Friday, November 29, 2019

Alice Adams rediscovered! Carol Sklenicka's "Alice Adams: Portrait of a Writer," ten years in the making - an appreciation (and info on an event at the end of this post)

When I was younger, I read a lot of short stories, and two of my favorite writers were named Alice. Both were celebrated, but while one’s reputation exploded in the nineties, with Alice Munro seemingly winning every award possible, Alice Adams star faded, even before she passed away in 1999. It was only after reading Alice Adams: Portrait of a Writer, that I learned that a bit of this was connected to the change of leadership at The New Yorker. The new regime still kept her on first look, but only published two more of her stories. They just didn't like her work as much as William Shawn's regime did.

When Carol Sklenicka came to Boswell for her previous biography, Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life, back in 2009, she mentioned she was looking into Alice Adams as her next subject. Makes sense – Sklenicka had relocated to the Bay Area and almost all of Adams’s work was infused with San Francisco. It was exciting for me, because I’d been a big fan of the author’s work. It turns out that I had collected 12 of her books and read 11 of them, only leaving out The Stories of Alice Adams because I figured I’d read most of them in individual story volumes. And my collection actually does not include Superior Women, the author’s commercial hit. It’s likely I read it in mass market and the book was not in acceptable shape to go in my bookcase afterwards. But I did hold onto three of the Alex Katz editions of Adams paperbacks, a conceptually beautiful series of paperback jackets that one rarely sees from publishers nowadays.

After ten years, Alice Adams: Portrait of a Writer, is releasing on December 3, and I am so hoping it leads to, if not a resurgence, than a positive reassessment of her writing career. Sklenicka’s exhaustive (but hardly exhausting, more like exhilarating) biography chronicles a writer who broke away from traditional roles, and struggled to get published. Her first novel did not come out until she was 40 and her second when she was 49. Her stories and novels were filled with characters based on real people, notably ones with with a good amount of Alice herself baked into their DNA, and Sklenicka lays all of that out, and even uncovers a few secrets.

Having grown up in North Carolina, Adams fought back against the prejudices of her upbringing and tackled the racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and homophobia in her work. And yet she still had to struggle with the male gatekeepers; can you believe Adams was good friends with Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow, and Irving Howe and none of the three would give her a quote on her book because it was beneath them? Fortunately she had a strong network of women friends, and I mean strong, as they had no qualms about reviewing each other’s work in national publications without calling attention to their friendships, In fact, when Adams was on the Pulitzer committee, she nominated perhaps her closest friend Diane Johnson for the honor, but another member had a different book and Adams pushed for that too, and that’s how Beloved won the Pulitzer Prize (sort of). Look, I’m well aware that Sklenicka’s biography is over 500 pages, but it is so absorbing you won’t notice the time slip by. To use a word that often came to mind when describing Adams’s own work, Alice Adams: Portrait of a Writer is delicious!

Sklenicka's work also sort of chronicles the change in the short story. Adams's stories were often a little too outré for women's magazines, but they did publish her work, albeit with changes. But as the market dried up for popular stories, the focus of story writing became more AWP oriented (Association of Writer and Writing Programs), with the story collection being the effective thesis. It's a rare traditional publisher who will publish story collections, and while one or two catch fire every year, most do not do so at the level of George Saunders's Tenth of December. When one does again, you can bet there will be an increase in story collections published about two years later.

I found some of my old reviews for Adams’s work, from when I used to write up books and send out the lists to friends, pre-Internet. It was clear that the more I read of her work, the more my love grew. In reviewing these, I had forgotten that Adams did visit the Schwartz Bookshop in Shorewood, and I got to see her there. I also kind of like a few of the details, like my visit to that incredible bookstore in Tucson, long closed.

On my Booklists, sometimes I reviewed the books in order of how I liked them, and sometimes I did not. A Southern Exposure, reviewed March 1996, was my #1 book for the month.
Whereas most of Adams’s novels depict the Northern California of her adulthood, A Southern Exposure mines her childhood to create Pinehill (read Chapel Hill) North Carolina in the 1930s. To the town comes the Baird family, on the lam from Connecticut and an overdue Lord and Taylor bill. Returning home from California is poet Russell Byrd and family, on whom mother Cynthia Baird develops a crush. Flirtations and more abound, gossip ensues, but the real tension develops with Cynthia attempts to help a (black) maid set up her own decorating shop. What I love about Adams’s work is the richness of the characters, even minor (ones) scene stealers, and the density of the descriptions. Her omniscient narrator has an old-fashioned, somewhat ironic insight in the characters’ actions, but shares their confusion. A Southern Exposure is pure pleasure, bringing the reader straight into the drawing rooms and garden parties of the day, where everyone has something to say.

Medicine Men, reviewed May 1997, was also my number one book for the month.
Adams’s newest novel is based on her battle with cancer. Yikes, many of her fans say, I don’t want to read about that. Have no fear, the story is told in inimitable Adams style, and is as charming and dishy as ever. Thank goodness regular readers NG and MG (you know who you are!) paid heed to my advice. I wish I could have convinced 20,000 more people. Molly Bonner has been having headaches and doesn’t know the cause. She has started dating Dave Jacobs, a pleasant, but didactic and controlling doctor. Molly figures she’s had enough of doctors, but when the headaches turnout tto be a sinus cancer, she can’t get away from MDs, let alone break up with Dr. Jacobs. The characters personal and professional lives become hopelessly entwined. Many nasty secrets are discovered. All told, Medicine Men is Adams at her fully operational best. It was great to attend Adams’s reading, and insightful as well. It turns out that Adams wrote A Southern Exposure to take her mind off her cancer woes. Though the plot is made up, some of the nasty doctors are obliquely based on read people.

