Boswell Bestsellers for the week ending November 12, 2016.

Here's what sold at Boswell this past week.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Passenger, by Lisa Lutz
2. Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch
3. The Fields Where They Lay, by Timothy Hallinan
4. Rough Trade, by Todd Robinson
5. The Mistletoe Murder, by P.D. James
6. This Was a Man, by Jeffrey Archer
7. The Mothers, by Brit Bennett
8. The Whistler, by John Grisham
9. Murder on the Quai, by Cara Black
10. The Drifter, by Nick Petrie

Happy Murder and Mayhem weekend! Among the bestsellers at the show were Lisa Lutz's The Passenger, Blake Crouch's Dark Matter, Timothy Hallinan's The Fields Where They Lay, and Todd Robinson's Rough Trade, or to put it another way, our top four selling hardcover fiction titles from last week. Note that The Passenger is due out in paperback shortly.

Not attending was Jeffrey Archer, whose This Was a Man is the seventh and final installment of The Clifton Chronicles. I'd like to link to a review but I can't find any, which seems odd. There isn't even a Kirkus or Publishers Weekly!

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Mamaleh Knows Best, by Marjorie Ingall
2. Drink Like a Woman, by Jeanette Hurt
3. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
4. Eleanor Roosevelt: The War Years and After, by Blanche Wiesen Cook
5. Dogs As I See Them, by Lucy Dawson
6. My Own Words, by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
7. Gunslinger, by Jeff Pearlman
8. Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance
9. Upstream, by Mary Oliver
10. Women in Science, by Rachel Ignotofsky

The long-awaited third volume of Blanche Wiesen Cook's multi-volume biography, Eleanor Roosevelt: The War Years and After, had a nice pop this week, with reviews like Jay Strafford's in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: "An unabashed admirer of her subject, Cook writes glowingly — but not blindly - of the final quarter-century of ER’s life, weighing her great achievements against her flaws - among them, she could descend into moodiness, and she forgave slights but seldom forgot them -and recognizing that she evoked strong reactions."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Arrow: The Dark Archer, by John Barrowman and Carole E. Barrowman
2. The Drifter, by Nick Petrie (Burning Bright event at Boswell, Tue Jan 10, 7 pm)
3. The Sellout, by Paul Beatty
4. Salem's Cipher, by Jess Lourey
5. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman
6. The Improbability of Love, by Hannah Rothschild (book club discussion, Mon Dec 5, 7 pm)
7. Good Behavior, by Blake Crouch
8. The Silent City, by Alex Crouch
9. The Killing Kind, by Chris Holm
10. Brilliance, by Marcus Sakey

Once again, Murder and Mayhem authors dominate, including Nick Petrie's The Drifter, Jess Lourey's Salem's Cipher, a new series following her Murder by Month series, and Blake Crouch's Good Behavior, just starting as a TNT series starring Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery. It was interesting to see that the publishers ascendant in at least this mystery convention were Hachette's Mulholland, Polis, distributed by Ingram Publisher Services, and Amazon's Thomas and Mercer.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Destiny and Power, by Jon Meacham
2. Milwaukee Frozen Custard, by Kathleen McCann and Robert Tanzilo (event Tue Nov 22, 7 pm, at Boswell)
3. The Road to Little Dribbling, by Bill Bryson
4. Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson
5. Swimming Studies, by Leanne Sharpton
6. Your Book, Your Brand, by Dana Kaye
7. You Can't Touch My Hair, by Phoebe Robinson
8. WtF: What the French?, by Olivier Magny
9. Writing in the Age of Silence, by Sara Paretsky
10. We Should All Be Feminists, by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie

Phoebe Robinson got as close as Chicago (our friends at Women and Children First) for You Can'tTouch My Hair. Melissa Locker profiled her in Elle, and pondered her platform: "In the thick of a media blitz for her new collection of essays, You Can't Touch My Hair, the multi-talented Robinson is indeed enjoying success that would make any comedy newbie (or grizzled veteran) envious. As well as being an author, she hosts two podcasts: Sooo Many White Guys and 2 Dope Queens, the comedic storytelling podcast she co-hosts with former The Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams. She's had guest spots on TBS's Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Comedy Central's The Nightly Show, and Broad City."

Picture Books for Kids:
1. Bad Kitty Scaredy Cat, by Nick Bruel
2. Melena's Jubilee, by Zetta Elliott, with illustrations by Aaron Boyd
3. Calling the Water Drum, by LaTisha Redding, with illustrations by Aaron Boyd
4. Bad Kitty, by Nick Bruel
5. Luigi and the Barefoot Races (cloth), by Dan Paley, with illustrations by Aaron Boyd
6. Pengin's Christmas Wish, by Salina Yoon
7. Gingerbread Christmas, by Jan Brett
8. Luigi and the Barefoot Races (paper), by Dan Paley, with illustrations by Aaron Boyd
9. Be a Friend, by Salina Yoon
10. Ada Twist, Scientist, by Andrea Beaty, with illustrations by David Roberts

Have you guessed that we just hosted an event for local illustrator Aaron Boyd? His two new books, Melena's Jubilee and Calling the Water Drum, and last year's Luigi and the Barefoot Races, all sold out! Boyd has also designed tee shirts for Boswell, as well as our new holiday bag. He also designed the old holiday bag! Of Melena, Publishers Weekly writes: " Befitting the sense of grace that Melena clings to, Boyd's vibrant mixed-media images evoke the heft and poise of stained glass windows, whether showing Melena and her elders picking garden vegetables or the girl and her friends perched on the jungle gym, gazing at swirling clouds." Of Water Drum, Kirkus noted that "Boyd's watercolor illustrations expressively convey the love of Henris family, the perils of their sea crossing, and the range of emotions he experiences as he finds his way in New York with his uncle and friends."

