Another Fun Talk with Kathleen Dunn About New Books

On Monday I got to spend an hour with Kathleen Dunn and her producers Rhonda Fanning and Kryssy Pease. The books I meant to talk about are posted on the radio show's Facebook Page. But did I talk about all of them? No. Did we discuss lots of other books? Yes. Here's what actually got mentioned on the show.

I call this list, What We Actually Talked About

1. Life, on the Line, by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas
2. Memoir of a Sunday Brunch, by Julia Pandl
3. A Chance to Make History, by Wendy Kopp
4. Wingshooters, by Nina Revoyr
5. Driftless, by David Rhodes, plus his older books The Rock Island Line and Easter House
6. The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer
7. Bloody Crimes, by James Swanson (from a customer)
8. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (from a customer)
9. Matched, by Allie Conde (from a customer)
10. The Maze Runner, by James Dashner
11. Great Food All Day Long, by Maya Angelou
12. How to Breathe Underwater, by Julie Orringer
13. The Memory Wall, by Anthony Doerr
14. The Tiger’s Wife, by Tea Obreht
15. Swamplandia, by Karen Russell
16. Saint Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, by Karen Russell
17. The Name of the Wind and Wise Man’s Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss
18. Sing You Home, by Jodi Picoult
19. Caleb’s Crossing, by Geraldine Brooks
20. Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand (from a customer)
21. Chris Offutt and Daniel Woodrell suggestions. Later on we thought of Larry Brown, Robert Olmsted, and William Gay.
22. Pride, Prejudice and Zombies and Zombie, Ohio (from customer)
23. The Zombie Survival Guide, by Max Brooks
24. Anything by Malachy McCourt (from a customer)
25. The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook, by Rachel Saunders (from a customer)
26. The Thursday Next series, by Jasper Fforde (from a customer)
27. The Matchmaker of Kenmare, by Frank Delaney (from Kathleen Dunn)
28. Ghost Light, by Joseph O’Connor
29. Saints and Sinners, by Edna O’Brien
29. Seamus Heaney’s poetry, most recently Human Chain (from Kathleen Dunn)
30. My Name is Memory, by Ann Brashares (from a customer)
31. Last Call, by Daniel Okrent (from a customer)
32. The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson (from Kathleen)
33. The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, by Robert Calasso
34. Bound to Last, by Sean Manning
35. The Brown Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang
36. Louisa May Alcott, plus A Girl of the Limberlost, by Gene Stratton-Porter (from a customer) 37. The View from Lazy Point, by Carl Safina (from a customer)
38. Bats Sing, Mice Giggle, by Karen Shanor (from a customer)
39. The Season on Henry’s Farm, by Terra Brockman (from a customer)
40. Wicked River, by Lee Sandlin
41. Michael Crichton suggestion…Daniel suggests James Rollins but I could probably match this a bit closer.
42. Tom Robbins and John Irving suggestion…Daniel suggests T.C. Boyle and Sherman Alexie
43. A Widow’s Tale, by Joyce Carol Oates

And of course, here is a link to listen to the show! Much thanks to everyone for having me on.

Paperback Tuesday--It's Just Crazy Out There with New Releases

If you were waiting for your favorite book to come out in paperback, this might be the week for you. Our front tables seem to have almost completely changed in the last couple of weeks. Our buyer Jason said there was a particularly large release schedule from the Random House companies.

Lord of Misrule, by Jaimy Gordon. If the eight-month cycle for paperback release is becoming more common than not for fiction, can the four-month cycle be far behind. Jaimy Gordon's National-Book-Award-winning novel came out last November. We hosted an event in January, and here it is in March. It's the story of a ragtag bunch of characters at a small-stakes track in West Virginia. Beautifully written, larger-than-life characters, and an author you've got to catch on tour. And don't forget about Jim Higgins' interview with the author in the Journal Sentinel.

