local video store. Amateur film director Mike must find a way to save the business after his magnetized friend, Jerry, erases every movie in the store. Using an outdated video camera and their own special effects, the two embark on an adventure to remake all the movies, from Ghostbusters to Driving Miss Daisy, turning the two town misfits into local celebrities.”

Breakin’ “Shabba-Doo and The Shrimp are combing L.A. for a girl partner. Kelly, ‘Special K,’ is a jazz dancer and she knows how to strut, but her career is going nowhere. So the three team up and turn on the ignition, setting their sights on a big-time audition.”

	Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip Hop Junkies “It’s a sad fact: hip-hop album liners have always been reduced to a list of producer and sample credits, a publicity photo or two, and some hastily composed shout-outs. That’s a damn shame, because few outside the game know about the true creative forces behind influential masterpieces like PE’s It Takes a Nation of Millions…, De La’s 3 Feet High and Rising, and Wu-Tang’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). A longtime scribe for the hip-hop nation, Brian Coleman fills this void, and delivers a thrilling, knockout oral history of the albums that define this dynamic and iconoclastic art form.”
	Copyright Criminals “As hip-hop rose from the streets of New York to become a multibillion-dollar industry, artists such as Public Enemy and De La Soul began reusing portions of previously recorded music for their songs. But when record company lawyers got involved everything changed. Years before people started downloading and remixing music, hip-hop sampling sparked a debate about copyright, creativity, and technological change that still rages today.”
	Do the Right Thing “Traces the course of a single day on a block in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. It’s the hottest day of the year, a scorching 24-hour period that will change the lives of its residents forever.”
	It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back “Filled with one classic track after another, this hugely influential album offers a glimpse into what was to come from Public Enemy. The 16-track album features a fresh and modern sound.”
	Paris is Burning “The unblinking behind-the-scenes story of the fashion-obsessed New Yorkers who created ‘voguing’ and drag balls, and turned these raucous celebrations into a powerful expression of fierce personal pride”
	Planet B-Boy “Set in the international world of B-boying – the urban dance more commonly known as ‘breakdancing.’ Weaving between the vivid backdrops of Osaka, Paris, Seoul and Las Vegas, unforgettable images frame the intimate stories of dancers who struggle for their dreams despite being misunderstood by the larger society and even their own families. An American dancer in Vegas looks for his big break; a Korean son seeks his father’s approval; a twelve-year-old boy in France confronts his family’s racism. All the dancers lives collide in Germany where their skills are put to the ultimate test: the Battle of the Year finals, with crews from 18 nations vying for the title of World Champion.”
	Style Wars “A documentary exploration of the subculture of New York’s young graffiti writers and breakdancers, showing their activities and aspirations and the social and aesthetic controversies surrounding New York graffiti. Dramatizes conflicts between graffitists and the city, as well as among the graffitists themselves.”
	The Autobiography of Malcolm X “Through a life of passion and struggle, Malcolm X became one of the most influential figures of the 20th century. In this riveting account, he tells of his journey from a prison cell to Mecca, describing his transition from hoodlum to Muslim minister. Here, the man who called himself ‘the angriest black man in America’ relates how his conversion to true Islam helped him confront his rage and recognize the brotherhood of all mankind.”