Betsy Burton, owner of The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, has been a bookseller for nearly thirty years, and a passionate book lover all her life. Her modestly sized, yet widely respected, shop has hosted authors such as E. L. Doctorow, Isabel Allende, Jon Krakauer, Margaret Atwood, Octavio Paz, and Sue Grafton, and she has built a reputation as a passionate purveyor of the written word in a world where stores like her's are a dying breed.
Burton now shares her story, including the amusing trials and triumphs of author visits, attempts at censorship, the modern business of bookselling, and the complexities of staying afloat as an independent in the world of chains and superstores.
Burton also offers dozens of "Top 25" reading lists on a multitude of topics, from psychology to poetry to fiction, business to the best banned books. Burton has also painstakingly collected favorite reading lists from the best independent bookstores throughout the country, including the Tattered Cover in Denver, Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., and Powell's Books in Portland, sharing what some of the best-read folks in the country currently can't put down. Filled with wit, passion, and a strikingly independent message, Burton's story will delight booklovers of all kinds.
The King's English: Adventures of an Independent Bookseller is also an excellent pick for book clubs nationwide. Not only is it a book about books and about authors, readers, and the business of books, there are lists of books-books in categories, books in genres, books on every subject of conceivable interest to book clubs. If that isn't enough to titillate a book group, there are book lists from 30 of the best independent bookstores in the country.