Boswell bestsellers, week ending December 27, 2025

Boswell bestsellers, week ending December 27, 2025 - Day 6114

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Shadow Ticket, by Thomas Pynchon
2. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, by Kiran Desai
3. Buckeye, by Patrick Ryan
4. What We Can Know, by Ian McEwan
5. The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny
6. The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown
7. The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans
8. Heart the Lover, by Lily King
9. The Director, by Daniel Kehlmann
10. Queen Esther, by John Irving

At this point, the sales of Shadow Ticket far eclipse anything I saw as a bookseller going back to 1990's Vineland and 1997's Mason and Dixon. I don't think the four Schwartz stores sold as many copies together of either book as we have of Shadow Ticket, though I'm basing this on memory, not actual numbers. On a similar but more modest level, our sales of What We Can Know are about quadruple Lessons (2022) - these are his best hardcover sales since we've been open in 2009.

Our sales for The Secret of Secrets have topped Origin (2017) by a substantial amount, but I can't discount that our sales have grown since 2017. It would be interesting to know how the book fared on a national level. On the other hand, Queen Esther may soon match the final numbers of John Irving's last two novels, Avenue of Mysteries (2015) and The Last Chairlift (2022), and has topped In One Person (2012).

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Milwaukee Flavor, from Visit Milwaukee, written by Ann Christenson with photos by Kevin J Miyasaki
2. Good Things, by Samin Nosrat
3. Six Seasons of Pasta, by Joshua McFadden (signed copies)
4. The Gales of November, by John U Bacon
5. A Marriage at Sea, by Sophie Elmhirst
6. 1929, by Andrew Ross Sorkin
7. One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, by Omar El Akkad
8. Bread of Angels, by Patti Smith
9. The Anthony Bourdain Reader, edited by Kimberly Witherspoon
10. Puzzle Mania, by New York Times Games, edited by Joel Fagliano

Cookbooks and crashes dominated our top six. But perhaps the most unexpected appearance to me is Puzzle Mania!: Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, Minis and More!, the hardcover collection of the most popular digital games of The New York Times. Our sales are good, but we were definitely not leading the charge on this one (#38 Edelweiss). This is also our first Authors Equity shout out.

I think it's also important to note that the lists are dependent on what we have in stock. And in the last week before Christmas, there are always a lot of books we don't have (including The Correspondent, The Gales of November, and the aforementioned Puzzle Mania)

Paperback Fiction:
1. When the Cranes Fly South, by Lisa Ridzén
2. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt
3. Heated Rivalry, by Rachel Reid
4. Sunburn, by Chloe Howarth
5. The Lion Women of Tehran, by Marjan Kamali
6. Little Alleluias, by Mary Oliver
7. I Who Have Never Known Men, by Jacqueline Harpman
8. The Mighty Red, by Louise Erdrich
9. Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell
10. Death Stalks Door County, by Patricia Skalka

I haven't lately commented on the gender parity of our lists, but it is interesting, being that considering the Jacqueline Harpman novel's appearance, that there are no men in our top ten. Andy Weir sits at #11. Here's a Sunburn update. With a nice rec from McKenna, we're punching a little above our weight (#24 Edelweiss). It's nice to see a hit novel from Melville House. And if you're wondering, we've sold eight copies of Leonard and Hungry Paul off my rec shelf since it went to print on demand.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Experiencing God, by Jon M Sweeney (Boswell January 9 event)
2. Birds of the Great Lakes, by Dexter Patterson
3. A Philosophy of Walking, by Frédéric Gros
4. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
5. Welcome to Pawnee, by Jim O'Heir
6. Your Brain on Art, by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
7. I'm Glad My Mom Died, by Jeanette McCurdy
8. A Sheepdog Named Oscar, by Dara Waldron
9. Didion and Babitz, by Lili Anolik
10. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner

Our ranking on Edelweiss has dropped to #19 on A Philosophy of Walking as more stores have discovered it. The Northeast now dominates the top ten stores. For a book where we're #1, there's  Experiencing God: 36 Ways According to Saint Francis of Assisi  Jon M Sweeney is returning to Milwaukee for an event after moving to Vermont, but it's clear that more than his friends and followers have been drawn to this book. I wonder if it would work on other stores' paperback tables. 

