1. Yesteryear, by Claire Caro Burke (our event is close to capacity)
2. The Things We Never Say, by Elizabeth Strout
3. The Calamity Club, by Kathryn Stockett (Bernie's Book Bank event May 20 - this is the last day to buy tickets)
4. Monster in the Moonlight, by Annelise Ryan
5. The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans
6. John of Johns, by Douglas Stewart
7. Our Perfect Storm, by Carley Fortune
8. Platform Decay V8, by Martha Wells
9. The Keeper V3, by Tana French
10. Lost Lambs, by Madeline Cash
Wow, this looks like a national bestseller list with all these brand new titles (well, five) crowding our top 10. Top honors goes to Elizabeth Strout's The Things We Never Say, which is getting buzz for not being connected to her other series. BookMarks rates the reviews as nine raves, three positives, and three mixeds. Here's one raves from Adam Begley in The Atlantic: "How does she do it? Not just the neat trick of beguiling highbrow critics while at the same time pleasing millions of readers who don’t care about literary bona fides. The real feat is harpooning the reader artlessly (or so it seems), with language as plain as a Congregational church, a paucity of dramatic incident, and a cast of characters no more exotic than your neighbors."
Very strong first week sales here, with more of a sense of urgency because lots of titles now have signed tip-in editions. We usually are allowed a limited amount, so it's best not to wait. But we don't usually promote them in advance because publishers have warned us that things can go wrong and they won't always show up.
1. Make Believe, by Mac Barnett
2. Unruly, by Shelah Marie
3. The US Constitution, by Melissa Murray
4. London Falling, by Patrick Radden Keefe
5. Famesick, by Lena Dunham
6. Strangers, by Belle Burden
7. Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried About, by Isabel Klee
8. Milwaukee Flavor, by Visit Milwaukee, text from Ann Christenson, photos by Kevin J Miyazaki
9. The Chicago Way, by Michael Gebert (Boswell May 15 event)
10. This Vast Enterprise, by Craig Fehrman
We had a good first week for Melissa Murray's The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader, which would be a good selection for a America 250 table. The author is a Law Professor at NYU and a podcast host of Strict Scrutiny, with Leah Litman and Kate Shaw. The top seller is Mac Barnett's #1 Indie Next pick for May, Make Believe. It's also the first week on for the April 21 release, This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis and Clark.
1. Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi
2. The Supper Club Saints, by Claire Swinarski (signed paperbacks plus one hardcover)
3. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
4. Perfection, by Vincenzo Latronico (June 1 book club pick -list here)
5. A Death in Door County, by Annelise Ryan
6. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Hearon
7. Dungeon Crawler Carl V1, by Matt Dinniman
8. Slow Horses V1, by Mick Herron
9. I Who Have Never Known Men, by Jacqueline Harpman
10. The Road to Tender Hearts, by Annie Hartnett
It's time for the Lit Group sales pop, where some of the folks who came to talk about Hisham Matar's My Friends purchase upcoming selections. Alas, our reorder of Tangerinn did not arrive in time, so we couldn't sell that well enough to hit the list. But the June (Perfection) and early August (Slow Horses) selections did well.
We had a nice evening at the Shorewood Public Library where librarian Noah Weckwerth and I did a book talk. Noah did reader's advisory while I just pushed books on people to buy. Oh the nobleness of a library! In any case, Noah did well with The Road to Tender Hearts, which we featured two weeks ago.
Paperback Nonfiction:
1. When Democrats Won the Heartland, by Cory Haala (signed copies)
2. The Demon of Unrest, by Erik Larson
3. Raising Hare, by Chloe Dalton
4. Get a Financial Life, by Beth Kobliner
5. Book and Dagger, by Elyse Graham
6. Random Acts of Medicine, by Anupam B Jena and Christopher Worsham
7. Beer Hiking Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula, by Kristen Radaich (Black Husky event June 5)
8. Thirty Two Worlds for Field, by Manchan Magan
9. Birds of the Great Lakes, by Dexter Patterson
10. No Straight Road Takes You There, by Rebecca Solnit
The Osher Book Club is reading Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II, and it's also a staff rec for Rachel. Elyse Graham's history got two raves, four positives, and a mixed on BookMarks. This seems like the kind of book that would do well in Great Britain, but there are no reviews listed, so maybe it wasn't published there? I am too distracted to check. From the starred Booklist: " Readers fascinated by espionage will be eager to checkout Graham's fresh telling of the surprising story of the OSS."