Chapter Books for Kids, all the way to Young Adult and Teen:
1. Dog Man, by Dav Pilkey
2. Keeper of the Lost Cities #1, by Shannon Messenger
3. Bad Kitty for President, by Nick Bruel
4. Bad Kitty Goes to the Vet, by Nick Bruel
5. Lodestar #5, by Shannon Messenger
6. Exile #2, by Shannon Messenger
7. Adventures of Captain Underpants #1, by Dav Pilkey
8. Neverseen #4, by Shannon Messenger
9. Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot Vs. the Unpleasant Penguins from Pluto #9, by Dav Pilkey, with illustrations by Dan Santat
10. Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot #12, by Dav Pilkey

We hosted a day of schools and public event with Shannon Messenger in conjunction with the releaese of Lodestar, the fifth entry in Keeper of the Lost Cities. We'd had a great time with her for book #3, but were a bit unprepared that the series had exploded with #4 and we wound up with 67 people for our 4 pm event. Amie made Mallowmelt Cupcakes from the book. We found the recipe on Pinterest. It's an ooey gooey concoction with marshmallow creme, as well as chocolate and butterscotch chips. Congrats to the super chharming Messenger - the series also just hit The New York Times bestseller list.

It's a performance themed TapBooks page over at the TapBooks page of Journal Sentinel, where Erin Kogler reviews Carol Birch's Orphans of the Carnival, a novel based on the infamous Bear Woman of the 19th century, Julia Pastrana. Kogler writes: "Birch’s novel does more than tell the story of a woman and performer, it brings to light the dangers of exploitation and dehumanization. With great sensitivity and compassion, Birch reclaims Julia Pastrana’s humanity and offers an opportunity to see this woman the way she should have been seen more than 150 years ago."

The Journal Sentinel also has Jon M. Gilbertson covering The History of Rock and Roll Vol. 1: 1920-1963, the music writer who is the official rock and roll historian for Fresh Air. His take: "The most casual fans of early rock 'n' roll might thus wonder why Buddy Holly’s 1959 death in a plane crash moves him out of this history so swiftly that his career and life feel even shorter than they were, or why Presley’s budding relationship with the 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu gets paragraphs when a couple sentences would suffice. Mostly, however, Ward doesn’t put in or leave out too much, and his geographical shifts — especially to the English musical environment that was doing its best in the 1950s to stifle the boys who would become the Beatles and the Rolling Stones — are well-timed."

And to complete the literary triptych, Mike Fischer takes on Zadie Smith's new novel, Swing Time. It's the story of two girls growing up in London who love to dance, but face unforeseen (and sometimes seen) obstacles. As Fischer notes: "Like Smith herself, who once dreamed of a career in musical theater, both of them love musicals. Both of them love to dance. One of them – Tracey – actually has talent. But neither of them fully grasps the significance of the obstacles athwart the path toward success: Not just race but also – as always, with Smith – class."

Also note that the first 20 people to pre-order or purchase a copy of Swing Time from us will get a really nice cloth tote bag.

Event Updates: Aaron Boyd and Kid Picks, Marjorie Ingall on Parenting at Congregation Sinai, the latest from Shannon Messenger, Soulstice Theatre's staged reading, and book club night at the Lynden with Lauren Fox.

Event update from Boswell:

Wednesday, November 9, 7 pm, at Boswell:
A night of kids recommendations featuring local illustrator Aaron Boyd, author of Melena's Jubilee and Calling the Water Drum.

Finding the perfect book is hard enough, especially for kids, teens, and the young-at-heart reader, but don't fret - we have you covered! Join our children's book buyer Amie Mechler-Hickson and booksellers Todd Wellman and Barbara Katz for a night of children's recommendations ranging from board books through teens and young adult. Additionally, Milwaukee artist and illustrator Aaron Boyd, of Melena's Jubilee and Calling the Water Drum, will be debuting his newest art for the Boswell Holiday Bag.

Aaron Boyd is the illustrator of 25 children's books including Luigi and the Barefoot Races. His newly illustrated books both capture the joyous spirit of empathy. In Melena's Jubilee, Melena has had a bad day, but the next morning, she wakes up with a song in her heart, ready to spread kindness. And Calling the Water Drum features a Haitian boy who lost his parents while attempting to flee by boat, and afterwards, can only communicate with his drum.

Hope you'll find your next favorite book for kids. Please note that while kids are welcome, this event is targeted to adults. And we'll also be unveiling Aaron Boyd's new Boswell holiday bag!

