A packed week and then a Thanksgiving break: Bruce Iglauer and the blues Monday at Boswell, Eugenia Kim in conversation with Nan Kim at Boswell on Tuesday, Elizabeth Berg at Lynden Sculpture Garden on Wednesday, Panels Comics Club presents Liz Prince at Boswell on Thursday, Allen Eskens at Boswell Saturday afternoon.

Monday, November 12, 7:00 PM, at Boswell:
Bruce Iglauer, author of Bitten by the Blues: The Alligator Records Story

Legendary Chicago blues producer Bruce Iglauer shares his unvarnished memoir of a life immersed in blues music and the business of the blues. This event cosponsored by Paramount Music Association.

In 1970, Bruce Iglauer walked into Florence’s Lounge in the heart of South Side Chicago and was overwhelmed by the joyous, raw blues of Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers. A year later, Iglauer produced Hound Dog’s debut album and pressed a thousand copies. From that album grew Alligator Records, the largest independent blues record label in the world.

Iglauer takes us behind the scenes, offering unforgettable stories of charismatic musicians and classic sessions, and delivering a look at what it’s like to work with the greats of the blues. It’s a vivid portrait of the extraordinary musicians and larger-than-life personalities who brought America’s music to life in the clubs of Chicago’s South and West Sides.

Bruce Iglauer is president and founder of Alligator Records and a Grammy-winning producer inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1997. Iglauer was founder of National Association of Independent Record Distributors and cofounder of Living Blues magazine. He is also a founder of the Chicago Blues Festival and codirector of the Blues Community Foundation. He received the American Association for Independent Music (A2IM) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

Tuesday, November 13, 7:00 PM, at Boswell:
Eugenia Kim, author of The Kinship of Secrets, in conversation with UWM’s Nan Kim

Author of The Calligrapher’s Daughter, Kim appears at Boswell with her new novel, the riveting story of two sisters, one raised in the United States, the other in South Korea, and the family that bound them together even as the Korean War kept them apart. For this event, Kim will be in conversation with Nan Kim (no relation), author of the 2016’s Memory, Reconciliation, and Reunions in South Korea: Crossing the Divide.

In 1948 Najin and Calvin Cho, with their young daughter Miran, travel from South Korea to the United States in search of new opportunities. Wary of the challenges they know will face them, Najin and Calvin make the difficult decision to leave their infant daughter, Inja, behind with their extended family. But then war breaks out in Korea, and there is no end in sight to the separation. Miran grows up in prosperous American suburbia, under the shadow of the daughter left behind, as Inja grapples in her war-torn land with ties to a family she doesn’t remember.

Told through the alternating perspectives of the distanced sisters, and inspired by a true story, The Kinship of Secrets explores the cruelty of war, the power of hope, and what it means to be a sister. Eugenia Kim is author of The Calligrapher's Daughter, which won the 2009 Borders Original Voices Award, was shortlisted for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and was a critics' pick by The Washington Post. She teaches at Fairfield University's Creative Writing Program.

Nan Kim is an Associate Professor of History at UWM and Director of UWM’s Public History Specialization.

Wednesday, November 14, 7:00 PM reception, 7:30 PM talk, at Lynden Sculpture Garden:
A ticketed event with Elizabeth Berg, author of Night of Miracles

The bestselling author of the beloved novel The Story of Arthur Truluv appears for the Lynden’s Women’s Speaker Series with a delightful novel about surprising friendships, community, and the small acts of kindness that can change a life. Cosponsored by Milwaukee Reads and Boswell.

Tickets cost $30, $25 for Lynden members, and each includes an autographed copy of Night of Miracles, refreshments, and admission to the sculpture garden - come early to stroll the grounds! Register at lyndensculpturegarden.org/ElizabethBerg18 or by phone at (414) 446-8794.

Lucille is getting on in years, but she stays busy. Thanks to the inspiration of her dearly departed friend Arthur Truluv, she’s teaching baking classes, sharing the secrets to her delicious classic Southern yellow cake, the perfect pinwheel cookies, and other sweet essentials. Her classes have become so popular that she’s hired Iris, a new resident of Mason, Missouri, as an assistant. Iris doesn’t know how to bake but she needs to keep her mind off a big decision she sorely regrets.

When a new family moves in next door and tragedy strikes, Lucille begins to look out for their son. In these difficult times, the residents of Mason come together and find the true power of community, just when they need it the most. This is a heartwarming novel that reminds us that the people we come to love are often the ones we don’t expect.

Elizabeth Berg is the author of the novels Open House, an Oprah’s Book Club selection, The Dream Lover, and Tapestry of Fortunes. Durable Goods and Joy School were selected as ALA Best Books of the Year. The Lynden Sculpture Garden is located at 2145 W Brown Deer Rd, just west of I-43.

Thursday, November 15, 5:30 PM, at Boswell:
Liz Prince, author of Look Back and Laugh: Journal Comics 

Cosponsored by Panels Comic Book Club, Boswell presents the award-winning indie comics darling Liz Prince and her hilarious, awkward, touching, and occasionally heartbreaking strip-a-day journey through one of the most tumultuous years of her life.

