1. Vigil, by George Saunders
2. The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans
3. Half His Age, by Jennette McCurdy
4. Monster in the Moonlight V4, by Annelise Ryan (Boswell April 17 event)
5. Wreck Your Heart, by Lori Rader-Day (signed copies)
6. Elsewhere Express, by Samantha Sotto Yambao
7. This Is Where the Serpent Lives, by Daniyal Mueenuddin
8. James, by Percival Everett
9. Mona's Eyes, by Thomas Schlesser
10. The Wayfinder, by Adam Johnson
Random House continues their tradition of releasing George Saunders books in January, after the surprise breakout of Tenth of December over ten years ago. Vigil is long-awaited, but the reviews have been split, with BookMarks rounding up eight raves, seven positives, four mixed, and five pans. From Hamilton Cain's rave in the Boston Globe: "Vibrant, fiendishly clever ... Saunders varies pointillist technique with staccato dialogue, slapstick humor, even touches of horror. It’s all thrilling on the page."
1. On Fire for God, by Josiah Hesse (signed copies)
2. Football, by Chuck Klosterman
3. Milwaukee Flavor, by Visit Milwaukee, written by Ann Christensen
4. A Marriage at Sea, by Sophie Elmhirst
5. Lessons from Cats for Fighting Fascism, by Stewart "Brittlestar" Reynolds
6. Where We Keep the Light, by Josh Shapiro
7. Attensity, by Friends of Attention
8. Abundance, by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
9. One Day Everyone Will Have Been Against This, by Omar El-Akkad
10. To Die For, by Rosie Grant
Second week in the top ten for Attensity!: A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement. The Friends of Attensity is billed as an underground collective, but the three folks driving the book are D Graham Burnett, Alyssa Loh, and Peter Schmidt. This Washington Post profile explains the Attention Liberation Movement as well as anyone: "The problem isn’t that you, personally, are addicted to your phone or that you can’t stay on task. It goes deeper than that: Our understanding of our attention has been shaped by lab research funded by the military and the ad industry — forces that define attention in terms of staring at screens and pressing buttons, with the aim of wringing more work or money out of us."
Paperback Fiction:
1. Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi
2. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë
3. We the Animals, by Justin Torres
4. Passing, by Nella Larsen
5. Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell
6. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
7. The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore
8. Tough Guy V3, by Rachel Reid
9. The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon
10. Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman
Theo of Golden, the self-published sensation that was picked up by Atria, continues to soar. I looked at Edelweiss and 75% of bookstores have sold it. My inside source told me that's about as high as it tends to go. There are just a lot of stores that use the digital catalog service that are very specialized. Needless to say, it's not being tracked on BookMarks, but the reader reviews are through the roof.
Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Contemplate, by Jacob Riyeff (signed copies)
2. Die with Zero, by Bill Perkins
3. Birdscaping for Wisconsin and the Great Lakes Region, by Mariette Nowak
4. A Place to Be, by JK Cheema (Boswell February 6 event)
5. Coyote America, by Dan Flores
6. A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders, by John Elledge
7. Black in Blues, by Imani Perry (ABHM April 6 event)
8. Living When a Loved One Has Died, by Earl Grollman
9. Seven Generations and the Seven Grandfather Teachings, by James Vukelich
10. Milwaukee Streets, by Carl Baehr
Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People is out this week, but Imani Perry is not coming to Milwaukee until April. The event is ticketed at the America's Black Holocaust Museum, but does not include the book, so we're hoping this gives attendees plenty of time to read it in advance. Both Boswell and Niche are selling copies. Seven raves and a positive on BookMarks, including this rave from Alexandra Jacobs in The New York Times: "The book drifts, like the ocean; it turns suddenly cloudy, like the heavens; it trills, like the jaybird (to which another chapter is devoted). It will have you looking afresh even at your corner mailbox."
Books for Kids:
1. The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown
2. Endling V1: The Last, by Katherine Applegate
3. Because of Mr Terupt, by Rob Buyea
4. Rise of the Earth Dragon, by Tracey West
5. Out of my Heart, by Sharon Draper
6. Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide, by Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black
7. The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan
8. The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill
9. Unicorns Are the Worst, by Alex Willan (Brookfield Library event today at 2 pm)
10. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
Mostly school favorites on the list this week. School visits don't usually pick up until later in the season, but we are hosting Alex Willan tomorrow, and as mentioned above, he'll be at the Brookfield Public Library at 2 pm today, and by today, I mean February 1.
Second week in the top ten for Attensity!: A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement. The Friends of Attensity is billed as an underground collective, but the three folks driving the book are D Graham Burnett, Alyssa Loh, and Peter Schmidt. This Washington Post profile explains the Attention Liberation Movement as well as anyone: "The problem isn’t that you, personally, are addicted to your phone or that you can’t stay on task. It goes deeper than that: Our understanding of our attention has been shaped by lab research funded by the military and the ad industry — forces that define attention in terms of staring at screens and pressing buttons, with the aim of wringing more work or money out of us."
1. Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi
2. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë
3. We the Animals, by Justin Torres
4. Passing, by Nella Larsen
5. Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell
6. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
7. The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore
8. Tough Guy V3, by Rachel Reid
9. The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon
10. Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman
Theo of Golden, the self-published sensation that was picked up by Atria, continues to soar. I looked at Edelweiss and 75% of bookstores have sold it. My inside source told me that's about as high as it tends to go. There are just a lot of stores that use the digital catalog service that are very specialized. Needless to say, it's not being tracked on BookMarks, but the reader reviews are through the roof.
1. Contemplate, by Jacob Riyeff (signed copies)
2. Die with Zero, by Bill Perkins
3. Birdscaping for Wisconsin and the Great Lakes Region, by Mariette Nowak
4. A Place to Be, by JK Cheema (Boswell February 6 event)
5. Coyote America, by Dan Flores
6. A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders, by John Elledge
7. Black in Blues, by Imani Perry (ABHM April 6 event)
8. Living When a Loved One Has Died, by Earl Grollman
9. Seven Generations and the Seven Grandfather Teachings, by James Vukelich
10. Milwaukee Streets, by Carl Baehr
Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People is out this week, but Imani Perry is not coming to Milwaukee until April. The event is ticketed at the America's Black Holocaust Museum, but does not include the book, so we're hoping this gives attendees plenty of time to read it in advance. Both Boswell and Niche are selling copies. Seven raves and a positive on BookMarks, including this rave from Alexandra Jacobs in The New York Times: "The book drifts, like the ocean; it turns suddenly cloudy, like the heavens; it trills, like the jaybird (to which another chapter is devoted). It will have you looking afresh even at your corner mailbox."
1. The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown
2. Endling V1: The Last, by Katherine Applegate
3. Because of Mr Terupt, by Rob Buyea
4. Rise of the Earth Dragon, by Tracey West
5. Out of my Heart, by Sharon Draper
6. Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide, by Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black
7. The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan
8. The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill
9. Unicorns Are the Worst, by Alex Willan (Brookfield Library event today at 2 pm)
10. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
Mostly school favorites on the list this week. School visits don't usually pick up until later in the season, but we are hosting Alex Willan tomorrow, and as mentioned above, he'll be at the Brookfield Public Library at 2 pm today, and by today, I mean February 1.