Add caption
I don't know if Careless Love, reviewed the same month, really was #2. When I read two books by the same author in a month, I liked to keep them together.
Published in the UK with the original title, The Fall of Daisy Duke. When Adams read at our Shorewood store, she looked over at my copy of Careless Love and said, “Where did you get that?”In fact, I bought it at the one of a kind Bookmark in Tucson. When there, head out west towards Speedway (I took the bus) and visit this fascinating store, ostensibly not a used bookstore, but filled with out-of-print gems. Her first novel told the story of Daisy, living the high life as a San Francisco divorcee, until she falls in love with the wrong man, a married Spaniard. See Joanna Trollope’s A Spanish Lover for why this is generally a bad thing. Daisy consults her friends, the high-flying Valerie and the down-to-earth Jane, but finds it hard to take their advice. The fall is inevitable, but getting there is half the fun. Careless Love is the novel’s American title, which Adams never particularly liked. She could not have foreseen the Dukes of Hazzard connection that would haunt the alternate title. The gap in time between her first two novel is mostly to do with the way the first one was published and it’s lack of commercial reception.

Adams's last original collection, The Last Lovely City, was reviewed April 1999. It was #3, but to put that in context, I read nine books that month.
The late Ms. Adams was one of my favorite writers, and I’m grateful for the legacy of this last collection of marvelously dishy, intensely San Francisco stories. There is Penelope of “The Haunted Beach,” who makes a disastrous attempt to relive pleasant memories of a Mexican vacation, and Mary of “Raccoons,” an aging actress whose only permanent relationship is with her cat, now missing. For those who like their stories linked, part II consists of four connected stories about the dissolution of two relationships. The tone of these stories may remind loyal Adams readers of the 1989 novel Second Chances, only here, the second time around is as disappointing as the first. Adams’s stories have always seemed to me like stories told to you over the phone by a close friend. If you have a yen for sex, cats, gossip, and wry humor, The Last Lonely City should do a good job of sating it.

I'm excited to note that Carol Sklenicka is coming to Milwaukee for a special event at Boswell on Friday, December 6, 2019, 7 pm. The wonderful Flora Coker will be doing a dramatic reading of one of Adams's most noted stories, "Roses, Rhododendron," and then Sklenicka will be in conversation with writer Martha Bergland about Alice Adams: Portrait of a Writer. When researching this post, I came across my review for Bergland's Farm Under a Lake. I noted the comparison to Alice, wait for it, Munro.

And finally, I should note that Scribner has reissued Superior Women, while Vintage has brought out a paperback edition of The Stories of Alice Adams, just in time for the book's publication. Several of the other books I mentioned are ebook, second hand, or the stray circulating library copy only.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Boswell event alert- Layne Fargo in conversation with Kelsey Rae Dimberg, Translation Night with Lorena Terando, Jacob Riyeff, and Caroline Froh, Small Business Saturday, plus Jim Biever next Tuesday - Boswell is closed on Thanksgiving

Monday, November 25, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Layne Fargo, author of Temper, in conversation with Kelsey Rae Dimberg

Chicago Sisters in Crime member Layne Fargo visits with her debut that’s a razor-sharp page-turner, just named to the New York Times summer reading list. She’ll chat with Milwaukee’s own Kelsey Rae Dimberg, author of Girl in the Rearview Mirror. Prior to the event, Boswell’s in-store mystery book club will meet at 6 pm to discuss Temper.

After years of struggling in the Chicago theater scene, ambitious actress Kira finally lands the role of a lifetime. The catch? Working with a mercurial director known for pushing performers past their limits onstage and off. As opening night draws near, Kira and the theater’s slippery cofounder both start to realize the director’s dangerous extremes are nothing compared to what they're capable of themselves. An edgy, addictive, and fiendishly clever tale of ambition, deceit, and power, Temper is a timely, heart-in-your-throat psychological thriller.

From Mindy Mejia in The New York Journal of Books: "Everything about this psychological thriller screams immediacy; the chapters are quick, the voices are present tense, and the timely plot unfolds in a single propulsive timeline as told by two women. Joanna is the executive director of Indifferent Honest, a small but prestigious Chicago theater. Kira is an actress who’s hit 30 and still chasing her big break. Both women are unapologetically ambitious, and the book’s structure and point of view masterfully feeds into their desires. They want power and recognition, and they want it now."

Don't forget, if you've read Temper, Fargo will be visiting our Mystery Book Club to discuss spoilers. The mystery group meets at 6 pm, and Fargo will join them around 6:30.

Tuesday, November 26, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Translation Night, featuring Lorena Terando author of Spiral of Silence, Jacob Riyeff, author of In the Bosom of the Father, and Caroline Froh with a work in progress

Enjoy an evening of literature in translation with UWM Associate Professor of Translation and Interpreting Studies Lorena Terando, Marquette Visiting Assistant Professor of English Jacob Riyeff, and former Boswellian Caroline Froh, now a graduate student at the University of Iowa. Cohosted by the University of Marquette English Department and the UWM Translation and Interpreting Studies Program.