Liz Prince invites you to spend a year walking in her (Converse) shoes! Look Back and Laugh collects the 365 comic strips she drew to document every day of her life in 2016. Follow Liz through such life-changing adventures as: buying a house, moving to a new state, getting married, crippling insomnia, and as always, lots of cats, cats, cats!

Influenced by autobiographical greats like Evan Dorkin, Ariel Schrag, James Kochalka, and Jeffrey Brown, Prince’s comics mix her real-life foibles with charming cartooning and comic timing. Full of humor, pathos, and insight, these comics reveal the ups and downs that make up the glamorous micro-celebrity life of a freelance cartoonist.

Since Liz Prince began regularly contributing to the Santa Fe zine Are We There Yet?, her comics have been featured in several anthologies, five gallery shows, and she has produced two mini-comics.

Saturday, November 17, 3:00 PM, at Boswell:
Allen Eskens, author of The Shadows We Hide

Edgar Award finalist Eskens visits Boswell with his latest, the sequel to the Barry Award-winning novel The Life We Bury, a mystery that makes its way from Minneapolis to small town southern Minnesota.

Joe Talbert, Jr. has never once met his namesake. But now, working as a cub reporter in Minneapolis, he stumbles across the murder of a man named Joseph Talbert in a small town in southern Minnesota. None of the town's residents have much to say about the dead man, other than his death was long overdue. Joe discovers the dead man was a lowlife who cheated his neighbors, threatened his daughter, and squandered his wife's inheritance after she passed away.

Mired in uncertainty and plagued by his own devastated relationship with his mother, who is seeking to get back into her son's life, Joe must put together the missing pieces of his family history before his quest for discovery threatens to put him in a grave of his own.

Allen Eskens is author of The Life We Bury, The Heavens May Fall, and The Deep Dark Descending. He is the recipient of the Rosebud Award, Minnesota Book Award, and the Silver Falchion Award, and has been a finalist for the Edgar Award, the Thriller Award, and the Anthony Award. Eskens lives in out-state Minnesota, where he was a criminal defense attorney for 25 years.

Want to more about our upcoming events? Visit our upcoming event page.

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending November 10, 2018

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending November 10, 2018

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Winter Soldier, by Daniel Mason
2. Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver
3. Heads You Win, by Jeffrey Archer
4. Virgil Wander, by Leif Enger
5. Killing Commendatore, by Haruki Murakami
6. The Witch Elm, by Tana French
7. The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makkai
8. The Reckoning, by John Grisham
9. Transcription, by Kate Atkinson (back in stock!)
10. The Woman in the Window, by AJ Finn

Here's an interesting twist for Jeffrey Archer's latest, Heads You Win, per The Daily Mail: "His latest novel begins with a gruesome KGB assassination, and charts the actions of a ruthless Moscow regime. So Jeffrey Archer may not be surprised – if a little disappointed – that he has failed to find a publisher for his book Heads You Win in Russia. The former MP, 78, has been turned down by 21 companies, even though 16 of his previous releases were translated for Russian audiences."

And what of the story itself? Booklist calls this Sliding Doors-esque novel "splendid" : "In the late 1960s, long before the fall of communism, a boy and his mother escape from Leningrad. They can stow away on either of two ships: one headed to England, the other to the U.S. They make their decision by flipping a coin. In this brilliantly conceived novel, Archer follows the lives of Alexander and Elena down both paths; in (mostly) alternating chapters, we see Alex build a financial empire in the U.S., while Sasha - a common Russian diminutive for Alexander - climbs the political ladder in England...There are a couple of moments, late in the novel, that should make readers' jaws drop - moments so unexpected and surreal that they require a second reading, just to make sure we really just read what we think we did."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Everyday Dorie, by Dorie Greenspan
2. Leadership, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
3. The Beastie Boys Book, by Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz
4. 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die, by James Mustich
5. Educated, by Tara Westover
6. UWM: The First Sixty Years, 1956-2016, by John Schroeder (purchase here)
7. Ottolenghi Simple, by Yotam Ottolenghi
8. In the Hurricane's Eye, by Nathaniel Philbrick
9. Born to Be Posthumous, by Mark Dery
10. The Library Book, by Susan Orlean

Food, glorious, food! We had a great event with Dorie Greenspan last week. But being its fourth quarter, our cookbook sales are not just from events. Ottolenghi Simple is the latest from Yotam Ottolenghi, featuring "130 streamlined recipes packed with his signature Middle Eastern–inspired flavors, all simple in at least (and often more than) one way: made in 30 minutes or less, with 10 or fewer ingredients, in a single pot, using pantry staples, or prepared ahead of time." More from Amy Scattergood in Los Angeles Times. If you like Ottolenghi, why not sign up for our evening with Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook when they discuss Zahav and their latest, Israeli Soul with Kyle Cherek. Tickets are $40 including the book for one person or $60 for the book and admission for two. Email mcohen@jccmilwaukee.org to sign up.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Hotel Silence, by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
2. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, by Kathleen Rooney
3. Less, by Andrew Sean Greer
4. Improvement, by Joan Silber (In-Store Lit Group January 2019)
5. The Tattooist of Auschwitz, by Heather Morris
6. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman
7. Collected Stories, by Lydia Davis
8. Ararat, by Christopher Golden
9. The Rings of Saturn, by WG Sebald
10. Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee

Many interesting books break out of our award case, the most recent being Ararat, for which Christopher Golden received the Bram Stoker horror award. Publishers Weekly writes in its starred review: "The whole is more than the sum of its parts in this exceptional supernatural thriller from bestseller Golden. An avalanche on Turkey’s legendary Mount Ararat uncovers a cave that may contain the remnants of Noah’s Ark....While the contours of the story line will be familiar to genre fans, Golden makes them feel fresh through solid prose, effective characterizations, and a willingness not to pull any plot punches."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan
2. Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, by David Sibley
3. The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein
4. We Were Eight Years in Power, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
5. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
6. Life Without Pockets, by Carla Anne Ernst
7. Healing the Human Body with God's Remedies, by Lester Carter
8. I Swear I Saw This, by Michael Taussig
9. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
10. From Here to Eternity, by Caitlin Doughty

Just out in paperback is From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death, by Caitlin Doughty. The book had a strong sale in hardcover and might be one of those nonfiction books that continues on in paperback. As you can see from our lists, fiction generally has a better chance than nonfiction of keeping the momentum going, perhaps because it's less dependent on publicity (because it often can't get any) and more on word of mouth.

From Teri Schlichenmeier in a Journal Sentinel review that ran last year: "In a sort of grisly travelogue-cum-cultural-studies, From Here to Eternity takes readers on a journey from cave to grave in several cultures and countries, in search of answers to our aversion to mortality. Yes, there’s dark and ritualized wanderlust here but, though death-as-serious-subject is all over the book’s pages, there’s also surprising playfulness: seemingly not the squeamish sort, Doughty allows herself to sometimes become so, and she’s good-natured about it. Still, this book is not disrespectful; if nothing, it goes to an extreme in the opposite direction, with a hefty abundance of gentleness and kindness."

Books for Kids:
1. Archenemies V2 Renegades, by Marissa Meyer
2. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse and Renée Graef
3. Potato Pants!, by Laurie Keller
4. Voyage to the Bunny Planet, by Rosemary Wells
5. Cinder V1 Lunar Chronicles, by Marissa Meyer
6. Flashback V7 Keeper of Lost Cities, by Shannon Messenger
7. Meet the Latkes, by Alan Silberberg
8. Hand in Hand board book, by Rosemary Wells
9. Inside the Villains, by Clothilde Perrin
10. Renegades V1 hardcover, by Marissa Meyer
11. Unstinky, by Andy Rash
12. Tomorrow I'll Be Brave, by Jessica Hische (event 12/6 at Boswell. Register here)
13. The Thankful Book, by Todd Parr
14. The Snowy Day board book, by Ezra Jack Keats
15. Bunny Cakes paperback, by Rosemary Wells

With four kids events this week, we had to extend our printed bestseller list to at least 15 titles. Marissa Meyer battled for the top spot with Barbara Joosse and Renée Graef for top spot. Both had particularly strong sales without the help of a school visit, though Joosse will be visiting schools in early December. Both Archenemies and Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee are available singed by the authors - pretty soon the latter will be signed by the illustrator. Speaking of signed books, your Potato Pants! signed copy features an illustration of Potato and Unstinky features a drawing of Bud, the stinkbug who smells more like fresh baked bread and flowers. Limited quantities available.

Over at the Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee Native and Marquette alum speaks at the Woodland Pattern poetry gala on November 17. Also appearing are poet Nathaniel Mackey and pianist Marilyn Crispell. More information here.

Mari Yamaguchui of Associated Press looks at Haruki Murakami's plan for an archive of his writings at Waseda University.

Patti Rhule of USA Today review Kerri Maher's The Kennedy Debutante.

This week!: Potato Party Monday 11/5 at 4 pm with Laurie Keller and Alan Silberberg, Daniel Mason Monday 11/5 at 7, Barbara Joosse and Renée Graef Wednesday 11/7 at 6:30, Rosemary Wells Thursday 11/8 at 6:30 at Milwaukee's Central Library Betty Brinn Children's Room, Marissa Meyer at Boswell on Thursday 11/8, Bruce Iglauer at Boswell on Monday 11/12

Monday, November 5, 4:00 PM, at Boswell:
It’s a Potato Party! With Laurie Keller, author of Potato Pants!, and Alan Silberberg, author of Meet the Latkes

We’re having a potato party and every spud’s invited! It’s an awesome afternoon with author-illustrators Laurie Keller and Alan Silberberg and their perfect pair of potato themed picture books, activities, and yes, potato-based snacks. Registration has closed, but you're still welcome to attend this event. Hope to see you there.

