What to Read This Winter, According to Tattered Cover
Book CurrentsKathy Baum, who curates new books for the Denver-area independent-bookstore institution, shares some of her fall and winter favorites.November 27, 2024Illustration by Isabel SeligerYou’re reading Book Currents, a weekly column in which notable figures share what they’re reading. Sign up for the Goings On newsletter to receive their selections, and other cultural recommendations, in your in-box.Tattered Cover is a Denver institution. Founded in 1971, it’s now one of the U.S.’s largest independent-bookstore businesses. Kathy Baum, who oversees the store’s orders for new books, curating what she thinks people might like to (or should) read, spoke with us not long ago about some of her recent and upcoming favorites. Getting her hands on early copies of books is “a treat,” she admits, and “my pile is usually very high.” Her remarks have been edited and condensed.What I Ate in One Yearby Stanley TucciAmazon | BookshopThis is an obvious one to me—in a divided world, who doesn’t love Stanley Tucci? The world is very stressful, so if you want something that is warm and light and, you know, not going to strain your nervous system, this is it.It’s written sort of in diary entries, day by day, and it offers good insights into his work, his family, his travel. There are some great celebrity cameos. He writes a bit about food and gives you a handful of recipes, but basically he’s just very charming and funny. And he reminds you of the connection between food and the people you’re close with—how much we share special times over meals.Cleanby Alia Trabucco Zerán, translated from the Spanish by Sophie HughesAmazon | BookshopThis one is a work in translation by a Chilean author who is a little bit better known internationally than she is here. “Clean” is told from the perspective of the maid of a husband and wife who are not very nice, to say the least. The book opens with the maid being interrogated by the police, and the rest of the story is sort of her confession to them. You know from the get-go that there’s been a suspicious death, but, as the book goes on, the tension builds and builds and builds.It’s definitely concerned with power dynamics and the class clash between this wealthy family and the woman who works for them, who comes from a rural background and has been living in poverty. It also makes you wonder, Why are people so nasty when they feel like they can keep everything secret?Every Arc Bends Its Radianby Sergio De La PavaAmazon | BookshopThis novel is about a detective who has a sort of dark past and is a very gritty person—it’s not a James Bond-type situation. The detective has to solve an apparent murder-slash-disappearance, and it soon becomes clear that there are people involved in it who everyone is afraid of. My backlist buyer and I have been very intrigued by it. I think one reason is that, for me, it was giving me these very heavy “Bosch”—by Michael Connolly—or “True Detective” vibes.Rental Houseby Weike WangAmazon | BookshopThis book is about a couple who met in college. The wife is the daughter of Chinese immigrants, and the husband grew up in Appalachia, in a rural family. I think a lot of people can relate to the difference between the two families: during the pandemic, hers is double-masking and taking a road trip so that they don’t have to stay in hotels, whereas his is not vaccinated.In general, though, I think the book captures an experience that many couples face when engaging with their in-laws. Even if they’re not on completely opposite ends of the spectrum, as they are in this book, people grow up with different styles of communication and emotional attachment.Weike Wang also writes dialogue really, really well. She doesn’t have to explain, explain, explain, because you get so much from just a few sentences that people say to each other.Crushby Ada CalhounAmazon | BookshopThe reason this book stood out to me is because I read this writer’s earlier nonfiction book, “Why We Can’t Sleep,” which is about Gen X women and the unique situation they’re in, culturally and personally. Here, it feels like she’s taking what she was interested in and turning it into a piece of fiction about a long marriage, which is intriguing.A lot of the book is about desire. Nowadays, books about women’s desire are way more mainstream than they used to be. For the longest time, these sorts of books have always been in the corner of the bookstore, tucked away on a small shelf amid dryer topics. I feel like now, you’ve got Gillian Anderson’s book, “Want,” and Emily Nagoski—things like that are becoming perennial sellers for us. The Anderson collection is a pink book, and it’s at the very front of our store, and it’s selling.
Tattered Cover is a Denver institution. Founded in 1971, it’s now one of the U.S.’s largest independent-bookstore businesses. Kathy Baum, who oversees the store’s orders for new books, curating what she thinks people might like to (or should) read, spoke with us not long ago about some of her recent and upcoming favorites. Getting her hands on early copies of books is “a treat,” she admits, and “my pile is usually very high.” Her remarks have been edited and condensed.
What I Ate in One Year
by Stanley Tucci
This is an obvious one to me—in a divided world, who doesn’t love Stanley Tucci? The world is very stressful, so if you want something that is warm and light and, you know, not going to strain your nervous system, this is it.
It’s written sort of in diary entries, day by day, and it offers good insights into his work, his family, his travel. There are some great celebrity cameos. He writes a bit about food and gives you a handful of recipes, but basically he’s just very charming and funny. And he reminds you of the connection between food and the people you’re close with—how much we share special times over meals.
Clean
by Alia Trabucco Zerán, translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes
This one is a work in translation by a Chilean author who is a little bit better known internationally than she is here. “Clean” is told from the perspective of the maid of a husband and wife who are not very nice, to say the least. The book opens with the maid being interrogated by the police, and the rest of the story is sort of her confession to them. You know from the get-go that there’s been a suspicious death, but, as the book goes on, the tension builds and builds and builds.
It’s definitely concerned with power dynamics and the class clash between this wealthy family and the woman who works for them, who comes from a rural background and has been living in poverty. It also makes you wonder, Why are people so nasty when they feel like they can keep everything secret?
Every Arc Bends Its Radian
by Sergio De La Pava
This novel is about a detective who has a sort of dark past and is a very gritty person—it’s not a James Bond-type situation. The detective has to solve an apparent murder-slash-disappearance, and it soon becomes clear that there are people involved in it who everyone is afraid of. My backlist buyer and I have been very intrigued by it. I think one reason is that, for me, it was giving me these very heavy “Bosch”—by Michael Connolly—or “True Detective” vibes.
Rental House
by Weike Wang
This book is about a couple who met in college. The wife is the daughter of Chinese immigrants, and the husband grew up in Appalachia, in a rural family. I think a lot of people can relate to the difference between the two families: during the pandemic, hers is double-masking and taking a road trip so that they don’t have to stay in hotels, whereas his is not vaccinated.
In general, though, I think the book captures an experience that many couples face when engaging with their in-laws. Even if they’re not on completely opposite ends of the spectrum, as they are in this book, people grow up with different styles of communication and emotional attachment.
Weike Wang also writes dialogue really, really well. She doesn’t have to explain, explain, explain, because you get so much from just a few sentences that people say to each other.
Crush
by Ada Calhoun
The reason this book stood out to me is because I read this writer’s earlier nonfiction book, “Why We Can’t Sleep,” which is about Gen X women and the unique situation they’re in, culturally and personally. Here, it feels like she’s taking what she was interested in and turning it into a piece of fiction about a long marriage, which is intriguing.
A lot of the book is about desire. Nowadays, books about women’s desire are way more mainstream than they used to be. For the longest time, these sorts of books have always been in the corner of the bookstore, tucked away on a small shelf amid dryer topics. I feel like now, you’ve got Gillian Anderson’s book, “Want,” and Emily Nagoski—things like that are becoming perennial sellers for us. The Anderson collection is a pink book, and it’s at the very front of our store, and it’s selling.
