Reading in Public Opens in West Des Moines, Iowa
Reading in Public Bookstore + Cafe https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAjen-8I6aluJh8jGw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jPDJ6npoMLg-gVdw is open for business in West Des Moines, Iowa, following a grand opening on January 14. Owner Linzi Murray, store manager Bethany Fast and their team carry books with a strong focus on social justice and diversity.
There are books for children and adults in both Spanish and English, and Murray, who is a Chinese adoptee, reported that most of the store's front-facing books are by authors of color. She added that the bookstore is "very proudly Asian-owned," and noted that as far as she is aware,her store is one of the very few Asian-owned bookstores in the entire Midwest.
The bookstore's emphasis on social justice is also evident in the community partnerships it's formed. Even before the bricks-and-mortar store opened, Murray and the team had partnered with organizations such as the Iowa Abortion Access Fund and Pied Piper Studio, a children's music and movement studio in Urbandale, Iowa.
In addition to books, Reading in Public carries a variety of sidelines for all ages, including stationery, greeting cards, puzzles and toys.
The cafe side of the business, meanwhile, sells coffee sourced from a roaster in Kansas City called PT's Coffee, and Murray has partnered with local vegan bakery Thistle Summit. Pointing out that she's originally from New York City, Murray said she also has a partnership with a bakery called Five Borough Bagels, which makes New York-style bagels and was founded by former New Yorkers.
While Reading in Public has yet to schedule any events, Murray remarked that she plans to host "anything that really serves the community and the interests of the community." Along with author talks and book signings, Murray said she likes the idea of hosting less traditional events like yoga workshops and programs that raise environmental-awareness.
Murray had dreamed of owning a bookstore for a long time, though she had always thought of it as a "far-off dream" that would manifest later in life if at all. When her favorite bookstores were forced to close in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, however, she started a Bookstagram https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAjen-8I6aluJh8jGA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jPDJ6npoMLg-gVdw account so that she could continue connecting with other readers and discovering new authors and stories.
Before long she felt compelled to open a bookstore of her own, and she began planning for Reading in Public in July 2021, when she was still living in New York City. Having a cafe in the bookstore was part of the plan pretty much from the beginning, as was the bookstore's general location. Valley Junction, a historic neighborhood in West Des Moines with a tight-knit community of small businesses, was the "only place I wanted to be."
Murray and her husband moved to Des Moines in November 2021, and in early 2022 Murray started looking for spaces in Valley Junction in earnest. There wasn't much available at the time, but there were a few new buildings planned and she "got in that as fast as I possibly could." She signed the lease in February 2022 and had initially hoped to open the store over the summer. Due to some long construction delays, the opening was pushed back into 2023.
"People have been so excited and anticipating this for such a long time," Murray said. The enthusiasm has not been confined to West Des Moines: some of her Bookstagram followers have been telling her "they're going to travel to visit" now that the store is open. "There's been lots of support."
I loved being read to as a child, and I think a WRAD is a wonderful idea!
Robert Gray: World Read Aloud Day--Maybe You Heard the Voices, Too
Maybe you heard it, too. On Wednesday, all over the planet, the sound of children's reading voices was being carried on a word breeze. It couldn't drown out the usual cacophony, so perhaps you thought you'd just imagined it. But imagining all those voices was the point of World Read Aloud Day https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAjewuQI6aluJkp2Sw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jPDMOspoMLg-gVdw.
LitWorld and Scholastic teamed up to celebrate the 14th annual WRAD in 173 countries with 24 hours of free, virtual programming spanning across time zones.
Internationally, children's book authors (including Dav Pilkey sharing his upcoming graphic novel Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea) read aloud and offered pre-recorded messages from 13 countries through Storyvoice.
In anticipation of the big day, WRAD author ambassador Rebecca Elliott said, "It's so exciting to know that millions of people are going to be coming together on World Read Aloud Day to celebrate the joy of story-telling and story-sharing, and I just feel so incredibly honored to be this year's Author Ambassador. I can't wait to bring The Owl Diaries along to the celebrations."
Canadian Independent Booksellers Association: "Today is World Read Aloud Day! There is something magical about sharing a story with other people. Today, why not spend some time reading aloud to someone you care about?"
I like CIBA's advice to "spend some time reading aloud to someone you care about." WRAD is geared for the kids, but it's also a yearly reminder adults might consider. Maybe you already do.
My wife and I are both lifelong readers, professionally and avocationally. We've read aloud to one another many times over the years, though not habitually. That situation changed last fall when she had surgery on one eye and was unable to read for about six weeks.
Audiobooks filled the void at first, but rather quickly I began reading books aloud to her as part of the healing process... for both of us, I suspect. Though I'll never win any awards for my reading voice, there's a gift in the effort. When she was able to read again, my time spent reading aloud declined, but we feel this is something worth sustaining.