Thursday, November 10, 4 pm, at Boswell:
Shannon Messenger, author of Lodestar, the final entry in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series:

Middle grade author Shannon Messenger returns with the fifth installment in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series. In Lodestar, Sophie Foster is back in the Lost Cities, but the Lost Cities have changed. The threat of war hangs heavy over her glittering world, and the Neverseen are wreaking havoc. The lines between friend and enemy have blurred, and Sophie is unsure whom to trust. But when she's warned that the people she loves most will be the next victims, she knows she has to act.

Here's Shannon Messenger herself, talking about the new book: "The story won't always go the way you're expecting it to--and I have a feeling this one will make you shout at the pages and fling the book into the wall (or maybe kick it) and ugly-cry at least once (I know I did as I wrote it). But if it does, that means I'm doing my job right. (Just make sure you don't accidentally hit anyone when you throw it--this thing is heavy. You could hurt someone!)"

Thursday, November 10, 7 pm, at Congregation Sinai, 8223 N Port Washington in Fox Point:
Marjorie Ingall, author of Mamaleh Knows Best: What Jewish Mothers Do to Raise Successful, Creative, Empathetic, Independent Children.

We all know the stereotype of the Jewish mother: needy, hectoring, guilt-inducing. In Mamaleh Knows Best, Tablet parenting columnist Marjorie Ingall argues that this stereotype is a misrepresentation of a specific parenting style; in reality, the best of Jewish parenting involves equal parts support, motivation, encouragement, concern, and brisket.

In ten chapters, using personal anecdotes, historical texts, and research from today's leading parenting experts, Ingall lays out the commandments value education, fill your life with meaningful ritual, maintain discipline-for bringing up self-sufficient, ethical, and accomplished children. Ingall will make you think and she will make you laugh. You might not produce a Nobel Prize winner, but you might just get a good human being.

Congregation Sinai will have a dessert reception following the talk. Celebrate Ingall's return to Milwaukee on Thursday, November 10, 7 pm at Congregation Sinai, 8223 N Port Washington in Fox Point.


Thursday, November 10, 7 pm, at Boswell:
United We Read, featuring an evening of writers from the UWM Creative Writing program.

We are proud to present United We Read a student/faculty reading series, that will feature the creative works of UWM students Ae Hee Lee, Brookes Moody, and Ben Turk as well as Professor George Clark. Who knows? You might catch a future literary superstar!

Thursday, November 11 and Friday, November 12, 7 pm:
Two performances of a staged reading of Dava Sobel's And the Sun Stood Still.

The Soulstice Theatre reimagines the dramatic encounter between German mathematician Georg Joachim Rheticus and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus in their staged reading of Dava Sobel's And the Sun Stood Still. This event had its genesis when Sobel appeared several years ago to discuss A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos. She'd been working on this Copernicus play and the Soulstice Theatre agreed to stage an excerpt at our event.

Join us in an evening of theatrics from the Seat of Our Pants Readers Theatre Troupe. Admission is free but donations to the Soulstice Theatre will be accepted. A big thank you to Mark Flagg for putting this together.

While Dava Sobel will not be attending this event, don't forget that her new book, The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars comes out on December 6. Why not have us hold a copy for you when it is published?

Monday, November 14, 7 pm reception, 7:30 talk, at the Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W Brown Deer Rd:
A ticketed book club evening with Lauren Fox, author of Days of Awe.

Looking for great adult book recommendations? Look no further! Jane and I will be presenting our latest picks. Lauren Fox will not only discuss Days of Awe, but she will also recommend her favorite titles. Boswell will have an assortment of their picks on hand for purchase too.

Tickets are $22 and $18 for Lynden member, and includes a copy of Days of Awe. Purchase your ticket here, or by phone at (414) 446-8794. This event is produced by Milwaukee Reads.

Is it too early Christmas to have a Christmas book at #1? I guess it isn't, plus more stories from Boswell's weekly bestsellers.

Here's what's been selling at Boswell this past week:

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Mistletoe Murder, by P.D. James
2. The Whistler, by John Grisham
3. The Terranauts, by T.C. Boyle
4. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
5. Rough Trade, by Todd Robinson
6. The Wrong Side of Goodbye, by Michael Connelly
7. The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah
8. The Excellent Lombards, by Jane Hamilton
9. Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett
10. Fates and Traitors, by Jennifer Chiaverini

A few books appear on this list due to events you may not connect with the author. Todd Robinson, author of Rough Trade, was one of the authors who did Noir at the Bar at Mobcraft Brewery, in advance of Saturday's Murder and Mayhem conference. Book sales will show up next week. Robinson, author of Rough Trade, won the Thunderdome author competition. And several other authors (James, Hamilton, Patchett, and Chiaverini) were part of a presentation I gave at a downtown club for an area service organization. The Mistletoe Murder, a collection of P.D. James Christmas stories, are apparently are a Christmas stocking must.