Books for Kids:
1. Hansel and Gretel, by Stephen King and Maurice Sendak
2. Sunrise on the Reaping collectors edition, by Suzanne Collins
3. Dog Man V14: Big Jim Believes, by Dav Pilkey
4. Thieves' Gambit, by Kayvion Lewis
5. The Pigeon Won't Count to Ten, by Mo Willems
6. Peekaboo Dinosaur, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
7. The Snowy Day board book, by Ezra Jack Keats
8. Hello There Sunshine, by Tabitha Brown, illustrations by Olivia Duchess
9. If You Make a Call on the Banana Phone, by Gideon Sterer, illustrations by Emily Hughes
10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid V20: Partypooper, by Jeff Kinney

We had a nice last-minute pop on Hansel and Gretel, the Stephen King picture book based on Maurice Sendak illustrations that were created for an opera. From the publisher: "The opera premiered in 1997 at the Houston Grand Opera and was a coproduction with Juilliard, Canadian Opera Company, and the opera companies of Baltimore, Indianapolis, and San Diego." I can't help thinking that the featured spot in one of last week's emails helped this one a lot. The Sendak proceeds go to the Sendak Foundation. Their Fellowship program has alumni including Yuyi Morales, Terry and Eric Fan, and Doug Salati.

Apologies for the typos.

Boswell bestsellers, week ending December 20, 2025

Boswell bestsellers, week ending December 20, 2025 - Day 6,107

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans
2. Shadow Ticket, by Thomas Pynchon
3. Heart the Lover, by Lily King
4. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, by Kiran Desai
5. Dog Show, by Billy Collins
6. Dungeon Crawler Carl V1, by Matt Dinniman
7. The Antidote, by Karen Russell
8. Buckeye, by Patrick Ryan
9. The Director, by Daniel Kehlmann
10. What We Can Know, by Ian McEwan

Every year we have a display of the ten best books of the year from The New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. It's very successful, with some caveats. The NYT works better than the other two, and in general, fiction works better than nonfiction, which can lean a little academic. So 11 copies of The Director (NYT), but only one of The Slip (WSP), which had a very enthusiastic endorsement from Patrick Ryan when he visited. It sounds good!

The Director, translated from the German by Ross Benjamin, has 12 raves and 3 positives on BookMarks. From Susan Newman in The New York Review of Books: "If you’re seeking an understanding of the ease with which anyone can be brought, step by small step, to sell her soul to fascism, you must read this book ... The Director is far timelier now than when it was first published in 20223." The link lets you read the first five (admittedly long) paragraphs.

The Director seems a fitting cap to a good year for the revived Summit Books imprint. I read three books from them - The Paris Express, Maggie, and Destroy This House. and liked them all. Chris is a big fan of The Rest of Our Lives, by Ben Markovits, which comes out on December 30.

The PBS Newshour book segment with Ann Patchett and Maureen Corrigan that aired last week continued to help the titles featured. Maureen Corrigan's book of the year was The Antidote, by Karen Russell. Jason is also a fan. 

One last note - if you're wondering if a local setting help, here's an interesting data point. Shadow Ticket is the third Thomas Pynchon published since we've been open. We've sold more than six times as many books as 2009's Inherent Vice and 2013's Bleeding Edge.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Milwaukee Flavor, from Visit Milwaukee, by Ann Christenson, with photos by Kevin J Miyasaki
2. The Gales of November, by John U Bacon
3. 1929, by Andrew Ross Sorkin
4. Good Things, by Samin Nosrat
5. A Marriage at Sea, by Sophie Elmhirst
6. Mother Mary Comes to Me, by Arundhati Roy
7. Everything Is Tuberculosis, by John Green
8. Raising Hare, by Chloe Dalton
9. Turtle Island, by Sean Sherman
10. Enshittification, by Cory Doctorow

Three cookbooks in the top ten this week, and while the category does okay for us all year despite online creep, it really picks up in fourth quarter. One top seller is Sean Sherman's Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America, the follow up to the surprise 2017 bestseller and James Beard winner, The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen, which was published in 2017 and still sells well. From Robin Wall Kimmerer: "I've been completely seduced by Sean Sherman's new book--the only thing that could get me to put it down is the invitation to go harvest dandelion capers from the field. This is so much more than enticing recipes and gorgeous photos. Each imagined bite is a story, of the people and places that nourish us, of a history of resilience and ingenuity. These pages are an expression of Indigenous identity and a pathway for reconnection to the land. Gbekte ne?"

Enshittification is one of Jason's picks in the recent Journal Sentinel profile.   

