The King's English: 35 Reasons to Buy Local in Salt Lake City

1. It's not a store. 
2. It's a bookshop. 
3. Try saying "I'm off to the bookshop" without smiling.
4. "I'm off to the bookshop!"
5. The shop is converted from an old house. Isn't it charming? I would have lived there before it was stuffed full of books.
6. Okay you caught me, I'd still live there.
7. The book signings held at King's English give you the feel of having a personal chat with the author. 
8. Luckily, any books signing that's any book signing takes place through King's English. For example:
9. These are the people responsible for me meeting Rick Riordan. 
10. RICK RIORDAN. 
11. These are the people responsible for me meeting Shannon Hale. 
12. These are the people responsible for me meeting Ally Condie.
13. These are the people responsible for me meeting Gail Carson Levine. 
14. GAIL CARSON LEVINE. 
15. These are the people responsible for me meeting Ally Carter. 
16. These are the people responsible for me meeting Neal Shusterman. 
17. Their weekly newsletter is the only email I ever read all the way through. Sorry if you email me.
18. I once heard Shannon Hale say, "When a book is put up on display in Barnes and Noble, it's because somebody paid to have it there."
19. "When a book in on display in King's English, it's because somebody read it, and they loved it."
20. They have ivy-covered walls. 
21. One of their booksellers this past year got engaged there. 
22. The bookseller's boyfriend asked her to help him find a book- with a ring inside it. 
23. Would it really matter WHO was proposing to you if they proposed like this. 
24. I guess so but still. 
25. Their reception was on the patio of the store bookshop.
26. You know, next to the ivy-covered walls.
27. I love their children's section. I'm not ashamed of children's books on Read My Print and neither are they.
28. In fact, their children's section is the coolest part of the shop.
29. You just about have to have a PhD in English literature to be hired.
30. I can't get over that proposal.
31. They're responsible for the signings with Ally Condie and Lemony Snicket I'm going to cover this month. 
32. Working there is on my bucket list. 
33. "I'm off to the bookshop."
34. This fall, the shop is celebrating its 35th birthday. 
35. If you're near Salt Lake, celebrate by heading up to The King's English and buying a book. 

www.kingsenglish.com

Neal Shusterman Book Signing: Q&A and UnWholy Reading

This past Friday, we covered a Neal Shusterman signing in Salt Lake, where he stopped as a part of his UnWholy tour. Much thanks to Brooklynn, the coolest addition to the RMP team, who helped cover and film.

Neal Shusterman is the author of more books than I have fingers. And toes and elbows. While his Unwind and Everlost series are a pair of New York Time bestsellers, my favorite Neal Shusterman novel is The Schwa Was Here. 

To enter to win a signed UnWholy poster, go to your right and click Join This Site under the FOLLOWERS tab. Followers are automatically entered in giveaways and given quick access to new articles when they log into Blogger. Anyone with a Google, Yahoo, or Twitter account can join. For extra entries, you can go to pinterest.com/readmyprint and follow my RMP pinboards.

Check back next Friday for a local post on the secret to getting the best book signings. The secret.

 

Well Said! Lemony Snicket Quote

It's been awhile since I posted a quote block. I love this quote by Lemony Snicket (Series of Unfortunate Events), whose signing I can't wait to cover later this month. Click below for a version you can download or pin or ignore.

Stick around for Friday. This week, I went to a Neal Shusterman (author of Unwind, The Schwa Was Here) event and signing, and I'll be posting video of him reading from his new book, Unwholy, plus a signed poster giveaway for you. And some other stuff, but you have to stick around for it.

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan: Started* Review

The Heroes of Olympus series feels like reading a Pixar film. Not Cars 2 or Wreck It Ralph, but a 2005 kind of Pixar film that gets 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s funny, squeaky clean and well paced, and it’s been polished until nearly everything, even reading it, looks like a cartoon. There’s nothing to complain about. But there’s probably never going to be that much substance to think about either. 

That doesn’t mean I can’t be over the Empire State Building every time Percy and Annabeth have a dramatic moment (less than the corner half three-fourths of my brain that is still twelve years old would like). But the over polished, Disney-ified feel does take something away from these books. The first five had a bit rougher edge to them somehow that I feel like we've lost. The evolution of Camp Half-Blood has its benefits and its drawbacks.

I grew up reading Rick’s** books, and the first five Percy Jackson novels will always have a very special, geek-friendly place in my heart. The Heroes of Olympus series is different, but unlike most follow up series, (cough, cough, three more books in the City of Bones series, really, cough, cough) these novels actually feel necessary to the story established during Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

When I met Rick at a signing on his Lost Hero tour, I asked him why he felt the need to create a follow-up series. He said, in Greek mythology there was a natural kind of “follow-up series” to the Titan war, and he wanted to mirror that in his stories. I smiled and nodded and thought, Confound the gods of Olympus, don’t give me sensible trash answer. We all know it was for the money. But the more I read this series, I realize I was wrong. These books really do build on the last five. I don’t regret reading them.

Out of everything I’ve ever read aloud, I prefer Rick Riordan books. I’m currently employed reading The Mark of Athena to a group of 10-13 year olds. I have the best excuse in the world to still be reading these books in high school. I can make any character I feel like at the moment British while reading. And while my voice box is slowly disintegrating from overuse, I'm not ready to give up on the Olympians just yet. In Mark of Athena, Rick has provided me with a decent excuse not to grow up. Again. 