Lorena Terando, UWM Associate Professor of Translation Studies, presents her translation of Elvira Sánchez-Blake's shattering testimonial novel Spiral of Silence, which depicts the impact of Colombia's civil war on three women; an upper-class army wife, a young rebel and mother, and a girl who comes of age at a critical moment in the country's history.

Marquette Visiting Assistant Professor of English Jacob Riyeff presents In the Bosom of the Father, his translation of the work of Swami Abhishiktananda, a French Benedictine monk who lived in India for more than two decades and strove to understand and live his Christian faith through the enlightening teachings of Hindu Advaita Vedanta.


And former Boswellian Caroline Froh presents work from a translation-in-progress titled Words of Resistance (Widerworte), a collection of texts by Mariella Mehr. Born in 1947 to the nomadic Jenish people in Switzerland, Mehr was a victim of a forced assimilation which systematically removed Jenish children from their families. Much of Mehr’s work draws from her life and confronts trauma, violence, gender, and life in the margins of society.

Boswell is closed for Thanksgiving on November 28

Saturday, November 30, all day:
Small Business Saturday

For Small Business Saturday, our Boswell-branded gift items are 20%. That includes tee shirts, totes, mugs, pint glasses, and our Boswell wooden ornament from Timber Green. We've just gotten in a great new selection of tees, and our totes come in three new colors - navy, maroon, and chocolate brown.

In addition, Boswell expands the Boswell Best between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Our buyers have picked the best adult and kids books of the season to feature at 20% off list price.

Tuesday, December 3, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Jim Biever, author of 100 Years in Titletown: Celebrating a Century of Green Bay Packers Football

Boswell presents Jim Biever, former Packers Team Photographer, for a celebration of more than seventy years of one family’s quintessential Green Bay football photography. Register for this free event bievermke.bpt.me or upgrade to a registration-with-purchase and get 10% off 100 Years of Titletown. Discount for advance purchases only.

 The name Biever is synonymous with Green Bay Packers football. For the better part of eight decades, the late Vernon Biever and his son Jim were there on the sidelines at Lambeau and beyond, capturing the most iconic moments in team history.

In celebration of the Packers' 100th season, 100 Years in Titletown is a stunning showcase of the finest work from the Biever archives, sourced from thousands of film rolls and including rare, never-before-seen images shot by the first family of Packers photography. Jim Biever was the official team photographer of the Packers until his retirement in 2016.

More event info at the Boswell upcoming events page.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Here's what's selling at Boswell for the week ending November 23, 2019

Here's what's selling at Boswell for the week ending November 23, 2019

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Confession Club, by Elizabeth Berg
2. False Flag in Autumn, by Michael Bowen
3. Agent Running in the Field, by John Le Carre
4. The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett
5. The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern
6. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
7. Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson
8. The Guardians, by John Grisham
9. Night Fires, by Michael Connelly
10. Blue Moon, by Lee Child

We do love hooking up authors and nonprofits. Elizabeth Berg was the guest speaker at the Fall Ozaukee Family Services Luncheon and what a nice event it was. The Confession Club has gotten some very nice reviews too. Here's Melissa Norstedt in Booklist: "Berg is a natural storyteller, and here she creates a genuine group of women, old friends and new, for readers to cozy up to. Even minor characters come to life with sincerity and charm. The Confession Club shows that family doesn’t have to be defined in the traditional sense, home isn’t always where we expect it to be, and the love of friends is all we really need." Signed copies available.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Felidia, Lidia Matticchio Bastianich
2. Music to My Years, by Cristela Alonzo
3. I'm Still Here, by Austin Channing Brown
4. The Body, by Bill Bryson
5. The Witches Are Coming, by Lindy West
6. Finding Chika, by Mitch Albom
7. A Warning, by Anonymous
8. The Lines Between Us, by Lawrence Lanahan
9. Dumpty, by John Lithgow
10. Talking to Strangers, by Malcolm Gladwell

In conjunction with the release of Music to My Years, Cristela Alonzo appeared at the Underground Collaborative, which is where I think the International Clown Hall of Fame used to be in what used to be the Grand Avenue. Alonzo, who you might still remember from her one-season ABC sitcom, is a comdian whose memoir about growing up in South Texas, is structured like a mix tape. Is there a Golden Girls chapter? There is, sort of. Can you watch her on CBS This Morning? You can. Do we have signed copies? We do.

