The Bookies Bookstore suggests stories about mom, pirates and books

Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from The Bookies Bookstore in Denver recommends a motherly memoir as well as tales of a lesbian pirate wedding and fallout from a prison book club.

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From the publisher: When Erika Simpson was growing up, her mother loomed large, almost biblical in her life. A daughter of sharecroppers, middle child of 10, her origin story served as a Genesis. Her departure from home and a cheating husband, pursuing higher education along the way a kind of Exodus. Her rules for survival, often repeated like the Ten Commandments, guided Erika’s own journey into adulthood. And the most important rule? Throughout her life, Sallie Carol preached the power of a testimony—which often proved useful in talking her way out of a bind with bill collectors.

But where does a mother’s story end and a daughter’s begin? In this brave, illuminating memoir, Erika offers a joint recollection of their lives as they navigate the realities of destitution often left undiscussed. Her mother’s uncanny ability to endure Job-like trials and manifest New Testament–style miracles made her seem invincible. But while our parents may start out as gods in our lives, through her mother’s final months and fifth battle with cancer, Erika captures the moment you realize they are just people.

From Bess Maher, event liaison: “This Is Your Mother” is a beautifully written memoir that lovingly depicts a mother in all her strength, beauty, and flaws. Erika Simpson, the book’s stand-out author, now calls Denver home. If you love reading memoir, mother-daughter stories, or Colorado authors, I urge you to pick up this book!

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From the publisher: “The Princess Bride” meets “Bookshops and Bonedust” in the third book of the Tomes & Tea series, where our favorite lesbian pirates must navigate the ultimate maelstrom — their own wedding! Kianthe and Reyna are ready to finally walk down the aisle–in just seven days, their wedding of a wifetime will be a reality. There’s loads to do — but like all best laid plans, everything seems to be going awry.

Between their baby dragons causing mayhem in Tawney, Kianthe’s uptight parents inviting themselves to the wedding, and Reyna becoming embroiled in a secret plot to overthrow Queen Tilaine, the world seems against them. How are they going to live long enough to say “I do”?

From Krista Carlton, store manager: I’ve recommended the other two, so I had to share about book three in Rebecca Thorne’s Tomes and Tea series! “Tea You at the Altar” is full of political intrigue and wedding drama as Raina and Kianthe prepare for their nuptials and to overthrow the Queendom. Just as fun as the other books in this series, this book keeps the good times rolling while preparing you for the fourth (and final) one coming this fall!

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From the publisher: Violet Powell, a 22 year old from rural Abbott Falls, Maine, is being released from prison after serving 22 months for a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher. Harriet Larson, a retired English teacher who runs the prison book club, is facing the unsettling prospect of an empty nest. Frank Daigle, a retired machinist, hasn’t yet come to grips with the complications of his marriage to the woman Violet killed.

When the three encounter each other one morning in a bookstore in Portland — Violet to buy the novel she was reading in the prison book club before her release, Harriet to choose the next title for the women who remain, and Frank to dispatch his duties as the store handyman — their lives begin to intersect in transformative ways.

From Marilyn Robbins, children’s book buyer and programs manager: Meet Harriet, a retired English teacher facilitating a book club at a women’s prison in Portland, Maine. She must fight for the friendships and relationships formed from the group. This book is pure delight from the first page to the last. 

Type of Story: Review

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