Solar, by Ian McEwan. "The funniest book McEwan has ever written" screams Entertainment Weekly, regarding McEwan's novel of the collision between the global crisis of climate change and the personal crisis of a floundering marriage. Seems like I would have liked it, but I didn't read it. But I don't feel as guilty about missing that one as I do about...

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet, by David Mitchell. Mitchell turns his writing skills to the historical, setting his new novel in 1799 Japan. This book wound up on all sorts of top ten lists, from the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, the Financial Times, The Globe and Mail, plus personal lists from noted critics Maureen Corrigan and Michiko Kakutani. Am I dreaming when I say that I think I was introduced to Corrigan on a recent visit to Politics and Prose. The whole day turned out to be like a day on the star-spotting bus in Hollywood, only for the intelligentsia.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot. The search for the woman whose cancerous cells led to amazing medical breakthroughs and her poor family that was left behind. Another author we hosted in hardcover that you should go out of your way to see on her paperback book tour. And by out of your way, I'm thinking a plane trip is not out of the question.

The Man from Beijing, by Henning Mankell. At the book fair yesterday for St. John's Home on the Lake, we were talking about all the wonderful Scandanavian authors that folks were reading when they finished Stieg Larsson. One person in the conversation had just read this, and I asked if she had read his famous detective series. She said no, and what's the name of the detective. Darned if I knew. It's Kurt Wallender, of course.

and just so it's not all Random Housian...

Angelology, by Danielle Trussoni. Another fellow came up to me and said he liked both Dan Brown and Umberto Eco--what could I do for him? This is what I came up with, the story of a nun who discovers a correspondence that points her to an ancient conflict between (and I paraphrase) the Angelologists and the Nephilim, descendants of angels and humans. Trussoni has some local ties, so we're hoping that she comes back to town for the paperback eventually (though she's not scheduled on the official tour, to my knowledge).

Off to Marquette for our Teach for America event with Wendy Kopp. In the store? That would be Ron Tanner and his book, Kiss me Stranger.

A Ghost Eulogy for a Ghostwriter

One of the nicest things I've found about being a high-profile bookstore (well, higher profile than when I was the buyer for Schwartz) owner is that I get to know a lot of wonderful people. I noticed this during the past weekend, when I was saying hi seemingly everywhere. And by the way, Amie, one of our customers at the UWM Spring Writing Festival said hi to you. Even when I went to wander around Bayshore Town Center (I do like to poke around retail), I wandered into Board Game Barrister to look at all the cool stuff and the gameseller immediately said, "Hi, I was at Boswell for the Paul Harding event" and we had a nice chat about how wonderful that event was. I bought some sidewalk chalk and glitter glue, by the way.

But knowing lots of people also means, how else to put this, I know lots more people who die. In the past few months we've lost Jerome, a wonderfully talented artist who liked stopping by for a newspaper and sometimes an art book, and Tillie, a beloved member of our science fiction and fantasy book club. And just today, I heard about another death, and I'm a bit devastated. And I've decided to leave out her name, in respect for the fact that some years ago, she ghost-wrote a nonfiction bestseller. I'll call her BLICW*.

BLICW was one of those people that I didn't know that well (who the heck do I know that well?) but always made me happy with her presence. We had some wonderful chats about the store, and about publishing. I talked to several of her classes, and at one point, we did some research on new books that were appropriate for the subject she was teaching. Sometimes she'd come in and spend time reading alongside her teenage daughter. If I had a teenage daughter (and I don't), that's what I'd want to do. How could I not smile?

I've actually known a number of ghostwriters over the years. It's a strange job, isn't it? I Whenever a personality writes a book and has no co-writer credit, I check the copyright page and the acknowledgements and look for clues. I've been known to add the ghostwriter to the author field a couple of times. Why not? It's my little acknowledgement of a pretty much thankless task.

One would hardly say I am at the point of my life where I feel immortal. I do that game where I think to myself, how pissed is everybody going to be if I die and my will is a mess (which it will be if I die in the very near future). OK, if I live to 60, I've got ten years left, what do I do? Say I live to 70, then what? Do I outlive the store? It's a valid question, we're all wondering what happens if bookstores effectively become showrooms for ebooks.

