Schlei in the Shepherd on Outstanding Obreht, Event Wrap Ups, New Postcards, and More on the Tee Shirts

How's this for a rave for The Tiger's Wife?

"It is with a strong mastery of storytelling that Obreht has truly earned her stripes. The Tiger's Wife is richly textured with intersecting themes: the Balkan wars and their effects on new generations in Eastern Europe, the ways myth can displace reason, sense of duty in family and occupation, and the tradition of using allegory to impart life lessons."

Read more from Boswellian alumna Rebecca Schlei's review in the current Shepherd Express.

Speaking of Earth Day, how many of you are chiding me for not tieing in our event with Chasing Chiles author Kurt Michael Friese to Earth Day celebrations (which was yesterday)?  We had a nice turnout, partly due to the help of Slow Food Wisconsin Southeast, but with Friese's strong message, we could have done better than our 24 attendees (26 if you include the author and myself, as some bookstores do). We discussed how bookstore attendance can be all over the map.  (Other bookstores are now exclaiming, "he's complaining about 25 people?  Is he nuts?")

Just to continue our wrap up theme, we had a wonderful event with Tripp Evans, the Grant Wood historian, on Thursday.  We had 50 folks*, thanks to the effors of Joseph Pabst, Will Fellows, and the Cream City Foundation and sales were good.  No surprise, the book is not cheap ($37.50) but it is a spectacular piece of production.  Congrats to Knopf.

And congrats to Evans, who last week was awarded the Marfield Prize for writing about the arts.  Marfield will be reading at the Arts Club of Washington DC on May 11.  Let me tell you, based on the wonderful feedback we had on his talk, I declare attendance mandatory to all book and art lovers within 50 miles.  And just so I continue my "why didn't I think of that?" moments, I could have called this Iowa Week, as both Grant Wood and Kurt Michael Friese are grounded in the Hawkeye State.

Hey, isn't this supposed to be the gift post?  Well, the big news was the arrival of our new tee shirts.  We sold an unprecedented six tee shirts in one day yesterday, four of our artist tee and two of Heather Maroon Boswell.  I know six doesn't seem like a lot to you, but if you're a bookstore (or a retailer not working a tourist strip or a festival), you'll know otherwise.

Here is a photo of Jocelyn and Stacie wearing the new "The book was better" tee.  This is one in a series of shots--I call this pose "I can't believe we're wearing the same tee shirt."  The series also includes "disturbingly happy" and "photo shoot for a mid-priced department store chain."  That one disappeared from the camera, so maybe Stacie didn't like it.  I'm sad to tell her that I kept a copy on my laptop and it's carefully hidden.  Before I use it, I'll find out if she deleted it on purpose.

Yesterday both Stacie and I were wearing our new Kpolly "The Book was Better Tees" and yes, a customer came up to me at the end of the evening and said, "Is that a Kristopher Pollard?" I have never before felt at the cutting edge of anything.

We've gotten a lot of good stuff in recently, but I guess I should limit my shout out to our new Milwaukee postcards.  I never quite located the supplier for tourist postcards, and I'm sort of glad about it, since my memories about them are not spectacular.  Instead, we sourced some classic vintage postcards, including landmarks existing (the Central Library, the Gas building, the Riverside Theater, City Hall) and legendary (County Stadium, the Chicago Northwestern train depot, a functional Pabst brewery).  #1 in sales so far is "Greetings from Milwaukee."  I expect we'll be reordering that one soon.

*In the grand dreams of Mr. Pabst and myself, we imagined 75-100 attendees, but while I applaud thinking big, I know that our attendance was above the expectations of the publisher and author and everybody was very happy.  And for sales, we are now officially #1 for the book on Above the Treeline.  And some of you know what that means!

The New Collection in Our Curio Case is Ready for Takeoff. Cool Space Stuff from Our Friend Ed!