Paperback Fiction:
1. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
2. When the Cranes Fly South, by Lisa Ridzén, illustrated by Alice Menzies
3. Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi
4. Black Butterflies, by Priscilla Morris
5. Sunburn, by Chloe Howarth
6. The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon
7. Martyr, by Kaveh Akbar
8. Heated Rivalry, by Rachel Reid
9. The Lion Women of Tehran, by Marjan Kamali
10. The Housemaid, by Freida McFaddan

Wel what do you know - a fiction list with a substantial number of media tie-ins, and that doesn't include Hamnet, which fall off after a strong week. Topping the list is Project Hail Mary, which is scheduled for March 2026. We're selling the original and Ryan Gosling editions. Also on the big screen is The Housemaid, which went into wide release this weekend, probably not the last Freida McFadden adaptation we will see. And then there's Heated Rivalry, the Netflix series that has had a number of heated staff reads from Boswellians. And I did just see they are making When the Cranes Fly South into a film. As for The Lion Women of Tehran, the HBO deal fell through, according to my internet search.

Weird stat - I have read exactly three books in the top ten of the four adult lists.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. A Sheepdog Named Oscar, by Dara Waldron
2. Birds of the Great Lakes, by Dexter Patterson
3. Contemplate, by Jacob Riyeff (Boswell January 30 event)
4. Turning to Stone, by Marcia Bojornerud
5. Meditations for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman
6. AI Snake Oil, Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor
7. Welcome to Pawnee, by Jim O'Heir
8. Wrecked, by Thomas Nelson and Jerald Podair
9. John Lewis, by David Greenberg
10. There's Always This Year, by Hanif Abudurraqib

We sold books for Marcia Bjornerud for her last book Timefulness, but alas, no visit this time for Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks, which is selling well off the new paperback table. She's one of two Larence profs in the top ten, the other being Jerald Podair, who did visit for Wrecked.

For some reason, we're the only indie in the country that is really trying to sell A Sheepdog Named Oscar who reports to the Edelweiss inventory sharing system. I just don't get it. Dog + Ireland = sale for a lot of readers. And we have a rec from McKenna, so we can vouch for its charms.

And finally, last week Jon M Sweeney was in our top ten as an author for Experincing God (event Jan 9), but this week, he's represented as the Associate Publisher of Monkfish for Jacob Riyeff's Contemplate.

Books for Kids:
1. Dog Man V14: Big Jim Believes, by Dav Pilkey
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid V20: Partypooper
3. Buffalo Fluffalo and Puffalo, by Bess Kalb, illustrations by Erin Kraan
4. How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney, by Mac Barnett, illustrations by Jon Klassen
5. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
6.The Snowy Day board book, by Ezra Jack Keats
7. If You Make a Call on a Banana Phone, by Gideon Sterer, illustrations by Emily Hughes
8. If Were Were Dogs, by Sophie Blackall
9. Skunk and Badger V3: Rock Paper Incisors, by Amy Timberlake, illustrations by Jon Klassen
10. The Adventures of Cipollino, by Gianni Rodari, illustrated by Dasha Tolstikova, translated by Antony Shugaar

Who would guess that an Italian children's book first published in 1951 would be one of our holiday hits? I guess this new edition of The Adventures of Cipollino saw the light of day when it was mentioned as one of Hayao Miyazaki’s
(Spirited Away and so forth) 50 favorite children's books. From the publisher: "In this colorful, episodic adventure story, in which nearly everyone is animal, vegetable, or fruit, Cipollino leaves home and sets off into the world to free his wrongfully imprisoned father. In the process, he faces off against scoundrels of all kinds with wit and humor, while winning both allies and friends." From Kirkus: "Sly, silly fun with political and class-war overtones."

Apologies in advance for the typos!

Boswell bestsellers, week endning December 13, 2025

Boswell bestsellers, week endning December 13, 2025

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Tom's Crossing, by Mark Z Danielewski
2. The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans
3. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, by Kiran Desai
4. Buckeye, by Patrick Ryan
5. The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown
6. Heart the Lover, by Lily King
7. The Antidote, by Karen Russell
8. Shadow Ticket, by Thomas Pynchon
9. The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny
10. Atmosphere, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

