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National Bookstore Day - Saturday, November 7th
| Winner #1: Bookstores are amazing places where I can spend hours browsing through titles, picture-books, and magazines! No matter what town one travels to, it is always fun to peek into their bookstore for books on local interests such as cookbooks and history. I am in awe of all of the authors, artists, and creative individuals that took the time, effort and education to write the books for us to enjoy. Bookstores are dangerous to me as I am fascinated and tempted to spend too much with the incredible variety from from self-help to SAT preparation, and religion to sports. I wish I had more time to read as there are so many interesting subjects! Though I read more non-fiction these days, it is fun to pick up an occasional novel and uncover the fictional plots that weave in history, horror, and romance. Also, I frequently buy gifts of books for my grandson, nephews and nieces, parents, friends, and of course, myself! There is something for everyone, and I hope to author a book someday myself. Also, I would hope that my grandson will inherit my love of books. Bookstores & libraries open the whole world to you! Thanks for having a great bookstore that is renowned world-wide. Enjoy a prosperous day! -- Sandy *********************************************************************************** Winner #2: What's not to love about a bookstore! Every shelf is filled with books waiting to catch your eye and take you on an adventure. I could not count how many times I've stumbled upon a book just browsing through the store and it always ends up to be more of a treat than when I've been looking for a particular title. That holds especially true for clearance titles/ I discovered one of my favorite writers because I bought a book for a dollar. Every Sunday we walk down to the the Farmers Market and then spend an hour or so at the Tattered Cover enjoying a cup of coffee and of course hoping to stumble upon a book or two. -- Schuster *********************************************************************************** Winner #3: I remember the first time I walked into the Tattered Cover on 16th St. It was during my first visit to Denver, when my wife and I were still considering moving here (versus Seattle or Portland). I felt like I had walked into one of these old, wonderful book stores you read about in books, full of nooks and crannies concealing all kinds of bibliotastic secrets. To this day, the store fills me with an almost childish wonder and excitement. It's as if I can actually hear the countless ink-on-paper worlds and characters around me whispering, inviting me to take them home. It's very hard for me to visit the Tattered Cover without at least bringing one of these insistent little volumes home (they can be as persistent and needy as puppies!). I can spend hours picking up books, reading a few lines here and there, and just browsing away the day. It is also a great great place to write, although I have to admit that I'm sometimes too distracted to write. The thing is, I can't help but glance at what books the other patrons are giving a new home. But how could one not be inspired by a place that demonstrated and also encouraged such a love for books? Plus Tattered Cover makes a killer soy chai latte. -- Deniz *********************************************************************************** Winner #4: Why I Love the Tattered Cover! Ah, the smell of books and coffee! I'll have a steaming cup and browse The magazines. In Italian! No, I don't read Italian, but I see my favorite author is coming next week. I didn't know he had a new book out. My Dad would love an autographed copy. And it says the staff recommend that if I like his last book I'll certainly like this other one which really looks suspenseful. My wife would love this one next to it. Where did she go, anyway? Ah, bargains! Yes, honey, I'll carry these. This one looks great. Armchair travel. To Italy. --Donald *********************************************************************************** Winner #5: I like your book-signings and your locations, which have helped revive Lodo and East Colfax. Also I want to support locally owned and operated businesses. -- Gil *********************************************************************************** Entries:
I love my local bookstore, the Tattered Cover on Colfax, because distant and corporate is evil, but independent and local is good. -- Eduards ********************************* I love bookstores of all types, but I love the Tattered Cover above all because it is MY bookstore. Of course, technically, it’s Joyce Meskis’ store, but I feel a real sense of ownership. After all, as a 40-year resident of Denver, I’ve watched it grow up. I’ve watched it successfully face the challenges from big bully big box bookstores. I’ve never been disappointed by TC in my quests for particular books. In my case, the phrase, “happy as a kid in candy store,” would have to be modified to “happy as a kid at the Tattered Cover.” -- Linda ************************************************ I feel a sense of anticipation and comfort when I walk through the doors of Tattered Cover, my favorite and one of the nation’s best local book store. It is a friend always ready to engage and stimulate my mind with an endless variety of topics. Whether I pop in quickly or I can linger all afternoon, I feel enveloped with an unconditional love. My favorite Sunday afternoons are heading to LoDo for a stroll, a leisurely lunch, and a browse for a new book, not necessarily in that order. Thank you for being a vital part of Denver’s community. -- Pam ******************************************** When you walk in and glance around a local bookstore, you get an instant snapshot of a community or neighborhood. It is a microcosm. That is why I love local bookstores. -- Shannon ******************************************** Many of my friends and family wonder why I insist on buying books from Tattered Cover instead of online retailers. With the number of books I buy, I could save a lot of money. But that’s not the point. A book is more than just the content within the book, it’s an object to be treasured. To enter a bookstore, with or without a particular title in mind, and to browse the shelves, leaf through books, overhear the conversations of other people talking about books, sit down and read a bit is a pleasure that I hope never disappears in our technological age. Amazon can send me emails all day long, recommending books that I might be interested in, but it can’t compare with roaming the shelves and having my eye caught by a book that is calling out to me to be picked up, looked at, considered. I might put it back on the shelf, but it stays in my head, whispering to me, until I rush back to the store and hope it hasn’t gone home with anyone else. -- CIndy ***************************************** Why I Love My Local Bookstore There are several reasons why I love my local bookstore, The Tattered Cover. Many of the reasons have to do with the fact that whenever I go to the bookstore, I walk into a place that is quiet, peaceful and relaxing. I love that when I walk into The Tattered Cover that I am immediately surrounded by hundreds of books that I could only ever wish to be able to read all of them. Having a love literature, I can spend hours in a bookstore just sitting in a comfy corner with a book that smells of newly printed pages. The atmosphere of the bookstore is always cozy and inviting, even if it is a hot summer’s day. There is a coffee shop in the front where you can enjoy beverage or snack while reading your recently bought book. What a thrill to find a book in the bookstore and you know right then that this might be a wonderful, but unfortunate, book that might keep you up all night because you just couldn’t out it down. There are countless things I love about The Tattered Cover but the number one thing is that whenever I go to the bookstore I either find I book to buy and take home, or I know it will be there the next time I come. -- Bessana, Age 13 ****************************************** It’s easy to love the Tattered Cover where you can always find knowledgeable readily available and wonderful service! where the inventory is tremendous and special ordering is easy and quick to do! where the cozy atmosphere encourages relaxed looking! and where it is always fun to try and find the resident reader - Charlie! The Tattered Cover is in a word - superb! and we are most fortunate to have it here in Denver. -- Inge **************************************** The Tattered Cover is not just a great bookstore. It’s a home for imagination.
When I think about all the things I loved about the Tattered Cover, as a kid whose family moved from Orange County to Golden in the ‘90s, I think about the Cherry Creek store, first, where my family would scatter to different floors and browse for hours on a weekend, and how it felt like home.
I think about the Poetry section on the third floor, where I discovered Seamus Heaney; the Shakespeare section, which I treated as something of a personal reference library in high school; the hand-lettered “New Hardback Fiction” signs on what seemed like fifteen-foot-high walls of new fiction on the ground floor; the green carpet, and the creaky stair on the third-floor landing; Amy Tan’s portrait in the author pantheon on the staircase; and the well-worn armchairs in the bay windows looking out onto the First Avenue traffic.
I think about the staff, and their kingdoms on each floor--the Hogwarts of books, perhaps.
I think about how, when anyone in my family asks hopefully, “Are you going Christmas shopping?” when everyone is in town again, finally, for the holidays, we only really mean, “Are you going to the Tattered Cover today?”
Even though my favorite physical part of the Tattered Cover, the Cherry Creek branch, has closed, the core of the Tattered Cover--that books are imagination--is part of who I am. As the editor at a small publishing house in New York, whenever I hear someone in the publishing industry mention the Tattered Cover (which people do here, at an amazing rate), I get the same thrill that I did when I first stepped inside the Cherry Creek store, twenty years ago.
For all the times I never said it: thanks. -- Erin, New York, NY *************************************** I was a toddler when I first visited the small Tattered Cover store in Cherry Creek. My sister and I would go there with my mom on Saturday mornings and spend hours bringing her books to read to us. As the store grew, so did we, but it remained a part of our lives and family rituals. We’d make a trip to Cherry Creek at least once a month and every Christmas Eve for it seemed no Christmas was complete without a trip to Tattered Cover. I was not an eager reader, but once I found a quiet spot and a comfy chair in the Tattered Cover, I wanted to dive into every story and found myself floating into sections of the store and genres unfamiliar to me. I learned what banned books were from a display at the store and was excited to know that Tattered Cover was unafraid and willing to carry any books in publication, protecting the freedom of speech. I began to see the employees as freedom fighters who could not only locate any book on the shelves, but they would make sure there was a place for every type of book, even those deemed controversial. The Colfax store is now within walking distance of my home. I love that it’s there anytime I’m in search of any book, especially on rainy and snowy days, as the doors seem to always be open and inviting to everyone and I’m never disappointed with the selection. -- Sarah **************************************** I love bookstores because I love books and bookstores are full of books. Bookstores are permeated by the lovely smell of books. There are displays that tell me what other booklovers love and then, in great stores like Tattered Cover, I can grab the displayed book and sink into a comfy chair and flip through it to see if I and this booklover agree that the book is worth reading. Even if I don’t agree, chances are the book will be a useful one to know about for conversational purposes. Besides when has reading ever been a waste of time? -- Anne Marie ************************************** I like my local bookstore the Tattered Cover because they have a great selection and wonderful customer service. All the stores have a nice homey feeling and you feel very welcome there. -- Brian ************************************** I have loved bookstores for my entire life, starting as a young child. My parents, specifically my mother, fostered and encouraged a love of literature in myself and my brother from our births. She read to us nightly, and as soon as we were able to, taught us to read to her. As a young adult, I spend many treasured days and nights at various bookstores with my mother, enjoying coffee, books and conversation. During what was a difficult life transition, books helped to bring us together. As an adult, I collect literature, both historic and contemporary, fiction and nonfiction, artistic and biographical. I enjoy reading as often as I find the time. My mother recently passed away, this past summer, and therefore the bookstore is now a place where I feel I can go to relive our many memories together there, and feel her spirit with me once again. Bookstores will always hold a very special, important and unique place in my heart. Thank you for this opportunity to share. I would like to personally dedicate this unique inaugural National Bookstore Day to my mother, Kathleen Wheeler Bartlett. -- Ryan ************************************* My favorite bookstore is MAIN STREET BOOKS in St. Helena California. It is a very small bookstore with mostly used books and some new books. It is owned by Liza Russ. Liza is married to my brother, Martin Russ, who has written a number of books, mostly about the Marines and war. His latest book is Break Out: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950. I certainly hope that this disclosure doesn’t disqualify me from entering your contest.