Hooray for collections!  One day when I was changing out the collection in our curio case, our friend/customer Ed offered to display his wonderful collection of space race-iana.  Needless to say, I said yes.  I'll let Ed take it from there:

"During the 1960s, my father worked for a company who supplied parts for NASA’s Apollo project. This limited family connection served as my inspiration for collecting space autographs and memorabilia. I recall flipping through a tragically outdated World Book Encyclopedia and reading about the “current” Apollo missions as a child in the early 1980s. Typical, I dreamed of becoming an astronaut and flying to the moon (little did I know that the United States had already ended the moon missions). I sent a few letters to astronauts during these early years, however my aspirations quickly shifted elsewhere, and I forgot all about the dreams of youth.

"I renewed my interest in NASA and space exploration through watching the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. I began asking my father about his role in the space race, and reading anything I could get my hands on. With all the NASA information filling my head, I decided to solve my hobby problem with (surprise, surprise) the introduction of a new hobby: collecting astronaut autographs. Unlike previous collections, I had a specific goal in mind; an autographed photo from every NASA astronaut, past and present. Following the advice of other collectors, I began by sending letters to current astronauts requesting an autographed photo. After waiting only a few weeks, my mailbox quickly began filling with the distinct brown envelopes from the Johnson Space Center; each containing signed photos.

"Over the past decade, my collection increased in scope to include memorabilia, ephemera, toys, books, and films. The subject matter has also altered slightly, as is now includes items from astronomy, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and private spaceflight. The original goal remains elusive, although it is roughly 75% complete. The remaining astronauts present significant difficulties, as many living retired astronauts no longer respond to autograph requests, and others charge extremely high signing fees. While I could simply purchase autographed photos from auctions or E-bay, I prefer to receive them from the source. This, of course, is not possible for several astronauts who passed away. Despite its difficulties, I continue to collect. At present, the complete collection contains over 600 unique items. The items on display offer a sampling of my collection. I hope you enjoy viewing the items as much as I have enjoyed collecting them."

-Ed Benoit, III

We usually keep our collections up for at least three months.  So if you're reading this post anytime before July 21 (and possibly after that), come in and see some cool stuff. -DCG

This Blog Post Links to an Email that References Past Blog Posts

How about that for circular reasoning.  But I'd feel remiss if I didn't include it so here's the link.  And don't forget about Tripp Evans tonight, author of the acclaimed Grant Wood biography.

New Tee Shirt from artist Kpolly/Kristopher Pollard, Plus a New Everyday Tee

Being that a substantial number of my booksellers have worked with Kristopher Pollard (Beverly, Amie, Anne, at the minimum) and another portion (Jocelyn and Stacie) have been models for him for his recent show at the Luckystar Studio gallery, it seemed only a question of time before we would be able to wear Kpolly down to the point that he would agree to do a tee shirt for us.

Need to get on the Kpolly train?  Here's his stop on Facebook.  Though as a purist, I like to call it The Facebook.

Not that I thought that this tee shirt thing would necessarily come to fruition.  Kristopher had warned me that he is relatively slow at execution, particularly in this go-go internet age.  I know, you're expecting me to say that his work is the cat's pajamas.  Well it is, with Pollard most recently featured in Bitch Magazine.

The whole process was relatively painless.  And voila!  We're selling our spring 2011 tee, "The Book was Better" for a very nice price of $19.95 (2XL is $22.50).  Many thanks to Matt and George at Brew City Promotions, for their great work as always.

Speaking of shirts, we've sold down on our basic shirt to the point that several sizes are down to one color (sometimes black, other times brown, occasionally turquoise). 

It seemed time to order in something new.  I had my heart set on maroon, but a lack of availability in women's sizes (we've been getting requests) and a miscommunication somewhere along the way let to the inadvertently glorious arrival of Heather Maroon Boswell, born 4/21/11.  This one's cotton-poly blend (The New York Times has reassured me that many people are okay with this) and sells for $14.95 (2XL is $16.95).