Harcover Nonfiction:
1. Gunslinger, by Jeff Pearlman
2. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
3. Herbert Hoover, by Glen Jeansonne
4. The Names of the Stars, by Pete Fromm
5. Upstream, by Mary Oliver
6. Appetites, by Anthony Bourdain
7. Daily Joy, from National Geographic
8. Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen
9. Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
10. Much Ado, by Michael Lenehan (event Mon Dec 5, 7 pm, at Boswell)

Appetites is the first cookbook in ten years for Anthony Bourdain. Bad boy chef turned globetrotting media personality turned dad at 50, Bourdain told CBS This Morning, while eating pastrami, that the person he'd most like to have a meal with is Keith Richards: "I’ve been trying for years. We’d do like bangers and mash and maybe cook steak and kidney pie with Keith Richards. And talk about British naval history, which he’s a big fan of. I think that would be super cool."

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Transit of Venus, by Susan Firer
2. Where We Are in This Story, by Sarah Rosenblatt
3. The Drifter, by Nicholas Petrie (event for book #2 is Tue Jan 10, 7 pm)
4. The Sellout, by Paul Beatty
5. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backmann
6. The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
7. The Improbability of Love, by Hannah Rothschild (book club discussion Mon Dec 5, 7 pm, at Boswell)
8. French Rhapsody, by Antoine Laurain
9. The President's Hat, by Antoine Laurain
10. The Portable Veblen, by Elizabeth McKenzie (event Jan 23, 7 pm*)

It's actually a double-dose of books into film at the Downer Theater. In addition to the long-running A Man Called Ove, American Pastoral, based on Philip Roth's novel, opened on Friday as well. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. Can you believe that the film rights were first optioned in 2006? I can see someone doing a film version of The Sympathizer, but I can also see that also taking 10 years.

The NBCC award doesn't always sell books and neither does the Man Booker, but put them together and it would seem almost impossible to not get The Sellout on national bestseller lists.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Living with a Seal, by Jesse Itzler
2. The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan
3. Destiny and Power, by Jon Meacham (not sold out - walk up tickets available)
4. The Third Reconstruction, by William Barber II
5. Swimming Studies, by Leanne Sharpton
6. The Magic of Math, by Arthur Benjamin
7. Milwaukee Frozen Custard, by Kathleen McCann and Robert Tanzilo (event Tue 11/22, 7 pm)
8. Sweetness, by Jeff Pearlman
9. The Road to Little Dribbling, by Bill Bryson
10. The Residence, by Kate Anderson Brower

Though our last two bestsellers from the math shelf were Daniel picks, I'm sad to say I haven't read Arthur Benjamin's The Magic of Math. I would if I didn't have a pile of event and book club books I have to get through. Mr. Benjamin has a TED talk (video seems to drive the category, doesn't it?). From the Publishers Weekly starred review: "A look at number patterns introduces tricks for carrying out fast mental calculations; a chapter on the properties of the number nine reveals methods for easily calculating calendar dates. Without ever using the word 'statistics,' Benjamin deftly covers the basics of calculating the odds of having a winning lottery ticket or poker hand. Whether figuring out compound interest, using trigonometry to determine the height of a tree, or employing calculus to work out a shortest possible walking route, each topic is presented in the clearest, simplest way possible."

Books for Kids:
1. Stellaluna, by Jannell Cannon
2. Not a Drop to Drink, by Michael Burgan
3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #11: Double Down, by Jeff Kinney
4. Dog Man, by Dav Pilkey
5. Busy Tree, by Jennifer Ward, with illustrations by Lisa Falkenstern
6. Some Writer, by Melissa Shaw
7. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne
8. Gingerbread Christmas, by Jan Bratt (event at Milwaukee Public Library, Sun Dec 4, 10 am)
9. The Girl who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill
10. I Am a Bunny, by Ole Risom, with illustrations by Richard Scarry

You can only imagine the numbers for the first week of Double Down, the 11th Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I hope to one day go to Jeff Kinney's bookstore, An Unlikely Story, which is in Plainville, Massachusetts. I've been able to add on bookstore visits on trips to see family in Worcester when I've got a car, but alas, on my most recent trip, it seemed too complicated to attempt by commuter train. I think the closest stop is Mansfield, about 7 miles away. Here's Kinney talking to CBS News about the new book...or rather, they are reporting on the television interview they did. He wanted to be a political cartoonist!

Here's what's reviewed on TapBooks page of the Journal Sentinel. Lisa Kennedy tackles Small Great Things, the new novel from Jodi Picoult, originally from Newsday. From Kennedy: "Jodi Picoult is at it again. The author of 25 enormously popular novels, including Leaving Time and My Sister’s Keeper, is adept at taking on thorny issues — medical ethics, mass shootings, the death penalty — and recasting them on a relatable human scale. Her latest plunge into the current, Small Great Things, arrives at a pointed time when institutional racism — its violence and the entitlement it confers on some — is the subject of near daily commentary."

Miami Herald's Connie Ogle reviews The Mothers, the new novel from Brit Bennett, which she calls "a bracing, heartfelt debut about family, motherhood and friendship, grief and healing and how all of these elements and our own shaky decisions constantly reshape our lives. Chosen as one of the National Book Foundation’s '5 Under 35' honorees, Bennett uses a Greek chorus of church ladies to introduce a teenage girl who has lost her mother, the pastor’s son she loves and their badly kept secret that haunts the community — and the two of them — for years." Bennett is coming to Boswell on Monday, February 6, 7 pm.

