Tattered Cover
Book Store

News and Reviews  July 2017

Greetings Friends of  the Tattered Cover!

July 1st
 is a big date for us and for the stores. 

We moved to Denver in June of 2015 to start a two-year ownership transition with Tattered Cover’s long-time and deservedly legendary owner, Joyce Meskis. That transition comes to fruition  in two weeks, on  July 1 with Joyce’s retirement. 

We first met Joyce when we were both on the staff of the American Booksellers Association (ABA), a trade group serving the interests of indie bookstores. Joyce, a former president of ABA, was a leader among the community of booksellers, and a shining example of honesty, integrity, and decency.

She and her staff defined excellence in customer service, developed stores that would become the model Barnes & Noble copied for its own superstore concept, and was a tireless and fearless advocate for Free Speech and a reader’s right to privacy. 

When the opportunity to become the new owners of Tattered Cover presented itself, we were most excited about the opportunity to work alongside and learn from Joyce. What we found in our two years is that Joyce is everything she is reported to be, and more.

We were and remain both honored and humbled that such an icon of the world of letters, not to mention a treasure to the local community, would entrust her business to us. 

We wanted to use the opportunity of this newsletter to take a moment to publicly thank Joyce for everything she has done over the last 40 plus years for books, reading, and readers in Denver and beyond. 

Next month, we'll talk about our goals for Tattered Cover, including changing the name to Gilligan-Vlahos Books. 

We're kidding! We're kidding! The name isn't changing! We're kidding!! But we will talk about our goals for the future in the August newsletter, and hope to engage all of you in a conversation about what you love about Tattered Cover, and what you think we can be doing better. 

Thanks for continuing to support the Tattered Cover. We  look forward to seeing you in our stores.. 

Len and Kristen 
Events!
We are delighted to present numerous author signings and other special events throughout the month of July.
Click Here for Our Online Event Calendar

Click Here to Download a Printable Version of the July 2017 Event Calendar
Book Clubs!
Everyone is welcome to join us for one (or more) of the following book club meetings.

TC LoDo Book Club
7/10: Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
 
Travel Lovers' Book Club
8/14:  In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

Third Thursday Book Club

Mystery  Book Club
8/18: Snowblind  
by Ragnar Jonasson

Aspen Grove 
Fiction  Book Club
7/15: New York by Edward Rutherfurd

Book Talk
Thursday, July 27, 6:00 pm
Aspen Grove
Event Photo of the Month
Colfax Avenue store manager Suzie poses with her favorite author Christine Carbo on June 16 at Tattered Cover Aspen Grove.






Click here for more info about our Children's Summer Reading Program!
Thursday, July 20,  6:00 pm, Colfax Avenue

Sign up for our Kids' newsletter for more!
Tuesday, July 11, 7:00 pm, Colfax Avenue

Drew Magary will read from and sign  The Hike  ($16.00 Penguin Books) - a fantasy saga weaving elements of folk tales and video games into a riveting, unforgettable adventure of what a man will endure to return to his family.  When Ben, a suburban family man, takes a business trip to rural Pennsylvania, he decides to spend the afternoon before his dinner meeting on a short hike. Once he sets out into the woods behind his hotel, he quickly comes to realize that the path he has chosen cannot be given up easily. With no choice but to move forward, Ben finds himself falling deeper and deeper into a world of man-eating giants, bizarre demons, and colossal insects.

Friday, July 14, 7:00 pm, Colfax Avenue

New York Times bestselling author and activist, Roxane Gay, will read from and sign her latest book Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body ($25.99 HarperCollins), where she has written with intimacy and sensitivity about food and bodies, using her own emotional and psychological struggles as a means of exploring our shared anxieties over pleasure, consumption, appearance, and health.

Ticket info here.

Saturday & Sunday, July 15-16, all day Historic LoDo & Union Station

As part of the Slow Food Nations event in lower downtown, visiting cookbook authors will be signing their books throughout the weekend. Visit our website for more details as we continue to update our calendar.



Eleanor Brown, acclaimed author of The Light of Paris and The Weird Sisters, will discuss and sign A Paris All Your Own ($16.00 G.P. Putnam), a collection of all-new Paris-themed essays written by some of the biggest names in women's fiction, including Paula McLain and Therese Anne Fowler, and edited by Brown herself.