This is a great bookstore because Liza is a wonderful person, a good friend to us all and a fantastic book person. For a number of years, before coming to California, Liza worked at Scribner’s Bookstore in New York. In all the years that I have known Liza I have rarely ever asked her about a book that she hasn’t either read or known about.
When Liza’s kids were still in school, she worked as a teaching assistant, so many of the locals know her from when they were her students or the parents of her students. She is very well loved by everyone and is rightly considered a local treasure.
You know what it’s like when you’re traveling and you find a great bookstore? It’s like being home for a little while. A lot of travelers pass through here and Liza welcomes them and answers all their questions. Us locals kind of hang back in the store and let the travelers have their share of her before they go back out into the world, and then we move in for ours.
My daughter Jessie runs the North Point Gallery in San Francisco and some times, when she mentions to visitors that she used to live up here, people ask her if she knows Liza. When she says that Liza is her aunt, they can’t stop telling her how wonderful Liza is, (as if maybe Jessie didn’t realize).
Lately, for the usual economic reasons, I have been getting more books at the library and I often get there and find that I have left my list behind, so I call Liza:
“Liza, it’s me. What’s the name of the Italian author who writes about the Sicilian cop who lives on the beach and thinks about food all the time?”
“Andrea Camilleri.”
“Oh great! Thanks! . . .How do you spell that?” -- Leonard, Rutherford, CA ************************************** The Tattered Cover is simply wonderful. There is a great deal to love about it, but to stay with the ‘quick note’ format, I’ll choose just two: authenticity, and knowledgeable staff. Besides shopping for specific titles, on occasion I’ll stop by just to see what’s been stocked in the areas of nature and animals, knowing that the selections on the shelf have been thoughtfully chosen, generally more carefully so that those found on the shelves of national chain bookstores. The TC’s knowledgeable staff members are a joy. As an example, when blanking on the author’s name of Watership Down, I asked a sales person at the downtown location. Not only was she immediately able to provide the author’s name and lead me to a copy, she also shared a bit about another, very poignant book by the same author in the just the right amount of detail, and in a friendly (not sales-oriented) manner. In moving to Denver several years ago, I noticed how often the Tattered Cover seemed to be mentioned, and thought “They’re very proud of their Tattered Cover in Denver”. There is absolutely no mystery why . . . -- Samantha ************************************** This is not at all to denigrate the books on shelves, but the best aspect of the Tattered Cover is the speaker’s podium. Where else can I meet the authors who write the books I love? -- Ben ************************************ Located just a half-block from my office, the downtown Tattered Cover Bookstore is a real refuge and a “place to get away.” I often grab a cup of café mocha at the coffee shop from Sara or Ali before starting my work day. I feel like I’m nurturing myself when I stop by for my cup of “jo.” The girls always remember my name, and makes me feel welcome. When I can spare some time at lunch, I often find myself curled up on a chair in one of the out-of-the-way places the Tattered Cover provides, reading…always reading. One of my few indulgences is buying books from the Tattered Cover. I love to peruse the shelves near the front door. I have read so many of the featured books and continued to be pleased and surprised by the variety of books the Tattered Cover provides. My husband jokes that city of Thornton, where we live, had better finish their library soon…before we go broke!
Thanks for the coffee and the books, Tattered Cover. They continue to bring my great pleasure. -- Bambi *************************************** I can never remember a time when I didn’t know how to read and when I didn’t have a book in my hands. So, after I moved to Denver in the early 1980s as a kid, it was natural for me to receive a gift certificate to the Tattered Cover as a birthday present one year. I don’t remember the specific year, but this was before the Tattered Cover moved into the big building in Cherry Creek on 1st Ave and I think had two separate stores in the area - one for new books, and another for bargain books. It was my first visit to the store and I was very excited.
I have no memory of what I ended up selecting, but I sure do remember spending A LOT of time searching the books for just the right ones and yet keeping within the amount of the gift certificate. However, when it came time to check out it turned out that I hadn’t computed the amounts correctly, so the total was $1-2 more than what I could spend. I was stricken with the horrible thought that I’d have to choose which book to put back, when the clerk told me to not worry about the overage and to enjoy my birthday books. I was so excited and relieved! And, so 20+ years later I still visit the Tattered Cover, I still love spending time discovering new books, selecting the right ones, and then taking them home to read. And, I still remember that clerk who was generous to a young kid excited to be buying books. -- Amanda ******************************************** The Tattered Cover has such a unique feel as a bookstore. I’ve spent the last few years living in Los Angeles and have searched high and low for an independent bookstore that has the quantity and quality of books that Tattered Cover has and have been disappointed. Being back in Denver, I am excited to have my bookstore back! -- Kate ************************************* I love tattered cover because of the homey atmosphere, the great staff, the awesome selection, and the wonderful reviews available to help me choose the best book! Oh yeah, bargain books are great too. -- Leia ************************************* I love the look of the shelves. The spines of all those books are like unwrapped Christmas presents. I love having salespeople who can actually help me – who have read the books they sell. I love the old buildings – quirky and comforting. I love the other shoppers. I feel a shared reverence with them that I don’t feel at the big box stores. I love that the furniture is made of wood that is dented and scratched and has some personality. I love that the rugs change throughout the store. I love that everything isn’t slick and new and perfect. The imperfections feel historic and comforting. I love the children’s section, especially when it is full of children. I love the foreign magazines and newspapers. I love the bookmarks you get when you buy a book. -- Jody ************************************* I love the Tattered Cover because of all the fabulous author book signings you do. Some of my most treasured memories were created because of these. -- Maria *************************************** Why do I love the Tattered Cover?
Because books are warm and personal. And a bookstore should be, too. Books have a sense of history and they invite you in to sit awhile. A bookstore should, too. Books are an escape from the hustle and bustle of the world. A reprieve. An oasis. A bookstore should be, too. Books are comfy and broken in and remind you to slow down. A bookstore should do that, too.
Big chain stores are like the the 1965 home edition of the encyclopedia. Full of lots of words and pictures, but cold, daunting and not very user-friendly. -- Kristi ****************************************** Why do I love bookstores?
Because I couldn’t exist without books to read. Of course I love libraries as well. Ever since Chinook closed here in Colorado Springs we are without our version of the Tattered Cover. I miss it, and I love visiting the TC when I’m in Denver. -- Christina *************************************** I love the Tattered Cover because I have so many wonderful memories there. When I was a kid and my mom and I came down to Denver from our home in the mountains we always stopped at the Tattered Cover. I love wandering through the endless shelves and floors. It seemed like anything was possible in The Tattered Cover. -- Dana ************************************** I would have to say my favorite part of visiting my local bookstore (The Tattered Cover, downtown) would be getting lost in there for hours. The Tattered Cover is so large, it’s easy to continually find new and interesting things. My reading tastes have evolved so much just from visiting the Tattered Cover and spending a few hours inside. Plus, I love the fact that it is inside of a historical building. That just adds to the charm! -- Lance ***************************************** For it’s cozy spots to sit and read while surrounded by beautiful books For it’s great selection and staff For it’s commitment to the people of Denver Most of all for being there when I need a good book! -- Travis ************************************** Dear Tattered Cover,
You are my local bookstore, and I love you! (In the spirit of full disclosure, I also worked for you for a couple of years in the early ‘90s). I love the Tattered Cover (all three stores) because I feel welcomed and comfortable and can browse for hours. I love the smell of the books (and the coffee) and I am happy to peruse many titles before making a decision about what is coming home with me (and at least one book always does...).
I am grateful for independent bookstores because no matter how hard the chains try and emulate them, they just can’t quite measure up. I come to see the author readings, usually at least a couple times a month.
Thank you so much for giving me such a wonderful place to be with books, which are my passion, and be surrounded by other people who feel the same way. -- Sarah ***************************************** Even though I don’t currently live in Denver (I’m a grad student in Medieval Studies at Notre Dame), I remember fondly my visits to Tattered Cover growing up. The feeling of being surrounded by books--a cozy, reassuring feeling, that the world out there that seems so vast and imposing, so impossible and threatening, was all there at my fingertips, waiting for me to find it in the pages of those books--was something that, once experienced, has never left me. As a grad student, most of my day is spent in my study carrell on the seventh floor of the university library, where the books are always there, begging me to deepen my knowledge and to think ever more. But there’s something about the bookstore that’s different: I can come out of the bookstore and have, tucked under my arm, books that now belong to me. I don’t have to return them at the end of the semester. They become hallmarks of my journey into ever deeper knowledge and understanding about the world. As a medievalist, I am probably even more attached to books than most, since my work is almost entirely founded on what can be found in books--and not just any books, but some of the most beautiful books ever produced. The rich, creamy texture of vellum...the brilliance of burnished gold leaf and paints leaping from the page, their colors mixed from lapis lazuli and emeralds and rubies...the beauty of a script over which a scribe labored long and carefully...the awesome power of the word, whose life on the page takes new and extraordinary depths of meaning from the theological significance of the Word made flesh. It is the physicality of the book more than anything else that pierces my heart and moves my soul. And that physicality cannot be found in some online bookstore; no, one must actually pick up the book, thumb through it, smell it, feel it. And the beauty of the local bookstore is that it contains the extraordinary books, not just the ordinary. Any monolithic chain store will carry the latest bestselling novel or memoir hot off the press. But the other books, the more specialized or older or even unknown: these cannot be found in the monoliths. To find these, in whose discovery one feels the special thrill of catching something hidden and seeminly undisturbed, unknown to others but specially available to you, here, and now; to find these one must go to the little shops around the corner, on whose dusty shelves, deep in stacks and hidden around corners, lie the covert gems that adorn the human drive to know and share that knowledge. -- Nathaniel ***************************************** I have always been a library lover, for the smell of the books and the warm, inviting atmosphere. I love my two nearby Tattered Cover bookstores (LoDo & Colfax) for the very same reason - warm, inviting historic buildings full of nooks and crannies, and great staff recommendations. -- Suzie Ahlers ************************************* I don’t know the first time that I visited Tattered Cover -- it had to have been before my first birthday. All I know is that Tattered Cover has always been a significant part of my life. When I was little, going on a trip downtown to visit the store was a day-long treat for days when I didn’t have school. I have always held some sort of reverence for the name: Tattered Cover. Now, with the new Highlands Ranch location just minutes from my house, it has become a place where I can relax and just enjoy the calming atmosphere whenever I am at my most stressed. I can spend hours sitting on one of the worn wooden step-stools, reading whatever book I have happened to pick up. The green carpets and distinctive wooden doors will permanently be associated in my mind with the cozy and tranquil air of Tattered Cover. Some of my fondest memories have been made in each of the Tattered cover locations, most of them having to do with meeting my favorite authors: Lemony Snicket, Christopher Paolini, Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Brian Jacques, the release parties for Breaking Dawn and Brisingr, D.J. MacHale, T.A. Barron, Megan Nicolay, Stephenie Meyer, and the list goes on. When the Cherry Creek store closed, I remember feeling very apprehensive that the atmosphere could never be the same at the new location. For one thing, the new store was all on one floor. It seemed inconceivable that it could still be the same without all of the staircases. But even without the multiple levels, Tattered Cover was still the same. I love Tattered Cover because, no matter how much I change, I know that it will always stay that same comfortable and welcoming place I have always known. -- Victoria *************************************** I love my local Tattered Cover Bookstore for so many reasons: 1. It’s got a great selection of books on a variety of topics arranged in a way that’s easy to find. 2. I can walk or ride my bicycle there. 