Chapters and Verse: Fiction from Behind the Counter

by Joel Barr

Overview

"Barr’s imaginative, humorous story celebrates the sweetness of literary life, the freshness and promise of the newly printed page.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“A sweet-tempered, low-key story that has been justly compared to 84 Charing Cross Road.” —Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504032872
Publisher:	Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
Publication date:	06/14/2016
Pages:	164
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Joel Barr is a writer and artist whose poetry, fiction, reviews, and non-fiction have appeared in numerous journals. His paintings and sculptures are in private and public collections. Chapters and Verse is his first novel.
 

Editorial Reviews

A down-to-earth delight, this first novel warmly recounts lives centered in a small-town bookshop. Chapters and Verse is an independent bookstore in the quiet town of Tangelo, Fla., formerly owned by Estet Baker, a shrewd, energetic, crusty older woman, as eccentric as her name implies, who is both a lover of literature and a connoisseur of human experience. E has chosen Matthew Mason as her store's new proprietor and, after showing him the ropes, has begun to travel throughout Florida to gather material for a photo-essay. Her letters record observations on local bookstores, offer business suggestions and strengthen her friendship with Matthew. As he settles into his new role, sensitive, likable Matthew--who begins to understand that in running Chapters and Verse, ``I had a life to protect''--develops friendships with customers, staff and other townspeople. Barr's imaginative, humorous story celebrates the sweetness of literary life, the freshness and promise of the newly printed page. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Necktie salesperson Matthew Mason meets bookstore owner E Baker for breakfast and leaves as the new owner of Chapters and Verse. E Baker hits the road in pursuit of a new life, but she writes to him regularly. All the characters in this low-key first novel are lightly sketched, eccentric but very human. The plot is slim, little more than a device to keep characters talking to each other, but it all works. The heart of the book is a deep love for books and people. It is refreshing to read a novel whose characters' one question is, ``What book shall I buy next?'' There are delightful conceits like Anson's restaurant, ``arranged like a choir loft'' so that neighbors have ``a place to eat breakfast and sing. This is an enjoyable novel, filled with quirky, off-center observations about human nature. Recommended.-- David Keymer, Inst. of Technology, Utica, N.Y.

Library Journal