A potato and his eggplant nemesis struggle to find the perfect pants in a hilarious, heartwarming tale of forgiveness by author-illustrator Laurie Keller. Potato is excited because Lance Vance’s Fancy Pants store is selling POTATO PANTS! Potato rushes over early, and just as he’s about to walk in, who does he see inside? Mean, pushy eggplant who was rude to him the other day. Can these vegetable rivals make peace in the name of fashion?

Alan Silberberg’s Latkes family is just like yours or mine. Except that they’re potato pancakes. And also, they are completely clueless. After they light the menorah and gobble the gelt, Grandpa Latke tells everyone the Hanukkah story, complete with mighty Mega Bees who use a giant dreidel to fight against the evil alien potatoes from Planet Chhh. It’s up to the Latke family dog to set the record straight. But he’ll have to get the rest of the Latkes to listen to him first! For this event, we'll have two presentations, potato snacks, a classic potato print craft, and a dress Potato! paper potato activity sheet.It's hard to describe.

Michigan-based Laurie Keller is author-illustrator of books one, two, and three of the Arnie the Doughnut series, Do Unto Otters, and We Are Growing!, the 2017 Theodor Seuss Geisel Winner. Alan Silberbergis an award-winning author, cartoonist, and children’s TV creator who has worked with Nickelodeon and Disney. He’s the author and illustrator of the middle grade novel Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze, which won the Sid Fleishman Humor Award.

Monday, November 5, 7:00 PM, at Boswell:
Daniel Mason, author of The Winter Soldier

Author of The New York Times and The Washington Post notable book, The Piano Tuner, Mason comes to Boswell with his latest, which Pulitzer-winner Anthony Doerr calls “a dream of a novel.”

Part mystery, part war story, part romance, The Winter Soldier tells the story of a medical student who enlists when World War I erupts across Europe. In a freezing outpost ravaged by typhus, he finds himself falling in love with the mysterious nurse from whom he must learn a brutal makeshift medicine.

From the gilded ballrooms of Imperial Vienna to the frozen forests of the Eastern Front, from hardscrabble operating rooms to battlefields thundering with Cossack cavalry, The Winter Soldier is the story of war and medicine, of family, of finding love in the sweeping tides of history, and finally, of the mistakes we make, and the precious opportunities to atone.

Daniel Mason is a physician and author of The Piano Tuner and A Far Country. A recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, he is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University, where he teaches courses in the humanities and medicine.

Wednesday, November 7, 6:30 PM, at Boswell: Barbara Joosse and Renée Graef, author and illustrator of Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee

We’re so excited to present a picture book that celebrates Milwaukee and all it has to offer. The acclaimed writer/illustrator team has created a delightful story of Lulu the fox, who has the trip of a lifetime when she and her friend Pufferson the Penguin visit her cousin Rocky.

The invite arrives and the packing begins - across Lake Michigan by ferry they go. Lulu and Pufferson check into The Pfister Hotel, where they are met by Norman the doorman. The Urban Ecology Center, Discovery World, and the Bronze Fonz are just some of the sites on their trip.

Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee is sure to be a popular gift for the holidays and for years to come. Celebrate its release with us, but if you can’t make it, Barbara and Renée will be appearing at numerous other locations in the Milwaukee area in November and December.

Port Washington-based Barbara Joosse has written fifty books for children, including Mama Do You Love Me? and Better Together: A Book About Family, which she wrote with her daughter Anneke Lisberg. Renée Graef has illustrated more than eighty books for children, including books for American Girl and a series of alphabet books for Sleeping Bear Press. Together they collaborated on a picture book about Cedarburg.

Thursday, November 8, 6:30 PM, at the Betty Brinn Children’s Room at Milwaukee Public Library’s Central Library, 814 W Wisconsin Ave:
Rosemary Wells, author of Hand in Hand and the brand new Sleep, My Bunny

The Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library presents an evening with the beloved children’s book writer and illustrator Rosemary Wells. This event is in conjunction with a new exhibit of artwork from her 2016 release, Hand in Hand. While Central Library is not normally open on Thursday evenings, the Betty Brinn Children’s Room will be open for this special event.

Rosemary Wells has been enchanting kids and adults alike for many years with characters like Max the Bunny and Yoko the Cat. This past spring saw the release of Kit and Kaboodle, the story of a brother-and-sister cat duo who are bedeviled by a mischievous mouse named Spinka. And we’re thrilled to also have a special pre-release appearance of Sleep, My Bunny, a soothing lullaby for the little rabbit in all of us.

Connecticut-based Rosemary Wells has written and/or illustrated more than 120 books for children and has received many awards. She is the creator of the beloved Max and Ruby series, the Felix and Fiona Stories, and other books featuring Sophie the mouse. She is also the illustrator of My Very First Mother Goose and Here Comes Mother Goose, two volumes of traditional nursery rhymes edited by Iona Opie.