3. I can connect wirelessly. 4. I can meet with friends or associates. 5. I can eat food and then browse or do it at the same time if I’m careful! -- Janet ***************************************** When I buy books online, it’s a financial transaction. I click on the item I want and check out. When I buy books at my local bookstore, it’s an experience. I wander around the store, looking at the displays of new and featured books. I browse the magazines, admire the decor, listen to authors give readings, and try (not always successfully) to resist the piles of baked goods and mugs of hot coffee. I hug the books I’ve discovered (at least one of which was certainly not on my list when I arrived) and present them to the cashier with roughly the same amount of pride usually reserved for the first grandchild or the scaling of a small mountain. I leave the bookstore with only two thoughts: how soon before I can read one of my new books and when can I go back? -- Michelle *************************************** With apologies to Milton when I consider how my light is spent e’re half my days - it is with book in hand. Perhaps seated. Perhaps with cup of coffee and hamantashen. Transported to some exotic realm like Absurdistan or following some worthy human being like Paul Farmer or just plain entertained by Alexander Mc Call Smith and the traditionally built Mma. Ramotswe. Tattered Cover is a haven, an event, and a never ending source of delight. It guards our freedom of speech and enhances our ability to understand the world around us. God may not need either man’s work or his own gifts, but me..... give me books! -- Burna *************************************** First of all, I love books. Not books on tape, not books online, not books on Kindle, but the physical books that you hold in your hand and enjoy at your own pace, re-reading sentences or paragraphs; staring at illustrations or photos; staring off into space as you ponder the author’s meaning or phrasing. Books take me into another world; whether fiction or non-fiction. They take me to a place which may or not be familiar, but which will make me think. Since I love books, bookstores are like Candyland for me. So many temptations; so many possibilities. Tattered Cover is the gold star of bookstores. The selection is great. From the old days in the small store in Cherry Creek, Tattered Cover was the first bookstore that I went to which encouraged me to find an old couch or chair, settle in, and read. This is a common feature in bookstores now, but back then it was revolutionary to me. The staff at Tattered Cover is also great. They are always willing to help me find a particular book and willing to offer suggestions for books I might like to read. Even during the holiday season, when at least some of the staff must be recent hires or part-time workers, they all seem to know and to love books and to be able to help me navigate through the store to find just what I need. For all of these reasons, I love bookstores, and Tattered Cover is my favorite. -- Sandy **************************************** “Why do you love your local bookstore?” The scent of freedom lingers in the air, the muses whisper from their shelves. Alone yet surrounded by the best and worst of humanity. I find life. -- Nick *********************************** We use to trade at Tattered Cover all the time when we lived in Denver and ordered books from you. Thank You, Gene, Sierra Vista, AZ And by the way, Tattered Cover had or could get most any thing I wanted at the time. Thanks again *************************************** I’m a teacher and a parent and I love the tattered cover because there is so much breadth to the types of books available and copies of books are the most up to date versions out there! I love buying new books for my two year old twins and the Tattered Cover is a comfortable spot to introduce kids to the wonders of local bookstores. The tattered cover is one of my favorite spots in Denver! -- Brooke ************************************ I love my local bookstores because books have always been my way of escape and learning. I love the Tattered Cover in particular because I grew up going there - it was always a special treat to go shopping for books. Now that I have children of my own I look forward to sharing the Tattered Cover with them and instilling the same love of books and reading. -- Brenda ************************************* A trip to the Tattered Cover Book Store gives me the pleasure of browsing through a wondrous selection of architectural books at very reasonable prices. On my journey upstairs, there is always an interesting display of exciting books that tempt my imagination. Your magazine section is consistently current with the latest trends and fashions. There is no better place to visit, mingle, and have a cup of coffee to stimulate a good conversation. I always look forward to receiving a free pen and bookmark after my purchase. My only regret is leaving so many pleasant memories behind me when I exit the historic door out into LoDo. -- George ************************************ I like your book-signings and your locations, which have helped revive Lodo and East Colfax. Also I want to support locally owned and operated businesses. -- Gil ************************************* Book Stores in general provide opportunities to select books in a warm environment and often the smells of a coffee shop to tempt your sense of smell and coax one to meet with friends as well as enjoy the nourishment of good coffee as well as a good book. The Tattered Cover has been a gathering place for many years. I have supported this store since it was a one room store in Cherry Creek. The employees are always helpful, warm and inviting as well as the neatly situated books that surround you with their seductive titles, and often interesting design covers. The many years it was on First Ave. where the large rooms with cozy chairs and sofa’s reminded one of the “old days” and grandma’s furnishes were such a welcomed environment. The touches of a warm oak invited you to sit and review a book. It seems like old oak tables and comfy furniture just felt like you were visiting a wonderful cozy home that had lots of books to explore.
One feels nourished just sitting quietly perusing through a few books. The printed word is so powerful, and one can read a book over and over through the years, or keep special ones in your book case to surround you in a special room that you call home. The Tattered Cover was so unique since one could sit and read an hour or two and no one would interrupt you to ask you if you were buying that book. There was also a great feeling of trust when they accepted checks easily and seldom asked for prof of identity. The TC was quickly found by newcomers when they visited the city or just moved here. It was know to be the Book Store to visit. The personal wrapping of your purchases for gifts was one of the many services they provided.
Now that the Internet and emails are common place they still do not replace the Power of the printed word in a book. Books can never be replaced. Their knowledge and sharing of wit and emotions provide so many different stories, and learning opportunities. It is a wonderful way to escape the daily schedules that sometimes burden us, or tales that delight young children when you put them on your laps. The delight of first learning to read and realize what a gift it is. I am very grateful for the Tattered Cover and all that it has given to the Denver Community. Joyce the owner gave a wonderful gift by her creative idea of opening her store here in Denver. Many thanks to her. Thanks for the Author Events, Children’s Story Hour and the many events over the years that you have provided. -- Ruth ************************************** I love the LoDo Tattered Cover Bookstore. It is always a great place to go in, look through an interesting book and escape from Denver’s hustle and bustle. Downtown Denver is very lucky to have had Tattered Cover for so long; it is truly one of the very best bookstores in the nation. -- Adrian *************************************** I love the atmosphere of the Tattered Cover bookstore, when I walk in I instantly feel welcomed and at home. The staff is extremely helpful and friendly. -- Michael ************************************* A Denver resident, I also spend a lot of time in Portland, Oregon where my family lives and always visit Powell’s. Let me just suggest that you accept all types and almost all conditions of used books. That’s what makes Powell’s a super bookstore. Maybe that is the marketing direction that would be good for you to take. It is hard for you to compete with Barnes and Nobel with all new books. Good luck! Denver needs you! -- Susan *********************************** It is a truth generally acknowledged that not all bookstores are on the same page. That is why I consider Tattered Cover Book Store on a shelf of its own. It offers a cozy climate of literary inspiration and a treasure trove of unique merchandise that its competitor monopolies fail to emulate. I also appreciate the innumerable author events, which add another dimension to reading the featured books. In short, the Tattered Cover Book Store is not merely a place to buy books; it is an experience in itself. -- Jessica ************************************ Why do I love my local bookstore? While I love the unique look of each of Tattered Cover’s stores, and the range of selection is beyond excellent, and while the service itself exceeds even stellar description, and the constant rotation of guest speakers and authors is impressive, my real reason for loving my local bookstore is none of these. And by none, of course, I mean all.
I love the Tattered Cover Bookstores because they put “cooperation” above “corporation”. -- Herb ************************************** Independent Bookstores are independent. That’s why I like them. And they, being independent, think their customers should be independent too. They bring to readers, not only the most famous authors (who are absolutely WILD about independent bookstores (many grew up on them)) but also the newest, and the local-est, and even some of the weirdest. They don’t answer to a far away boss that needs to satisfy great swaths of reading tastes, but to a local boss that loves this region and loves free speech and feels for the readers rather than the stockholders. Independent bookstores are where independent people can find what they like to read, and other independent people. Two of my favorite things. -- Terry Cook ************************************** I’ve always been an avid reader, and enjoy browsing through the book stacks. Bookstores in general give me a warm, cozy feeling of being in just the right place. In particular, I love the downtown Tattered Cover because it welcomes one in and invites one to sit down and read. There’s nowhere else I can think of that encourages the pursuit of intelligent involvement of the mind. -- Lila ************************************* Why do I love bookstores in general, and the Tattered Cover in particular?
Let’s start with the smell: paper, glue, some mustiness if it’s a “used” store, coffee if it has such amenities. The smell spelunkers find when they enter a cave or antiquers as they crawl through an attic or basement. Maybe today I’m going to find that one book by a favorite author that I need to complete the series.
Or that bookstore smell means I’m going to shut out the world for awhile, read with a cup of that coffee, leave the traffic noises, the day-to-day petty stresses behind for an hour or so. Time feels different (Jack Finney would understand).
Or tonight is book club night. Maybe the scent of books helps the discussion, whets the intellectual appetite, mental cooking, working the muscle between the ears like exercise works the body, to keep it in health.
I’ve loved books all my life, before I even entered school, now when I have the luxury to afford my own library. I breathe in the scent of a bookstore and feel the center, the core of who I really am. I am home. -- Robin *************************************** Most days of our lives are out of balance............we are too busy or too tired or too SOMETHING..........Bookstores bring balance............rows and rows of books .......each in its place and for the moments spent in the store one experiences a calm........it comes over you like a balm when you enter the door..........I sense a peace in a bookstore i dont find in other places i shop. No one pressures or pushes you to purchase..........browsing is expected........encouraged.....Where else in life are we invited to linger? Those places are fewer and fewer...........I appreicate the help when i need it and the freedom to wander at will thru the stacks on those occassions when i seek a CALM only a bookstore can bring. -- Barbara Jo **************************************** Why I love bookstores (in general): bookstores have been my escape since I was a child. The possibility of finding a new and different place with each book always fascinated me. When I was young I would devour books in two days and my mother would banish me to the library (which was also wonderful). Now I visit bookstores for that dry book smell and the sense of discovery I feel when I find a book that I love. I love buying first editions of books I have gotten from the library and know I want to own.