Paperback Fiction:
1. A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams
2. Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare (Folio edition)
3. The Overstory, by Richard Powers
4. Girl Woman Other, by Bernardine Evaristo
5. Far from the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy
6. It, by Stephen King
7. The Alice Network, by Kate Quinn
8. Ohio, by Stephen Markley
9. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson
10. Milwaukee Noir, edited by Tim Hennessy

Gone were the days when both John Williams and Meco can have hits with the Theme from Star Wars - you'll have to excuse me, because I'm obsessively reading Tom Breihan's Number Ones column in Stereogum and he often notes that many singers would have hits with the same song. But two Booker Prize winners, two Nobel Prize for Literature winners, two books about WPA Pack Libraries don't seem to lift both boats.  We're still selling lots of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, but haven't really taken off with Jojo Moyes's The Giver of Stars.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Parenting the New Teen in the Age of Anxiety, by John Duffy
2. Classic Krakauer, by Jon Krakauer
3. No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, by Greta Thunberg
4. 111 Places in Milwaukee You Must Not Miss, by Michelle Madden
5. Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, by Christopher De Hamel
6. Making Comics, by Lynda Barry
7. Milwaukee Jazz, by Joey Grihalva
8. Big Fella, by Jane Leavy
9. Flame, by Leonard Cohen
10. AOC, by Prachi Gupta

I don't usually see a fall sales pop for baseball books, but The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created made our top ten and it wasn't a bulk order either. In addition to being a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, it was named a top book of the year by Boston Globe, Newsweek, and Kirkus, which wrote: "Does the world need another biography of Babe Ruth (1895-1948)? If it’s this one, then the answer is an emphatic yes. The ever excellent Leavy brings her considerable depth of knowledge of sports history."

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Queen of Nothing V3, by Holly Black
2. I Am Alfonso Jones, by Tony Medina
3. Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson
4. Finding Treasures, by Michelle Schaub, with illustrations by Carmen Saldana
5. Fresh Picked Poetry, by Michelle Schaub, with illustrations by Amy Huntington
6. Modern Faerie Tales, by Holly Black (paperback)
7. Modern Faerie Tales, by Holly Black (hardcover)
8. The Cruel Prince V1, by Holly Black (hardcover)
9. The Wicked King V2, by Holly Black
10. Heart of the Moors, by Holly Black

Holly Black was here. We have signed copies of The Queen of Nothing.

Over at the Journal Sentinel book page, it's Jim Higgins's Holiday Gift Guide.

Anne Levin at the Associated Press reviews Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Me: A Memoir. Ann's opinion: "Bair’s indefatigable energy and cando attitude are likely to inspire a new generation of writers and biographers working in a field where the boundaries between genres – memoir, fiction, autobiography, biography – aren’t as clear as they once were."

Fellow AP reviewer Jeff Rowe takes on Our Wild Calling, the new nonfiction book from Richard Louv. Rowe writes: "The reader begins to think that many of the world’s problems could be solved if we would just connect better with animals. More important, Louv calls for a revolution in thinking about our place on this planet."

Monday, November 18, 2019

John Duffy with Molly Fay, Michael Bowen at Whitefish Bay, Jaquira Díaz, Lawrence Lanahan at UWM, Holly Black, Game Night, and Paul Wellington with Nicholas Robinson at Tippecanoe Library. Lidia Bastianich is sold out, but Mitch Albom tickets look like they are still available.

Just how did we wind up working on so many events on Tuesday, November 19? In addition to the four we're talking about here, Amie and I are doing a book talk at Elmbrook School District in the morning. The way it usually works is that we pick the perfect date for an event. Then another opportunity comes to us that is less date-flexible. Didn't seem to be a conflict. And then the other events came along where we were not the leads - they were already set and were looking for a bookstore partner.

I will note that this mostly happens on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which is when outside groups are most likely to schedule programming. On the upside, you certainly have several great options if you want to hear a speaker on Tuesday evening, even with Bastianich sold out.

Monday, November 18, 7 pm, at Boswell:
John Duffy, author of Parenting the New Teen in the Age of Anxiety: A Complete Guide to Your Child's Stressed, Depressed, Expanded, Amazing Adolescence, in conversation with Molly Fay

Clinical pyschologist, life coach, and parenting expert John Duffy speaks to Molly Faye, Emmy-winning reporter and WTMJ4 Morning Blend host Molly Faye about Duffy's latest book, which focuses on the changing teenage brain. Cosponsored by REDgen, whose mission is to advocate for the mental health and wellbeing of all youth. At this time, registration is still open at redgen-duffy.eventbrite.com. Walk-ups are fine. You might wind up checking in through our friends at REDgen.

No parent experienced their teen years the way children do today; children as young as eight-years-old are prematurely self-conscious, over-stressed, and overwhelmed. Duffy provides strategies and tips for actively learning the world of our children, so that when they need us, we can be there armed with understanding.

Kids are growing up with nearly unlimited access to social media and the internet, and unprecedented academic, social, and familial stressors, and children are exposed to information, thought, and emotion that they are developmentally unprepared to process. As a result, saving the typical “teen parenting” strategies for thirteen-year-olds is now years too late. Duffy offers a guide for parents raising children who are growing up quickly and dealing with unresolved adolescent issues that can lead to anxiety and depression.

Monday, November 18, 6:30 pm, at Whitefish Bay Library, 5420 N Marlborough Dr
Michael Bowen, author of False Flag in Autumn

Milwaukee-are attorney and author of numerous mysteries such as Badger Game and Damage Control appears at the Whitefish Bay Public Library for his latest, a political thriller that asks why there wasn't an October surprise before the 2018 mid-term elections.

The irrepressible Josie Kendall finds herself in the middle of the novel’s provocative question, but answering it quickly confronts her with an even more dramatic challenge: What about 2020, with control of the White House at stake? Will Josie find the guts to leave the Beltway cocoon, where the weapons are spin, winks, nudges, and strategic leaks, and venture into a darker world where the weapons are actual weapons? Josie knows that you don't do politics with choir girls, but if she wants to end up on the side of the angels, she'll have to find some angels who play a little dirty.

