Sunday, July 3, 2022

Boswell bestsellers, week ending July 2, 2022

Here's what's selling at Boswell this week.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Horse, by Geraldine Brooks
2. Jackie & Me, by Louis Bayard
3. Lapvona, by Ottessa Moshfegh
4. The House Across the Lake, by Riley Sager
5. Hotel Nantucket, by Elin Hilderbrand
6. This Time Tomorrow, by Emma Strab
7. The Poet's House, by Jean Thompson (Register for July 20 event here)
8. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
9. Locklands, by Robert Jackson Bennett
10. Sparring Partners, by John Grisham

I thought we had a staff rec on Riley Sager's The House Across the Lake, but I can't find one. Whatever the case, I know we have Boswellians reading his novels, the most recent of which debuted at #3 on The New York Times bestseller list.  From Publishers Weekly: "The setup of Rear Window serves as the framework for this outstanding novel of suspense from bestseller Sager... Sager brilliantly misdirects readers while playing fair with them. Newcomers and fans both will be eager to see what he pulls off in his next book."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Happy-Go-Lucky, by David Sedaris
2. Rogues, by Patrick Radden Keefe
3. An Immense World, by Ed Yong
4. How to Survive the Modern World, by The School of Life, edited by Alain de Botton
5. I'd Like to Play Alone, Please, by Tom Segura
6. Two Wheels Good, by Jody Rose
7. The Pope at War, by David I Kertzer
8. The Dawn of Everything, by David Graeber and David Wengrow
9. Six California Kitchens, by Sally Schmitt
10. River of the Gods, by Candice Millard

We did indeed have a staff rec for Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks and that one I found because it belongs to me (follow link and you can read it). Other's agree - Book Marks has 4 raves and 4 positive reviews. Booklist notes: "Prize-winning and best-selling Keefe follows his highly lauded Empire of Pain  with a collection of New Yorker pieces of astounding variety, each more riveting and extraordinary than the last." And from Library Journal: "A strong collection of essays of most interest to true crime readers, but also on display is a model of journalistic credibility."

Paperback Fiction:
1. High Wire, by Stephen Anderson
2. Book Lovers, by Emily Henry
3. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
4. The Final Girl Support Group, by Grady Hendrix
5. Beautiful World, Where Are You?, by Sally Rooney
6. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
7. Leonard and Hungry Paul, by Rónán Hession
8. The Music of Bees, by Eileen Garvin
9. The Personal Librarian, by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
10. Verity, by Colleen Hoover

Thanks again to Lisa at Books & Company for getting me to read The Music of Bees, which continues to sell in paperback and has my favorite kind of hardcover to paperback cover change, at least when I like the hardcover - the change of background color. From People's hardcover review: "An exquisite debut that combines a moving tale of friendship with a fascinating primer on bees."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
2. A History of Milwaukee Drag, by Mikhail Takach and BJ Daniels
3. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
4. The Oregon Trail, by Rinker Buck (Register for August 16 event here)
5. The Bomber Mafia, by Malcolm Gladwell
6. All That She Carried, by Tiya Miles
7. Educated, by Tara Westover
8. Forest Walking, by Peter Wohlleben
9. Entangled Life, by Merlin Sheldrake
10. Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard

The publication of The History of Milwaukee Drag by Mikhail Takach and BJ Daniels coincides with the Legends of Drag exhibit (based on another book) at the Saint Kate, put together by the Museum of Wisconsin Art. A tie-in event (not ours, but we still want you to know about it) is Sunday, July 17, 3 pm. Register here

Books for Kids:
1. Dear Teacher, by Paris Rosenthal and Holly Hatam
2. Heartstopper V1, by Alice Oseman
3. Bog Child, by Siobhan Dowd
4. Heartstopper V3, by Alice Oseman
5. My First Bilingual Trucks/Los Camiones, from DK Publishing
6. She Gets the Girl, by Rachael Lippincott/Aly Derrick
7. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse and Renée Graef
8. Princess in Black and The Mermaid Princess, by Shannon Hale
9. The Story of Civil Rights Hero John Lewis, by Jim Haskins and Aaron Boyd
10. Harry Potter: A Magical Year, by JK Rowling and Jim Kay

I asked Jen why sales had picked up for Princess in Black and the Mermaid Princess, with consistent sales every week and sales that are much higher than the previous two volumes in hardcover. A dedicated display and a love of mermaids was the obvious answer. From School Library Journal: "With appealing new characters, lively language, an abundance of exclamation points, and a lush pastel-toned undersea kingdom, young readers will eagerly dive into this latest series adventure."

From the Journal Sentinel Books section, Carole E Barrowman recommends six new mysteries:
More Than You’ll Ever Know, by Katie Gutierrez
Aurora, by David Koepp
Miss Aldridge Regrets, by Louise Hare
The Goldenacre, by Philip Miller
Harlem Sunset, by Nekesa Afia
Counterfeit, by Kirstin Chen

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