Monday, May 15, 2023

Boswell Book Company bestsellers, week ending May 13, 2023

Boswell Book Company bestsellers, week ending May 13, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
2. Happy Place, by Emily Henry
3. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
4. Hang the Moon, by Jeanette Walls
5. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
6. Pineapple Street, by Jenny Jackson
7. Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano
8. Romantic Comedy, by Curtis Sittenfeld
9. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
10. Atalanta, by Jennifer Saint

No major pops, but several debuts skirted the bottom of our bestseller list, with Jennifer Saint's Atalanta breaking into the top ten by a hair. The number one bestselling author of Elektra and Ariadne gets this rave from Publishers Weekly: "Saint continues to breathe new life into Greek myths in this exciting and intelligent reimagining of the story of warrior Atalanta...For readers who can't get enough of feminist retellings, this will more than do the trick."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Built to Move, by Kelly Starrett and Juliet Starrett
2. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond (MPL May 23 event registration here - this is close to capacity)
3. The Wager, by David Grann
4. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
5. A Fever in the Heartland, by Timothy Egan
6. You Could Make This Place Beautiful, by Maggie Smith
7. The Magnolia Table V3, by Joanna Gaines
8. Knowing What We Know, by Simon Winchester
9. The Light We Carry, by Michelle Obama
10. Outlive, by Peter Attia and Bill Gifford

Kelly and Juliet Starrett have built a fitness platform from The Ready State and a previous book, Becoming a Supple LeopardBuilt to Move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully  came out in April - a quantity order helps push this to #1. Publishers Weekly writes: "The authors detail 10 ways to make the body more resilient, focusing on how readers can achieve greater ease of movement and improve overall health. Eschewing intensive workouts, the Starretts focus on boosting mobility through simple exercises." It reminds me of the kind of book touring I used to organize at Warner (Grand Central) when I was young.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Daughters of Nantucket, by Julie Gerstenblatt
2. Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl, by Renée Rosen
3. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
4. The Cat Who Saved Books, by Sosuke Natsukawa
5. The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman
6. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
7. Lucky Girl, by Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu
8. Search, by Michelle Huneven
9. The Candy House, by Jenifer Egan
10. Practice Makes Perfect, by Sarah Adams

Lucky Girl is a paperback original from Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu, who was raised in Nairboi, schooled in the United States, and now lives in Cape Town. Kirkus writes: “A young Kenyan woman in New York City faces an identity crisis while coming to recognize how issues of race, culture, and religion are different for Black Americans than for Black Africans...A thought-provoking exploration of the complicated experience of an African woman in America.” It also has a nice blurb from Charmaine Wilkerson, author of Black Cake.


Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Burn Rate, by Andy Dunn
2 Somos Latinas, Andrea-Teresa Arenas and Eloisa Gómez
3. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
4. How the Other Half Eats, by Priya Fielding-Singh
5. America the Beautiful, by Blythe Roberson
6. How to Tell a Story, from the Moth
7. Last Call, by Elon Green (Edgar winner)
8. Trailed, by Kathryn Miles
9. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
10. All About Love, by bell hooks

Now in paperback, How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America is a must-read for fans of Evicted. Priya Fielding-Singh's fieldwork takes her inside the homes of families "from varied educational, economic, and ethnoracial backgrounds" (publisher) to look at their food habits. From Beth Dooley in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Fielding-Singh dispels the myth that access to good food is the primary driver of the nation’s food and health disparities. Access isn’t the only, or even the main, obstacle to eating well, she argues. Rather, it’s the societal norms and unrealistic expectations shouldered by mothers across cultures and classes."

Books for Kids
1. When Clouds Touch Us, by Thanhhà Lai
2. Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhhà Lai
3. The One and Only Ruby, by Katherie Applegate
4. LOL 101, by David Roth and Rinee Shah
5. The One and Only Bob, by Katherine Applegate
6. The Fall of the School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani
7. The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani
8. Global, by Eoin Colfe, Andrew Donkin, illustrations by Giovanni Rigano
9. The Eyes and the Impossible, by Dave Eggers
10. When you Can Swim, by Jack Wong

Thanhhà Lai is doing several school visits in Milwaukee for the sequel to Inside Out and Back Again, winner of the National Book Award for Young People. Booklist offers this on When Clouds Touch Us: "While rooted in the 1970s, this memoiresque novel captures experiences that refugees in many times and places face: the sense of longing, the confusion, and the family dynamics that shift and change." And from the Horn Book: "The 1976 setting - America's bicentennial - reinforces the idea that Ha and her family's experiences are just as American as anyone's. Strongly recommended for fans of the first book and readers interested in realistic, hardscrabble immigrant stories."

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