Books for Kids:
1. Change of Plans, by Sarah Dessen (signed copies)
2. Kat and Mouse: I Like Cheese, by Salina Yoon
3. Kat and Mouse: Let's Have a Sleepover, by Salina Yoon
4. Double Crossed, by Rebecca EF Barone
5. Penguin and Pinecone, by Salina Yoon
6. Mountain of Fire, by Rebecca EF Barone
7. Unbreakable, by Rebecca EF Barone
8. Oh My Affogato, by Daphne Ang and Donna Ghorbanpoor
9. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
10. Uh-Oh, Hugo!, by Jonathan Stutzman, illustrations by Jay Fleck (Boswell event today at 3 pm!)
Did you guess that we hosted some school visits with Rebecca EF Barone? Her new book is Double Crossed: The WWII Spies Who Saved D-Day. From Betty Carter in Horn Book: "As she did in Unbreakable and Mountain of Fire, Barone presents the story of a pivotal historical event through the actions of some major players. This time, she's covering D-Day and the myriad ways British intelligence duped German forces about the invasion, including creating fake armies and a nonexistent naval convoy...This fine book concludes with a bibliography and substantial documentation." Hey, this is not that different from the plot of Bookshop of Secrets!
We had a nice evening at the Shorewood Public Library where librarian Noah Weckwerth and I did a book talk. Noah did reader's advisory while I just pushed books on people to buy. Oh the nobleness of a library! In any case, Noah did well with The Road to Tender Hearts, which we featured two weeks ago.
1. When Democrats Won the Heartland, by Cory Haala (signed copies)
2. The Demon of Unrest, by Erik Larson
3. Raising Hare, by Chloe Dalton
4. Get a Financial Life, by Beth Kobliner
5. Book and Dagger, by Elyse Graham
6. Random Acts of Medicine, by Anupam B Jena and Christopher Worsham
7. Beer Hiking Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula, by Kristen Radaich (Black Husky event June 5)
8. Thirty Two Worlds for Field, by Manchan Magan
9. Birds of the Great Lakes, by Dexter Patterson
10. No Straight Road Takes You There, by Rebecca Solnit
The Osher Book Club is reading Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II, and it's also a staff rec for Rachel. Elyse Graham's history got two raves, four positives, and a mixed on BookMarks. This seems like the kind of book that would do well in Great Britain, but there are no reviews listed, so maybe it wasn't published there? I am too distracted to check. From the starred Booklist: " Readers fascinated by espionage will be eager to checkout Graham's fresh telling of the surprising story of the OSS."
1. Change of Plans, by Sarah Dessen (signed copies)
2. Kat and Mouse: I Like Cheese, by Salina Yoon
3. Kat and Mouse: Let's Have a Sleepover, by Salina Yoon
4. Double Crossed, by Rebecca EF Barone
5. Penguin and Pinecone, by Salina Yoon
6. Mountain of Fire, by Rebecca EF Barone
7. Unbreakable, by Rebecca EF Barone
8. Oh My Affogato, by Daphne Ang and Donna Ghorbanpoor
9. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
10. Uh-Oh, Hugo!, by Jonathan Stutzman, illustrations by Jay Fleck (Boswell event today at 3 pm!)
Did you guess that we hosted some school visits with Rebecca EF Barone? Her new book is Double Crossed: The WWII Spies Who Saved D-Day. From Betty Carter in Horn Book: "As she did in Unbreakable and Mountain of Fire, Barone presents the story of a pivotal historical event through the actions of some major players. This time, she's covering D-Day and the myriad ways British intelligence duped German forces about the invasion, including creating fake armies and a nonexistent naval convoy...This fine book concludes with a bibliography and substantial documentation." Hey, this is not that different from the plot of Bookshop of Secrets!
