Bestsellers for the Week, How Did Our Events Go, and Where to See Erik Larson.

It's Sunday, and when I have nothing else pressing on my mind, there are always bestsellers.  Something interesting always comes up in passing.

fiction hardcover

1. Caleb's Crossing, by Geraldine Brooks

2. Doc, by Mary Doria Russell

3. Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss

4. The Pale King, by David Foster Wallace

5. Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen

Thank you to everyone who came to Geraldine Brooks event on Thursday, as well as everyone involved with putting the event together.  We got wonderful feedback for the $5 tickets (known as the Boulder Bookstore model, where the customer gets the $5 back in a discount off the featured book. The only issue so far?  At least one customer didn't see the sign in our main door that we were asking everyone to enter and exit through Starbucks and didn't walk around to the other side to enter.  My apologies to anyone else this happened to.

nonfiction hardcover

1. The President is a Sick Man, by Matthew Algeo
2. In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson
3. Bossypants, by Tina Fey
4. Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
5. The Social Animal, by David Brooks
In our store at least, Larson can thank Geraldine Brooks.  More than half our copies for the week were sold the evening of her event by attendees.

Though Larson did not come to Milwaukee for this book, perhaps you'd like to catch him over the next few weeks if you are elsewhere.  He's actually pretty close, hovering around the Chicago area for at least three events. According to the Random House site:

Sunday, May 15, 2 pm: Centuries and Sleuths, Forest Park, Illinois (today!)

Monday, May 16, 2 pm, Burton Manner, Livonia, Michigan

Tuesday, May 17, 7:30 pm, Free Library of Philadelphia

Wednesday, May 18, 7 pm, Prairie Lights, Iowa City
Thursday, May 19, 7:30 pm, First Presbyterian Church of Dallas
Saturday, May 21, 6:30 pm, Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, Washington
Monday, May 23, 11:30 am, Union League Club, Chicago
Monday, May 23, 6 pm, Chicago Public Library

paperback fictoin

1. A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan
2. The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orrginer
3. People of the Book, by Geraldine Brook
4. Room, by Emma Donoghue (first week out)
5. Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese
6. The Solitude of Prime Numbers, by Paolo Giordano

I'm excited to include #6, as momentum on our April event book has still been strong.  In fact, we're still the #1 book on Treeline, but other stores are nipping at our heels.

Oh, and Room was still was on our hardcover list for the week.

paperback nonfiction

1. The Bread of Angels, by Stephanie Saldana
2. Inside of a Dog, by Alexandra Horowitz
3. The Nine Parts of Desire, by Geraldine Brooks
4. Writing to Make a Difference, by Dalya Massachi
5. Life, by Keith Richards

You'd think there is only one Geraldine Brooks event book on this list, but there are actually two.  I read that Brooks was an evangelist for The Bread of Angels on Shelf Awareness, and so ordered in a pile.  When someone asked Brooks what she was excited about, among the other books, I handed her a copy and we sold out everything.

kids hardcover

1. A Tale of Two Castles, by Gail Carson Levine
2. A World Without Fish, by Mark Kurlansky
3. Throne of Fire, by Rick Riordan
4. We are in a Book, by Mo Willems
5. Built to Last, by David Macaulay

Our paperback list is all Gail Carson Levine, all the time.  We were talking to a Shorewood teacher who said their event was really wonderful.