Sunday, April 14, 2024

Boswell bestseller blog - week ending April 13, 2024

Boswell bestsellers for the week of April 13, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo (signed copies)
2. James, by Percival Everett
3. Whalefall, by Daniel Kraus (signed copies)
4. Table for Two, by Amor Towles
5. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
6. I Cheerfully Refuse, by Leif Enger (Boswell April 15 event)
7. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
8. The Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo
9. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
10. The Divorcées, by Rowan Beaird (signed copies)

Between the endpapers and black edging, I am gaga for The Familiar's packaging. Leigh Bardugo hadn't remembered being in Milwaukee before until she checked into her hotel. Sure enough, she was part of a group Fierce Reads tour some years ago. It reminds us that these tours can be pretty tough on authors. What city am I in again? And that makes it even more special that authors such as Bardugo continue to tour. Did I mention that The Familiar was the best reviewed fiction book on LitHub's BookMarks this week? Eight raves!

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Disillusioned, by Benjamin Herold (signed copies)
2. The Wide, Wide Sea, by Hampton Sides
3. The Age of Revolutions, by Fareed Zakaria
4. Somehow, by Anne Lamott
5. In Conclusion, Don't Worry About It, by Lauren Graham
6. The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians, by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann
7. There's Always This Year, by Hanif Abdurraqib
8. The Wager, by David Grann
9. The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt
10. The False White Gospel, by Jim Wallis

Looking for something to read after The Wager? Why not try The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook with three raves and two positives on BookMarks. From Doug Bock Clark in The New York Times: "...Sides isn’t just interested in retelling an adventure tale. He also wants to present it from a 21st-century point of view. The Wide Wide Sea fits neatly into a growing genre that includes David Grann’s The Wager and Candice Millard’s River of the Gods, in which famous expeditions, once told as swashbuckling stories of adventure, are recast within the tragic history of colonialism."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Hang the Moon, by Jeannette Walls (signed copies)
2. Someday, Someday, Maybe, by Lauren Graham
3. The Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo
4. Just for the Summer, by Abby Jimenez
5. Dune V1, by Frank Herbert
6. Dunne Messiah V2, by Frank Herbert
7. Birnam Wood, by Eleanor Catton
8. The Three Body Problem V1, by Cixin Liu
9. The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty
10. The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune

Second week out for Just for the Summer and Abby Jimenez sees a fourfold increase in sales over week one. Perhaps that's the impact from the GMA Book Club. From BookPage: "Everyone wants a shortcut to love, especially if a happily ever after is guaranteed. So it's not surprising that Justin Dahl gets a big response when he explains his gift (or curse) on Reddit: Whoever he dates goes on to meet her perfect match right after things end with him. To his shock, Justin soon hears from Emma, a woman with the same problem. What starts as a half-joking suggestion soon starts to form into a real plan - what if they date each other? Wouldn't that mean instead of being merely the gateway to love, they could finally have it for themselves... right after they break up?"

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Have I Told You This Already?, by Lauren Graham
2. Talking As Fast As I Can, by Lauren Graham
3. Purified, by Peter Annin
4. The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls
5. Congrats, You're Having a Teen, by Kenneth Ginsburg
6. Raising Kids to Thrive, by Kenneth Ginsburg
7. The Mechanic Shop Femme's Guide to Car Ownership, by Chaya M Milchtein
8. The Body Keeps the Store, by Bessel van der Kolk
9. Everything I Know About Love, by Dolly Alderton
10. Beyond Ethnic Loneliness, by Prasanta Verma (Boswell April 26 event)

Peter Annin appeared at Marquette Law School to talk about his book Purified: How Recycled Sewage Is Transforming Our Water, whose publisher copy notes that "sensationalist media coverage has repeatedly crippled water recycling efforts." From a review by Sasha Harris-Lovett in Science magazine: "Vivid and engaging.... As fresh water supplies become increasingly scarce and technologies for water treatment improve, potable water reuse will likely become widespread. Annin's timely and important reporting empowers readers to understand the critical issues at hand and offers an engaging introduction to potable water reuse."

Books for Kids:
1. Gaga Mistake Day, by Emma Straub and Susan Straub, illustrations by Susan Love (signed copies)
2. Very Good Hats, by Emma Straub, illustrations by Blanca Gomez
3. Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo
4. Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo
5. Demon in the Wood, by Leigh Bardugo
6. Oh, Are You Awake?, by Bob Shea, illustrations by Jarvis
7. Dog Man V12: The Scarlet Shredder, by Dav Pilkey
8. Louder Than Hunger, by John Schu
9. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
10. Big, by Vashti Harrison

Bob Shea collaborates with Jarvis for Oh, Are You Awake?. From Julie Roach in Horn Book: "This contentious going-to-sleep sequence between two appealing characters has all the right ingredients for sharing aloud, whether it is time for bed or simply time for a story." And Publishers Weekly: "It's a funny, visually playful bedtime battle of wills in which both beings get the resolution of their dreams."

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