And former Boswell guest Greg Kot reviews two Beach Boys memoirs for the Chicago Tribune, I Am Brian Wilson from Wilson (of course) and Good Vibrations from Mike Love. Per Kot, "Wilson's book (written with journalist Ben Greenman) documents scattered memories and streamlines them into a series of impressions and anecdotes. Love's memoir (written with journalist James S. Hirsch) provides more chronology, context and factual information, underlined by a sense of score-settling while quoting extensively from court hearings and business meetings."

The Journal Sentinel has a profile of Jon Meacham from Bill Glauber. The ticketed event is tonight at 7 pm. Walk up tickets are available. We just closed out online tickets. Plus I don't think we mentioned in any of the Boswell news organs that I am one of the judges for the finalists of the Story Prize. Jim Higgins has the details, also in the Journal Sentinel.

A comedian and a small press short story writer walk into a bar. On Norm Macdonald's "Based on a True Story" and Shane Hinton's "Pinkies"

I never fail to be surprised at how I inadvertently read books together that are connected. Now I’ve read books that were linked on purpose, reading novels set in Kentucky before visiting Louisville, for example. Or deciding to read to novels about Vietnam for our in-store lit group, back to back. But so often the connections are completely unforeseen.

Take for example, two books I recently finished on a plane trip that couldn’t seem more different. The first was the recently released Norm Macdonald’s Based on a True Story: a Memoir. Just about every comedian has been offered a contract of late. Perhaps it’s because a number of them have been major bestsellers. Or perhaps it’s because they often already have a good amount of material – generating material is part of their DNA.

What I find particularly odd is that I thought there were many comics whose work I would read before Macdonald’s, but Based on a True Story was my prize for attending a rep night presentation*, and just after that, I happened to be chatting with one of our sales reps who told me how much they loved Macdonald. I was siren songed.

Macdonald’s sense of humor isn’t exactly the easy laugh. The story uses the major plot points of his life: growing up in Canada, doing standup, getting his break on Saturday Night Live, starring in a movie. But the story, as promises, veers off in unexpected directions – a promise to a dying child to accompany him on a week at Saturday Night Live becomes a quest to club a baby seal for example.

There’s a sense of the absurd that infuses the story. Did Macdonald really write an earlier work that was mistaken for cult leader Charles Manson? Did he have a stint in the slammer, and mistake his four-month term for forty years, leading to some very bad decision making on what to do to pass his time? Let’s just say either you love this or you just don’t get it. I have no idea which person you are, so the ball is in your court. But if nothing else, read his “Top 25 Weekend Update Jokes of All Time,” 24 of which are Macdonald’s, of course.

With some time left in the air, I picked up a half-read short story collection I first bought in April on my visit to Inkwood Books in Tampa. I have this unofficial rule that books I buy take higher reading priority. Being that I generally buy a book in most bookstores I visit, this can lead to problems with line control, so returning to Shane Hinton’s Pinkies was a way of easing the blocked intersection. Plus my rule of thumb is to not let half-finiished books sit around. "Give up? Give it away," that's my motto. If I keep it, it means I plan to return someday.

Hinton is a University of Tampa MFA grad and a protégé of Brock Clarke, whose influence you can see a bit in the stories. Clark is the author of The Arsonist's Guide to Writer's Homes in New England, which I read, and The Happiest People in the World, which I did not. Pinkies was shortlisted for a 2016 CLMP Firecracker Award.

The collection is a combination of short stories and shorter flash fiction, with many of the works using the author as narrator approach. The title story features a couple expecting a multiple birth, and worried about python attacks, buy some mice for the traps. A somber “Four Funerals” mixes up the scenarios of a quartet of tragedies, while “All the Shane Hintons” features a reunion of a bunch of Shane Hintons, and their valiant attempt to avoid inviting Shane Hinton the rapist. Alas, Shane Hinton the drug dealer not only shows up, but crashes at Shane Hinton the author’s house.

The stories to me were paced to get more and more disturbing. An unlucky home across from a dead ending road is the site of accidents of accelerating carnage. A family farm near a strawberry patch has water so chemical-riddled that it’s toxic to the family. What’s the horrifying endpoint for distracted driving or poisonous pesticides? In a way, it’s classic horror without the monsters, or as The Twilight Zone would imply, we are the monsters.

After a while, the thing I noticed was that despite coming from very different places, Macdonald and Hinton were stalking out much of the same territory. Both used their own selves to drive the story. One claimed to be memoir but veered off into fiction while the other came from fiction, but wove in elements of memoir. In each case, it was hard to determine what if anything was true. And needless to say, both authors had a very similar sense of humor – absurd and unexpected, and even their transgressions were paced so that instead of being pummeled, the reader could be surprised.

In the end, I thought, “You guys should get a drink somewhere. But stay away from casinos – that Norm Macdonald is not to be trusted.”

*Or as the bloggers say, I was given an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Event Watch: Jeff Pearlman on Brett Favre, Glen Jeansonne on Herbert Hoover, Brenda DeVita on Shakespeare, Pete Fromm on the wilds, two events (one each) with acclaimed poets Susan Firer and Sarah Rosenblatt, Murder and Mayhem at the Irish Cultural Center (and a bonus Noir at the Bar), Jon Meacham and Mitch Teich discuss George H.W. Bush, and Jeanette Hurt at Great Lakes Distillery. Please check dates, times, and locations, as there is a lot of details!