Tuesday, November 19, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Jaquira Díaz, author of Ordinary Girls

Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at UW-Madison Díaz visits with her searing memoir of growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, one of the most anticipated books of the year according to Time, Publishers Weekly, The Millions, and more.

Growing up in housing projects, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope, to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be. Diaz’s memoir provides a vivid portrait of a life lived in and beyond the borders of Puerto Rico and its complicated history.

From Reyna Grande in The New York Times Book Review: "A skilled writer, Díaz is meticulous in her craft, and on page after page her writing truly sings. Her temporal leaps and switches in tense and point of view make the overall delivery both powerful and complex...But perhaps disorientation is necessary to convey the life of this ordinary girl who was forced to grow up too quickly and fend for herself."

Tuesday, November 19, 7 pm, at UWM Greene Hall, 3347 N Downer Ave:
Lawrence Lanahan, author of The Lines Between Us: Two Families and a Quest to Cross Baltimore's Racial Divide

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Urban Studies Programs and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council present an evening with journalist Lawrence Lanahan, whose book, based on a Baltimore Public Radio fifty-episode series, received Columbia University’s duPont Award, which honors excellence in broadcast and digital journalism.

In The Lines Between Us, Lawrence Lanahan chronicles how Baltimore became so highly segregated and why its fault lines persist today, using the stories of two individuals, a white suburbanite contemplating a move to West Baltimore, and a black woman who hopes to move from a poor city neighborhood to a prosperous suburb.

Together they personify the enormous disparities in access to safe housing, educational opportunities, and decent jobs. As they eventually pack up their lives and change places, bold advocates and activists - in the courts and in the streets - struggle to figure out what it will take to save our cities and communities: Put money into poor, segregated neighborhoods? Make it possible for families to move into areas with more opportunity?

From Jacqui Banaszynski in the Star Tribune: "His reporting is evenhanded, his writing clear-eyed and dispassionate...Lanahan reveals an anger that edges on despair, and makes a clear call for something better from America."

Wednesday, November 20, 6 pm, at Tippecanoe Library, 3912 S Howell Ave:
Paul Wellington, author of Black Built: History and Architecture in the Black Community, in conversation with Nicholas Robinson of DREAM Builders

Milwaukee author and cofounder of MKE Black, Wellington explores over forty works by Black architects and their impact. He’ll chat with Nicholas Robinson, co-creator of DREAM Builders and one of only eight licensed African American architects in the state.

Please note that copies of Black Built will not be available for purchase at this event. Boswell will have the book for sale in the store or via our website, by clicking the link in this event listing title.

Wednesday, November 20, 6:30 pm, at Boswell:
Boswell’s Fall Game Night

Enjoy sampling new and bestselling games from our collection, including Boswellian favorites like Roadkill, Forbidden Island, and Quicktionary. Boswellians Jen and Aaron will offer a short intro and demos for each game, plus we’ll have giveaways too. Attendees are encouraged to come alone or in groups.

Please note this game night is for folks age 16 and up, and that some of these games involve adult language. Free registration is requested at boswellgamefall19.bpt.me. Online registrations through Tuesday. Walk-ups will be accommodated, if space is available.

Thursday, November 21, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Holly Black, author of The Queen of Nothing

#1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black makes her first Milwaukee appearance in six years with her highly anticipated, jaw-dropping finale to The Folk of the Air trilogy. Registration is free for this event at hollyblackmke.bpt.me, but you must upgrade to a copy of The Queen of Nothing to get in the signing line. This event features Holly Black in conversation with Jaime and Erin Arkin of Fiction Fare.

Power is much easier to acquire than it is to keep. As the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and reeling from betrayal. Determined to reclaim everything taken from her, Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court if she wishes to save her sister. When a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity.

Will there be Fairy Food? Yes. Will there be a special Fairy drink special at Starbucks? Yes. What more can you want? We're taking registrations through Wednesday.

Monday, November 25, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Layne Fargo, author of Temper, in conversation with Kelsey Rae Dimberg

Chicago-based author Layne Fargo visits with her debut that’s a razor-sharp page-turner, named to the New York Times summer reading list. She’ll chat with Milwaukee’s own Kelsey Rae Dimberg, author of Girl in the Rearview Mirror. Prior to the event, Boswell’s in-store mystery book club will meet at 6 pm to discuss Temper.

After years of struggling in the Chicago theater scene, ambitious actress Kira finally lands the role of a lifetime. The catch? Working with a mercurial director known for pushing performers past their limits onstage and off. As opening night draws near, Kira and the theater’s slippery cofounder both start to realize the director’s dangerous extremes are nothing compared to what they're capable of themselves.

From Mindy Mejia in The New York Journal of Books: "Temper is one hell of a ride. Fargo’s writing is direct and crisp, and her characters mesmerize. She keeps the story moving and the intrigue high with fresh twists on those classic thriller genre crowd-pleasers: sex, violence, and deception. Readers won’t find better in the debut thriller category this summer." It's now close to winter and maybe they still won't!

And here's the status on the two big off-site events on Tuesday.

Lidia Bastianich at the ICC is sold out. We may have stand-by tickets at the door.