So just in time for warm weather (really, even though there is still bits of snow on my lawn), you've got something new to wear.  And if you don't like being a shameless huckster for a bookstore, you can also shill for classic fiction in our Out of Print tees, now including The Great Gatsby and The Old Man and the Sea.  I think I already wrote about this once before on the blog.  I'm sure it shocks you that I don't have a plan-o-gram.

And Now for Something Completely Wonderful--Demetri Martin's This is a Book

As you know, we seem to like the smartypants comics.  We often get to the gig of selling books at Pabst and Riverside events and I find myself, more often than not, reading the books. Whether it's Sarah Silverman* or Mike Birbiglia, they seem to get really intelligent comics.  Now I know you're wondering when Tina Fey is appearing, but alas, she's not on the schedule.  Patton Oswalt is, at the Pabst Theater on May 6, and though we aren't signed up, I can't resist sending you to the Pabst Riverside box office for tix, as I know it's going to be a great show.  His new book is Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, as regular visitors to this blog are well aware.

But I think my dream event right now is not selling Bossypants for Tina Fey (I don't dream that big, you've got to think baby steps when you're a bookseller, at least when you're one in Milwaukee) but Demetri Martin, whose new book, This is a Book, arrived yesterday.  He's actually been to town prior to the book's release, and it seems like something the they'd book into the Pabst or Riverside.

I've been enchanted by Martin since I ran into him, strumming his guitar and drawing doodles that are a combination of existentialism and silly puns.  And the new book is just great--it really captures Martin's zeitgeist.  One day I'll do a post on the three books a comedian can write:
a. memoir
b. bits
c. novel

Many write all three. If they are successful at it, all three get published.  The novel usually bombs.  Sorry, but it's true.  The bits do the best, and This is a book is bits. I had a wonderful time with This is a Book, filled with essays like “What I imagine my personal checks that have dolphins on them, do for me” and “Protagonists Hospital, where all patients have minor wounds or amnesia.”

I think I love the short pieces best, and found myself laughing out loud and quoting a lot.  I love to read funny things out loud. First the people I'm reading to laugh (especially if they work for me), then they are a bit irritated with me (especially if they work for me).

And then I laugh out loud when I'm not reading aloud and strangers on the bus look askance. But I didn't ask them for a cigarette in the middle of a cell phone call, like the woman at my bus stop a few days ago. 

That said, I’d actually suggest reading it a bit at a time or you might overdose, like eating a box of sampler chocolates.  It says “sample” for a reason.  And it’s a good thing I am bad at remembering punchlines.  This encourages other people to buy the book, because they sort of laugh and yet realize that I’m not doing a good job with the material.

(Addendum: Martin is coming to the Pabst on June 18.  Tickets available here.)

*Do we have signed copies of Sarah Silverman's The Bedwetter?  You bet your slightly damp sheets we do!

Opera, Painting, Chile Peppers, Fantasy, Plus a Birthday Surprise--What a Week!

After a few days of break, we've got a solid lineup of events for the rest of the week, starting with our final Florentine Opera Insight for the 2010-2011 season on Wednesday, April 20 at 7 pm.  It's a lush double bill, featuring two of the most important baroque works, John Blow's Venus and Adonis paired with Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

I can't emphasize how wonderful these performances are. Corliss Phillabaum's talks are humorous and insightful, the Studio performances are both grand and accessible, and if your thinking this will take as long as a Ring cycle, you're wrong.  It's packed into an hour of opera goodness. While the performances attract a lot of opera fans, I'd also recommend the Florentine Opera Insights for folks who think they are culturally well-rounded, but in fact have a hole in their resume. The opera will be performed May 13 through 22. More on their website.

Our commitment to the fine and performing arts continues on Thursday, April 21 with an appearance from R. Tripp Evans, acclaimed author of Grant Wood, the recent biography that sheds new light on the artist known for American Gothic. Behind his carefully cultivated facade was a very different persona, a gay man struggling with his identity.  Art Winslow in the Chicago Tribune gave the biography five stars.  And look, even The Onion's AV Club is a fan.  This is a big deal, so let's get out and show our support.  And thanks to the Cream City Foundation and the Joseph Pabst infrastructure fund and also Will Fellows for making this possible.