Why I love Tattered Cover (in particular): I love walking into Tattered Cover on a snowy day with my huge bike bag and getting some wonderful tea, a few magazines and sitting in a comfy chair. I love going to the author events and meeting some of my favorite authors, which motivates me to become one someday. And again, I love the possibility that each book brings to find a new and unknown world. Also, the cookies are yummy. Thank you!! -- Ana ************************************* We did not have a bookstore in our little town of Mt. Union, Pa when I was growing up (early 50s). We had a very small one-room library to get our books - I specifically remember hot summer afternoons going to that little library and spending hours perusing the books. My mother and father were avid readers and my father lulled us to sleep at night with wonderful stories he made up about fairy tale heros and heroines. When I married and moved to the big city of Pittsburgh, PA; my husband worked downtown at the point in newly renovated Three Rivers area. He brought me home two books from Horn’s Department Store in downtown Pittsburgh one day. One was about the writer F. Scott Fitsgerald’s wife ZELDA and one about in the early 1970s BY USN COMMANDER LLOYD BUCHER: MY STORY about The USS Pueblo Ship. I started going to Horn’s weekly and spending time in the book section of Horn’s. When we moved to Denver - it was of course The Tattered Cover that we discovered and felt such a draw to. It was located in Cherry Creek at the time and we took all visitors we had down there to check it out. It was a wonderfully comfortable; easy; drawing; adventurous place to go. My husband and I were voracious readers. He sadly passed away just in March 27, 2009. The last book he read was The Last Lecture. I missed him terribly but continue to read and buy books as often as I can. I love sharing the great books/stories I have read with others. I espcially love the Tattered Cover. At this point I use the new one located in Highlands Ranch - Town Center. I have just finished all the books written by Augusten Burroughs and his brother - John Elder. Wonderful writers. So unusual in their thinking but so so funny. Yes, I love bookstores. They help make my life very happy and help me wade through life in a very real way. My favorite books are true stories. I like to know how others get through life. You can learn so much from others. -- Vicki ***************************************** I love the Tattered Cover because they offer customers everything a book buyer would want in a bookstore - from a comfortable layout, to relaxed atmosphere, to an area to sit and preview books to buy, to a great children’s section, awesome lighting, and knowledgeable staff. The fact that the TC is local and does sooo much for the local community has turned the tide on my book buying experience ever since I was turned on to the location in Cherry Creek. In fact, every year my Christmas Wish List is: Tattered Cover Gift Certificates. Last year I received $100 worth and I took advantage of specials, special publication issues, and the marked down section to get books I have wanted for years. Recently, I needed a book referred by a pastor and TC did not have it, the chain stores did, at least online; but I waited and ordered from TC because I knew my money is going in to support the local economy. Yes, I love the TC for all of these things but the most important is I get the chance to read. I get to read new books I have never thought about reading, buy books for family and friends that they had not thought about, and sometimes just walk around and take in the ambiance of the store. Oh, so many experiences keep flooding my mind, like the author signing with Nicholas Sparks in Highlands Ranch. That event sparked a reading frenzy by my wife and I to read all of his books before the next one was released. I could go on and on, but I won’t. Thank you for your store and all that you offer. -- Kevin ***************************************** I love the Tattered Cover because like a trusted friend, I get advice that I can take to heart, without reservation, instead of the hype of the mass media. -- C. **************************************** I love book stores because I love books. But some book stores are better that others. I like the independent book stores. In particular, I love The Tattered Book Store. I love to browse through the books there. I love books, and my home decor is books. -- Valerie **************************************** The Tattered Cover holds so much more than printed upon pages. It is a gathering with old friends and potential new ones, trips to places I have never seen, and a wind of words and sentences I have never heard. It is the Universe placed on shelves and made available to me. That is why I love The Tattered Cover. -- Tim *************************************** If my husband, Andy, and I lived there in Denver, CO, we would be in the Tattered Cover Bookstore at least once a week to indulge in your offerings of books, readings, sales, kid’s corner, discounts, authors. And, if your e-mail newsletters are any indication of the customer service Tattered Cover Bookstore extends, we would be there with a shovel and plow to help you dig out of all the snow and sleet experienced these weeks of October 2009.
Thank you for keeping us book informed! -- Kathy & Andy ************************************** And woe is me! Because the podiatrist told me today that I cannot come to Colorado from California because the swelling in my foot after pins have been removed has not subdided. I was to come next Saturday the seventh to Castle Rock to visit grandchildren, my daughter, and my most wonderful and loved son-in-law. I cannot come and have to miss Ruth Rendell. Where can a chain bookstore accommodate such a talent and find an appreciative audience? Yes. I would leave Southern California sunshine and brave the snows of Southeast Denver area to hear the author of “Firefox”, which I taught in high school at the junior level. Yes, I do support local independent bookstores here twenty miles east of Los Angeles, especially Mrs. Nelson in San Dimas, when I’m in the area, for up-to date children’s books. I do like roaming “tattered covers”, even when the store was centralized in Denver city. Thank you for letting me roam where small, middle, and large buffalo roam, famous and infamous buffaloes roam, and loyal patrons, helpful and knowledgeable staff, and muses roam! -- Jahn **************************************** I love bookstores because when i walk in, the different colors of the books appear like a mosaic, or a stained glass window. But instead of admiring the beauty from afar, like a tiled wall or a church, I get to crawl inside every color. -- Amie kaufenberg **************************************** The Tattered Cover is a very special place for me to go that is filled with adventure, hope, joy and peace. I love the memories that I gather at the Tattered Cover! -- Connie ******************************************* I am a bookstore aficionado. If I have a window of free time, I find myself heading to an independent bookstore. Browsing through the various departments is one of my favorite pastimes. The Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch is my very favorite for the following reasons: 1. The layout is spacious and welcoming. 2. The employees are extremely helpful, insightful and always willing to go the extra mile. 3. The displays of ‘favorites’ is usually the first area I hit. The commentaries are great. 4. The ‘book club’ suggestion table is filled with my my all time favorite novels. It is right on and every book club member should have this list. 5. The children’s area is precious. I take my grandchildren to story hour often. When I ask them if they want to go to the Tattered Cover for “fun” it is always a happy positive response. They could browse forever, ride the horse and even make some new friends. Of course, I always leave with a handful of new story time favorites. 6. I have an enormous collection of cookbooks, but am always impressed that I find new ones that I MUST have. 7. When we are planning a trip I find the travel book selections varied and well rounded. 8. Coffee - they have great coffee and sitting and relaxing with a cup near the magazine section is my idea of a great hour. 9. This time of the year I am always looking for calendars for my home, office and home office. Not a book store around can compete. 10. Believe it or not I live in Cleveland! I save all my pennies and time for the Tattered Cover. At least every 6-8 weeks I find myself there. -- Joan **************************************** Why I love the Tattered Cover:
It is one more thing that unites our family. Michael and I started buying books way back when. Before long, we started bringing our daughters to buy books. Now we bring our grandchildren.
We were taking our oldest granddaughter, Annison, (she is 7 now) to the Tattered Cover when she was about 4. Sitting in the back seat of the car, she recited all the family members - and after each name she said, “And they like to read too.” After going through the whole list, she said, “Isn’t that great!”
It is great, isn’t it? -- Patsy ************************************* I am writing to tell you why I love bookstores, not just any bookstore, like the big ones, but small, unique bookstores. I always look forward to walking on the creaky wood floors. I love the way they sound and the way they feel. Also, there are few things that inspire me more than looking through bookstores. I have been reminded of long lost passions while walking through a bookstore and finding a book about a topic I love.
I am so thankful for local, smaller bookstores like The Tattered Cover Bookstore. -- Rachel ************************************ Why I Love Bookstores (and Tattered Cover in particular):
I have been an avid reader since I was 4 or 5 years old. Books then, and now, are my favorite way of expanding my horizons, learning about the world around me, learning about myself, and just being entertained.
As a child, my mom would take me to the library, and I felt like the proverbial “kid in a candy shop.” We rarely made trips to bookstores, but I always loved ordering books through school. It was always a special treat to actually own a book and be able to read it, or refer to it, anytime I wanted! When we did go shopping at a bookstore, it was that same “candy shop” feeling, only better, because I could keep the books I bought!
As an adult, I have collected a fair number of books in my eclectic little library. I have books on everything from Meditation to Physics, Knitting to Skiing, Cookbooks, Poetry, you name it. However, I still get that ‘candy shop’ shop feeling of having the whole Universe right in front of me to explore every time I am in a bookstore. Mind you, the Internet has also become a grand source of infomation for me, but sometimes I need the sensual experience of turning pages, and feeling the book in my hands. Sometimes, low-tech is better.
My reasons for loving Tattered Cover are all of the above, of course, but my first experience with Tattered Cover was when you were on 1st Avenue. My first visit there was the very first time I had ever seen a bookstore with chairs and couches, so that I could actually be comfy with a book while deciding whether to buy it! I used to plan periodic half-day visits to your store (with as much money in hand as I could possibly spare, short of spending the rent money) just to be able to take my time and find the perfect additions to my bookshelves. I have been a loyal customer of Tattered Cover ever since (and that is a number of years now). I was a bit disappointed when you moved, but lo and behold, I now live mere blocks from your Colfax store!
Thank you, for remaining an important, and independent, bookstore. -- Leanna ************************************** I love bookstores, especially the kind with nooks and crannies for reading. The best kind feel like my very own library. The Tattered Cover epitomizes what is best about bookstores, with it’s reading nooks, its endless shelves - each full of ideas and stories waiting to be discovered. The Tattered Cover represents, too, a commitment to literature and to literacy, to the free exchange of ideas, and the growth of the mind. I doubt I’ll ever find another bookstore that feels so much like ‘mine’ - a place where I have spent a large part of my life growing and learning.
Thank you, Tattered Cover! -- Tamara ************************************** The Tattered Cover bookstore is a wonderful place. Books are wonderful too. There is a lot of hoopla these days about Amazon’s Kindle. On the surface it sounds terrific. You have the ability to store hundreds of books and access them at any time. It makes your entire literary library portable blah, blah, blah. But what about the smell? What smell you ask? The smell of a book. An old book, a new book, a book from your grandparents house or a book from the attic. There is something about the way an old book smells when you fan the pages into your face. It smells like old, warm, comfortable and many other adjectives that usually don’t have a smell. It is very difficult to describe the smell of a book. In my experience, most books have a similar smell yet nearly every person would describe it in a different way. Is this really something we want to rid the world of? This great smell? Not to mention no more dog ears, no more scribbling notes in the liner or passing an old edition through the family. I realize this may be a futile argument as technology washes over us usually making things better and easier. But Ill take a bookstore with shelves to the ceiling, comfortable furniture and a coffee shop nearby any day of the week. I prefer an old ratty paperback to any digital book device. After all, you will never open a ratty old paperback at the beginning of a long road trip and see a tiny blinking light that reads: low battery. -- Beau *************************************** One of my all-time favorite memories is going with my sister Lisa to the Tattered Cover in LoDo for a Dave Barry book discussion and signing event a few years ago. I wasn’t a huge Dave Barry fan, but Lisa read his column faithfully and absolutely loves him, so we made a day of it and drove down from Windsor. Lisa had never been to the store, so it was fun to watch her excitement exploring the books and nooks and crannies in your historic building. You even had books displayed on the stairway!