We’ll mix and mingle with wine and refreshments beginning at 6:30 pm, where guests can meet fellow book lovers and pick up book club reading lists.

Register here!


Thursday, July 27, 7:00 pm, Alamo Drafthouse Sloans Lake

Acclaimed actor Wesley Snipes, and co-author Ray Norman will present their debut novel Talon of God ($27.99 Voyager), in conversation with Alamo Drafthouse Cinema VP of Operations Walter Chaw.

Tickets include a seat for the presentation (either in person, or via livestream), a pre-signed copy of Talon of God, and a 

seat for the screening of Blade II. Ticket info here. 

All TC Locations

We're throwing a birthday party for Harry Potter and you're invited! Join us for fun, games, and birthday cake as we celebrate the most famous wizard in the world. We know Harry's birthday is really July 31st, but who wants to party on a Monday afternoon? Costumes and cameras encouraged. RSVP here to join the party at Colfax Avenue, Historic LoDo, or Aspen Grove.


Sign up for our Aspen Grove, Historic LoDo, or Colfax Avenue Neighborhood e-mail lists to learn about events in your neck of the woods!
Save the Date!
Thursday, September 21, 7:00 pm, Alamo Drafthouse Sloan's Lake

In partnership with Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, we're excited to host Bruce Campbell for his next book Hail to the Chin: Further Confessions of a B Movie Actor ($27.99 Thomas Dunne Books).

Stay tuned for ticket information!
Friday, November 3,  7-8:00 pm, Colfax Avenue

Saturday, November 4, all day, Littleton High School
Mark your calendars...

7/4 - Tuesday
Independence Day
This month
in literary history...

7/8/2014
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is released as an ebook for the first time

7/18/1817
Jane Austen dies in Winchester, United Kingdom from what was believed to be Hodgkin's lymphoma
From the pages of
TC history...

 Back when the Historic LoDo store used to be the C.S. Morey Mercantile, trains would run through the alley next to the store and unload onto the docks. You can still see the original dock doors in the children's section.

Happy Birthday to You!

Send us an  e-mail with your birthday month, and we'll send you a special discount certificate for your birthday!

Author Birthday: J.K Rowling was born on July 31, 1965. She will be 52-years-old.
Dom Testa is an author, advocate for children's education and the host of Dom in the Morning on Mix 100.3. He loves reading and we love sharing his book reviews with you. Check out  his blog  and happy reading!

This month's selection is Zero Day by David Baldacci.  Mention Dom's Book Club when making your purchase in-store to receive 20% off the current selection.
Meteorologist Lisa Hidalgo not only knows the weather, she knows great books, and is an avid reader! Check out her picks each month and read along with Lisa!

This month's selection is Hum if You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais. 
Mention the 7News Book Club when making your purchase in-store to receive 20% off the current selection. 
Oprah's Book Club Pick...

This month's selection is  Behold the Dreamers 
by Imbolo Mbue. On shelves now!

A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream--the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy
vib green
Every now and then we encounter a new book that we’re so excited about we want to shout it from the rooftops, so we've created the  Tattered Cover V.I.B.  That means it’s a true stand-out in a season of many excellent and compelling new books.  Check out all our recent picks for 
adults' pick...

"Former Tattered Cover bookseller Matt Sullivan’s debut literary mystery is an entertaining page-turner and affectionate salute to independent bookstores. Lydia Smith is a bookseller at The Bright Ideas Bookstore, a thinly disguised Historic LoDo Tattered Cover sometime in the 1990’s. Late one night as she’s closing the store she discovers that Joey Molina, one of her favorite young regulars, has hung himself in the store, a photo of her as a child in his jeans pocket. Devastated and confronted with a link to a violent crime she survived as a child, Lydia struggles to uncover the reason for Joey’s suicide and what his connection is to her past. Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is a gripping read and a knowing nod to all who pass their time in bookstores." -- Cathy Langer, director of buying
kids' pick...
by Caroline Carson