Thursday, November 8, 7:00 PM, at Boswell:
Marissa Meyer, author of Archenemies: Renegades Vol. 2

Boswell is thrilled to host an appearance of the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Lunar Chronicles, Marissa Meyer, with her long-awaited second installment of the Renegades series.

Register for free for this event at marissamke.bpt.me or upgrade to a ticket with a copy of Archenemies for $21, including taxes and ticket fees. Advance purchase of the book will give you priority in the signing line. Meyer will sign all copies brought to the event, she will only personalize copies of Archenemies, as well as one other title of the attendee's choice. She will sign memorabilia and pose for photos.

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. They remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone, except the villains they once overthrew. Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. But as she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice - and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both. In Archenemies, The Anarchists still have a secret weapon, one that Nova believes will protect her. The Renegades also have a strategy for overpowering the Anarchists, but both Nova and Adrian understand that it could mean the end of Gatlon City and the world as they know it.

Marissa Meyer is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, which includes Cinder, Scarlet, and Winter, as well as the novel Heartless.

Monday, November 12, 7:00 PM, at Boswell:
Bruce Iglauer, author of Bitten by the Blues: The Alligator Records Story

Legendary Chicago blues producer Bruce Iglauer shares his unvarnished memoir of a life immersed in blues music and the business of the blues. This event cosponsored by Paramount Music Association.

In 1970, Bruce Iglauer walked into Florence’s Lounge in the heart of South Side Chicago and was overwhelmed by the joyous, raw blues of Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers. A year later, Iglauer produced Hound Dog’s debut album and pressed a thousand copies. From that album grew Alligator Records, the largest independent blues record label in the world.

Iglauer takes us behind the scenes, offering unforgettable stories of charismatic musicians and classic sessions, and delivering a look at what it’s like to work with the greats of the blues. It’s a vivid portrait of the extraordinary musicians and larger-than-life personalities who brought America’s music to life in the clubs of Chicago’s South and West Sides.

Bruce Iglauer is president and founder of Alligator Records and a Grammy-winning producer inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1997. Iglauer was founder of National Association of Independent Record Distributors and cofounder of Living Blues magazine. He is also a founder of the Chicago Blues Festival and codirector of the Blues Community Foundation. He received the American Association for Independent Music (A2IM) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

More on Boswell's upcoming events page.

Whoboughtit? And other secrets of the Boswell bestseller list for the week ending November 3, 2018

Whoboughtit? And other secrets of the Boswell bestseller list for the week ending November 3, 2018

Hardcover Fiction:
1. November Road, by Lou Berney
2. The Winter Soldier, by Daniel Mason
3. Jar of Hearts, by Robert Hillier
4. Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver
5. Button Man, by Andrew Gross
6. Mercy's Chase V2, by Jess Lourey
7. Dark Sacred Night, by Michael Connelly
8. Leave No Trace, by Mindy Mejia (signed copies available)
9. There There, by Tommy Orange
10. Elevation, by Stephen King

All was Murder and Mayhem this week as we sold books at the annual conference at the Irish Cultural Center on Saturday.I'm always curious to see who will sell the most books, and this year was Lou Berney with November Road (signed copies available). Richard Turner in The Wall Street Journal noted: "His latest follows two strangers whose paths cross - a street-smart operator who works for a New Orleans mob boss, and an Oklahoma City mother fleeing her husband. The premise came from a small prairie town he’d heard about, a'“cool-off' spot where soldiers for crime organizations went to lay low. Mr. Berney originally set his story in 1968...Something wasn’t firing early on, though. His new agent, Shane Salerno, suggested relocating to the days following Nov. 22, 1963. The presidential assassination itself wouldn’t be the focus, but it would ignite the story and its aftermath would provide a backdrop: 'a seismic change in our country that can be reflected in the characters who are forced into motion by this event.'"

Hardcover Nonfiction
1. Radio Flyer, by Robert Pasin
2. Leaders, by Stanley McChrystal
3. Everyday Dorie, by Dorie Greenspan
4. Funding Feminism, by Joan Marie Johnson 5. Little Book of Hygge, by Meik Wiking
6. The Library Book, by Susan Orlean
7. UWM: The First Sixty Years, 1956-2016, by John Schroeder
8. Beastie Boys Book, by Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz
9. Educated, by Tara Westover
10. Dorie's Cookies, by Dorie Greenspan

