Sunday, December 4, 2022

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending December 3, 2022

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending December 3, 2022

Hardcover Fiction:
1. A World of Curiosities, by Louise Penny
2. All This Could Be Different, by Sara Thankam Mathews
3. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
4. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
5. Liberation Day, by George Saunders
6. The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy
7. Horse, by Geraldine Brooks
8. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt
9. Our Missing Hearts, by Celeste Ng
10. Foster, by Claire Keegan

Readers have been anxiously awaiting Louise Penny's latest, A World of Curiosities. Her almost December pub date is a repeat of a publishing strategy from several years ago for 2018's Kingdom of the Blind. To us, this is not a negative - that book was one of our biggest Penny sellers. From Tom Nolan in The Wall Street Journal: "This is a spooky and sometimes hair-raising book, perhaps Ms. Penny’s best. It offers a fine balance of humane values, spellbinding prose, Dickensian revelations and nail-biting suspense."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Bar Menu, by Andre Darlington
2. The Light We Carry, by Michelle Obama
3. How to Navigate Life, by Belle Liang and Timothy Klein
4. What's for Dessert?, by Claire Saffitz
5. The Number Ones, by Tom Breihan
6. Surrender, by Bono
7. An Immense World, by Ed Yong
8. Dinners with Ruth, by Nina Totenberg
9. Stay True, by Hua Hsu
10. Smitten Kitchen Keepers, by Deb Perelman

I have gone on at length about how much I love Tom Breihan's The Number Ones, but apparently I didn't have enough faith in my judgment to bring enough copies to the Shorewood Public Library fundraiser yesterday - I sold out and had requests for two more. I love his voice, and so appreciate the way he turns each song into a culturally historic moment. I asked him if he was sad that he could use any particular songs because they did not hit #1 and he immediately came up with two - "Shop Around," by The Miracles, and "Material Girl," by Madonna.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Once Upon a December, by Amy E Reichert
2. Entry Level, by Wendy Wimmer
3. Black Cake, by Charmaine Wilkerson
4. Circe, by Madeline Miller
5. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
6. Legends and Lattes, by Travis Baldree
7. Bewilderment, by Richard Powers
8. A Court of Thorn and Roses, by Sarah J Maas
9. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, by Sangu Mandanna
10. Still Life, by Sarah Winman (Register for December 16 virtual event here)

You've heard of cozy mysteries, but maybe not cozy fantasies. It appears to be a flourishing genre, with Legenda and Lattes the latest in this subgenre. It's being championed by Oli at Boswell, but the book is also on the ABA indie bookstore bestseller list as well. From Booklist: "Legends and Lattes is a novel, and shop, that will delight anyone who enjoys coffee-shop alternate universes, slow-burn romances, and the vindication of friendship."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Brewtown Tales, by John Gurda (September 17 signing at Boswell - we suggest you preorder your copy)
2. The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay
3. Vegan Cooking for Two, by America's Test Kitchen
4. These Precious Days, by Ann Patchett
5. Lost and Found, by Kathryn Schulz
6. Woodrow on the Bench, by Jenna Blum
7. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
8. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
9. Milwaukee Scavenger, by Jenna Kashou
10. Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid, by Thor Hanson

I was convinced that America's Test Kitchen's Vegan Cooking for Two: 200+ Recipes for Everything You Love to Eat was some sort of bulk order, but no, that's all individual sales. I think the pop in sales came from a NPR Morning Edition piece where Jack Bishop (who has appeared at Boswell!) shared a recipe for plant-based meat chili with A Martínez. From Bishop: "I promise you when you're done with this, if you were to serve this to someone, they would think it was beef."

Books for Kids:
1. Moving to Mars, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Erin Taylor
2. Green Is for Christmas, by Drew Daywalt, illustrations by Oliver Jeffers (Meet Green Crayon on December 10)
3. Cat Kid Comic Club: Collaborations V4, by Dav Pilkey
4. The Snowy Day board book, by Ezra Jack Keats
5. Farmhouse, by Sophie Blackall
6. A Rover's Story, by Jasmine Warga
7. The Mitten board book, by Jan Brett
8. Every Little Thing, by Bob Marley, adapted by Celia Marley, illustrations by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
9. Where Butterflies Fill the Sky, by Zahra Marwan
10. Will We Always Hold Hands?, by Christopher Cheng

In Will We Always Hold Hands?, one of Jen's holiday picks (she calls it the perfect "I love you" picture book"), a rat and a panda discuss their friendship as they traverse different terrains. Kirkus called this "Simultaneously quietly soothing yet deeply empowering - a friendship tale for the ages." And from School Library Journal, when questioning Rat's pessimism: "Bear's answers ring with sincerity and convey how connection and memories can be treasured beyond compare and will remain unbroken."

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