Fingers crossed he'll pull through for us one more time next fall. 

For a spoiler full review of Mark of Athena, book signing reviews (including Neal Shusterman and Shannon Hale), and SLC readers' guide to the best local reading nooks, check back here at Read My Print every Friday this fall.

*When I was little and saw "A Starred Review!" on the back of a book, I always read it wrong. I thought it said 'started' and meant that the dumb book critic had only bothered to read the first few pages. Come on, people.
 I get the real process now, but have written this article as a genuine started review. Seeing as Mark of Athena is over five hundred pages long, I didn't think it would be fair to make you wait that long for an article. This review is based on my experience reading the series and the new book so far. 


**I can’t bring myself to be mature enough to call this guy by his last name like a real, sensible book review. I just can’t. Secretly I am twelve years old, I swear.

Summer Beach Reads (For the Beach and Other)

If you were counting on your summer being full of dramatically lounging on a 50's beach chair and wearing your swimsuit accessorized with very heavy jewelry and lipstick, you've probably been disappointed by now. Not only were the 50's beach chairs just like ours, but not everyone's summer consists of 116 days at the beach. Unless you live on the cover of Seventeen magazine, your summer is going to take you plenty of places besides the California coast. For a realistic teen reader, you're going to need more than a cutesy book with a pink cover to get you through. Appearing with the right book can help you through whatever your summer has in store- even if it isn't a magazine cover shoot.


Summer Camp

Summer camps have admittedly never been my favorite moments of the summer, but while packing your mess kit, hiking boots and secret stash of candy, the right book is essential. Reading about someone who is hungrier, more tired, and possibly worse-looking than you at the moment can always lift your spirits. Try Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, the journal of a high school sophomore as an asteroid hits the moon, setting off a chain reaction of apocalypse-like events. This book has always stuck out in the typically cheesy genre of End of the World Fiction to me. It reads so realistically- reminding me of  The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, and even at times, my own journal (although I, at the moment, am not starving). To help you brush up on your more intense survival skills, bring along The Hunger Games (do I really need to include who wrote this book? Does someone in the world not know?). My camp counselors have never been able to understand why I already know how to tie tourniquets and how long iodine should settle while purifying water. Suzanne Collins taught me.

Summer Internship

The summer internship circuit seems to be run by the Gwen Stacys of the world, whether you're interning at Oscorp or not. (Yes, I just HAD to mention Spider-Man in this post.) It's pretty easy to be intimidated by your co free-workers who've figured out how to pull off those frumpy intern t-shirts that don't match with anything in your closet, wear their eyeliner like Emma Stone, and also more often then not, are geniuses. Lunch break is a great time to plow through your summer English reading assignment and look cool while you do it, too- who says you have to mention you don't read Lord of the Flies all the time for fun? Leave the question open, and be the sophisticated-ly intimidating one who always eats up classics- while getting your homework done. If you're one of the lucky ones without summer reading, try a classic by choice- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbra Kingsolver  and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak are two of my favorite contemporary classics- code word for thick, classy and fun.

Rainy Summer Days

Rainy days in the summer are some of my favorites (although the girls hanging out in jewelry and lipstick on the beach probably don't appreciate them). Virtually any book is good- and dramatic- when you're sitting next to a rainy window in an old sweater, but to make your day complete, try pulling out your favorite old comfort book to read again. Something remembered from the good old days when we watched Hannah Montanna and flare jeans were in style. Nothing too intense- I like to re-read something by Shannon Hale (Goose Girl or Princess Academy)  or Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted, The Two Princesses of Bamarre).  

Under the Covers

No school in the morning means stashing your flashlight and reading under the covers (or, leaving the lights just plain on, for those of us who've given up on secrecy). This summer situation is where it's smart to get all your geeky pleasures out of the way. Don't waist  all your good AA batteries on something you could be reading on that beach. Just like in any genre, this one is not completely full of gems. But before this summer's up, you'd better have Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card under you belt- which despite the cover ever on the link I put up, is completely worth it. Afterwards, if you're lonely and ready for a rip-off or two of the book I just made you read (albiet some pretty fun ones) read The Maze Runner series by James Dashner. Not to mention, thrillers work just as well under the covers. Read Unwind by Neal Shusterman- you'll be up all night wondering what kind of crazy author could write something so psychotic and clever . . . and what sort of disturbing hobbies he must enjoy in his free time.



Summer Beach Reads

I guess these people in the world need a section of the blog, too. Summer Beach Reads is a staple category of fiction for a reason. However, contrary to some people's belief, you can still have fun and romance with a Beach Read and not be reading . . . this. If you're not craving a Sarah Dessen novel (I never am, all that much), try the lesser known (why, I have no sane idea) Janette Rallison books- they're like watching your favorite RomCom, but better, because you look slightly smarter while you do it, and . . . they're just better. Both authors write for the same audience, but Janette Rallison would beat Sarah Dessen in a death match. And she'd find some really witty dialogue to throw into the fight. I've never recommended these to anybody who hasn't come back grinning, bouncing up and down, and dying to get their hands on another one of these books. Truly. Try Just One Wish or My Fair Godmother to get you started.

Check in next week to learn how to survive summer reading assignments . . . soon as I finish my summer reading assignment.