"This book is perfect for mystery-loving, problem-solving 4th-graders. There's Toby, a well-behaved (or as well-behaved as the trouble-that-creeps-around-and-won't-leave-him-alone will allow) young boy who lives with his detective uncle, his "last relative" to rely on before he'll have to call the orphanage home. The most famous detective in the world, and also neighbor, Hugh Abernathy, hosts a competition to find the world's greatest detective. The winner will not only inherit his title, but win $10,000. Toby enters so that he will never have to leave his uncle and meets a girl whose middle name should be "Spunky" and a very sweet pup. It's the best Middle Grade mystery I've had the pleasure of reading in a long time." -- Barrie McComas, Bookseller
What else are we reading?
On shelves now
by Al Franken

"This incredible autobiography chronicle's Senator Franken's journey from Sputnik-fearing Midwestern kid, to Al Franken, giant of late night comedy, to a U.S. Senate race that was decided by 312 out of nearly three million votes cast. The book is laugh out loud funny in places, heart wrenching at times, and thought-provoking throughout. What made it even better? Listening to Senator Franken himself read it. For any fan of politics and or Saturday Night Live." -- Len Vlahos, owner
On shelves now
by Sarah Perry

"The Essex Serpent is set in a fictional coastal village called Aldwinter during the 1890’s when tensions between science and religion were high. After the death of her husband, Cora Seaborne sets out to hunt fossils in the salt marshes of the area. Soon after, strange occurrences begin happening - earthquakes are splitting houses, boats are taken by water, and a child goes missing. Cora begins to investigate and stories of an Essex Serpent terrorizing the area surface. The Essex Serpent has elements of mystery, adventure, nature, history, religion, and feminist strength - I couldn’t help but adore this book. I fell in love with author Sarah Perry’s engaging writing style as she describes the dangerous beauty of the landscape in such a tangible way. I see why The Essex Serpent won the British Book Award for fiction this year." -- Stephanie Coleman, frontlist buyer

On shelves 7/18...
by Alexander McCall Smith

"The Isabel Dalhousie 'Philosophy Club' novels is my favorite series by Alexander McCall Smith. In these gentle stories set in Edinburgh, Isabel, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics applies ethics to her own life.  Despite the misgivings of her husband Jamie, Isabel has once again agreed to involve herself in a situation created by others, this time a matchmaking that has gone seriously awry.  and may bring harm to one of the parties.  As always, a visit to Isabel's home brings good friends, food, music, art and intrigue. A restful vacation without leaving one's own chair. -- Margaret Noteman, backlist buyer


Indie Next  List Picks
This month's #1...
by Neal Stephenson and  Nicole Galland

“For someone who approaches such serious scientific and technological subjects, Neal Stephenson can be outrageously funny. Combine that with Nicole Galland’s storytelling ability and you have a rollicking roller coaster of a novel. The authors mix together magic, witchcraft, time travel, science, and historical figures, both real and imagined, while delightfully skewering bumbling bureaucrats, pretentious academics, a rigid military, and other bastions of the establishment to produce a work that is both thought-provoking and totally entertaining.” — Bill Cusumano, Square Books, Oxford, MS

New in paperback...
by Paulette Jiles

“This short, powerful novel is historical fiction at its best! Captain Kidd, a 72-year-old war veteran and professional news reader, has been tasked with returning Johanna, a 10-year-old white girl kidnapped by the Kiowa when she was six and recently ransomed, to relatives living near San Antonio. The Captain knows the journey will not be easy but believes it is his duty to do the right thing, despite the dangers that lie ahead. What he doesn’t expect is the strength of the bond that develops between him and Johanna, one so powerful that it defines the choice he makes at journey’s end. Beautifully descriptive prose drives the narrative through the harsh and unforgiving landscape of the West during the late 1800s.” — Adrian Newell, Warwick’s, La Jolla, CA
Community Bulletin Board
Join  Reach Out and Read Colorado  on Thursday, July 13th from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm for its first-ever  Innovate | Collaborate  event. The event will explore innovation and collaboration taking place across the public sector in Denver, to catalyze participants to rethink community and inspire all in attendance to push boundaries. More information and registration here.
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Bringing People & Books Together Since 1971  ~ 

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