If you are wondering how much Penguin Random House dominates hardcover fiction, they hold 80% of our top ten this week, with three from the Random House group, 3 from Knopf/Doubleday, and one each from Penguin and Crown. Mark Z Danielewski finalized our event series for the year. Folks came from pretty far away for Tom's Crossing, with at least one attendee heading back to Indianapolis that same evening. We have signed copies - both tip-ins and in-person-signed.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Milwaukee Flavor, from Visit Milwaukee, Ann Christenson, with illustrations by Kevin J Miyasaki
2. The Gales of November, by John U Bacon
3. The Grave Robber, by Tim Carpenter (signed copies)
4. Good Things, by Samin Nosrat
5. Bread of Angels, by Patti Smith
6. Raising Hare, by Chloe Dalton
7. Something from Nothing, by Alison Roman
8. 1929, by Andrew Ross Sorkin
9. A Marriage at Sea, by Sophie Elmhirst
10. The Anthony Bourdain Reader, edited by Kimberly Witherspoon

I suppose it's not going to be surprising that of the top 10 stores on Edelweiss selling The Gales of November, eight are coded Midwest another store doesn't have a geographical classification, so it could be Midwest as well. But there's one Northeast coding, but that could be a Great-Lakes adjacent market in New York or Pennsylvania. The top West store is #16, but you have to get to store #54 to find a South classification.

Paperback Fiction:
1. When the Cranes Fly South, by Lisa Ridzén
2. The Mighty Red, by Louise Penny
3. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt
4. Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell
5. The Lion Women of Tehran, by Marjan Kamali
6. Shady Hollow V1, by Juneau Black
7. The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon
8. Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi
9. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
10. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver

The relatively quiet bestseller numbers of the paperback fiction list are interesting to see compared to hardcovers. When the Cranes Fly South would be #8 if it were competing with its stiff-backed colleagues. There's also a little more publisher diversity - 3 from HarperCollins and 2 from Simon and Schuster imprints, and all the PRH representation is from Vintage, including local favorite Shady Hollow, The Frozen River, which is seasonally appropriate, and Hamnet, which just opened locally. There's been a lot of enthusiastic buzz from our customers about the film.

I think a lot of you haven't watched Lisa Baudoin and my interview with Lisa Ridzén. It's very interesting, and will add to your understanding of the novel. Click here to watch right now, as Chris says.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Birds of the Great Lakes, by Dexter Patterson
2. Experiencing God, by Jon M Sweeney (Boswell January 9 event)
3. Murdle V1, by GT Karber
4. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
5. Welcome to Pawnee, by Jim O'Heir
6. Holly Jolly Crosswords, from The New York Times, edited by Will Shortz
7. John Lewis, by David Greenberg
8. A Sheepdog Named Oscar, by Dara Waldron
9. A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders, by John Elledge
10. So Many Books, by Gabriel Zaid

A nice pop for John Lewis, which has been out since October. David Greenberg's bio had strong sales in hardcover, and the genre tends to be a hardcover game, but it would be nice to reach more people in a somewhat cheaper edition. The New Yorker hardcover review from Kalefa Sennah called the bio "appropriately weighty," and while its more of a meditation on Lewis than the book, it's clearly positive and stands beside four other raves.

Also nice to see Welcome to Pawnee selling off the new paperback table. I enjoyed it in hardcover.   

Books for Kids:
1. The Christmas Sweater, by Jan Brett
2. Zip Zap Wickety Wack, by Matthew Diffee
3. Dog Man V14: Big Jim Believes, by Dav Pilkey
4. Peekaboo Santa, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
5. Penguin and Pinecone, by Salina Yoon
6. If You Make a Call on a Banana Phone, by Gideon Sterer, illustrations by Emily Hughes
7. If We Were Dogs, by Sophie Blackall
8. Jan Brett's The Nutcracker
9. The Mitten Board Book, by Jan Brett
10. Peekaboo Dinosaur, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius

I had a very enjoyable conversation with Rona Brinlee of The Bookmark of Neptune Beach, Florida, sharing how our Jan Brett event went last Sunday for The Christmas Sweater (signed bookplates still available). Their event is going on as I write this! Rona and I spoke to the late Susan Stamberg on NPR for several years, and we couldn't help but chat about books we're currently recommending. You can hear about her recommendations too - here's a video presentation.

