Sunday, February 18, 2024

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending February 17, 2024

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending February 17, 2024

Hardcover Fiction: 
1. Martyr, by Kaveh Akbar
2. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
3. The Price You Pay V8, by Nick Petrie (Feb 22 at Elm Grove Library, Feb 26 at Whitefish Bay Library - click the link to register)
4. House of Flame and Shadow V3, by Sarah J Maas (2 editions)
5. North Woods, by Daniel Mason
6. Good Material, by Dolly Alderton
7. Iron Flame V2, by Rebecca Yarros
8. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
9. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
10. Whalefall, by Daniel Kraus (Apr 8 Boswell event)

Good Material is novelist-memoirist-relationship columnist Dolly Alderton's second novel, but her first since Everything I Know About Love exploded on TikTok. It's also a Read with Jenna pick. Four postivies on BookMarks, with several comparisons to Nick Hornby. From Booklist: "This warm and relatable novel about relationships and heartache will please Alderton's many fans."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger
2. The Wager, by David Grann
3. The Lede, by Calvin Trillin
4. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
5. Milwaukee Rock and Roll 1950-2000 ,by David Luhrssen, Phillip Naylor, and Bruce Rogers Cole
6. Ghosts of Segregation, by Richard Frishman
7. King: A Life, by Jonathan Eig
8. Eve, by Cat Bohannon
9. Oath and Honor, by Liz Cheney
10. Our Ancient Faith, by Allen C Guelzo

The Lede: Dispatches from a Life in the Press, by Calvin Trillin is a collection of essays about journalism and journalists. Five raves and a positive from BookMarks. Also feels like the first book I've highlighted at the $31 price point, though I think I have previously noted $30.50 and $30.99. From Dwight Garner in The New York Times (ellipis and brackets courtesy of the publisher): "This book is buoyant and crunchy from end to end [and] contains profiles...that are acknowledged classics of the form and will be studied until A.I. makes hash out of all of us.

I had no idea that APA doesn't care whether the three dots in ellipsis have spaces or not?

Paperback Fiction:
1. Bride, by Ali Hazelwood
2. A Marvellous Light V1, by Freya Marske
3. Time to Shine, by Rachel Reid
4. Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries V1, by Heather Fawcett
5. Ocean's Echo, by Everina Maxwell
6. The Women Could Fly, by Megan Giddins
7. The Wolf and the Woodsman, by Ava Reid
8. Witch's Heart, by Genevieve Gornichec
9. Exiles, by Jane Harper
10. Pedro Paramo, by Juan Rulfo

Oli got to help the folks at a UWM student group choose books for blind date with a book. I'm guessing none of the attendees read this blog, so I'm not worried about giving anything away.

In other worlds, Jane Harper's third Aaron Falk novel, Exiles, debuts in our top 10 in its second week of sales. My sister Merrill is a big fan. Four raves and two positives on BookMarks. From Sarah Weinman in The New York Times: "Falk’s investigation is a terrific one, but what makes the book memorable is Harper’s skill at plumbing personal mysteries - for instance, why a friendship has ebbed, or how not knowing the fate of a loved one affects a family."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Switch, by Jason Puskar
2. John Gurda's Milwaukee, by John Gurda
3. Last Call at the Hotel Imperial, by Deborah Cohen
4. Wisconsin for Kennedy, by BJ Hollars (Boswell March 19 event)
5. Complete Mediterranean Cookbook, by America's Test Kitchen
6. The Gardeners Guide to Prairie Plants, by Neil Diboll
7. The Power Broker, by Robert Moses
9. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer 
10. We've Got to Try, by Beto O'Rourke (MPL event Feb 23)

It's a quiet week for paperback nonfiction. We had a very nice event with UWM's Jason Puskar for The Switch: An Off and On History of Digital Humans. The program was recorded by BookTV and should air in the next few months.

Books for Kids:
1. The Eyes and the Impossible, by Dave Eggers
2. One True Loves, by Elise Bryant
3. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
4. The Lightning Thief V1, by Rick Riordan
5. The Toni Morrison Treasury, by Toni Morrison
6. Chalice of the Gods V6, by Rick Riordan
7. The One and Only Ruby, by Katherine Applegate (May 15 Elmbrook event)
8. Most Ardently, by Gabe Novoa
9. Are You Big?, by Mo Willems
10. Dogtown, by Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko

Out since fall, but still selling is A Toni Morrison Treasury, a collection of eight of her picture books in one volume, cowritten with her son Slade Morrison, including The Ant or the Grasshopper and Please, Louise.

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