Boswell bestsellers for the week ending December 2, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending December 2, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Fourth Wing V1, by Rebecca Yarros
2. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
3. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett (ticketed event December 6)
4. The Fraud, by Zadie Smith
5. The Narrow Road Between Desires, by Patrick Rothfuss
6. The English Understand Wool, by Helen Dewitt
7. North Woods, by Daniel Mason
8. The Bee Sting, by Paul Murray
9. The Mystery Guest V2, by Nita Prose
10. The Last Binding V3, by Freya Marske

The announcement of The New York Times ten-best list has an impact this week, as three of the top five fiction books show up in our top ten - North Woods, The Bee Sting, and The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. Perhaps The Washington Post is also helping, as Daniel Mason and Paul Murray also showed up on that list. They are not on The Wall Street Journal list, but that paper only designated three fiction titles, as opposed to the traditional half and half. We'll see if North Woods can catch up to our success with The Winter Soldier in hardcover, which had several reads and an author visit. Sales for his new book are great, but we still have a long ways to go.

In addition to Tom Lake being in our top ten, despite a book-with-ticket event next week, Patchett's enthusiastic recommendation of The English Understand Wool on NPR gave the book a top-ten-worthy pop in sales at Boswell.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. A Very Chinese Cookbook, by Kevin Pang and Jeffrey Pang
2. Wisconsin Supper Clubs 2E, by Ron Faiola
3. Prequel, by Rachel Maddow
4. The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl
5. Wisconsin Field to Fork, by Lori Fredrich
6. The Wager, by David Grann
7. World Within a Song, by Jeff Tweedy
8. How to Know a Person, by David Brooks
9. Surely You Can't Be Serious, by David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Jim Abra
10. Democracy Awakening, by Heather Cox Richardson

In addition to sales pops for last week's events, three books see continued sales weeks after their appearances, including World Within a Song, Surely You Can't Be Serious, and The Comfort of Crows. We are particularly excited because even though our event with Margaret Renkl was virtual (you can watch it here), we are holding our own against stores who hosted her in person (#4 on Edelweiss), as long as you don't look at Nashville!

Paperback Fiction:
1. Tannenbaum Arms, by Darlene Wesenberg Rzezotarski
2. The Thursday Murder Club V1, by Richard Osman
3. A Marvellous Light V1, by Freya Marske
4. Bookshops and Bonedust, by Travis Baldree
5. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, by Satoshi Yagisawa
6. A Court of Thorns and Roses V1, by Sarah J Maas
7. Sun Dog Memory, by Douglas Armstrong
8. The Employees, by Olga Ravn
9. The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon
10. Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr

Could it be possible to have two New Directions books on this week's bestseller list? In addition to The English Understand Wool, The Employees, pops as a particularly popular selection of the Science Fiction Book Club, meeting December 11. Though it's not at Comfort of Crows levels, we're still #21 in sales on Edelweiss, so we're punching a bit above our weight. Here's a link to the upcoming Boswell-run book club selections.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1 .Secret Milwaukee, by Jim Nelsen (Boswell event December 27)
2. Masterminds and Wingmen, by Rosalind Wiseman
3. Holy Food, by Christina Ward
4. Murdle V1, by GT Karber
5. Kodachrome Milwaukee, by Adam Levin
6. An Immense World, by Ed Yong
7. Dirtbag, Massachusetts, by Isaac Fitzgerald
8. Queen Bees and Wannabees, by Rosalind Wiseman
9. Persepolis V1, by Marjane Satrapi
10. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Selling off the new and noteworthy paperback table is Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional, a New York Times bestseller in hardcover (per the jacket - I'm not bothering to check) and the winner of the New England Book Award with blurbs from Roxane Gay, Min Jin Lee, and Marlon James. BookMarks has the book as six raves, five positives. From Publishers Weekly: "A marvelous coming-of-age story that's as wily and raunchy as it is heartfelt."