That said, I think the pundits are grandstanding when they say the physical book will be gone in 20-whatever. Nicholas Negroponte and Mike Shatzkin are the Jeanne Dixons of the moment--if they are right, congrats on your prescience! If not, who remembers? It's on to another pronouncement. And of course, they will be right someday, as who needs books when we have Raymond Kurzweil's singularity?

But I digress. It's a conversation I won't be able to have with BLICW. Not only didn't we really have that conversation (though we danced around it), I didn't really say goodbye. It wasn't like another death I heard about today, of a friend's spouse who died in his forties of a heart attack at the gym. But it was relatively quick. So I'm saying goodbye now. Also to Jerome and Tillie and while we're at it, Virginia and Sal and Cousin Cheryle. But especially to BLICW, who offered enouragement to me at the right time. Much thanks too.

*Clumsy, yes, but it has meaning.

Patrick Rothfuss Craziness and How Milwaukee Can Politefully Request a Stop on the Tour

In between stints at our various events around town, I was able to tabulate and send out our weekly bestsellers. Hardcover nonfiction first:

1. Chinaberry Sidewalks, by Rodney Crowell
2. Life, on the Line, by Grant Achatz and Nick Koikonas
3. Swimming in the Daylight, by Lisa Paul
4. Getting Naked, by Patrick Lencioni
5. A Widow's Story, by Joyce Carol Oates

Paul had a breakout session at the UWM writing confererence. One day I will have my camera at the same time I am writing the blog and will include pictures...I think I have at least one good one of the Rodney Crowell concert.

Our big fiction story is Patrick Rothfuss's long-awaited follow-up to The Name of the Wind, the second entry in The Kingkiller Chronicles. And we didn't even get signed copies yet. I think we are getting some. Please request signed copy of The Wise Man's Fear if you order and we'll try to fulfill.

In addition to a lot of single copy sales, I helped someone carry out a carton. I'm sure this is the case for many bookstores (indie, chain, virtual, departmental--next to the cell phone cases make a left when you get to pet food*), but as the author lives not too far away, it might be moreso.

1. The Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss
2. The Fates will Find Their Way, by Hannah Pittard
3. The Paris Wife, by Paul McLain
4. Three Stages of Amazement, by Carol Edgarian
5. Room, by Emma Donoghue

I figured Rothfuss was appearing at a nearby chain store, but was surprised to discover that, at least according to his website, there is no Milwaukee appearance scheduled. He seems to be using MTV's Eventful website to gauge interest. If I were you and wanted a local event, I'd probably take a look at our numbers, which lag other markets. It's not that you don't love him, it's that you haven't told him you love him. I'm not really up for shilling for this site, but you do what you gotta do. Here's the link.**

For those who aren't about to link, I salute you, and present you the tour as set so far.

Seattle, Washington
March 1, 7 pm
University Bookstore
4326 University Way NE
(206) 634-3400

Portland/Beaverton, Oregon
March 2, 7 pm
Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
3415 SW Cedar Hills Boulevard
(503) 228-4651

San Francisco (two events)
March 3, 7 pm
SF in SF Reading Series
The Variety Theater
But tickets for this seem to be at or near sell-out. Correction: It is sold out!