At this point, Mitch Albom is still accepting event registrations. My guess is that the website will close out advance registrations sometime today. Contact (414) 933-8002 for more information.

Photo credits
Jaquira Díaz credit Maria Esquinca

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending November 16, 2019

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending November 16

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett
2. The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern
3. Black Card, by Chris L Terry
4. The Water Dancer, by Ta-Neshisi Coates
5. Olive Again, by Elizabeth Strout
6. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
7. The Guardians, by John Grisham
8. Find Me, by André Aciman
9. Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson
10. Complete and Original Norwegian Folktales of Asbjørnsen and Moe, translated by Tiina Nunnally

On our buyer Jason's holiday gift suggestion list is Complete and Original Norwegian Folktales of Asbjørnsen and Moe, which is translated by Tiina Nunnally, whom we once met when she was visiting family. But I guess it also doesn't hurt that Neil Gaiman wrote the forward, which notes "In a translation as crystalline and pellucid as the waters of the fjords, Tiina Nunnally takes the stories that Asbjørnsen and Moe collected from the people of rural Norway, translates them, and gives them to us afresh. Each story feels honed, as if it were recently collected from a storyteller who knew how to tell it and who had, in turn, heard it from someone who knew how to tell it."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Body, by Bill Bryson
2. Essays One, by Lydia Davis
3. Troubled Water, by Seth M Siegel (Register here for UWM Union event, Wed Dec 4, 6 pm)
4. Finding Chika, by Mitch Albom (Tickets here for Nehemiah Project dinner at Hilton, Tue Nov 19,5:30 pm)
5. Beautiful Ones, by Prince
6. Nothing Fancy, by Alison Roman
7. 100 Years in Titletown, by Vernon and Jim Biever (Register here for Tue Dec 2, 7 pm event at Boswell)
8. Salt Fat Acid Heat, by Samin Nosrat
9. Felidia, by Lidia Bastianich (Tue Nov 19 event sold out)
10. Talking to Strangers, by Malcolm Gladwell

We put out more holiday options for our gift-wrapping service and yesterday was the first day that we had gift wrappers, from the Friends of the Shorewood Public Library. Today from 12-4 our volunteers are from Pets Helping People. And this is reflected on our hardcover nonfiction list, by two oversize Packers gift books and the best showing for cookbooks (3 out of our top 10) in several months. Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over if from a New York Times columnist and has already been named one of fall's best cookbooks by numerous media outlets, including Food & Wine, Vogue, and People magazine.

And here's a shout out for Lydia Davis's Essays One, which not one but two customers noted was a very attractive looking book.

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Overstory, by Richard Powers
2. Milwaukee Noir, edited by Tim Hennessy
3. Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver
4. Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk
5. Killing Commendatore, by Haruki Murakami
6. The Story of Arthur Truluv, by Elizabeth Berg
7. The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makkai
8. Girl Woman Other, by Bernardine Evaristo
9. Night of Miracles, by Elizabeth Berg
10. The Red Address Book, by Sofia Lundberg

It's interesting to me that even though each list had a tie, only one Booker (Girl Woman Other) and one Nobel Literature title (Flights)is on our bestseller lists. The Testaments is bubbling under our top ten this week (I can't figure it out - did this work to PRH standards or not?) and there are a number of Peter Handke backlist titles that are due to be released on December 3, though several other titles already in stock are coded nonreturnable at Ingram, which will definitely inhibit bookstores stocking them. I still haven't seen many stateside reviews of Evaristo aside from The New York Times and The Washington Post. Hope to see more!

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Midwestern Strange, by BJ Hollars
2. They Called Us Enemy, by George Takai
3. Putting Government in Its Place, by David R Riemer
4. Upstream, by Mary Oliver
5. Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah
6. Field Guide to Birds of Wisconsin, American Birding Association
7. Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harai
8. Black Bilt, by Paul Wellington (event at Tippecanoe Library, Wed Nov 20)
9. Basketball, by Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew, Dan Klores
10. Blindspot, by Mahzarin R Banaji

Out in paperback is Basketball: A Love Story, which in hardcover was the companion to an ESPN documentary and had strong holiday sales for us. Those kinds of books don't always have a good paperback life but sales so far are promising. Here's Jackie MacMullan interviewing Dan Klores on ESPN.com.

Books for Kids:
1. Refugee, by Alan Gratz
2. The Astronaut Who Painted the Moon, by Dean Robbins, with illustrations by Sean Rubin
3. Wrecking Ball V14: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney
4. Lexi Magill and the Teleportation Tournament V1, by Kim Long
5. Margaret and the Moon, by Dean Robbins, with illustrations by Lucy Knisley
6. Finding Treasure, by Michelle Schaub, with illustrations by Carmen Saldana
7. The Snowy Day board book, by Ezra Jack Keats
8. Call Down the Hawk V1 by Maggie Stiefvater
9. The Wicked King V2: Folk of the Air, by Holly Black (Register here for Thu Nov 21 event at Boswell)
10. The Toll V3: Scythe, by Neal Shusterman (Event date not yet rescheduled)

Call Down the Hawk is Maggie Stiefvater's first book in the new Dreamer trilogy. We had several advance orders, including one from a former (and future) bookseller. The Booklist starred review explains it all: "This spinoff trilogy was born from Stiefvater's Raven Cycle, and though readers of that quartet (especially those who favored The Dream Thieves) will of course be eager for this, this new series, somewhat astonishingly for a story this layered, exists independently of its predecessor. It's a different beast entirely, one that circles the complexities of family and the joys and terrors of creating. For all that is new, however, Ronan remains the same; a lodestar that old readers will be happy to return to and new ones glad (if nervous) to discover."