Here's what's going on this week!

Tuesday, November 1, 6:30 pm, at Elm Grove Library, 13600 Juneau Blvd:
Jeff Pearlman, author of Gunslinger: The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre

This event is cosponsored by the Elm Grove Public Library and OnMilwaukee.

You probably noted in yesterday's bestseller roundup the strong advance sales for Jeff Pearlman's Gunslinger. From Brookfield/Elm Grove Now: "Gunslinger tells Brett Favre’s story for the first time, drawing on more than 500 interviews, including many from the people closest to Favre. Pearlman charts Favre’s unparalleled journey, from his rough rural childhood and lackluster high school football career, to his prominent role in the restoration of greatness in Green Bay. The book presents a fascinating portrait of the man with the rocket arm whose life has been one of triumph, fame, tragedy, embarrassment, and — ultimately — redemption."

Sports Illustrated ran an excerpt, which you can read here.

Here's what Boswellian Todd Wellman has to say: "Brett Favre's life flows like light beer in this accessible biography that presents a man with many identities: alcoholic, recovering alcoholic, philanderer, football star, abused son, Wisconsin hero, patient ear for those with disabilities. While not pausing for too long in any era, Pearlman makes the case for varying frames of mind by tallying actions to show the identities exist. I had many "Oh, that's what was going on" moments as I read about The Packers organization maintaining the public persona of Favre, namely how they massaged his alcohol and drug use for the public. Complete with (incomplete) portrayals of Aaron Rodgers as artless antagonist and Deanne Favre as stand-by-your-man-through-prayer wife, Gunslinger brings up many questions, and the answers could fill a companion book, if not a book discussion. Namely, beyond the unexplored reasons Deanna stayed with Brett, what in the NFL and other football organizations abets the poor treatment of spouses, and how did it influence Favre?"

The Elm Grove Library is located just outside the Village. From Bluemound Road, take Elm Grove Road north to Juneau Blvd (though you have to zig zag a bit when you get to Watertown Plank). It's in the same complex as the police department and Village Hall. Doors will likely open at 6 pm. We're guessing that we might hit the library capacity on this one, so I suggest you arrive on the early side.

Tuesday, November 1, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Glen Jeansonne, author of Herbert Hoover: A Life.

David Luhrssen, Arts and Entertainment Editor of the Shepherd Express, will introduce Jeansonne.

Jeansonne, UWM Professor of History Emeritus, offers a take on the Herbert Hoover presidency that redeems him in history. The book draws upon a previous academic work of Jeansonne's, The Life of Herbert Hoover: Fighting Quaker, 1928-1933, which covered only the presidential years. In that book, as reviewed in The Washington Times by Joseph S. Goulden, Jeansonne blamed "a vigorous Democratic propaganda machine, funded by financier John J. Raskob, the party’s national chairman, and crafted by hatchet-man journalist Charles S. Michelson, the publicity manager. Lacking a program of their own, the Democrats set about demonizing Hoover as responsible for the country’s economic woes."

As Jim Higgins wrote in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Jeansonne reminds readers who only remember Hoover as the president swept out of office by the Great Depression and FDR of his accomplishments, including leading the relief effort to feed starving Belgians during World War I, and of his impact as Secretary of Commerce under President Coolidge.

"The historian believes the Great Depression would have sunk any sitting president. Only 59 when he left the White House, Hoover had an active post-presidential public life. Jeansonne notes that, over time, Hoover gravitated further right in opposition to the swelling federal bureaucracy. During those elder-statesmen years, the historian writes, Hoover "was the single most important bearer of the torch of American conservatism between his own administration and that of Ronald Reagan."

Wednesday, November 2, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Brenda DeVita, Artistic Director of the American Players Theatre, presenting her talk, "Why Shakespeare"

This event is sponsored by American Players Theatre and the University of Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association.

Brenda DeVita discusses why Shakespeare's work has endured through four centuries and how it thrives specifically at American Players Theatre. She'll also discuss the question that she and the American Players Theatre artists struggle with continually: what makes a classic a classic? A practical, visceral, artist's eye view of how to produce Shakespeare for a 21st- century audience, and why it's so important.

This talk is part of the Shakespeare in Wisconsin yearlong schedule of programming, in conjunction with the Shakespeare's First Folio exhibit at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison. The First Folio, published in 1623, is the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, many of which were not published during his lifetime. Two of Shakespeare's fellow actors compiled 36 of his plays to preserve them for future generations. Without their efforts, the world may have never known 18 of these plays, including Macbeth and Hamlet. The exhibit runs from November 3 through December 11.

And don't forget, The American Players Theatre schedule for 2017 is now up. Their Shakespeare productions are A Midsummer Night's Dream and Pericles, Prince of Tyre, and other performed plays will include Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge and Three Sisters, by Anton Chekhov. While you're in Spring Green, don't forget to visit our friends at Arcadia Books.

Registration requested but not required for this event.

Thursday, November 3, 6:30 pm, at the Shorewood Public Library, 3920 N Murray Ave: Pete Fromm, author of The Names of the Stars: A Life in the Wilds.