March 3, Midnight
Borderlands Cafe
870 Valencia Street
Which is also in San Francisco
(415) 824-8203

Huntington Beach/Los Angeles, California
March 4, 7 pm
Barnes Noble (plus &)
7881 Edinger Avenue, Huntington Beach
(714) 897-8781

San Diego, California
March 5, 2 pm
Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore
7051 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard
858) 268-4747

Houston, Texas
March 6, 2 pm
Murder by the Book
2342 Bissonnet Street
(713) 524-8597

Madison, Wisconsin
March 8, 7 pm

Barnes & Noble
7433 Mineral Point Road
(608) 827-0809

Oak Brook/Chicago, Illinois

March 9, 7 pm
Borders Books & Music
1500 16th Street, Oak Brook

(630) 574-0800

Beavercreek/Dayton, Ohio

March 10, 7 pm

Books & Company
4453 Walnut Street, Beavercreek

(937) 429-2169

Lexington, Kentucky

March 11, 7 pm
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
161 Lexington Green Circle
(859) 273-2911

Saint Louis, Missouri

March 12 at 7 pm
Left Banks Books
321 N. 10th Street
(314) 367-6731

Washington DC
March 14, 12 Noon
What If Reading Series
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
(202) 707-6809

No bookstore selling at this event--bring your own book!

Bailey's Crossroads/Washington, DC

March 14, 7:30 pm
Borders Books & Music
5871 Crossroads Center Way, Bailey's Crossroads
(703) 998-0404

Brooklyn, New York

March, 7 pm
Barnes & Noble
267 7th Avenue, Park Slope
(718) 832-9066

Boston, Massachusetts

March 16, 6 pm
Northeastern University Bookstore
Snell Library
360 Huntington Avenue, 4 Eli Hall
(617) 373-2350

If you are going, Mr. Rothfuss would like you to RSVP on his Facebook page.

*I am not necessarily disparaging this. In the old days, I liked nothing more than to find a book department in an old department store. I am more bored by sameness.

**For years, Christopher Moore told us that he was cautious about visiting Milwaukee because he didn't see a strength of fans in the market. Now he has come several times.

Out and About--Our Book Events aren't Just in the Store

Oops, I missed a day! When you read how busy I've been, you'll understand the lapse.

It's March and that means it's time for the UWM Spring Writers Festival. Kao Kalia Yang (The Latehomecomer) spoke last night, today it's David Rhodes (Driftless), and tomorrow's keynote is Jane Hamilton (Laura Rider's Masterpiece). In addition, there are about 20 workshops and panels with books involved. Getting all their books in, plus a table of writing, publishing, marketing, and creativity books, and we've got a LOT of books to sell.

Last night Stacie and I juggled the festival and Rodney Crowell's concert (for Chinaberry Sidewalks) at the Turner Hall Ballroom. Today Amie sells Austen and Vermeer books (and stuff too) at the Jane Austen Tea at the Milwaukee Public Library. I'm hoping there is some enthusiasm for our Austen plush, notecards, action figure, journals, birthday book, and jigsaw puzzle. And yes, there are Vermeer notecards too. No puzzle though, sigh. That event is sold out. Good job, Friends!

Lots of folks ask about all these offsites we do, especially if they see me in several contexts in a short period of time. I think they are vital for the business. We connect with new customers, make relationships that could lead to new events, and give us enough business to make our numbers. I also think that it's a component of our commitment to the community. Now that's not to say we'll do every offsite offered (just like we won't take every local author's book--we have to feel like there's a chance of selling it) but we sure do a lot of them. (We rarely do one without a featured speaker, but how can you say no to the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library?)

On Monday (3/7), I'll be doing a book fair at St. John's on the Lake. In the evening, Jason will be at the Urban Ecology Center for Richard Crossley and The Crossley ID Guide for Eastern Birds. And so it goes.

Tidbits from Our Current Selection of Boswell's Best, Which are 20% Off, at Least Through Next Monday

Virtual front desk chat!

The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain (Ballantine) had a nice pop onto next week's New York Times bestseller list. There were six debuts in the top 15 of fiction, including the top three--#1 is the J.D. Robb's Treachery in Death. Robb is Nora Roberts, only angrier! So much turnover always makes me think of a change in tabulation. Is this the week that ebooks were integrated into the regular list? I have no clue.

The Philosophical Breakfast Club: Four Remarkable Friends Who Changed Science and the World, by Laura J. Snyder (Broadway). And who are the friends? Why they are Charles Babbage, John Herschel, Whilliam Whewell and Richard Jones. Whewell invented the word scientist.