Take our advice and don't wait till the last minute for your holiday gifts, especially when you have your eye on The Beastie Boys Book, from Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond. We're going to have trouble keeping this one in stock. From A.O. Scott in The New York Times: "The third Beastie, Adam Yauch - MCA, the conscience, shaman and intellectual backbone of the group — died in 2012 after a three-year battle with salivary gland cancer. His absence, six years later, is a palpable fact in the room. His name comes up a lot in the conversation, as it does in the new book Horovitz and Diamond have written. Called Beastie Boys Book (though the front cover might lead you to believe that the actual title is PIZZA), it’s a 571-page doorstop and a tombstone, a compendium of anecdotes, recipes, impish riffs and shaggy-dog stories and a heartfelt elegy to a much-missed friend."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Dear Daughter, by Elizabeth Little
2. Under a Dark Sky, by Lori Rader-Day
3. Beyond the Pale, by Clare O'Donohue
4. The Long and Faraway Gone, by Lou Berney
5. Flyover Country, by Austin Smith
6. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
7. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman
8. Hotel Silence, by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
9. Bluebird Bluebird, by Attica Locke
10. Less, by Andrew Sean Greer

I read the back end of the top 10, but I've got a ways to go on the top five, having only read Under a Dark Sky. One of the other hits of Murder and Mayhem was Elizabeth Little's Dear Daughter, which was particularly surprising as the book is from 2014 (the paperback's from 2015) and we usually don't do that well with older titles. Library Journal couldn't say it better: "Jane Jenkins is a snarky celebutante, famous for being famous, until she is convicted of the murder of her wealthy socialite mother. After being released from prison on a technicality, Janie tracks down the one lead she has on the real killer and is startled by what she uncovers about her mother's past in small-town South Dakota."

More recently released is Clare O'Donohue's Beyond the Pale, a new series from the recently-announced-its-being-shuttered Midnight Ink. It's about a married couple who are convinced to become spies as they are chased across Ireland. Bring her back for Irish Fest!

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Great Derangement, by Amitav Ghosh
2. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan
3. Practice of Adaptive Leadership, by Ronald Heifetz
4. Cold War Wisconsin, by Christopher Sturdevant
5. The Color of War, by Richard Rothstein
6. Butter, by Dorie Greenspan
7. I Swear I Saw This, by Michael Taussig
8. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
9. Magnificent Machines of Milwaukee, By Thomas Fehring
10. Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain

It's an environmental top two as Amitav Ghosh's The Great Derangement beats out the non-even-but-always-popular The Death and Life of the Great Lakes. I've read Ghosh, but only his novel Sea of Poppies, the first of a trilogy that I didn't know was a trilogy when I picked it up. It's been many years but I just wish the first volume was worked as a stand-alone instead of leaving me on the edge of my seat. Despite Ghosh's nonfiction book being a year old in paperback and a 2016 in hardcover, the book continues to be timely. As Mark Bachanan writes in Bloomberg News: "Scientists haven’t had much luck convincing us of the impending disaster. Maybe it’s time the artists and philosophers gave it a shot."

Books for Kids:
1. Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree, by Robert Barry
2. The Snowy Nap, by Jan Brett
3. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, with illustrations by Renée Graef (event Wed Nov 7, 6:30 at Boswell!)
4. Bridge of Clay, by Markus Zusak
5. Map of Days V4, by Ransom Riggs
6. The Wall in the Middle of the Book, by Jon Agee
7. Potato Pans!, by Laurie Keller (event at Boswell Mon Nov 5, 4 pm)
8. Meltdown, by Jeff Kinney
9. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, By Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
10. Very Large Expanse of Sea, by Tahereh Mafi

Jan Brett's The Snowy Nap is her latest picture book for kids. From Publishers Weekly: "In this fetching companion to The Hat, autumn gives way to winter on young Lisa's Danish island farm, where her woodland friend Hedgie decides he'll 'just take a last ramble' before hibernating." The other animals talk up winter so much that Hedgie doesn't want to go to sleep! Buy the book from us and get a special tote bag, while supplies last.

Over at the Journal Sentinel TapBooks page, some suggestions.

In the spirit of Murder and Mayhem weekend, Charles Finch recommends some mysteries (from USA Today):
--Transcription, by Kate Atkinson (still out of stock! If you want this, please give us your contact info)
--The Wildlands, by Abby Geni
--Button Man, by Andrew Gross (you just missed him! He was in town yesterday)
--The Man Who Came Uptown, by George Pelecanos

Brian Truitt reviews Elevation, the new Stephen King (from USA Today).

Zlati Meyer looks at Rebecca Traister's Good and Mad (from US Today network)

Event Yourself!: Christopher Sturdevant's Wisconsin History, Amitav Ghosh at UWM, Thrills with Mindy Mejia and Kate Moretti, poetry with Austin Smith and Dora Malech, Murder and Mayhem, and Laurie Keller, Alan Silberberg, and Daniel Mason next Monday. Sorry, Dorie Greenspan is sold out.

Tuesday, October 30, 7:00 PM, at Boswell:
Christopher Sturdevant, author of Cold War Wisconsin

Milwaukee author and Chairman of the Midwest Chapter of the Cold War Museum tells the tales of the Badger State’s role in the showdown between East and West.