Books for Kids:
1. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh, by Mo Willems
2. Murtagh V5, by Christopher Paolini
3. How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney, by Mac Barnett, illustrations by Jon Klassen
4. Something Someday, by Amanda Gorman, illustrations by Christian Robinson
5. Red and Green, by Lois Ehlert
6. Dasher Can't Wait for Christmas, by Matt Tavares
7. The Fisherman, the Horse, and the Sea, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
8. Peekaboo Love, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
9. The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats
10. Before, Now, by Daniel Salmieri

He's not just the illustrator of the Dragons Love Tacos series. Daniel Salmieri has written and illustrated Before, Now, which was just named to The New York Times best illustrated kids books list. From Kirkus Reviews: "A series of moments, mundane and meaningful, capture the wonder of a life well lived. Each spread in the book offers a set of opposites... This meditation on the patterns of life shines with reminders of what we carry with us as we grow."

Boswell bestsellers, week ending November 25, 2023

Boswell bestsellers, week ending November 25, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
2. Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano
3. Fourth Wing V1, by Rebecca Yarros
4. The Narrow Road Between Desires, by Patrick Rothfuss
5. Iron Flame V2, by Rebecca Yarros
6. Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, by J Ryan Stradal
7. The Future, by Naomi Alderman
8. North Woods, by Daniel Mason
9. What You Are Looking for Is in the Library, by Michiko Aoyama
10. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
11. The Secret Book of Flora Lea, by Patti Callahan Henry
12. Absolution, by Alice McDermott
13. Day, by Michael Cunningham
14. Let Us Descend, by Jesmyn Ward
15. Murder Your Employer, by Rupert Holmes

It's likely that being named book of the year by Amazon and Barnes and Noble is giving a sales bump to The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store for independents too. It was also just named to the top ten-best by The Washington Post, as was North Woods. 

But let's also give a shout out to The Future, the follow-up to The Power, which was popular with a number of Boswellians. For The Future, our buyer Jason notes: "If the heads of those (social media) platforms don’t have the best intentions for the world in their ethos, then the world is truly doomed." From Ilana Masad in the Los Angeles Times: "It harbors a stubborn sense of optimism, theorizing that if only people of conscience helmed the richest and most powerful companies, they might be able to steer the ship of humanity to safety."

Last week I gave a shout out to The Door-to-Door Bookstore, a big-hearted, book-related, novel in translation. This week another title hits the list, What You Are Looking for Is in the Library. Michiko Aoyama's book is translated from Japanese by Alison Watts, who gets a rare translation credit on the book jacket. It's about a librarian who gives life-changing book recommendations. For a bookseller or even most book readers, this premise never gets cold!

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl
2. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger
3. The Wager, by David Grann
4. Why We Love Baseball, by Joe Posnanski
5. A Very Chinese Cookbook, by Kevin Pang and Jeffrey Pang (Boswell event November 28)
6. World Within a Song, by Jeff Tweedy
7. Wisconsin Supper Clubs 2E, by Ron Faiola (Boswell event November 30)
8. Prequel, by Rachel Maddow
9. The Mysteries, by Bill Watterson and Jon Kascht
10. My Name Is Barbara, by Barbra Streisand

One doesn't always think about promoting baseball books in fall/holiday season, but hey, that's when people buy books. So for a title like Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, the publisher hoped for a bit of promotion around the World Series (the book came out in September), which could position the book for later gift giving. The good news is that BookMarks shows only raves - three of them! The bad news is that they are all from trades: Booklist, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly. 

Breaking news: I found The Wall Street Journal review from Ben Yagoda that wasn't indexed by BookMarks: "Not everybody loves baseball and I imagine the minutiae and panegyrics herein will be boring or puzzling to those who don’t. But if you were that kid who felt a surge of gladness when Baseball Digest turned up in the mailbox, and if the game has continued to hold a place in your heart, well, I’ve got just the book for you."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Twilight Falls V4, by Juneau Black
2. The Cat Who Saved Books, by Sosuke Natsukawa
3. A Death in Door County V1, by Annelise Ryan (Boswell event 12/14)
4. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
5. Shady Hollow V1, by Juneau Black
6. A Court of Thorns and Roses V1, by Sarah J Maas
7. The Mountain in the Sea, by Ray Nayler
8. The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
9. Signal Fires, by Dani Shapiro
10. Hedge, by Jane Delury (Lit Group 12/4, Virtual Event 1/17)