We the Drowned, by Carsten Jensen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) proves there are few books that we are promoting that Jason hasn't read (he also read and recommended The Paris Wife. This novel has also won raves from Joseph O'Connor ("a novel of immense authority") and Henning Mankell ("without a doubt, one of the most exciting authors in Nordic literature today.") Yes, everything is coming up Denmark. There's a chance that Jensen will be stopping here on his American tour. Stay tuned!

The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood, by James Gleick (Pantheon) is from the author of Chaos and and Genius, and yes, it's a history of the Information Age. Gleick's previous books have been short-listed for the Pulitzer and the National Book Award. And this looks like his biggest book ever--I guess you can't write about information without having a lot of information.
Murder in Passy, by Cara Black (Soho). This popular series is its first entry under the new Random House distribution agreement. Aimee Leduc investigates the murder of the girlfriend of her godfather, Commissaire Mobier. And yes, he's the prime suspect.

Smoking Typewriters: The Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America, by John McMillan (Oxford). The underground press is responsible for the sixties! The author has won raves from Todd Gitlin and Susan Brownmiller.

The Complaints, by Ian Rankin (Reagan Arthur). Our friend John Eklund says this is the first post-Rebus book that lives up to the legendary series. He graciously offered me a recommendation, which I enthusiastically reprint:

“Like many fans of the Inspector Rebus series, I was crushed when Rankin retired him a few years back. Nothing he’s written since has engaged me as obsessively. Until now. Though Rebus himself doesn’t appear in Rankin’s latest, his spirit hovers over it. All of the familiar Rankin comfort food is here: great Edinburgh detail; believable, charmingly imperfect characters sketched out with economical precision; and a storyline that doesn’t quit. I’m not generally a mystery reader, but I love Rankin for his genius at simple storytelling. No writer I know slips the reader into the book so efficiently. And The Complaints was someplace I was really sad to leave.”

Thanks, John! I would also like folks to know that Rankin will be at Mystery One on Saturday, March 19, at 12 Noon. This is a very special event, and though I'm jealous, it's too big a deal not to talk up. Mystery One is at 2109 North Prospect Avenue (a short walk from our store in nice weather). And don't forget that if you're going to the event, proper etiquette is to buy the book from the host store. But if you aren't going, it's ok to buy it from us.

Display of the Day--Ladybug Table

Our ladybug table

consists of:

Ladybug Girl

and
The Grouchy Ladybug.

Plus assorted ladybug flashlights
ear buds

candles

wind-ups

and a magnetic music box

where the ladybugs dance when you wind it up.

More to come, including a votive holder. And I had no room on our table for our ladybug finger puppets, boxed cards, or castanets.

Ladybug castanets. Why didn't I think of that?

Still to come? A votive candle and perhaps some other things

Ladybugs are the new owls.

My only complaint is with the spotting. Don't these designers know there are supposed to be exactly seven spots?

Overcome Enough Odds for You? Alinea's Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas Tell All in Life, on the Line--Ticketed Event is 3/13, 7 pm.

My first brush with Alinea was a number of years ago. John H., one of my sales reps had saved up to take his wife there for her birthday. For them, it was the cost of a small trip elsewhere, including, perhaps, lodging. No matter. John described the dinner in dramatic detail; I had never heard of anything like it.

Chef Grant Achatz (ACK-utz, I finally learned) would come up periodically, particularly when the James Beard Awards were announced, or a list of best restaurants was revealed. Once the restaurant was in the spotlight for not being on a best-of list (in Esquire, it’s in the book), and Alinea got some press for that too.

But it was the announcement that Achatz had squamous cell carcinoma (effectively, tongue cancer) that really seemed to put the entire world’s focus on this Chicago chef, particularly as it was the year when Achatz was up for the James Beard Award for best chef. A world-renowned chef battling to keep his sense of taste? What news outlet could resist that?