Over at the Journal Sentinel

Classic Krakauer: Essays on Wilderness and Risk are collected mostly older writings from Outside and other publications. John Forker in the Associated Press review wrote: "Krakauer’s storytelling is so confident and engrossing, it begs for a reader’s undivided attention. I found myself OK with sleepless nights; I could turn to Classic Krakauer once again to devour another essay or another few pages."

On the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street, there are a lot of unusual tie-ins, such as a Farmer's Insurance series of commercials featuring the Muppets. There's also The Importance of Being Ernie (and Bert), which Mary Cadden reviewed? featured? in USA Today, nothing: "After all, the best friendships are a combination of silly, sweet and sentimental, aren’t they? And who better to emulate those traits than these two Sesame Street stalwarts."

Jonathan Elderfield in Associated Press reviews John LeCarré's Agent Running in the Field: "Le Carré’s Nat relies on his 25 years of experience as an agent runner to navigate the competing forces of money and power, patriotism and love. And with a style honed over 25 novels and more than 50 years, the author’s prose is crisp and compelling and the story is relevant to today’s turbulent times."

Tomorrow is our weekly event blog.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Two postponed events this week (Goldie Goldbloom and Neal Shusterman), plus Chris L Terry, BJ Hollars, Michelle Schaub, Michael Bowen, John Duffy

So much to keep track of this week!

Postponed Event
Monday, November 11, 7 pm, at Boswell (now Monday, December 9, 7 pm)
Goldie Goldbloom, author of On Division

Goldie Goldbloom, author and Chasidic mother of eight, in conversation with Marquette Professor CJ Hribal about her latest work, a deeply affecting novel of one woman's life at a moment of change, set in the world of Brooklyn's Chasidim. Cosponsored by the Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center and UWM Sam and Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies.

In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Surie Eckstein is soon to be a great-grandmother. Her in-laws live on the first floor of their house, her daughter lives on the second. Into this life of counted blessings comes a surprise. Surie is pregnant at fifty-seven. It is an aberration, a shift in the proper order of things, and a public display of private life. Exposed, ashamed, she is unable to share the news, even with her husband. And so for the first time in her life, she has a secret that slowly separates her from the community.

On Division is an excavation of one woman's life, a story of awakening at middle age, and a thoughtful examination of the dynamics of self and collective identity. It is a steady-eyed look inside insular communities that also celebrates their comforts. It is a rare portrait of a long, happy marriage. And it is an unforgettable new novel from a writer whose imagination is matched only by the depth of her humanity. Join us for an evening in December when we hope it will be both warmer and less snowy.

Registration Has Ended 
Tuesday, November 12, 11:30 am, at Shully’s Watermark, 146 Green Bay Rd in Thiensville
Elizabeth Berg, author of The Confession Club

Please note that registration has ended for the Ozaukee Family Services Fall Fundraiser Lunch with author Elizabeth Berg at Shully’s Watermark. We hope to have signed copies when The Confession Club goes on sale on November 19.

In The Confession Club, a group of women in Mason, Missouri discover that best friends are made by sharing secrets. It all started as a supper club, a group gathering monthly to share homemade dinners, until the night one woman made a startling revelation. After that, the Confession Club decided to meet weekly to feast not only on dinner, but on admissions of misdeeds, embarrassments, and insecurities.

Ozaukee Family Services offers programs for parents, youth, and seniors, including counseling and support groups. OFS also offers presentations to schools and community organizations to promote healthy lifestyles and empower children and youth with techniques to keep themselves safe and healthy.

New Location! 
Tuesday, November 12, 7 pm, at The Retreat, 2215 N Martin Luther King Dr
Chris L Terry, author of Black Card

The Retreat presents Chris L Terry, in conversation with Milwaukee writer, performer, and creative change agent Dasha Kelly Hamilton for About That: Black Card. Black Card is a novel about a mixed-race punk rock musician who is determined to win back his coveted Black Card. This event is free; no registration required. Doors open at 6 pm for bar and bites.

In an effort to be “black enough,” a mixed-race punk rock musician indulges his own stereotypical views of African American life by doing what his white bandmates call “black stuff.” After remaining silent during a racist incident, the unnamed narrator has his Black Card revoked by Lucius, his guide through Richmond, Virginia, where Confederate flags and memorials are a part of everyday life

Jason Terry writes on NPR's website: "As Terry so cleverly and poignantly points out, the narrator's split personality embodies the soul of America itself. And with deadpan comic timing, sensitive insight, and taut, terse prose, Terry plunges the reader into his turmoil. Like nature, racial identity in America abhors a vacuum. If you don't fill in your own identity, as Black Card illustrates, someone else will."

Postponed, new date to come
Formerly Tuesday, November 12, 7 pm, at Boswell
Neal Shusterman, author of The Toll: Arc of a Scythe V3

Due to a family emergency, Neal Shusterman's event on November 12 is postponed. We should have a new date for this event shortly. Right now we are not accepting new reservations, but existing reservations, including book-with-ticket upgrades, are being held until the new date is announced.