Boswell bestsellers, week ending December 6, 2025

Boswell bestsellers, week ending December 6, 2025

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans
2. Always Remember, by Charlie Mackesy
3. Heart the Lover, by Lily King
4. Flesh, by David Szalay
5. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, by Kiran Desai
6. Shadow Ticket, by Thomas Pynchon
7. The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny
8. Buckeye, by Patrick Ryan
9. The Widow, by John Grisham
10. What We Can Know, by Ian McEwan

What's weird about this list? There's no genre romance, fantasy, or romantasy. I continue to be stumped as to where to include the Charlie Mackesy books. I noticed that the promo copy for Always Remember said it spent many weeks on the New York Times nonfiction list, but in fact, it was the advice/how to/miscellaneous list, which is where the book is now, and I believe was created because of the overwhelming presence of Garfield books. My rule of thumb - is this a fictional story? Then it's fiction, right?  

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Milwaukee Flavor, from Visit Milwaukee, Ann Christenson, Kevin J Miyasaki
2. Delivering the Wow, by Richard Fain
3. The Gales of November, by John U Bacon
4. A Marriage at Sea, by Sophie Elmhirst
5. Bread of Angels, by Patti Smith
6. 1929, by Andrew Ross Sorkin
7. Good Things, by Samin Nosrat
8. Everything Is Tuberculosis, by John Green
9. Raising Hare, by Chloe Dalton
10. The Anthony Bourdain Reader, edited by Kimberly Witherspoon

The New York Times ten-best is out, and that surely gave a pop to A Marriage at Sea, as well as The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny on our fiction list. These were two of the titles that we had good stock on because they were in our holiday gift guide. Elmhirst's was the only book in the top 10 that I read. I was just talking to Dave, our WW Norton rep - he read seven!

And speaking of shipwrecks, The Gales of November is back in stock.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Everything We Could Do, by David McGlynn (signed copies)
2. When the Cranes Fly South, by Lisa Ridzén
3. Clear, by Carys Davies (Boswell-run book clubs)
4. On the Calculation of Volume V1, by Solvej Balle
5. The Door to Door Bookstore, by Carsten Henn
6. Nearly Beloved, by Kendra Broekhuis
7. The Mighty Red, by Louise Erdrich
8. The Plan of Chicago, by Barry Pearce
9. The Raven Scholar V1, by Antonia Hodgson
10. The Tainted Cup V1, by Robert Jackson Bennett

I know we're on V3 already, but doesn't On the Calculation of Volume seem like the new My Struggle? While we are still #1 on Edelweiss for When the Cranes Fly South, I should note that lots of stores are selling this book well. And I don't really feel like I'm leading the charge for the five (or was it six) booksellers who read and loved the book at Boswell. I feel it's Jason, our sales rep.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Wrecked, by Thomas M Nelson and Jerald Podair (signed copies)
2. Birds of the Great Lakes, by Dexter Patterson
3. Milwaukee Streets, by Carl Baehr
4. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
5. How to Dream, by Thich Nhat Hanh
6. The Philosophy of Walking, by Frédéric Gros
7. How to Know a Person, by David Brooks
8. The Age of Revolutions, by Fareed Zakaria
9. Experiencing God, by Jon M Sweeney (Boswell January 9 event)
10. Welcome to Pawnee, by Jim O'Heir

Milwaukee Streets (you have to call or visit Boswell for now to purchase - we haven't indexed it) is the second edition of a much beloved local reference book. I'm sure you know that Downer Ave was named after Judge Jason Downer, right? But Webster? It's not definitive. It could be a local named Nathan Webster or the famous lawyer Daniel Webster, who was a very popular personality for street naming in the 1800s.*

Books for Kids:
1. The New Girl, by Cassandra Calin
2. Zip Zap Wickety Wack, by Matthew Diffee
3. Dog Man V14: Big Jim Believes, by Dav Pilkey
4. The Christmas Sweater, by Jan Brett (UWM/Boswell event right now - unless there is some sort of weather delay)
5. The Picasso Curse, by Dan Gutman
6. The 13th Day of Christmas, by Adam Rex
7. The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli, by Karina Yan Glaser
8. Rosie and Raven, by Kayla Silber
9. Sunrise on the Reapin V5, by Suzanne Collins
10. If You Make a Call on a Banana Phone, by Gideon Sterer, illustrations by Emily Hughes

I've just gotten into reading Zip Zap Wickety Wack at book talks and now they are over for the season. Any of us would be happy to read it to you in the bookstore, as several Boswellians have called Diffee's picture book the funniest of the season. Kirkus also called it "unexpected and delightfully absurd."

*In a bit of a coincidence, both graduated from Dartmouth College, as did I, but I still insist my admission was a clerical error.