Former Shorewoodian Pete Fromm is a five-time winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award for his novels If Not For This, As Cool as I Am, and How All This Started, his story collections including Dry Rain, and the memoir, Indian Creek Chronicles. The film of As Cool as I Am was released in 2013. Fromm has also published over 200 stories in magazines and journals.

At twenty years old, Pete Fromm accepted a job babysitting salmon eggs for seven winter months alone in a tent in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Leaping at this chance to be a mountain man, with no experience in the wilds, he left the world. 25 years later, he was asked to return to the wilderness to babysit more fish eggs. No longer a footloose twenty-year old, at 45, he was the father of two young sons. He left again, alone, straight into the heart of Montana’s Bob Marshall wilderness, walking a daily ten-mile loop to his fish eggs through deer and elk and the highest density of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states.

The Names of the Stars is not only a story of wilderness and bears but also a trek through a life lived at its edges, showing how an impulsive kid transformed into a father without losing his love for the wilds. From loon calls echoing across Northwood lakes to the grim realities of life-guarding in the Nevada desert, through the isolation of Indian Creek, and years spent running the Snake and Rio Grande as a river ranger, Pete seeks out the source of this passion for wildness, and explores fatherhood, and mortality, and the costs, risks, and rewards of life lived on its own terms.

From Cory Walsh in The Montana Standard: "The self-professed Hemingway fan writes in a conversational voice with artful fragments of sentences. He loves a three-beat rhythm and uses it well: 'The windowpane is a blank, the sky socked in, though I can't hear rain. I click the faint green glow of my watch. Four a.m. Six hours of sleep. In a row. Practically record setting.' In scenes of tension or meditation, he stretches that voice out into long, flowing sentences, a flash of technique that's more effective because he knows when to use it and does so sparingly. (Fromm's the author of several novels, short-story collections and has won a few Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Awards.)"

Thursday, November 3, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Susan Firer, author of The Transit of Venus: Poems

We are pleased to welcome former Milwaukee Poet Larueate Susan Firer to Boswell for her first collection since 2007's Milwaukee Does Strange Things to People. Here's Jim Higgins in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel discussing the book:

"Firer may not have been born under a rhyming planet, but in recent years she has bathed in the emanations of the Oort Cloud. Stimulated by Jean Creighton's lectures at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Manfred Olson Planetarium, Firer draws stars, planets and astronomical language into The Transit of Venus, the former Milwaukee poet laureate's sixth collection. The Summer Triangle of Vega, Altair and Deneb, Trans-Neptunian objects and Magellanic clouds glide through her viewfinder.

"Much rarer than an eclipse, a transit of Venus refers to that planet passing across the face of the sun, becoming visible to us as a black dot against the broiling solar magnificence. In Firer's book, that title phrase also evokes her life with her husband James Hazard, a well-known poet and writer who died in 2012."

Susan Firer grew up in Milwaukee, where she continues to live, write, and work.. She is the author of six books of poetry, including The Transit of Venus, Milwaukee Does Strange Things to People: New and Selected Poems 1979–2007, and The Laugh We Make When We Fall, which won the Backwaters Prize. Billy Collins has said, “To read the poetry of Susan Firer is to enter a unique building constructed by the imagination, like Kubla Khan’s pleasure-dome, out of the shimmering material of words.”

Friday, November 4, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Sarah Rosenblatt, author of Where Are We in This Story?

By day, Sarah Rosenblatt is a child and family therapist in Milwaukee, and by night, she is a poet whose previous works are On the Waterbed They Sank to Their Own Levels and One Season Behind. Now she returns with Where Are We in This Story?, her first collection since 2007, once again with illustrations with her mother, Suzanne Rosenblatt.

Sarah Rosenblatt laments, celebrates and questions the meaning of the ongoing story of time. Seasons speak but don’t recognize us. Time creeps through the windows in the same way it did with our ancestors. Light shines through and touches hope and sweetness but this is only fleeting, leaving us to a vast sky that doesn’t name us or our troubles. Leaves on the trees watch, hold and rot. The collection challenges the guts and touches the heart and soul of being alive in a story in which we are challenged to find meaning.

From Jim Higgins in the Journal Sentinel: "Her succinct poems read calmly, even when addressing unpleasantries. In 'Human Nurture' she writes, 'Our fellow human beings / are not even-tempered,/ each new discussion is another opportunity / for us to misunderstand each other.' Writing about a caterpillar (but inevitable suggesting creatures. Her succinct poems read calmly, even when addressing unpleasantries. In 'Human Nurture' she writes, 'Our fellow human beings / are not even-tempered,/ each new discussion is another opportunity / for us to misunderstand each other.' Writing about a caterpillar (but inevitable suggesting creatures in 'Disorderly Conduct,' Rosenblatt sounds like a gentler Lennie Briscoe quipping before the cut to a commercial: 'We could see / from the onset / that a mother / so taken with order / was bound to create disorder / in the life of her child.'"

Saturday, November 5, 9 am to 5:30 pm, at the Irish Cultural Center, 2133 W Wisconsin Ave: Murder and Mayhem Milwaukee, sponsored by Crimespree Magazine

Doors open at 8:30 am for this all day festival. Tickets are $40 and are available on Brown Paper Tickerts. Boswell will of course be selling books.