Several authors have hot releases coming in 2024. We already started seeing preorders for Sarah J Maas's House of Flame and Shadows, volume 3 in the Crescent series and booksellers have been talking about The Fury, the new book (out January 16) from Alex Michaelides. But being that both that The Silent Patient and A Court of Thorn and Roses are still in our top 10, both authors are still have readers to entice.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. An Immense World, by Ed Yong
2. Where the Deer and the Antelope Play, by Nick Offerman
3. A Year in the Woods, by Torbjorn Ekelund
4. Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi
5. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
6. All About Love, by bell hooks
7. Murdle V2, by GT Karber
8. Lyrics, by Paul McCarthy
9. Frank Lloyd Wright's Wisconsin, by Kristine Hansen
10. Endurance, by Alfred Lansing

The Murdle (volume 1 and volume 2 - the next one is due April 2024) series reminds me of the Dell Logic Puzzles that are still in the variety puzzle magazines that sometimes pop up at Boswell. You get a bunch of clues about how to match people to occupations and their favorite pies or something like that and there is an accompanying grid to help figure things out. My mother would buy these pocket editions at the grocery store and we would use tracing paper so we could both try to solve them*. Many of the Murdle puzzles have such grids, though I'm told (by Jason, who loves them) that they come with a better story.

Books for Kids:
1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid V18: No Brainer, by Jeff Kinney
2. Murtagh V5, by Christopher Paolini
3. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh, by Mo Willems
4. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, by Suzanne Collins
5. Bluey: Hooray It's Christmas, by who know who?
6. The Skull, by Jon Klassen
7. Red and Green, by Lois Ehlert
8. The Snowy Day board book, by Ezra Jack Keats
9. How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney?, by Mac Barnett, illustrations by Jon Klassen
10. Wombat, by Phiip Bunting

I would like to dedicate this space to my hand-selling of Wombat (two presentations last week that showed up this week's holiday lists) but I have to give a shout out to Jon Klassen, who has two new books in our top ten, his middle grade The Skull and his illustrated collaboration with Mac Barnett for How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney? Kirkus on the latter: "For all that it leans heavily on absurdity, this book exhibits some serious heart. In the market for an understated Christmas classic? Behold! A Christmas miracle!"

*And no, the idea that we would buy two copies never came up.

Boswell bestsellers, week ending November 18, 2023

Boswell bestsellers, week ending November 18, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. A Very Inconvenient Scandal, by Jacquelyn Mitchard
2. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett (Tickets for December 6 event)
3. Iron Flame V2, by Rebecca Yarros
4. System Collapse V8, by Martha Wells
5. Swimming with Ghosts, by Michelle Brafman
6. Fourth Wing V1, by Rebecca Yarros
7. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
8. The Door-to-Door Bookstore, by Carsten Henn. translated by Melody Shaw
9. The Secret Book of Flora Lea, by Patti Callahan Henry (Register for November 21 virtual event)
10. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
11. The Narrow Road Between Desires, by Patrick Rothfuss
12. Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, by J Ryan Stradal

Jason generally has a quirky-sweet story as one of his holiday picks, slotted on the back cover of our holiday newsletter. The books can be varied, but one thing they almost always have in common is that they are books in translation. Japanese, French, and at least once, Icelandic. Carsten Henn's The Door-to-Door Bookstore is a German bestseller, and is about an older man whose job hand-delivering books to customers is complicated by the interest of a young girl. Also his job is in peril. No BookMarks posting yet, but Der Spiegel's reviewer called it "The feel-good novel for all book lovers," while Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung  (it's a newspaper) called it "a warm-hearted story without kitsch with lovingly described protagonists. The right book for a dark rainy day, which immediately becomes a little brighter when you read it."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Wisconsin Field to Fork, by Lori Fredrich
2. The Messy Truth, by Alli Webb
3. Misfit, by Gary Gulman
4. It's Not You, It's Capitalism, by Malaika Jabali
5. Teaching the Invisible Race, by Tony DelaRosa
6. The Globemakers, by Peter Bellerby
7. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger
8. The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl (Register for November 20 virtual event)
9. How to Know a Person, by David Brooks
10. The Wager, by David Grann
11. The Art Thief, by Michael Finkel
12. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond

I did two book talks today - it's a nice way to figure out what hand-selling works and what falls flat. One book that is working is The Globemakers: The Curious Story of an Ancient Craft, by Peter Bellerby, a Tim rec that is also featured in our holiday gift guide. We generally do very well with map books and this is a different take - one person's attempt to make a handmade globe. From Publishers Weekly: "While this sometimes reads as an extended advertisement for the author's business, readers will be fascinated by Bellerby's reverential and sometimes existential musings , which are enriched by stunning photos of the globemaking process. It's a fascinating deep dive into an arcane art."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Tandem, by Andy Mozina
2. The Neorealist in Winter, by Salvatore Pane
3. Twilight Falls V4, by Juneau Black
4. Ex-Wife, by Ursula Parrott
5. The Good Son, by Jacquelyn Mitchard
6. Last Summer on State Street, by Toya Wolfe
7. Dearborn, by Ghassan Zeineddine
8. The Deep End of the Ocean, by Jacquelyn Mitchard
9. The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman
10. The Whalebone Theatre, by Joanna Quinn

One suspects the massive sales at some stores for Ex-Wife might be from McNally Jackson, who are also the publisher of McNally Editions. But I am proud to say we are the #1 store in both the Great Lakes and Midwest regions for Edelweiss. Ursula Parrott's first novel was brought to my attention with the biography Becoming the Ex-Wife, and it comes with a swell backstory that helps sell the book. For a republication, McNally Editions did a spectacular job on press, with seven BookMarks reviews, including three raves and three positives. But perhaps the publisher says it best: "An instant bestseller when it was published anonymously in 1929, Ex-Wife is the story of a divorce and its aftermath that scandalized the Jazz Age - and still resonates today."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
2. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
3. Where the Deer and the Antelope Play, by Nick Offerman
4. Jews in the Garden, by Judy Rakowsky
5. Kodachrome Milwaukee, by Adam Levin
6. How We Live Is How We Die, by Pema Chödrön

Sadly, I supersized the hardcover lists because the books in the teens were outselling the bottom half of our paperback nonfiction list by more than two-to-one. I probably should have brought copies of Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Likes to Walk Outside with us to the Pabst last weekend - I only learned after the fact that Nick Offerman's latest chronicles a journey to Glacier National Park with Jeff Tweedy.

Books for Kids:
1. Death's Door, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
2. Mine, by Candace Fleming, illustrations by Eric Rohmann
3. Oh No, by Candace Fleming, illustrations by Eric Rohmann
4. Red and Green, by Lois Ehlert
5. The Eyes and the Impossible (McSweeney's edition), by Dave Eggers
6. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh, by Mo Willems
7. Chalice of the Gods V6, by Rick Riordan
8. Dasher Can't Wait for Christmas, by Matt Tavares
9. Dogtown, by Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko
10. The Snowy Day board book, by Ezra Jack Keats

Guess what holiday is coming? Topping the Christmas titles is Lois Ehlert's posthumous Red & Green, a classic Ehlert-style take on The Night Before Christmas. Booklist called it "A playful picture book that offers a familiar Christmas story and striking, distinctive art." The Milwaukee Art Museum is celebrating Ehlert with a series of story times and a talk that already happened. I'm sure most of you knew about it. More here.

Boswell bestsellers for Tweedolini week (November 5-11, 2023)

Boswell bestsellers, week ending November 11, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Iron Flame V2, by Rebecca Yarros
2. Fourth Wing V1 special edition, by Rebecca Yarros
3. Absolution, by Alice McDermott
4. Wellness, by Nathan Hill
5. Fractal Noise V2, by Christoper Paolini
6. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt
7. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
8. Recipes for Murder, by Karen Pierce
9. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
10. Holly, by Stephen King

Rebecca Yarros's decision to pivot from romance to fantasy, or rather to the hybrid romantasy, was apparently the best decision since Rick Riordan pivoted from adult mysteries to middle-grade fiction. I suspect we'll see some news write-ups of Iron Flame's first week numbers. Congrats to the Red Tower imprint of Entangled.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. World Within a Song, by Jeff Tweedy
2. Infertilities, edited by Elizabeth Horn and Maria Novotny
3. The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl (Register for virtual event November 20)
4. The Last Supper Club, by Matthew Batt
5. Everything I Learned I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, by Curtis Chin
6. How to Write One Song, by Jeff Tweedy
7. Wisconsin Field to Fork, by Lori Fredrich
8. Activate Your Heroic Potential, by Brian Johnson
9. Prequel, by Rachel Maddow
10. Hidden Potential, by Adam Grant