So now we’ve got Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat, written by Achatz and his business partner, Nick Kokonas. It goes on sale this Thursday, March 3. But what is it?

Is it an inspirational story of overcoming cancer?
Is it a business story of everything involved in creating a business?
Is it the story of one man’s passionate search for discovering and creating amazing food?

I’d say it’s all three, but it’s most glorious as a foodie narrative*. Grant Achatz would have a wonderful tale to tell, even if he didn’t have his life-changing bout with cancer. His drive to cook was there since his early years, working short order at his parents’ restaurant in Michigan. He saw his parents struggle, he saw them reach for more, he saw them battle, and he saw his father’s drinking problem.

Every step of the way, Achatz stretched for opportunity, for experience. And in one of the more important takeaways from his story, Achatz knew when something wasn’t right and it was time to move on.

There’s no question that Thomas Keller was one of his most important mentors, in terms of vision, the quest for quality, and the culture of the kitchen. You see that most in Achatz’s short-lived stint at another restaurant institution. Yes, gossip fans, Life, on the Line names names. Well, at least a few.

Boy, is this an emotional book. And you don’t have to wait for the diagnosis to start tearing up. I got weak on Achatz’s European tour of Michelin-starred restaurants, when he learned a surprising lesson about greatness. I was hooked when he connected with his first mentor, at the Amway Grand Plaza in Grand Rapids, and a goner when he connected with The French Laundry**. The passion for food and for new ways to appreciate it seeps through the paper and sets my taste buds blazing.

And when the restaurant starts to be more than a dream, Kokonas enters the narrative, the ideal business partner whose one passion is only matched by his smarts. What a great combination! And as I always focus back to my business, I wondered if there are folks out there who might team up with a bookseller to fill a hole in a few of the markets that are losing bookstores.

I thought about my three favorite food narratives of the last twenty years or so***:
Tender at the Bone, by Ruth Reichl
The Man Who Ate Everything, by Jeffrey Steingarten
Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain

Interestingly enough, Reichl plays a pivotal role in the narrative, and Steingarten shows up for a nice guest spot. Bourdain gets mentioned too of course. And many folks really got to know Achatz from Michael Ruehl’s chef trilogy, The Making of a Chef, The Soul of a Chef, and The Reach of a Chef. Our customer Nancy B. has bought numerous copies for friends over the years.

So here’s the deal. I’m putting Life, on the Line up with these books. Yes, this is a inspiring story to turn on any foodie, a must-read for all entrepreneurs, and yes, a survival narrative too. And just to add a little dollop of foam to the offering, one of the Top Chef cheftestants also has a nice supporting role in the story. Guess which one?

And yes, Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas are coming to Boswell, on Sunday, March 13, 7 pm. You always have to do some negotiating and in my case, a little begging. These guys are incredibly busy setting up Next, their new restaurant in Chicago, which will have the passion and perfection of Alinea, but with a seasonal menu that captures a place and time. You have to watch this video--it's amazing!

So this is a ticketed event to a rare opportunity to hear two amazing people talk about overcoming some amazing odds. $25 gets you admission and a signed copy of Life, on the Line. (Yes, that’s cheaper than the book price of $27.50). You can buy the tickets in the store, by phone, or online. There is also a $20 gift card option in lieu of the book. I’ve told Carrie, whom I am working with to put this together, that if I can get to 150 people, we’ll start talking donation to a cancer group. Heck, I’ll start talking at 100.

May I just say that T.C. Boyle comes to Milwaukee every third book, but you are not likely to get this opportunity again to hear Achatz and Kokonas talk. Don’t kick yourself later.

*Not that the cancer narrative isn’t interesting and inspiring. It is.

**Just to connect everything together, Michael Ruhlman wrote the text for The French Laundry Cookbook.

***I think of Danny Meyer's Setting the Table almost as more of a business narrative, which is why it isn't on this list. But do I think every potential restauranteur should read this book? Yes, I do.