We got in line early to make sure we got Dave Berry tickets, then found our seats near the front of the room. Dave was introduced and from the moment he opened his mouth to the end of his talk we didn’t stop laughing! We were rolling on the floor! I had no idea how funny that man is! His Tattered Cover presentation was more entertaining and much funnier than anything I have ever seen at any comedy club. -- Patricia **************************************** I have soaked up the atmosphere of Tattered Cover on site in the past but now I am enjoying the Tattered Cover Travel Book Club from afar here in Maryland and am grateful for that. Here in Maryland I get to roam in my favorite independent bookshop, The Kensington Row Bookshop, where I can browse books, and look at art, including my own photographs. -- Curt ************************************** BOOKSTORE TC
Bookstore TC I love you so My mind you help to grow and grow. An hour engulfed by books all around Helps keep my feet on the ground. And also surrounded by people like me Who love to be here...O’ what glee. -- Ginny ************************************* I love how the first thing that hits you as you walk in the door is the aroma. It’s always the perfect combination of coffee, old buildings, ink & paper, and possibilities. The first thing I do when I go in (after taking a deep whiff) is prowl around all the different shelves to find out what recommendations the staff makes. I write down a few titles to check out next time, grab a couple that look promising, and head to one of the nice, broken-in chairs that seem strategically placed in nooks and crannies for optimum reading experience. I love the personal touches scattered throughout the store - a journal shelved with a certain book that it seems to complement, a stuffed animal framing a book in the children’s literature section, a handy table to hold my coffee as I browse the magazines. The staff is always friendly; ready to make a recommendation or find a book that is hard to locate.
Thanks, Tattered Cover! -- Jenn “But it’s not just learning things that’s important. It’s learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things at all that matters.” The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster ***************************************** I am responding to the email calling for entries by Nov. 7th about why I love your bookstore: I live in St. Louis, but I’d heard about Tattered Cover from a poetry professor and I wanted to see it for myself. Last fall, my husband and I went on a driving vacation to Glacier National Park, then turned south for the return to St. Louis. Tattered Cover was my only stop in Colorado and I almost didn’t get back in the car! I saw books in your store that made me wish for the lottery and a 300-year life span. It was all I could do to stay in a given section...because your store and its contents made me want to run back and forth so I didn’t miss anything. I photographed your sculpture of the man reading the newspaper (after I’d actually stalked him for 10 minutes, trying to decide if I should just take his picture or ask his permission first)....and then photographed a woman (who gave her permission) who carried a cello among the stacks. We ate in your cafe and bough a water bottle to take back. We loaded up on poetry, non-fiction, fiction and 10 or 12 of those great Oxford “Short Introduction” books--on topics ranging from dinosaurs to Buddha. I even asked the clerk if I could keep the Tattered Cover pen I used to sign my charge. Since that visit, I remind myself of your wonderful store by carrying the tote bag I bought at the register. We ordered Christmas gifts from Tattered Cover...and indulged in imagining the clerks taking the books from the shelves to place in our box. I ordered a signed first edition this summer and I have a wish list of other books I’d dearly love to own. Your store is beautiful...it is an oasis. I confess that I love bookstores in general...but there is something incomparable about Tattered Cover—it is filled with people who love ideas (I remember the Obama signs and the wonderful political books on the table on the main floor) and who know and respect books. That’s where I want to be!
Thank you for your wonderful bookstore. -- Anene ************************************* I always feel like a kid in a candy store when I walk through the doors of any Tattered Cover book store. All of my senses are alive with the sights and smells and feel of thousands of wonderful books just waiting to be explored. I know anyone of them can take me to places I’ve never been as well as places most familiar. I will never tire of wandering through the aisles absorbing the tantalizing call of what awaits on the pages of a yet unread book. -- Shelley ************************************ Books - the written word...not an image to watch through a screen, but an image to create in the mind.
Books are very important to a civilized and respectful society. Joyce Meskis and her Tattered Covered have been a conduit to achieving this, despite the 30 second soundbites one gathers through alternate mediums. The written word allows for a thoughtful and edited exchange of ideas instead of allowing emotions to spew forth in anger, sadness and hurt. Reading about personal experiences in a historical background helps the read to develop empathy for others and can be a blueprint for future dialogue between the living.
I love the Tattered Cover because there I am among others who are able to share in my love of reading and books. A trip to the Tattered Cover is an event for me...to explore an what seems to be an endless vault of ideas, stories and personal experiences. I always take out of town guests to the Tattered Cover in LoDo and they are amazed that bookstores such as the Tattered Cover continue to exist in the world on internet booksellers. Many times when they visit me again, they ask if we can again take a trip to the Tattered Cover. -- Cheryl **************************************** I love bookstores for the touch and heft
Of words set down and bound and left
To be discovered, read quiet and out loud
To any who would listen:
Spouse, friend, child, crowd.
-- JTM ***************************************** I love bookstores because it’s an adventure, you never know what you might find. Also, the staff are usually extremely well read and can recommend new authors which is another discovery. -- Sharon *************************************** The Tattered Cover is not just a bookstore—it is an atmosphere of intelligence, learning, camaraderie, and coffee. It is a place where I can bask in the glory of books, other book lovers, and words. It is a place where I can research book design, because I am a book designer, and a place where I can get together with friends for brisk or easy conversation. It is a place where I can laugh out loud when browsing through a book on humor and a place where I can feel like myself. In essence, it is home. -- Dianne **************************************** So many reasons, but for today, I love the Tattered Cover because of the service. I have NEVER encountered a grumpy salesperson in over 30 years of shopping at the TC. Many times, people have gone out of their way to help. Here is a recent example. Because of eye surgery I needed some small booklights for close work. There were so many in the store that I could not begin to know what to buy. When I asked for help, the young man at the desk said the person who knew about them was not in, and he took my name and phone number and said he would check with her when she arrived. Later that afternoon a small selection of lights was waiting for me at the reserve desk. That’s service!
Gardeners are down-to-earth people. -- Arna **************************************** Tattered Cover and other local bookstores not only feed the minds and souls of individual shoppers, but you also feed the life of our communities. Everyone benefits from healthy communities.
Thanks for your work in the communities of Colorado. -- Sandy **************************************** I love Tattered Cover Bookstore for many reasons. It is cozy, friendly, and where else could I walk up to a staff member and tell him or her, “I’m looking for a book that was recommended in the Denver Post two weeks ago, I think the author’s name starts with an “R”, and, next thing I know, they are leading me to it on the shelves!! Now, that’s service! (And this sort of thing has happened to me several times). Tattered Cover, you deserve your reputation as one of the best bookstores in the world. -- Langdon *************************************** I love the Tattered Cover in particular because no two chairs in the place are alike (except for the cafe chairs). I can lounge on an armless couch, sit up straight on a wooden bench, or hide in a corner between the giant cushions of a plush chair. It is how every bookstore--every store, restaurant, classroom--should look. I become one of those bric-a-brac chairs when I step inside the Tattered Cover, and I don’t want to turn back into who I was. -- Alexander ************************************* Why I Love the Tattered Cover Three blocks from my house is a place I often go to browse among books, read the staff comment cards about their favorites, talk to other bibliophiles about what they’re reading now, sip on a hot drink from the café, ask the friendly staff to help me find or order a title, buy greeting cards and gifts, and take as much time as I want. Never hurried, always welcoming, Tattered Cover is a favorite destination for our whole family. -- Claire ************************************** Because of the infinite possibilities and worlds that open up with a book. -- John and Dru *********************************** While the public library will always hold a special place in my heart, the Tattered Cover is my favorite place to spend time with a book. With its comfy couches, knowledgeable staff, and a beckoning Cafe Mocha nearby, the Tattered Cover is my idea of heaven! -- Vanessa ***************************************** My introduction to my local bookstore was a skinny storefront on 3rd Avenue in Cherry Creek more than 30 years ago. Times were tough, I was raising 5 kids by myself on a secretary’s salary. Buying books was an often delayed luxury. I discovered I could climb the winding black iron staircase to the second floor for poetry readings. Not that I was so enamored of poetry, but it didn’t cost anything. I discovered that I could pop in every week or so and relax in a comfy old chair or slightly used hassock and leaf through whatever struck my fancy and no one accosted me regularly to see if I did, in fact, intend to spend some money.
Things got better as they invariably do and I went overseas to work. During my first tour I called (we still depended on phones then) to see if it was possible to set up an account. “Just tell us what you want. We’ll send it and the account is in force.” You can’t know how thrilled I was. Buying english-language books in third-world countries is, at times, next to impossible. Thus began my love affair with the Tattered Cover. I’ve never not been able to get what I wanted. Staff is always friendly and helpful and I don’t forget who first provided the seating arrangements to while away some precious time pursuing a long-held passion.
Thank you for being there. -- Susan ************************************* My love letter to the Tattered Cover:
I have loved the Tattered Cover ever since the first one originally resided in Cherry Creek in the mid 1980s. Its plushy chairs and inviting reading nooks have enveloped me through mid-term fears, disastrous relationships, a waning marriage, the start of new chapters in my own life. I introduced my son to the Tattered Cover on a recent trip to Denver. Though I do not live in Denver anymore, the TC is the first place I go to when I arrive in town. When I lived in Denver, the Bookstore was an immediate sense of community of book lovers in an otherwise distant and remote city. The staff say hello, people converse about their favorite (or not-so favorite) books, peruse the stationary and cards sections, stop in for a cup of coffee. You could easily spend the entire day at the TC. Try doing that online. -- Sarah ************************************** I love bookstores, especially my local Tattered Cover. I love the LoDo store with its old warehouse feel, the wooden shelves, the smell of the coffee shop mixed with the smell of books. I love to explore in the new hardback and paperback fiction and non-fiction, love to look at the suggestions of the Tattered Cover staff, love knowing that each purchase contributes to the charity of my choice (though, for the life of me, I can’t remember what I chose!). I always know that I can find the perfect gift and card to go with it, order anything that’s still in print, check-out the bargain books. I try to make sure only to buy books from independent booksellers in my travels in other places in the country, but go out of my way to visit Tattered Cover while at home in the Denver area. Thanks to all of the Tattered Cover staff for making each visit a pleasant experience. -- Betsy ************************************* Bookstores - what fabulous places! Something for everyone - mystery, history, picture books, magazines. What more could you want in a beautiful, serene, spectacular space? And when there’s coffee it’s even better! -- Lori ************************************* “SONG OF TATTERED COVER”
By the shores of creek called Cherry Near the foothills of the Front Range, Under moon of winter silver, Under spring and summer sunlight, in the highlands and the lo-do, all along the Colfax byway, stand the tattered cover wigwams. There the elders seek for wisdom Or for answers to the mysteries: Where to find the Maltese falcon, Or who murdered roger ackroyd. Beauties search for perfect romance— Rakish lords or handsome doctors— Or to rouse a vampire’s passion. And the young ones find the stories Of an impish chapeau’d feline Or a plucky mage-in-training. Some will crave a bard to hearken: Songs of love or tales of valor, Or mayhap a hymn to native Warrior-prince called Hiawatha. In the tattered cover wigwams, There among the other seekers, find me also, ancient graybeard, to whom the smell of ink is perfume, to whom the lure of books is magic!