In her memoir Coming into the End Zone, the late Doris Grumbach, who read her work in public hundreds of times and had a regular slot on NPR as a book reviewer for several years, wrote: "I dislike reading my work aloud, hearing all the errors that are, too late, cemented into print, noticing the rhetorical slips, the grating infelicities.... The sound of my own voice gives terrible legitimacy to faulty prose.
I'm pretty sure the sound of my pedestrian voice gives no "terrible legitimacy" to anything, but like all those kids who lifted their reading voices to the skies on World Read Aloud Day, I still hope to be part of the global bookish choir. --Robert Gray, contributing editor
This is so cool! Sending a poem into the vastness of space, therein to be read by space-faring generations to come!
The Library of Congress & U.S. Poet Laureate @adalimon are embarking on a mission with @NASA & @NASAJPL to send a poem to space! The poem, written by Ada & dedicated to the @EuropaClipper mission, will be engraved on the spacecraft. Launch is planned for October 2024.
All Magnus Bane wanted was a vacation—a lavish trip across Europe with Alec Lightwood, the Shadowhunter who against all odds is finally his boyfriend. But as soon as the pair settles in Paris, an old friend arrives with news about a demon-worshipping cult called the Crimson Hand that is bent on causing chaos around the world. A cult that was apparently founded by Magnus himself. Years ago. As a joke.
Now Magnus and Alec must race across Europe to track down the Crimson Hand before the cult can cause any more damage. Demons are now dogging their every step, and it is becoming harder to tell friend from foe. As their quest for answers becomes increasingly dire, Magnus and Alec will have to trust each other more than ever—even if it means revealing the secrets they’ve both been keeping.
Five octogenarian witches gather as an angry mob threatens to demolish Moonshyne Manor. All eyes turn to the witch in charge, Queenie, who confesses they’ve fallen far behind on their mortgage payments. Still, there’s hope, since the imminent return of Ruby—one of the sisterhood who’s been gone for thirty-three years—will surely be their salvation.
But the mob is only the start of their troubles. One man is hellbent on avenging his family for the theft of a legacy he claims was rightfully his. In an act of desperation, Queenie makes a bargain with an evil far more powerful than anything they’ve ever faced. Then things take a turn for the worse when Ruby’s homecoming reveals a seemingly insurmountable obstacle instead of the solution to all their problems.
The witches are determined to save their home and themselves, but their aging powers are no match for increasingly malicious threats. Thankfully, they get a bit of help from Persephone, a feisty TikToker eager to smash the patriarchy. As the deadline to save the manor approaches, fractures among the sisterhood are revealed, and long-held secrets are exposed, culminating in a fiery confrontation with their enemies.
Funny, tender and uplifting, the novel explores the formidable power that can be discovered in aging, found family and unlikely friendships. Marais’ clever prose offers as much laughter as insight, delving deeply into feminism, identity and power dynamics while stirring up intrigue and drama through secrets, lies and sex. Heartbreaking and heart-mending, it will make you grateful for the amazing women in your life.
Bestselling author Jennifer Estep returns
to her Crown of Shards world with an all-new trilogy and a bold new
heroine who protects her kingdom from magic, murder, and mayhem by
moonlighting as a spy.
Gemma
Ripley has a reputation for being a pampered princess who is more
interested in pretty gowns, sparkling jewelry, and other frivolous
things than learning how to rule the kingdom of Andvari. But her
carefully crafted persona is just an act to hide the fact that Gemma is a
powerful mind magier—and a spy.
Gemma is undercover, trying to figure out who is stealing large amounts of tearstone from one of the Ripley royal mines when she encounters Prince Leonidas Morricone of Morta—her mortal enemy. Gemma tries to steer clear of the handsome prince, but when she finds herself behind enemy lines, she reluctantly joins forces with Leo. Also coming to Gemma’s aid is Grimley, her beloved gargoyle.
Despite the fact that Andvari and Morta are old, bitter enemies, a dangerous attraction sparks between Gemma and Leo. Further complicating matters is Leo’s murderous family, especially Queen Maeven Morricone, the mastermind behind the infamous Seven Spire massacre.
The closer Gemma gets to the stolen tearstone, the more deadly plots she uncovers. Everyone is trying to capture the crown, but only one queen can sit on the throne.Erikson's prose is gritty and witty, but the plot is commonplace and predictable. While I'd like to say it was good enough for me to want to read the second book, it was just too much like the other series mentioned for me to really care about the carbon-copycat characters. I'd give this book a C+, and recommend it only to those who haven't read the other series I've mentioned, so it will seem new to them.
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