Speaking of breakouts, Margaret Renkl's latest book, The Comfort of Crows, is also going crazy, and much as I'd like to say it's due to our upcoming virtual event with Urban Ecology Center, this appears to be a nationwide phenomenon. I don't know if the new incarnation of Spiegel & Grau has hit the national bestseller lists before, but they will now.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Twilight Falls V4, by Juneau Black
2. The Deluge, by Stephen Markley
3. Tandem, by Andy Mozina (Register for November 15 Boswell event)
4. Bookshops and Bonedust, by Travis Baldree
5. Hedge, by Jane Delury
6. Shady Hollow V1, by Juneau Black
7. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, by Christopher Paolini
8. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
9. A Court of Thorn and Roses V1, by Sarah J Maas
10. A Visit, by Shirley Jackson, illustrations by Seth

Take two of our big events from last week, Christopher Paolini's Murtagh and Juneau Black's Twilight Falls, cross 'em, and you might come up with Travis Baldree's Bookshops and Bonedust, often termed a cozy fantasy. From Kirkus: " As a prequel (to Legends and Lattes), it can stand alone, but will certainly satisfy fans as well. Warm and wonderful."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. A Crowded Hour, by Kevin Abing
2. Let's Go So We Can Get Back, by Jeff Tweedy
3. A Philosophy of Walking, by Frédéric Gros
4. The Storyteller, by Dave Grohl
5. How We Live Is How We Die, by Pema Chodron
6. Butts: A Backstory, by Heather Radke
7. A Year in the Woods, by Torbjorn Ekelund 

8. 111 Places in Milwaukee You Must Not Miss, by Michelle Madden
9. Entangled Life, by Merlin Sheldrake
10. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann

I was curious where we stood on sales of our perennial paperback sellers, A Philosophy of Walking and A Year in the Woods, being that they are probably great pairings for The Comfort of Crows. It turns out we're #3 for one book on Edelweiss's inventory sharing system (Woods), and #5 for the other (Walking). According to my publishing source, anytime we're in the top 30, we're punching above our grade level, but when it's not about a major rec or event or regional interest, it's just that other stores are ignoring these indie-publisher books' potential.

Books for Kids:
1. Murtagh V5, by Christopher Paolini
2. Mine, by Candace Fleming, illustrations by Eric Rohmann
3. Oh No, by Candace Fleming, illustrations by Eric Rohmann
4. Eragon: The Illustrated Edition, by Christopher Paolini, illustrated by Sidharth Chatruverdi
5. Every Day's a Holiday, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Husna Aghinya
6. Minerva Keen's Detective Club, by James Patterson and Keir Graff
7. Eragon V1, by Christopher Paolini
8. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh, by Mo Willems
9. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, by Suzanne Collins
10. No Brainer V18, by Jeff Kinney

Aside from one big event (Paolini - we still have signed copies of Murtagh) and three school visits (Fleming/Rohman, Stef Wade, Keir Graff), the biggest trend was how many holiday books we sold this week, led by Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh. School Library Journal called the latest by Willems " A good choice for a Santa-centric and Christmas-specific collection."

Boswell bestsellers, week ending November 4, 2023

Boswell bestsellers, week ending November 4, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Midnight Is the Darkest Hour, by Ashley Winstead
2. The Vaster Wilds, by Lauren Groff
3. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
4. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett (Tickets for December 6 theater event)
5. Absolution, by Alice McDermott
6. Let Us Descend, by Jesmyn Ward
7. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
8. When I'm Dead V3, by Hannah Morrissey
9. Foster, by Claire Keegan
10. Armor of Light V5, by Ken Follett

Absolution is the latest from one of my fave authors, Alice McDermott - her first novel in six years. Its release brings back memories of selling books with my late colleagues Anne, Elly, and Beverly, whose love for McDermott goes back to the days of At Weddings and Wakes; it was one of those novels that the Book Nook sold like crazy.