--Michael *************************************** Why I Love the Tattered Cover!
Ah, the smell of books and coffee! I’ll have a steaming cup and browse The magazines. In Italian! No, I don’t read Italian, but I see my favorite author is coming next week. I didn’t know he had a new book out. My Dad would love an autographed copy. And it says the staff recommend that if I like his last book I’ll certainly like this other one which really looks suspenseful. My wife would love this one next to it. Where did she go, anyway? Ah, bargains! Yes, honey, I’ll carry these. This one looks great. Armchair travel. To Italy.
-- Donald Anderson ************************************** In particular I love Tattered Cover (LoDo) because... 1) You can browse books, magazines and more in a very cool environment 2) You can meet with friends to grab a cup of coffee 3) You can go there in case you need “to kill time” between interviews, apppointments or events, nobody is going to bother you and time will fly. Thanks -- Rocio *************************************** I LOVE book stores because I’m insatiable curious about everything. I wander bookstores for everything from hobbies, financial, travel, self help, fiction, magazines, even books on tape for my car travel. My Christmas gifts often include books or gift certificates for books. I wish it could be my job to sit and read all day. Tattered Cover especially has a wonderful cozy atmosphere. A warm TC coffee, a nice soft chair and a good book is the best way to spend the day. And what a great happenstance, National Bookstore day is on my birthday, November 7th! -- Della ******************************************* I love the Tattered Cover for so many reasons...But the main ones are that I am so happy to have a local, independent bookstore to support, and the fabulous work that TC does for the community. The Tattered Cover Gives Back program, your promotion of intellectual freedom, these are the kind of things you don’t find at chain/online book stores! -- Becker ************************************* Aaaah! Bookstores!
The love of books was installed in me by my parents in Hungary. Although books were expensive and not readily available, our family had a bookshelf-full. To pick up a book is to be transported to a different place, a different world, and crawl into the skin of the people who live there. One is never alone among books. My life turned out the way it did because the books I read. The reason I ended up in the United States is because I fell in love with cowboys and Indians in the stories of James Fenimore Cooper. So when the opportunity to leave Hungary and come to America presented itself I was ready.
When I walk through the door of a bookstore, any bookstore, excitement takes over. Tattered Cover is my all-time favorite bookstore. I’ve never ever walked out of there empty-handed. Bookstores embrace reading groups, invite authors for book signing, help the illiterate, and design programs for children that will make them life-long book-addicts. -- Marika ************************************* I’d like to enter the contest for National Bookstore Day. I love bookstores because they allow me to get lost...for an hour or three. I love the smell...the feel...the look...of books. A bookstore is a cozy place, somewher that feels like “home”. -- Piroska ************************************* The Tattered Cover gives Denver and the world the greatest gift of all the joy of reading. I moved from Denver (my mom) and the Tattered Cover is what I miss most of all. (true) -- Joseph ************************************* My local bookstore is my safe haven, a building where, regardless of how many times I visit, the unfamiliar and familiar merge into one complete sensory experience. I know this place is unlike any other: there are no form greetings, no convoluted corporate tag names.
At my local bookstore, the booksellers actually read. They know books, they’ll provide personalized suggestions There’s a smell, a taste, a familiar flavor; a local bookstore celebrates local talent, supports small presses. If there isn’t a genre, they create one; if there isn’t an audience, they build one; if there is a way, they will find it. They suggest books based on its merits and not those mandated by the marketing department.
My local bookstore answers to me and not its stockholders. My local bookstore is my home away from home. -- Michael **************************************** Before I moved to Denver, a co-worker who’d spent time here told me about this fabulous bookstore down the street from the train station; so of course it was one of the first places I sought out after arriving in town. I could spend hours in the downtown Tattered Cover, checking out new books and staff picks (I’ve found several that have become favorites of mine!) or hunting for ntriguing bargains among the stately wooden shelves. I know that if I have a question or need a recommendation, a friendly staff member is always willing to help. That’s why I love my local bookstore! -- Corrie *********************************** Why I love bookstores in general? Because I love to read the printed page.
Why I love the Tattered Cover in particular? Because it is a local bookstore and has been my favorite since I moved to Denver in 1977. -- Jeanne ************************************** Dear Tattered Cover,
I love you guys because you have helped me to create some of the most wonderful memories of my life with your author book signings. I have met Augusten Burroughs, Ann Brashares, and Jeannette Walls in your stores and have had all of my books signed and photos taken with each author.
You also have a wonderful selection of book-themed gifts and an enthusiastic and helpful staff. You guys rock! -- Maria **************************************** What I’ve always liked best about the Tattered Cover is the atmosphere, an atmosphere that seems to invite people to wander and browse and stick around for a while. There are comfortable chairs to sit in, scattered conveniently throughout the store, and a nice coffee shop. Some of the big chain bookstores make me feel like I need to get in, grab a book which I had planned to get when I walked in, buy it, and then get out so the next shopper can come, but there is none of that at the Tattered Cover, at the TC I have the feeling that I can leisurely wander and check out all the sections and find unexpected treasures in genres that I don’t usually read. This feeling and the many afternoons I have spent at the Colfax and LoDo locations have enabled me to come across many of my current favorite authors, ones I never would have found had I been going to the big chains. -- Christopher ************************************* I love walking into Tattered Cover as the fresh smell of paper and newly pressed ink awakens my senses; as I explore for four hours or more its comfortable confines that is home to shelves upon shelves of new hope, promise and a collective expanse of edu-tainment. Tattered Cover is my second home, and I love it so! -- Jonathan ************************************ I love my local indie bookstore because they know my name, and keep books aside for me they think I might like. -- Beth ************************************ I remember the first time I walked into the Tattered Cover on 16th St. It was during my first visit to Denver, when my wife and I were still considering moving here (versus Seattle or Portland). I felt like I had walked into one of these old, wonderful book stores you read about in books, full of nooks and crannies concealing all kinds of bibliotastic secrets. To this day, the store fills me with an almost childish wonder and excitement. It’s as if I can actually hear the countless ink-on-paper worlds and characters around me whispering, inviting me to take them home. It’s very hard for me to visit the Tattered Cover without at least bringing one of these insistent little volumes home (they can be as persistent and needy as puppies!). I can spend hours picking up books, reading a few lines here and there, and just browsing away the day. It is also a great great place to write, although I have to admit that I’m sometimes too distracted to write. The thing is, I can’t help but glance at what books the other patrons are giving a new home. But how could one not be inspired by a place that demonstrated and also encouraged such a love for books? Plus Tattered Cover makes a killer soy chai latte. -- Deniz *************************************** My local bookstore is a most commodious, congenial, delightsome place. I blissfully browse for hours; I happily gain new ideas and energy from the books and the atmosphere; I come away with armloads and nogginloads of wise words, wondrous words. Most lovely books! -- Gena ************************************* To walk into a homegrown bookstore like the Tattered Cover is to enter another world, a special, cloistered world of people who love books. No matter whether or not you know anyone in the store, no matter what else is going on in your life, once you begin to roam the shelves, pull books to look through, and sink into the ambience that surrounds you, everything else goes away. You soon find a new book by a favorite author and look around for a comfy chair to sit in so you can delve into it. On your way, you see a mother reading to her child, a young girl choosing a book from the teen shelves, and an earnest couple sifting through books on parenting.
Where else can you find information on just about anything that interests or intrigues you? Oh, yes, the library -- but those books can’t go home with you to grace your shelves. Some books, you won’t find there at all.
Where else can you find so many convivial, polite strangers, some of whom might be ready for conversation when you stop in the café for a sandwich and a cup of coffee? No doubt those strangers, like you, will have at least one book in a bag, an addition to a collection or perhaps the perfect gift.
For years, until we left Denver, my husband and I began our annual Christmas shopping at the Tattered Cover on Veterans Day. Now we shop online, but that has not dimmed our affection for this unique bookstore, unlike no place else we have ever been. Long may it (and all independents) prosper. -- Barbara ****************************************** I love my local bookstore because it is full. Tattered Cover is the name of our local bookstore and there’s not much tattered about it but it is filled, filled, filled with books. And it is filled with people and quiet and musings and wondering and thinking and reading and working and inventing and mutterings and ... well ... yes, books. That there are books at the local bookstore may come as no surprise but each time I walk inside I am lifted by the sheer number of them. They bring great comfort to me, the books and the bookstore, in this hey day may day time of high speed internet, books on tape, ebooks, chain utilitarian bookstores, videos, movies, computer games and email. Tattered Cover is where I can find what used to be and I hope what will always be - a place to take time out, time away from the hubble and trouble, time to just read, imagine, think and wonder. I fear that imagination and thinking and wonder are whizzing by with no chance to catch in my mind as I carpool and drive from school to school to after school sports games, to the grocery store, to the car wash. I have fleeting thoughts of things I want to write down, the beginnings of a poem or a book yet I feel the thought slip away as the traffic light turns green or road rage cuts in front of me and I wonder, when will I have the time to sit and wonder, to sit and write, to sit and read? Well, that time is right around the corner from where I live, really. It’s my local bookstore. I may sound like a nerd but when I have a free moment in the midst of raising two boys, I fill that moment at Tattered Cover. It feels right, going there, like a respite, like a way of hiding and getting lost in me. At the bookstore I get to look at what interests me. In fact, sometimes my husband and I go to the bookstore on our date night. Where else can you go to eat some delicious french fries and have a drink at the attached restaurant and when you’re finished with dinner roll over to the bookstore without even needing to go outside? Full bellies and a happy mood and we’re released into a store filled with shelves of books and magazines and newspapers and possibilities. Imagine finding something of interest and being able to sit down and actually talk to your husband about it! Heavenly. And so my local bookstore has captured my heart. My connection to this great big outside world and all that authors think about and believe and write about is in this bookstore waiting to be discovered. My local bookstore is full and I am grateful. -- Priscilla *************************************** In general I adore book stors weather they carry old books or new books. My local book stor is barns and nobels and is close, so some times I can ride my bike ther after school. It has a butiful setting, and as all book stors do, it has the smell of books! It also has a cute little coffe shop. where you could enjoy your favoret bookj and a hot chocolet.