On Friday, we're teaming up with Slow Food Wisconsin Southeast to welcome Kurt Michael Friese, chef/owner of Iowa City's Devotay, who together with Gary Paul Nabhan and Kraig Kraft, collaborated on Chasing Chiles: Hot Spots Along the Pepper Trail.  This environmental and culinary travelogue explores the regional wonderfulness and numerous varieties of chile peppers, and what environmental change is doing to their diversity and distribution.  

Want to read more?  The New York Times profiled Gary Paul Nabhan in their April 7 issue.  And Aram Bakshian, Jr. reviewed Chasing Chiles in the Wall Street Journal.

Saturday April 23 at 2 pm, we're honored to be the launch event for Bradley Beaulieu's epic fantasy series, The Winds of Khalakovo.  Civil war breaks out in a society that is part Cyrillic, part shaman.  Publishers Weekly praised it's poetic prose while Library Journal lauded its strong characters and tense plot.  Our buyer Jason read The Winds of Khalakovo and loved it.  I'm hoping we'll have a post devoted to the book up on The Boswellians this week.  I can't say it's there yet.

Alas, I can't tell you about our Patricia Wells event today as it sold out.  And yesterday?  I was lured out to a surprise party at Sugar Maple in Bay View.  People asked if I suspected and I did not, until the last minute when I was on the phone with my sister Claudia and she was not finished telling me something and I said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I have to go.  I think I'm heading to a surprise party.  There was disagreement as to whether I should have walked into the room while I was on the phone, but in the end, I thought it was better to not be distracted.  Thanks to everyone at Boswell (rumor has it, particularly Stacie) who helped put it together.  And we were particularly impressed with Anne's delicious card though it was also interesting that Kay (a customer) told me that the wine they brought had been developed by Bob (another customer and coincidentally, her husband) while at Gallo. 

And the good thing was, I got to scope out space for out our event on Thursday, June 2nd for Algonquin authors David Anthony (Something for Nothing), Josh Wilker (Cardboard Gods) and Pete Nelson (I thought You Were Dead).  Details to come!

Bestsellers List from Last Week, Annotated, and What's Reviewed in the Journal Sentinel. Plus a Little Extra on Lori Roy.

Here's what we sold this week.  First up, hardcover fiction:

1. The Pale King, by David Foster Wallace

2. The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson

3. Say Her Name, by Francisco Goldman

4. Horoscopes for the Dead, by Billy Collins

5. The Fifth Witness, by Michael Connelly

Say Her Name is the #1 Indie Next book for April and last week was the front page of The New York Times Book Review. And here's a wonderful interview with Billy Collins on Fresh Air, which probably was one of the things that led to our sales pop.

Hardcover nonfiction:
1. Bossypants, by Tina Fey
2. Wicked River, by Lee Sandlin (signed copies available)

3. Malcolm X, by Manning Marable

4. Cleopatra, by Stacy Schiff

5. Life, on the Line, by Grant Achatz

Mr. Sandlin's talk was as good as I hoped for.  I was admittedly a little disappointed with the crowd turnout, but very enthusiastic with the sales.    And with another list comes another Fresh Air interview, this one with Tina Fey.

 
Paperback fiction:
1. Imperfect Birds, by Anne Lamott
2. Separate Kingdoms, by Valerie Laken

3. The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer

4. Pearl of China, by Anchee Min

5. Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese

This was the week for amazing events, apparently. In addition to compliments about Lee Sandlin's appearance, Lamott's return (lots of enthusiasm and signups for our newsletters from folks who discovered us with this event), and Laken's home town triumph (there were giveaways), I had several people come up to me and tell me that Anchee Min's talk was the best event they'd ever been to.  And Invisible Bridge?  I'm hoping word of mouth is spreading on this wonderful book--we had a very strong sales week, leading up to our dual events on April 29th.

