Bookstore with a difference

With an ambience that celebrates the freedom to read and the free flow of ideas, Tattered Cover, in Denver, the U. S., is a bookstore that goes beyond a mere trading of books, says GEETA PADMANABHAN.

"MAY I help you?" I heard a pleasant voice speaking from behind. I am on the third floor of Tattered Cover, a bookstore in Denver, Colorado, which is like nothing I have seen before. I turn around to look into the smiling eyes of the floor manager Ellie and nod my "Yes". I introduce myself and tell her that I wish to "see" the place. During the next hour, Ellie and Leslie (another manager) take me on a tour of the store, answer my searching questions with an agreeable mixture of patience and enthusiasm and provide me with information on the various activities conducted by the bookstore to promote reading.

Well, that, in a nutshell, is what Tattered Cover is all about. Creating a warm, friendly atmosphere in which to celebrate the freedom to read. Bringing to the community, the undeniable joy of reading. Bridging the gap between the writer and the reader. To be a conduit for a free flow of ideas. And all this done with the conviction that a bookstore must go beyond the basics of merely trading in books.

Spread over four floors of a charming building, Tattered Cover welcomes you to spend a day (and days after your first visit) enjoying what is on offer. You cross the huge doors to come to a newsstand with a wide array of newspapers, magazines and periodicals, covering happenings in most parts of the world. Pasted on the wall above are blown-up front pages of newspapers proclaiming historical events.

Lured by the aroma of fresh, strong coffee and bagels wafting in the air, you walk forward to find yourself in a cafe run by the bookstore. All you have to do is to pick up your favourite reading material, buy a cup of coffee or a pot of tea and a snack to go with it and settle down in one of the overstuffed chairs in the cosy cafeteria so conveniently located and your morning is made! It must be very relaxing as I spotted a couple of customers catching up with their sleep behind the papers!

As you move around, several things catch your eye. First, the ambience. With its wide staircases, hand-made bookshelves, strategically placed sofas, antique writing tables and chairs sitting prettily in their alcoves, reading lamps throwing discreet light from nooks and crannies and lovely carpets dotting the floors, Tattered Cover radiates an old-world charm that one associates with well-kept English country homes.

And then the books. They are everywhere but unobtrusively so. You find them looking down benignly from the walls, stacked casually but neatly on the steps as you go up the stairs, peeping out of large wooden book-holders, standing upright on the tables, gazing at you from revolving stands and of course, on the bookshelves themselves. The arrangement is not the impersonal one where you have to crane your neck to read the title written on the spine. All the new books are placed between the spines so you can see their front cover. "We call this the facial arrangement. We would like our customers to spot the new books without effort," Leslie informs me.

If the half-a-million books do not make you claustrophobic, it is because the accent is on comfort. The spacious, carpeted areas you find on every floor are for book readings, poetry recitations, meet-the-author sessions, seminars or for plain walking across without jostling other browsers.

I enter the children's section to find a whole world of colourful books, watched over by huge cuddly soft toys. Children gather at this bright and cheerful area on the mornings of Tuesdays and Saturdays to listen to stories narrated by professional story- tellers or the staff members or by the authors themselves.

"When did it all begin?" I want to know.

In 1974, Joyce Meskis purchased a small bookshop in Denver's Cherry Creek district. She had firm views on what a bookstore ought to be: "a haven for readers of all ages." She put into operation the old-fashioned principles of offering book-lovers comfort, personal service, long hours in which to browse and buy books and a broad selection. Tattered Cover now houses more than 500,000 titles that include every subject under the sun and beyond. Cheerful store assistants who are always around to give directions and recommend books keep the shop open from 9 in the morning to 11 at night on week days and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

"Why Tattered Cover?" I ask Joyce Meskis over the phone.

"The bookshop was called so when I bought it. The owner felt the names symbolised the belief that books are for reading and not for filling up shelves. A tattered cover indicates a much-used book. So I decided to run the shop under its original name."

True to its aim at being a community service, Tattered Cover offers a range of facilities to those who walk in through its doors. Right from the place to sit in the reception area to wrapping a book that you want to gift, there is nothing that is not covered by the bookstore.

Do you want to order a book on the phone or through e-mail? Are you looking for gift certificates that will enable the beneficiary to buy books? Do you need information on an out-of- print volume? Do you want books for a conference or a lecture? Do you want to maintain an account on behalf of your school or your company? Would you like to be the proud owner of a pick-of-the month book chosen by the members of the staff? Just get in touch with Tattered Cover. It also runs a restaurant on the fourth floor so you can discuss the books you are buying over a leisurely meal.

A friend who works in a building nearby told me that she nips across to Tattered Cover regularly during her lunch break. She would read chapters from the same book everyday and managed to read quite a few books this way!)

The store brings out a newsletter twice a year listing new and unusual books published that season. Anyone can pick up a copy of the Tattered Times from the manager's table on all the floors. You can also leave a "wish list" of books with the store and then drop hints to friends and relatives that your birthday is round the corner. Remember to hint at the "wish list" too!

"We sponsor two writing contests for young people and a bookmark contest for children." Leslie tells me. "We organise a summer reading club every year between May 1 and August 31 and invite children to join it."

As I prepare to leave, Leslie presents me with a reading list for July put together by the staff. It carries thumb-nail sketches of nearly 80 authors, their earlier books and a brief, well-written review of their latest output. I am thrilled to see Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things and Divakaruni's Sister of My Heart analysed along with Saul Bellow's Ravelstein, J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace, Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost and Philip Roth's American Pastoral.

Finally, it is Joyce's words that put the stamp on Tattered Cover's distinctive character. "Herein resides a vast array of books containing ideas as diverse as the world in which we live... We promise that we will offer our very best service and honest suggestions to you about your reading choices should you elicit those opinions, but we will never proselytise nor will we ever censor any reading matter that you may seek." An excellent motto for a bookstore.

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