For decades, Wisconsin’s nuclear missiles pointed to the skies from Waukesha’s back yard, awaiting Soviet bombers. Joseph Stalin's daughter sought refuge in the small town of Richland Center. With violence in Vietnam about to peak, a cargo ship from Kewaunee sparked a new international incident with North Korea. Manitowoc was ground zero for a Sputnik satellite crash, and four ordinary Madison youths landed on the FBI's most wanted list after the Sterling Hall Bombing.

Sturdevant recounts the stories of everyday Wisconsinites during the years that the Cold War gripped the world with fear of espionage and nuclear winter in this book, which preserves a fading piece of Wisconsin history.

Christopher Sturdevant is Chairman of the Midwest Chapter of the Cold War Museum, a children's librarian in Milwaukee, and a U.S. Air Force veteran. Sturdevant has represented Team USA in master's level track championships on three continents.

Thursday, November 1, 7:00 PM, at UWM Peck School of the Arts Recital Hall, 2400 E Kenwood Blvd:
Amitav Ghosh, author of The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable

The Kennan and Vilas Distinguished Lecture series hosts Amitav Ghosh for a talk entitled Embattled Earth, sponsored by Institute of World Affairs, Vilas Trust, Department of English, UWM Letters and Sciences, and Boswell.

Ghosh traces the entangled history of commodities, conflict, and climate change in the Indian Ocean. Since Vasco da Gama’s voyage, the Indian Ocean has been the theatre of rivalries over commodities. For centuries the main players were Western colonial powers, but lately the countries of the Indian Ocean rim have become the principal drivers of anthropogenic climate change, an ongoing process that will have catastrophic consequences for the billions of people who live
around the Indian Ocean.

This lecture explores the continuities between the resource conflicts of the past and the future by focusing on two transformative imperial wars: the Anglo-Dutch spice wars of the 17th century and the 1st Opium War of 1840-42. It also poses a question: are the imperatives of empire and military supremacy among the major drivers of climate change?

Amitav Ghosh is a novelist and essayist, author of The Calcutta Chromosome, the Ibis Trilogy, and the essay collection In an Antique Land. He has won the Prix Médicis étranger, an Arthur C. Clarke Award, and in 2017 he was awarded the inaugural Utah Award in the Environmental Humanities from the University of Utah.

Thursday, November 1, 7:00 PM, at Boswell:
A Murder and Mayhem Milwaukee Preview, featuring Mindy Mejia, author of Leave No Trace and Kate Moretti, author of In Her Bones

Boswell offers a preview event for Murder and Mayhem Milwaukee with two critically-acclaimed authors of thrilling new crime novels, Mindy Mejia, author of Everything You Want Me To Be, in conversation with with Kate Moretti, author of While You Were Gone.

Mejia’s latest thriller is set in the glacial lakes and untouched forests of the Minnesota Boundary Waters. Ten years ago a man and his son trekked into this wilderness and never returned, presumed dead. Ten years later, the son is discovered ransacking an outfitter store, violent and uncommunicative, refusing to answer questions about his father or the last ten years of his life. As a therapist is drawn closer to this enigmatic young man, she’ll risk everything to reunite him with his father who has disappeared from the known world.

Moretti’s latest is a novel that questions the nature of guilt, obsession, and familial ties that follows the daughter of a convicted serial killer who finds herself at the center of a murder investigation. Edie is a recovering alcoholic with a dead-end city job, an unhealthy codependent relationship with her brother, and a growing obsession with the families of her mother’s victims.

Mindy Mejia is author of The Dragon Keeper and Everything You Want Me to Be. Kate Moretti is author of Thought I Knew You, Binds That Tie, and While You Were Gone.

Friday, November 2, 7:00 PM, at Boswell:
Austin Smith, author of Flyover Country, and Dora Malech, author of Stet

An evening of poetry from the Princeton University Press Series of Contemporary Poets, featuring University of Wisconsin graduate Smith and Malech, who teaches in The Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University.

Building on Smith’s reputation as an accessible and inventive poet with deep insights about rural America, Flyover Country draws profound connections between the Midwest and the wider world. Inspired by his childhood on a dairy farm in Illinois, tales of rural life lead the way in this collection focused on family, violence, and memories.

Malech’s latest is a collection of serious and playful poems that tap the inventive possibilities of the anagram and other constraining forms, combining lyric invention and wordplay. “Stet,” from the Latin for “let it stand,” is a proofreading term meaning to retain or return to a previous phrasing. Stet is a work of serious play that brings home the connections and intimacies of language.

Austin Smith grew up on a family dairy farm in northwestern Illinois. He is author of Almanac, and his work has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, and Ploughshares. He teaches at Stanford University. Dora Malech is author of Say So and Shore Ordered Ocean. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, and Best American Poetry. She is Assistant Professor in The Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University.

Saturday, November 3, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, at Irish Cultural and Heritage Center, 2133 W. Wisconsin Ave:
Murder and Mayhem Milwaukee

Murder and Mayhem returns to Milwaukee in 2018! This year’s event features a whole day full of the excellent author panels and interviews you’ve come to expect from this mysteriously good event.Enjoy panels, one-on-one interviews, and schmooze with the authors. Find your new favorite writer or hang out with an old favorite. Bring books from home to get signed or buy them from Boswell.