Here's the schedule. First up is "First Blood", the 9 am roundtable featuring Kristi Belcamino, Alex Grecian, Tim Hallinan, Brad Parks (moderator), Nicholas Petrie, and Johnny Shaw. At 10, the "Murder as a Fine Art" is moderated by Janet Reid and features Lou Berney, Cara Black, Jess Lourney, Marucs Sakey, and Alex Segura. "Lessons of a Lifetime" is an 11 am discussion between Heather Graham and David Morrell, followed by lunch, which is being served upstairs.

The afternoon commences with Kate Malmon moderating "The League of Night and Fog (Thunderdome)," featuring Dana Cameron, Matthew Clemens, Ed Kurtz (attending in place of Steve Blackmoore), Lisa Lutz, Brad Parks, Bryon Quertermous, Todd Robinson, and Tom Schreck. This is followed by the "Creepers" panel at 2 pm, moderated by Bryan Van Meter and featuring Blake Crouch, Shaun Harris, Chris Holm, Lisa Lutz, and Daniel Palmer. A conversation between Sara Paretsky and Meg Gardiner ("Blood Oath") is at 3, while Joe R. Lansdale is interviewed at 4.

Here's a list of recommended hotels. And don't forget, several of the writers will also be at Noir at the Bar, at Mobcraft Brewery, 505 S Fifth St, on Thursday, November 3, 7 pm. They will be featuring a special Chocolate cherry moon beer brewed especially for Crimespree and Murder and Mayhem. 

Sunday, November 6, 7 pm, at Boswell: A ticketed event with Jon Meacham, author of Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, in conversation with Lake Effect's Mitch Teich

This event is cosponsored by WUWM 89.7, Milwaukee Public Radio.

Tickets are $20, including admission for one, a paperback copy of Destiny and Power, and all taxes and fees. On the night of the event, a $13 gift card is available in place of the book. You can purchase your ticket at Brown Paper Tickets.

Destiny and Power, now in paperback, is the intimate and detailed life story of George H.W. Bush, a man known only through his politics or from a distance. From interviews and unprecedented access to Bush's presidential diaries, Meacham brings Bush and the great American family vividly to life, beginning in the Midwest in the late 1800s and moving on to George H. W. Bush's childhood, his heroic service in World War II, Texas, and his political rise. With Meacham's trademark compelling narration, historic depth, and contemporary insight, this stunning biography reveals the unusual self-reflections and distinctive American life of a man from the Greatest Generation who pursued a life of service as a guardian of America in the way of Eisenhower, and was one of the last gentleman in our political world.

Here's a roundup of reviews of Destiny and Power:
--Jim Kelly in The New York Times Book Review
--David Lauter in the Los Angeles Times
--Carlos Lozada in The Washington Post.

Our event with Jon Meacham in conversation with Mitch Teich is only two days before the general election: the perfect respite from Campaign 2016!

Monday, November 7, 7 pm, at the Great Lakes Distillery, 616 W Virginia St, which is sponsoring this event:
Jeanette Hurt, author of Drink Like a Woman: Shake. Stir. Conquer. Repeat

Hurt's talk will be "Women Behind Bars: The Surprisingly Illicit History of Female Bartenders." There is no admission charge for this event. The bar will be making and selling four drinks from Hurt's new Drink Like a Woman.

Take one-part feminist history, two parts fresh cocktail recipes, and add a splash of veteran barkeep advice. Shake until chilled. Garnish with charming illustrations and share with friends! Drink Like a Woman: Shake. Stir. Conquer. Repeat. is a treat for anyone looking for a glass of something strong after a long day of smashing the patriarchy. Featuring more than 70 amazing women from history, literature, and pop culture, and honors each with her own cocktail. It’s time we acknowledged that women’s taste in cocktails, just like our contribution to history, is anything but predictable.


Jeanette Hurt is the award-winning writer and author of eight culinary and drink books, including The Cheeses of California: A Culinary Travel Guide, which received the 2010 Mark Twain Award for Best Travel Book, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wine and Food Pairing. As full-time journalist, Hurt has written about spirits, wine, and food for TheKitchn.com, Four Seasons Magazine, and Wine Enthusiast. When she’s not writing, traveling, cooking or shaking up some concoction, she can usually be found walking along Milwaukee’s lakefront with her family.

Please note that this event is for folks 21 and older. And speaking of Jeanette Hurt...

And one last event, that we're not selling books at but we support. It's the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books, on Friday, November 4 and all day, Saturday, November 5, at the UW-Waukesha campus. With the theme Roots and Branches, the folks at SEWIBOOKFEST offers a fabulous opening ticketed talk and reception with Jane Hamilton (many folks are saying that her recent conversation with Ann Patchett was one of our best events of the year, and Hamilton was a big part of that), followed by a day of talks, panels, and conversations with fine authors, including Kathie Giorgio, Jeanette Hurt (see above), Ron Faiola, Liam Callanan, Patricia Skalka (at Boswell later in November), Mark Speltz, Brenda Cardenas, and Dan Chaon, whose new 2017 novel has a ton of buzz.