Eavin thoe I love my local book stor I enjoy the tatterd cover book stor on 16th street much more. You see I want there one day with my aunt and was amazed to find out that it used to be be an old theater. The T.C.B.S still had some old seets from the theader! and it had the largest supply of books id ever seen! it was truly amazing! We stayed there for hours reading and looking for new books that would enterain us and hopefully take us on a great adventure. when it was finaly time to leave, I was disipounted. but was hopeful to come again and find my next great adventur along the marvolus shelvs of my favoret book stor, the tatterd cover. -- Laura ***************************************** The independent bookstore can be said to be a window to the soul of a community. What are people in this area reading? What are they thinking about? The answers to these questions are revealed in the books they buy, the books they get their friends to buy, the books they request their local bookstore to stock.
One might say “Think Globally, Buy Books Locally.” -- Bill ********************************************** I have loved books and book stores since I first learned to read as a small child (and I am old now). My father used to take me to a charming little bookstore in downtown Denver. There were comfy chairs and a fireplace and the people who worked there were really nice and never made us feel like it was time to leave. There is that same atmosphere at Tattered Cover . . .charming, comfortable, nice people working there & no indication that I am staying too long and wearing out my welcome. I remember when Tattered Cover first opened on 2nd Avenue in Cherry Creek. Even though it has grown & grown, the warmth has been a constant through the years and this makes me grateful. -- Laurel ***************************************** Local bookstores provide a community for the curious. Walking around, browsing in sections I otherwise would overlook, reminds me of the vastness of human knowledge and interests, and teaches me about lives I could not have imagined. Tattered Cover’s cozy cafe, couches, and tables provide a relaxed and friendly space to get lost in a book, study, or chat.
Keep up the good work. -- Eamon ************************************* I have never lived in Denver, Colorado, but each time I’ve visited, Tattered Cover Bookstore in LODO is a must. I was first exposed to Tattered Cover on a visit to a friend in 2002. She had just moved to Colorado from Utah. I stayed downtown and fell in love with Tattered Cover.
Since 2002, I’ve moved from Utah to Phoenix to Kansas City and now reside in Tampa, Florida. Although, I can name the independent bookstores in each city, none has touched me like the Tattered Cover. From the store’s ambiance to the helpful employees (whether in person or over the phone), or the amazing author events you provide. My experience is a always a memorable one.
Is it silly to want to live in a city simply because of a wonderful bookstore? Maybe, but I’ve often considered moving for that very reason. Unfortunately, convincing my husband is another story. For now I will remain a fan on Facebook, keep up to date by visiting your website and enjoy great books by joining the Autographed Book Club.
Thank you for creating a place so needed in our communities. We need more Tattered Covers around the country. You are truly an amazing bookstore and I can’t wait to visit - again! -- Connie ************************************* I love local bookstores because they feel like home. They smell good, they are comfortable, and they are operated by people WHO LOVE BOOKS! That in itself is a comforting idea - to know that most everyone working is there not because of a paycheck, but because they want to work someplace special, someplace where they feel good going to work and enjoy their time helping readers.
I also love local bookstores because they reflect passion. Someone felt so passionately about investing in and creating a special space where community can come together and nourish their minds that they took out a second mortgage, or maxed out their credit cards, or hawked everything they had just to give their dream a shot. All this, with the knowledge that the Big Corporate Bookstores pose a significant threat to their probability of success. You’ve just got to respect that - how can you not help foster such an endeavor?
Communities are stronger with small, local businesses, especially gathering places like bookstores. Pretty simple! -- Christine ************************************* I remember when you moved to the store on First Avenue and I was so upset that Cherry Creek eventually made it impossible for you to stay. They have no class, regardless of what they imagine about themselves. I have since come to love your Colfax store just as much. I have always loved wandering around and looking at what you have to offer and striking up conversations with employees and customers about books. What better way to spend an hour (or several). No one follows you around bothering you (afraid you might actually pick up a book and look at it) and yet there is always someone available to help if you want it. When you do need help you have intelligent book people to talk to not mall employees who haven’t a clue about books. I can’t imagine not having the Tattered Cover, nor can I imagine ordering books on line or reading them on a hand-held device. Please don’t ever close. -- Helen ************************************** In the heart of one of America’s greatest cities and a walk away from restaurants, clubs and culture the Tattered Cover in downtown Denver is my favorite local bookstore! The Tattered Cover’s in stock collection delivers the hard to find and crucial titles that most bookstores can only “order for you”. My personal favorite thing about being a customer and sometimes coming in just to drift around is the open minded people I come across and the amazing information that i have found treasured away in those wooden bookshelves. Just as important, the Tattered Cover has hosted many social events that I have attended where prominent authors come to lecture on their work, thus gaining deeper insights into their endeavor. Thanks Tattered Cover for being a valuable instrument in my understanding of this Quixotic world. -- Cody ************************************* I love bookstores because of all they offer, from books on any subject imaginable, to magazines, to coffee, to misc. book related items, to author visits. I really like the expertise of the people who work in bookstores. They always seem to be able to find exactly what you’re looking for, even if you only remember half of a title. They also usually add to your knowledge by suggesting something else or explaining something related to your interests. If you buy a book as a gift, they always wrap it to make it even more special. I love going to independent bookstores in other states. I always find something uniquely local and always learn more about a region than I would have otherwise.
We are so lucky to have the Tattered Cover Bookstores in Denver. They are so well stocked and have such a depth and breadth of knowledge among their staffs. We are so fortunate to be able to choose from so many author visits -- authors who come because of Tattered Cover’s national reputation. Tattered Cover is truly a Denver institution, ranking up there with museums and theatres. It is definitely a place that locals love and a place at which to meet friends and to take out-of-town guests.
Bookstores offer so much to me as an individual, as well as to the community as a whole. In honor of National Bookstore Day, I”d like to say “thank you” to independent bookstores in general, and to Tattered Cover specifically. Thanks so much for all you do for us! -- Nancy *************************************** Why do I love bookstores? Bookstores are about “Unlimited Possibilities!!” When you look up and about at the bookshelves, you know you can find resources that will take your mind and spirit beyond the imagined and expected. Within their walls, you can escape and expose yourself to the lives of fictional and non fictional characters and places ... or, perhaps visit fantasylands of weird and wonderful characters. You can find yourself being challenged at the cerebral cortex level of your brain after learning some new facts ... And smiling because of it!. In general bookstores provide the promise to ‘tease’ your senses with new and familiar sights and sounds.
These above statements are especially true of The Tattered Cover Book Stores and that is why it is my favorite local bookstore for personal needs and for gift-giving. Yet, whereas the Tattered Book Stores never disappoint in providing me the promise of ‘unlimited possibilities’, it important to add that they provide so, so much more including guest authors and constant communication through their web newsletters. Outstanding and unique is their physical surroundings that always provide me with the warmth and friendliness of a favorite book in a cozy chair. I love being in the Tattered! And,most important is customer service. The store associates are able and always caring and sometimes amazingly perceptive! On one occasion, I started to describe the scenery of a book that I wanted to purchase, but I couldn’t remember its author or title. Before I finished, the sales associate blurted out “Gift From the Sea” ... and she was correct!
Keep up the good work, both for the individuals in the community, as well as each community in which you are located. -- Tomiko ************************************** Why I Love the Tattered Cover
I retired five years ago. Through all my working years, I never had a chance to read very much. When I did read, it was usually spy novels or mysteries - anything to escape. Now, I read all the time - fiction, nonfiction, history, biographies, etc. But it is how I choose my books that I want to share with you.
My favorite days are the days I spend at the Tattered Cover on Colfax Ave. I wander through the store looking for books that may be interesting to me. I make a big pile of them next to one of the comfy chairs. I then proceed to read the first five or ten pages of each book. I choose the four or five books that I am the most interested in. I buy the books, and then I have my reading for the next couple of months.
I love those days at the Tattered Cover! -- Marty ************************************* Why do I love bookstores? They are places of possibility. I usually arrive knowing what I am looking for, but right around the corner, there is another book that lures me in and conveniences me that I need to spend some time with it’s pages.
Why do I love the Tattered Cover best of all the bookstores in the entire world? Go there even as infrequently as once a month and you become part of the family. The staff finds out your name, uses it and always has a cheery smile of welcome. Best of all, you can come with an esoteric snippet about a book and you can approach any member of the staff family for assistance. Even if your topic is not in their area of expertise, they will do whatever it takes to find the exact title, author and if the book is in the store or available for order. My favorite is the Colfax location, but I happily go to the other two stores when I am in their neighborhoods. I look forward to the Lakewood/Golden branch opening soon? (Just kidding, but a person can hope, can’t they?)
Travel in Safety. -- Jane ************************************* A Haiku of appreciation...
Touch the printed word. Open your mind to the world, With local support. -- Shawn ************************************** I love shopping at Tattered Cover because it is more like visiting someone’s home than shopping at a store. I can get a hot mocha and curl up in a cozy corner to read excerpts of the three books I liked before I decide which one I’m taking home to finish. If I’m buying a gift, there are many knowledgeable people there to guide me to the perfect selection for my friend, relative, or very hard - to - shop - for individual. On summer nights, I like to take my kids into the store in their jammies to hear stories before bedtime. We’ve found many great new authors that they might not have tried otherwise. This is better than grandma’s house. -- Colleen ************************************* Although we live in Thorold, Ontario - the Tattered Cover at Highlands Ranch, is our over-all favourite “local” book store since July, 2005. My husband & I visit Highlands Ranch at least four times a year and always make it a point to visit this store a couple times per visit. We appreciate getting our Tattered Cover e-Newsletters -- Cathy ************************************* I Am in Love
I know this will be surprising since there has been no indication of anything special in my life. The truth is, this attachment has been around since I was a child. Introduced by my father, I have returned to this love time and again. But it was only this week that I had to admit that my feelings were not of warmth or affection but of actual love.
I am talking about the Tattered Cover.
I walked in to the Tattered Cover earlier this week and the sense of relief and calm and peace and happiness hit me like a wave. A warm, enveloping, nurturing wave (think: opposite of a Katrina wave). Sometimes when I go in there I have to get a grip on myself to keep from lying on the carpet and waving my arms and legs happy-book-store-snow-angel style.
Is there anything better than being surrounded by books? And the Tattered Cover(s), they get it, they have these comfy couches and cute nooks where you can cuddle up with a book, or a dozen books. And they are actually comfortable and have butt-worn marks on them, unlike other bookstores that I can think of that have “comfy” chairs for looks but if you sit in them you can see that they are not actually there for your use or comfort. (Rhymes with Shmarnes and Shnoble.)
