Our New V.I.B.

Heart-stopping prose and crackling observations on a spiritual journey toward a life rich in love and freedom.

Stuck in a dead-end relationship, this fearless narrator leaves her metaphorical baggage behind and finds a comfort zone in the air, “feeling safest with one plane ticket in her hand and another in her underwear drawer.” She flies around the world, finding reasons to love life in dozens of far-flung places from Alaska to Bhutan.

Along the way she weathers unplanned losses of altitude, air pressure, and landing gear. With the help of a squad of loyal, funny, wise friends and massage therapists, she learns to sort truth from self-deception, self-involvement from self-possession.

At last, having found a new partner “who loves Don DeLillo and the NHL” and a daughter “who needs you to teach her to dive and to laugh at herself”—not to mention two dogs and two horses—“staying home becomes more of an option. Maybe.”

Watch this beautiful slide show of images from the author's travels and home--a stunning companion to the book. 

 Our Lead Buyer Cathy Langer says: "Her breakout collection of stories, Cowboys are My Weakness rocketed Pam to literary fame. In her latest tome, Contents May Have Shifted, the heroine ricochets all over the world, from one set of odd and interesting friends to the next, from one diffident lover to a new one, always on the move and always back to Boulder, home to her newest lover and his ex-wife Sofree (yes, really!) or, to her ranch and her heart’s true home in Creede, nestled deep down in south central Colorado. It takes a writer of enormous talent to make 20 below zero sound beautiful and fun, and Pam Houston succeeds. She reaches up and brings the deep blue of the Colorado sky and the majesty of the mountains vividly onto the printed page, and her readers will want to join her in the hot springs and on walks full of interesting and eccentric women enjoying great conversations and a nice bottle of wine."

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 a special tag to distinguish it from the rest: TC V.I.B. (very impressive book)! That means it’s a true stand-out in a season of many excellent and compelling new books.