A New VIB!

It's a new month, and that means we, here at the Tattered Cover, have selected a new V.I.B. (Very Impressive Book).

November's selection is a book I've talked about here before: Stitches by David Small.

Even more of our booksellers have read this book, and we've all decided more people need to read this book. It's so impressive. Stunning. Harrowing. Beautiful. Amazing. Those are some of the adjectives booksellers have told me about this book.

Here is what some of our booksellers are saying:

'Stitches' by David Small is a fantastic example of good literature in the graphic novel genre. This book is a graphic memoir centered around David's experience with cancer as a
young man. What this book is really about is family, independence, and coming of age. This book does well at what is best about graphic novels. Visuals have a way of producing emotional responses in ways that words can't. The loneliness and frustration in this book are palpable. On an artistic note, there are some fantastic visual transitions. If you don't read graphic novels this would be a great introduction to them. If a picture is worth a thousand words 'Stitches' is a massive and powerful tome.
--Chuck.

I finally sat down and read this book this weekend. The tales are true--it reads really quickly. Unless, like me, you get lost in the haunting illustrations that kept me mesmerized for minutes on end. His artistry is masterful and nearly overwhelmingly powerful. His story is heart breakingly bleak, his ability to keep himself together and find a life of happiness and love through art is awe inducing and as inspirational a tale as I have ever heard. Please, give yourself the gift of reading this book.
--Jackie.

I read through it--it took about an hour. I cried. Then I read it again.
--Charles

Here is a link to some of David Small's other books.

Do yourself or a loved one a favor, and take a look at this powerful, unforgettable book. (And here is a link to older entries in this blog about this book.)

A New VIB!

Announcing the Tattered Cover's second V.I.B. choice: Jarrettsville by Cornelia Nixon. This is a paperback original, which means that we get all of the power this novel has to offer, only at a smaller price!


Jarrettsville takes place in Northern Maryland, just as the Civil War has officially ended. It is a love story. It is the story of a murder and subsequent trial. It is unlike anything else I have read. Rebel sympathies have not faded with the end of the war. Southern values have not changed overnight. Into this world comes Martha Cairnes, a modern-for-her-time woman who falls in love with Nick McComas, a neighbor whose family helped fleeing slaves during the war. They fall in love, but are held back from fully realizing their love from their families and societal pull. It is a tragic story, told from multiple points of view. This book will leave folks with much to talk about.

But don't just take my word on it, Cathy Langer, our lead buyer was the person who got me to read it, and here's her review:

Cornelia Nixon's novel begins in 1869 as Martha Jane Cairnes murders Nicholas McComas in
front of many witnesses in Jarrettsville, Maryland, a town just below the Mason-Dixon
Line and a microcosm of America in the years following the Civil War. This tale of two
lovers and why it ends so badly for them is the story of neighbor fighting neighbor, old
customs and quarrels dying hard, passion, friendship, and the complicated relationships
between whites and blacks, all told exquisitely.

--Joe

Introducing VIB

Greetings everyone. It's a new month, and we here at the Tattered Cover are proud to announce a new initiative: V.I.B., or Very Impressive Book. Every month or so, the staff here are going to announce the arrival of a new book we are very impressed by, and think you will be, too.

Our very first V.I.B. is the latest book by Joyce Maynard, Labor Day.

Here is what some of our booksellers have to say about this book:

I haven't read anything by Maynard before, but she's certainly on my list of authors to read more of now. This story, which I easily devoured in a lazy day at home, is touching on so many levels. Told through the eyes of a 13 year old boy, it's the story of five days when an escaped criminal comes to live with him and his mom, changing their lives forever. Henry feels responsible for his recluse mother, Adele, and spends all of his time with her. He's a bit of an outcast himself, being rather small for his age yet beginning the inevitable battle with his raging hormones. They meet Frank in one of their rare shopping excursions in town, and both immediately take to the bleeding man with the kind eyes. Frank does just enough "bad guy" stuff to help them pass a lie detector test should the need ever arise, but mostly he brings both of these broken people out of their shells and into remembering what being loved and being a family is like. This gentle story of love and hope is sure to be a hit.

I think this is a little gem of a book. When you're tired of just another story, this is the book for you, because it is definitely not just another story. Utterly unique and charming, I was quickly pulled into this quirky meeting of lost souls. And, in the most unlikely of places and in the most unlikely of ways, love manages to sweetly rear its hopeful head. You won't forget these characters or this weekend they spend together or they way it changes all of them, and you, just by having read it.

Wow. I feel as if I have just read one of the books of the year. Joyce Maynard's "Labor Day" is simply put: gorgeous. What, on the surface, seems like such a small story: a bleeding man approaches a boy in a discount store, and he & his Mom take him home for the long Labor Day weekend, becomes a stunning work on the nature of love and forgiveness. This book made me weep, I'm not ashamed to say. I wept from the beauty and simplicity and deep truths contained in its pages. Maynard's prose is perfect. An absolute must read.

And don't take just our word for it, it's also the main selection for the August Indie Next List.

"In Labor Day, Joyce Maynard has created three well-written and engaging characters, has put them in an extraordinary situation, and has delivered a wonderful book. I admit to being teary during the last few pages." --Lisa Sharp, Nightbird Books, Fayetteville, AR

So come into any one of our stores, and look for the V.I.B. displays, or order it from our website.