Here’s the best part of all. I know, I mean I know this is a love that will last for the rest of my life. I’m never going to stop feeling this way about books and reading and there is nowhere else that can offer that up like the Tattered Cover. There is no way I could ever find all there is to explore in there, and even if I dedicate my whole life to it, there are new books being printed and classics waiting for my mind to ripen to them and whole genres of literature that I have yet to reach. Imagine. Just imagine. -- Abbie ***************************************** I have loved the Tattered Cover since it was in a small space in Cherry Creek North many years ago. The comfortable chairs provided many hours of pleasure finding just the right book for my reading mood at the moment. The selection of books is huge; from a wonderful novel to get lost in, to practical information on knitting, to the perfect gift for my friend with a cupcake obsession. And the staff is not only well informed but especially helpful and friendly. One of my fondest memories is watching children pick out a book and hugging it to their chest as they waited in line with their parents to purchase it. -- Susan ********************************** It’s really quite simple -- I love to learn! Bookstores are full of lots of things I don’t know, and unlike most libraries, the books are arranged to catch my eye and to pique my interest. It makes it easier for me to find intriguing new topics. As “Johnny Five” said, “INPUT!”
The Tattered Cover has been home for our family since it was on 3rd Avenue in Cherry Creek in the 70’s. We were young, with not much income, and with young children. When I asked if it was possible to buy books on charge and pay them off slowly, I was immediately issued an account number and allowed to take all of the books I wanted with me on the spot! That was not common in those days, so I was truly grateful. The homey atmosphere, green and brown color scheme, comfy chairs, encouragement to browse and sit and read—all drew us in on a regular basis. We even helped during the first move across the street and still proudly own the brown “Moving Experience” t-shirts we were issued that day. Both of my daughters got jobs there when they were college age, with Chris even setting up the staff scheduling on computer spreadsheets. By then, we were better off and would spend around $100 a week on new books, and the clerks were always amazed at our very short charge account number.
As a performer at Bonfils, I was absolutely delighted when the Tattered Cover moved in. If it couldn’t be a theatre, this was a fabulous option! Both of my favorite places were blended into one. We have moved out of Denver now, and are unable to visit often, but, when we can, it is still home. -- Nancy ****************************************** I’m a fan of local bookstores, and the Tattered Cover in particular. Bookstores combine a great customer experience with a sense of freedom -- intellectual freedom that comes from roaming around, perhaps picking out an idea you will find liberating, consoling, inspiring, exasperating or heartbreaking. In one space you can explore the full spectrum of human emotion, the known world ... and move a bit beyond that to the undiscovered, the unknown, and the uncharted. T.S. Eliot said: “... And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” -- Alden **************************************** We visit bookstores whenever we see them or wherever we travel. Bookstores offer me a plate of goodies: new ideas and characters to explore, new ways to see the world, and a peaceful place to begin that journey. -- Karen **************************************** A bookstore is a place where imagination runs wild. A place for de-stressing, escaping from reality. Entry into a world of immense satisfaction. Walking around the different subject categories, exploring the latest books always awakens an emotion, thought, or idea hidden, waiting to be set free. I always find something of interest. A book, book cover, magazine, or magazine cover can inspire ideas waiting for the discovery. Related adjectives are adventurous, enriching, inspirational, challenging, entertaining...and not to mention, educational. I love bookstores. We have some very good bookstores in my home town, Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I just visited Denver about a week ago. For me, a trip to Denver is incomplete without a trip to the Tattered Cover Bookstore. It’s worth the time. My wife and I visited the LoDo store and it is like a trip around the world of fresh ideas. The employees are pleasant, friendly, engaging, and helpful. Walking from department to department, and floor to floor, I have never seen a bookstore any where better than the Tattered Cover Bookstore. That is one reason I came to Denver. To get away. Visiting the Tattered Cover Bookstore is a necessary part of a relaxing vacation. The Tattered Cover Bookstore is one of the best of the best! Thanks -- Tom ************************************** Whats not to love about a bookstore! Every shelf is filled with books waiting to catch your eye and take you on an adventure. I could not count how many times I’ve stumbled upon a book just browsing through the store and it always ends up to be more of a treat than when I’ve been looking for a particular title. That holds especially true for clearance titles/ I discovered one of my favorite writers because I bought a book for a dollar. Every Sunday we walk down to the the Farmers Market and then spend an hour or so at the Tattered Cover enjoying a cup of coffee and of course hoping to stumble upon a book or two. -- Schuster ************************************** I love bookstores for the ambiance they create, the excitement of discovering new adventures beneath those pages, and the smell of old books rebought over and over again. I love bookstores for the dreams they fulfill, the inspiration they create and the ever-changing creativity that seems to permeate the air. There is something incredibly fulfilling in spending hours browsing the possibilities in a bookstore. -- Jenny ************************************** I love local bookstores because I prefer spending my money locally. I buy local produce at the Highland Farmer’s Market, I drink local at the CaféCafe, I buy baby gifts at the Giggling Green Bean, and I myself am a local Landscape Architect. Being proactive about our economy, keeping our neat local stores in business means spending money there. I think perhaps most people are not aware and involved in their community such that they are oblivious to the value they have there, the flavor it gives their neighborhood and the loss that would be if it were gone. I don’t want to live in a bland world. I love shopping at the Tattered Cover because not only are you local but huge- amazing selection, great atmosphere, and I can walk there from home. And a nice habit that I am passing onto my kids. We walk or bike to the downtown store, grab a drink, and then continue onto the playground at Speer + Wewatta where they play and I relax. That is a good day. -- Becky ************************************* It’s so cozy between the covers of the Tattered Cover’s books. There are books for cooks and lovers, and such comfy little nooks. They wrap the books so nicey, and they aren’t very pricey, I come to buy a present for a relative or two, And the sales clerks are so pleasant, That I buy more than a few. Browsing is my past-time, And they wait on you in fast-time. Your books feed my brain so yummy, And the coffee shop feeds my tummy. There’s no place I’d rather take my feet, Than the Tattered Cover down the street! -- Dorie ************************************ I love the Tattered Cover because I feel so at home there. When I moved away, the Tattered Cover was always first on my list when I was in town for a visit. In my travels, if I mentioned Denver,book people would invariably ask about the Tattered Cover. Plus, I can go in and say something like “I’m looking for a book with a red cover, and the title begins with a ‘b.’ That’s all the sales person needed; he/she would go right to the shelf! Thank you Tattered Cover for making your book store a vital part of the intellectual community in Denver. -- Jane ************************************* I love the Tattered Cover because it feels like home. I can curl up in a chair and sample a variety of books before I decide which ones come home with me. It’s a comfortable place with knowledgable, friendly people. -- Lisa ************************************* In general, I love to go to bookstores as I can always find something to read whether it be a book, magazine, newspaper, etc. I also enjoy the people watching and other activities that each store makes available. Whether I am traveling or near my own home, I can get excited to visit a bookstore.
Specifically, the Tattered Cover Book Store is the first book store I ever saw that had such comfy chairs to sit in and read. I was raised in a small town with a small library and didn’t like to read as a child. But thankfully, my mother was a teacher and she encouraged me to read one chapter a night. Today, I read 4-5 books a week, several magazines and a few newspapers. I lover the written word. I hope other people get as much enjoyment as I do out of reading and the pleasure of owning books. People need to support the independent bookstore as they are a vanishing breed. Long live the Tattered Cover! Thanks for being close to me. -- Laurie *************************************** I love my local bookstore because it is a haven of sanity in an increasingly insane world. -- John ********************************** I really enjoy the Tattered Cover bookstore because of the quiet atmosphere, the hours open for customers, the availability of any type of book, customer service, and the entertainment opportunities available for customer use. -- Jessica ************************************ I work in a library and have access to more books than I can ever read, but I love bookstores and go to them because: --Unlike academic libraries, you keep the covers on the books! Though I know I am being ‘sold’ to through book covers I don’t mind. The covers are tantalizing and enjoyable. --I can buy affordable gifts for children and adults and in the same store (Tattered Cover LoDo or Tattered Cover Colfax) buy a card and maybe a little non-book gift. --I can write a note in the present and the present isn’t ruined. --I can buy coffee mid-way when shopping to gain energy to continue shopping. -- Ellen ************************************** Why do you love your local bookstore? If a visitor from space were to drop in to the Tattered Cover the report transmitted would reflect a beautiful impression of earthlings. “Beep...just arrived at the Tattered Cover..... parents and children exploring picture books.. a bookclub discussion.. an author presentation.. adults reading many genres..some enjoying coffee or tea while they read..helpful clerks..this is a very good place, lovely people..lovely books...Over. Beep.” -- Gayle **************************************** I love bookstores because they are the gateway into a world filled with imagination, creativity, and options. Buy a cook book, an epic novel, or an atlas. Settle down on a comfy chair and begin your adventure even before leaving the store! Like the Tattered Cover, bookstore should be a place to collaborate, explore, and learn. Places are set so you can comfortably hunker down and read away to your heart’s content. That’s why I love the Tattered Cover. I love coming in, ordering an English Breakfast Tea, and claiming a corner of the store for my reading pleasure and pursuits. There is no place to me more inviting or comfortable. -- Breanne ************************************ I love my local bookstore, because whenever I step through those doors I know in my journey down the aisles (sometimes random, sometimes with purpose), I will find something exciting and new, locked inside a rectangular package of paper called a book. -- Karl ***************************************** Bookstores are amazing places where I can spend hours browsing through titles, picture-books, and magazines! No matter what town one travels to, it is always fun to peek into their bookstore for books on local interests such as cookbooks and history. I am in awe of all of the authors, artists, and creative individuals that took the time, effort and education to write the books for us to enjoy. Bookstores are dangerous to me as I am fascinated and tempted to spend too much with the incredible variety from from self-help to SAT preparation, and religion to sports. I wish I had more time to read as there are so many interesting subjects! Though I read more non-fiction these days, it is fun to pick up an occasional novel and uncover the fictional plots that weave in history, horror, and romance. Also, I frequently buy gifts of books for my grandson, nephews and nieces, parents, friends, and of course, myself! There is something for everyone, and I hope to author a book someday myself. Also, I would hope that my grandson will inherit my love of books. Bookstores & libraries open the whole world to you!
Thanks for having a great bookstore that is renowned world-wide.
Enjoy a prosperous day! -- Sandy ***************************************** When I am surrounded by books I feel as if I am wrapped up in a warm blanket. Content as a cat and cozy. I love the smell of books. If it could be bottled it would be better than Prozac. And if I am ever able to have a library it would evoke the atmosphere of the tattered cover -- earthy, warm, exciting, adventurous. . . and on and on. That is it’s charm. It can take you anywhere. -- Laurie *************************************** I like book stores in general - my parents had one when I was a very little girl. I particulary appreciate independent bookstores. And most of all I love the Tattered Cover. The stock is great and the employees are knowledgeable and helpful. It’s always a pleasure to stop in. -- Nina **************************************** I rejoice in the Tattered Cover for its cornucopia of books, gracious staff, and daedalian spirit of keeping its customers in spite of tribulations. -- Briggs ************************************ Why do I love the Tattered Cover - especially the historic LoDo? Because when I walk thru the door and feel and hear the creaky floor, I know I am home among all the wonderful books. They call out to me! -- Judy
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