 
Paperback nonfiction:
1. Eat Smart in France, by Ronnie Hess

2. Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott

3. Heaven is for Real, by Todd Burpo
4. Traveling Mercies, by Anne Lamott
5. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
Both Anchee Min and Anne Lamott had strong backlist sales at their events.  It was nice to see them sell--we had an event a few weeks ago where the new book did very well but the backlist bombed, which was partly my fault.  I just brought in too much.
 
Children's Books:
1. Little White Rabbit, by Kevin Kenkes
2. I am a Bunny, by Ole Risom and Richard Scarry
3. Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

4. Ladybug Girl and the Bug Squad, by Jacky Davis

5. Owen's Marshmallow Chick, by Kevin Henkes
Happy Easter, apparently.  Also Happy Passover.  Our Hagaddah, by Cokie and Steven Roberts, was #10 on our nonfiction hardcover list.

 

Today's Journal Sentinel features Mike Fisher reviewing Toxicology, by Jessica Hagedorn.  He's mixed--perhaps too many stylized gestures.  Carole E. Barrowman talks up Margaret George's new novel, Elizabeth I, an uncommon portrait of an uncommon woman.  She's going to be at B&N Mayfair on Tuesday, 7 pm.  For a good laugh, by the book from us and bring it in one of our plastic bags.  It's sure happened to us enough over the years. It's Boswell's best this week.  If you do buy it there, it wouldn't be terrible to mention you heard about her appearance on our blog!

 

Barrowman also has her new mysteries column.  She's particularly mesmerized by Lori Roy's Bent Road, a drama that is initially triggered by the Detroit riots of 1967, when Arthur Scott packs up and returns home to Kansas, only to be caught up in the case of a missing young girl. 

 

And since I seem to be in the mood to link to NPR pieces, here's Sarah Weinman's review of the book, also a rave.  An excerpt below:

 

"Where Bent Road excels the most is in juxtaposing a seemingly encapsulated world of rural routine and slow pace against the rushing onslaught of violence. Arthur may wish to protect his family against the rising tide of civil rights, but only opens deeper wounds within his own family by bringing them home. But his choices seem both right and inevitable, and the Scotts as an entire family are real, flawed people, rich with Roy's natural empathy and understanding that worlds may seem real but are, in fact, a cornucopia of inventions, half-truths and outright lies."

 

Wow!

Saturday Gift Post--Olive Organic Opens, Plus Gardening Stuff

It's rather exciting when we get a new neighbor on the block, so you can imagine my glee when Olive Fine Organic Living opened at 2624 North Downer Avenue, next to Paperwork and Cafe Hollander.  Mickey and Dave moved the store from the Pavillions in Mequon; I'd heard wonderful things about the store from customers who shopped their previous location.

The store is mostly open 10 am to 6:30 pm, a little longer on Saturdays, and a bit shorter on Sundays.  They carry clothing, baby stuff, home goods and linens.  It's really beautiful, and I highly recommend stopping by and saying hi to Mickey and Dave (pictured).  I myself am saving up for a sheet set.

It seems like a decent transition to highlight our larger gardening display in the store.  The books are coming out now, and we've got a few cute acccessories.  My favorite are these animal garden stakes, which are $4.50 each.  We've also got some watering can mugs.  Alas, no seeds or mulch yet--for that, visit our friends up the street at the Downer True Value (I'm waiting for their website--I'm tired of linking to their delcious dirt ratings on Yelp, but on the other hand, I admire a true Luddite in this day and age*), or perhaps the lovely folks at the Garden Room in Shorewood.

One more piece of gardening business.  Amy Stewart of Wicked Plants fame is appearing at the Boerner Botanical Gardens for her new book, Wicked Bugs.  Alas, we're not selling it there (they have their own gift shop--we are of course carrying the book) but we're excited about it anyway.  Her event is Tuesday, April 26, at 6 pm.  The event is $20, $25 for non-members.  Since there is an admission fee, I would think the Boerner would be okay with you buying the book from us, but I could be wrong! More on this website.

*Ah, Luddite.  What memories!