News on Lou Berney's November Road - Lawrence Kasdan, whose filmwork includes The Big Chill, The Accidental Tourist, and numerous screenplay credits in the Star Wars franchise, is adapting Berney's latest. Per Deadline: "Kasdan will write and direct, and will produce the film with Shane Salerno's The Story Factory. The producers intend to fast-track the project, and for it to be Kasdan’s next film. Distributors are circling and that part of the deal should be made shortly."

Tickets for the whole day cost $40, plus ticketing fees, available at murdermayhemmilwaukee.com.

This year, Murder and Mayhem features a criminally good lineup, including special guests Lou Berney, Edgar Award-winning author of The Long and Faraway Gone and Andrew Gross, bestselling collaborator of James Patterson whose latest is a historical thriller set in New York's garment district. The rest of the lineup includes Ed Aymar, Susanna Calkins, Joe Clifford, Angel Colon, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Matthew FitzSimmons, Bryan Gruley, Jennifer Hillier, Chris Holm, Julie Hyzy, Owen Laukkanen, Elizabeth Little, Jess Lourey, Nadine Nettmann, Clare O’Donohue, Milwaukee’s own Nick Petrie, Lori Rader-Day, Tom Schreck,Victoria Thompson, and Fred Van Lente.

Sold out - Saturday, November 3, 12:00 PM, at Bartolotta’s Lake Park Bistro, 3133 E Newberry Blvd:
A Cookbook Author Luncheon with Dorie Greenspan, author of Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook

Alas, Bartolotta's lunch at Lake Park Bistro featuring Dorie Greenspan is sold out. Signed copies of Everyday Dorie can still be requested for pickup after the event. Personalization requries pre-payment.

Dorie Greenspan is author of Dorie's Cookies, a 2017 James Beard Award-winner for Best Baking and Dessert book, Around My French Table, named Cookbook of the Year by the IACP, and Baking: From My Home to Yours, a James Beard Award winner.

Monday, November 5, 4:00 PM, at Boswell:
It’s a Potato Party! With Laurie Keller, author of Potato Pants!, and Alan Silberberg, author of Meet the Latkes

We’re having a potato party and every spud’s invited! It’s an awesome afternoon with author-illustrators Laurie Keller and Alan Silberberg and their perfect pair of potato themed picture books, activities, and yes, potato-based snacks. Please register for this free event at potatomke.bpt.me.

A potato and his eggplant nemesis struggle to find the perfect pants in a hilarious, heartwarming tale of forgiveness by author-illustrator Laurie Keller. Potato is excited because Lance Vance’s Fancy Pants store is selling POTATO PANTS! Potato rushes over early, and just as he’s about to walk in, who does he see inside? Mean, pushy eggplant who was rude to him the other day. Can these vegetable rivals make peace in the name of fashion?

Alan Silberberg’s Latkes family is just like yours or mine. Except that they’re potato pancakes. And also, they are completely clueless. After they light the menorah and gobble the gelt, Grandpa Latke tells everyone the Hanukkah story, complete with mighty Mega Bees who use a giant dreidel to fight against the evil alien potatoes from Planet Chhh. It’s up to the Latke family dog to set the record straight. But he’ll have to get the rest of the Latkes to listen to him first!

Michigan-based Laurie Keller is author-illustrator of books one, two, and three of the Arnie the Doughnut series, Do Unto Otters, and We Are Growing!, the 2017 Theodor Seuss Geisel Winner. Alan Silberbergis an award-winning author, cartoonist, and children’s TV creator who has worked with Nickelodeon and Disney. He’s the author and illustrator of the middle grade novel Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze, which won the Sid Fleishman Humor Award.

Monday, November 5, 7:00 PM, at Boswell:
Daniel Mason, author of Winter Soldier

While several of us were big fans of Daniel Mason's first book, The Piano Tuner, little did we know that The Winter Soldier would be one of the hot books of fall. Both the publisher and both wholesalers are currently out of stock on this title. While we have enough copies for our event, let us say now that if you miss this event, you're going to regret it later. It's a Monday, so we're pretty sure your evening is free!

Part mystery, part war story, part romance, Winter Soldier tells the story of a medical student who enlists when World War I erupts across Europe. In a freezing outpost ravaged by typhus, he finds himself falling in love with the mysterious nurse from whom he must learn a brutal makeshift medicine.

From the gilded ballrooms of Imperial Vienna to the frozen forests of the Eastern Front, from hardscrabble operating rooms to battlefields thundering with Cossack cavalry, The Winter Soldier is the story of war and medicine, of family, of finding love in the sweeping tides of history, and finally, of the mistakes we make, and the precious opportunities to atone.

Daniel Mason is a physician and also the author of A Far Country. A recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, he is currently Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University, where he teaches courses in the humanities and medicine.

Bookmark our upcoming events page for Boswell's schedule.