We hope you will be able to attend our rescheduled date, but if not, refunds for the book-with-ticket upgrade are available by contacting Brown Paper Tickets. Please have your order confirmation number handy. Contact information can be found at: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/about/locations

In a world that's conquered death, will humanity finally be torn asunder by the immortal beings it created? Citra and Rowan have disappeared. Endura is gone. It seems like nothing stands between Scythe Goddard and absolute dominion over the world scythedom. With the silence of the Thunderhead and the reverberations of the Great Resonance still shaking the earth to its core, the question remains: Is there anyone left who can stop him? The answer lies in the Tone, the Toll, and the Thunder.

Nothing has changed for this event and the others below.
Thursday, November 14, 7 pm, at Boswell
BJ Hollars, author of Midwestern Strange: Hunting Monsters, Martians, and the Weird in Flyover Country

UW-Eau Claire Professor of English BJ Hollars haunts Boswell with his brand new book, which chronicles his explorations of the mythic oddities of what’s often known as flyover country, including Wisconsin legends like the Beast of Bray Road, the Hodag, and the Val Johnson incident. He’ll deep-dive into his own case files to unearth the truth.

Part memoir and part journalism, Midwestern Strange offers a fascinating, quirky account of flyover folklore that also contends with the ways such oddities retain cultural footholds. Hollars shows how grappling with such subjects might fortify us against the glut of misinformation now inundating our lives. By confronting monsters, Martians, and a cabinet of curiosities, we challenge ourselves to look beyond our presumptions and acknowledge that just because something is weird, doesn’t mean it is wrong.

Hollars’s quest is not to confirm or debunk these mysteries but rather to seek out these unexplained phenomena to understand how they complicate our worldview and to discover what truths might be gleaned by reexamining the facts in our “post-truth” era.

Friday, November 15, 4 pm, at Boswell:
Michelle Schaub, author of Finding Treasure: A Collection of Collections

Poet and author Schaub presents her new book, a treasure trove of clever poems which tell the story of one inquisitive child’s quest to start just the right collection to share at school. This special event will feature a mini-tour, led by Boswell proprietor Daniel Goldin, of chat about his tchotchkes and offer a behind-the scenes tour of his collections, some of which started when he was a kid. Great for adults and kids 4 and up.

While everyone else is excited about presenting their treasures, one creative elementary schooler is stressed about her class’s show-and-tell assignment. How is she supposed to share her collection if she doesn’t collect anything? Polling her parents, visiting with Granny and Grandpa, and searching for the secret behind her siblings’ obsession with baseball cards, she discovers she does, in fact, have something to share: a collection of stories and poems!

Michelle Schaub is the author of Fresh-Picked Poetry: A Day at the Farmers’ Market, and her poems have appeared in And the Crowd Goes Wild, A Global Gathering of Sports Poems, and The Poetry Anthology for Celebrations. She has contributed poems to Highlights High Five, Ladybug magazine, and the SCBWI national bulletin.

Monday, November 18, 6:30 pm, at Whitefish Bay Library, 5420 N Marlborough Dr:
Michael Bowen, author of False Flag in Autumn

Milwaukee author appears at the Whitefish Bay Public Library for his latest political thriller that asks why there wasn't an October surprise before the 2018 mid-term elections.

The irrepressible Josie Kendall finds herself in the middle of the novel’s provocative question, but answering it quickly confronts her with an even more dramatic challenge: What about 2020, with control of the White House at stake? Will Josie find the guts to leave the Beltway cocoon, where the weapons are spin, winks, nudges, and strategic leaks, and venture into a darker world where the weapons are actual weapons? Josie knows that you don't do politics with choir girls, but if she wants to end up on the side of the angels, she'll have to find some angels who play a little dirty.

Michael Bowen is a Milwaukee-based author of numerous books, including non-fiction and mysteries such as Badger Game, Damage Control, and Washington Deceased. He is an attorney and graduate of Harvard Law School.

Monday, November 18, 7 pm, at Boswell:
John Duffy, author of Parenting the New Teen in the Age of Anxiety: A Complete Guide to Your Child's Stressed, Depressed, Expanded, Amazing Adolescence, in conversation with Molly Fay

John Duffy is a clinical psychologist, certified life coach, and author of The Available Parent. He chats with Molly Fay of TMJ4’s The Morning Blend about his latest work on the changing teenage brain. Cosponsored by REDgen, whose mission is to advocate for the mental health and wellbeing of all youth. Please register for this free event at redgen-duffy.eventbrite.com.

No parent experienced their teen years the way children do today; children as young as eight-years-old are prematurely self-conscious, over-stressed, and overwhelmed. Duffy provides strategies and tips for actively learning the world of our children, so that when they need us, we can be there armed with understanding.

Kids are growing up with nearly unlimited access to social media and the internet, and unprecedented academic, social, and familial stressors, and children are exposed to information, thought, and emotion that they are developmentally unprepared to process. As a result, saving the typical “teen parenting” strategies for thirteen-year-olds is now years too late. Duffy offers a guide for parents raising children who are growing up quickly and dealing with unresolved adolescent issues that can lead to anxiety and depression.

More on the Boswell upcoming event page

Photo credits!
Goldie Goldbloom credit Shterna Goldbloom