From Jennifer Egan's New York Times review: "Although she opens with an epigraph from The Quiet American, Graham Greene’s 1955 indictment of catastrophic American blundering in post-colonial Vietnam, McDermott asserts her revisionist focus in the novel’s third sentence: 'You have no idea what it was like. For us. The women, I mean. The wives.' She then delves into the lives and activities of the blunderers’ wives during the last era in American life in which being a husband’s 'helpmeet' was widely seen as a worthy fulfillment of feminine ambition." Bookmarks round-up yields five raves and a positive.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Surely You Can't Be Serious, by David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abra
2. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger
3. Being Henry, by Henry Winkler
4. The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears
5. How to Know a Person, by David Brooks
6. Remember Love, by Cleo Wade
7. Start Here, by Sohla El-Waylly
8. Everything I Learned I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, by Curtis Chin (Registration for November 5 event - that's today) 

9. Democracy Awakening, by Heather Cox Richardson
10. The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl (Register for November 20 virtual event)

It is unusual for Macmillan to distribute the top three titles on any of our lists, and even more so that two of the three come from the same division Celadon. In addition to our steady sales of While Your Were Out, we have our first week of sales for Henry Winkler's Being Henry. No, I don't know why the publisher skipped Milwaukee as a tour stop. No, I don't know if any of these other cities have Fonzie statues in their downtown. Thank you for calling.

Four positives on BookMarks. From Mark Kennedy at Associated Press: "Winkler’s 245-page book charts his course chronologically from the Fonz to Barry - and the frustrating fallow periods in between - painting a portrait of a man trying to overcome a bitter, loveless childhood and a disability that made reading impossibly hard and simply trying to become a better man."

Paperback Fiction:
1. A Dish Best Served Hot, by Natalie Caña
2. The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga
3. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
4. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, by VE Schwab
5. The Cat Who Saved Books, by Sosuke Natsukawa
6. Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett
7. A Proposal They Can't Refuse, by Natalie Caña
8. The Boyfriend Candidate, by Ashley Winstead
9. The Genesis of Misery, by Neon Yang
10. Circe, by Madeline Miller

We had a nice event with Natalie Caña for her second novel, A Dish Best Served Hot. Many people think she is from Chicago because her series is set in the historically Puerto Rican Humboldt Park neighborhood, but that's partly because Milwaukee doesn't have such a neighborhood, with the community first centered on the Lower East Side, then Riverwest, then the South Side. That said, the community center in the novel is based on Milwaukee's UCC.

From Kirkus: "The latest in Caña's Vega Family Love Stories series is full of all of the dynamics that made A Proposal They Can't Refuse so irresistible, from a comedic cast of supporting characters to an emphasis on the importance of community. Saint and Lola's relationship is explored through both past and present timelines, emphasizing just how deep their history runs and providing an illuminating comparison between the people they were before and the ones who are much better equipped to pick up where they left off. A vibrant second-chance love story about repairing community and romantic connection."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
2. The Switch, by Jason Puskar
3. An Immense World, by Ed Yong
4. The Indigenous Continent, by Pekka Hämäläinen
5. How We Live Is How We Die, by Pema Chödrön
6. The Philosophy of Walking, by Frédéric Gros
7. Where the Deer and the Antelope Play, by Nick Offerman
8. The Grandest Stage by Tyler Kepner
9. A Year in the Woods, by Torbjorn Ekelund
10. All About Love by bell hooks

Jason Puskar, author of The Switch: An Off and on History of Digital Humans is Professor of English at UWM. A blurb from Mark Goble: "In this deeply ambitious and sophisticated book, Jason Puskar invites us to think more seriously about what happens almost every time we touch one of our devices and turn it on or swipe or click. From the technologies at our fingertips to the vastly larger networks of politics and language that they operate and represent, The Switch provides a fascinating cultural history of how we have made the modern world, and been remade in turn, by the simplest of human actions and the connections they enable."

Books for Kids
1. The Hour of Need, by Ralph Shayne, illustrations by Tatiana Goldberg
2. Let Me Finish, by Minh Lê, illustrations by Isabel Roxas
3. Minerva Keene's Detective Club, by James Patterson and Keir Graff
4. Lift, by Minh Lê, illustrations by Dan Santat
5. Curses Are the Worst V1, by Elizabeth Eulberg
6. Zombie Wedding Crashers V2, by Elizabeth Eulberg
7. Real to Me, by Minh Lê, illustrated by Raissa Figueroa
8. Tiny Mansion, by Keir Graff
9. You Are Here: Connecting Flights, by Ellen Oh
10. No Brainer V18, by Jeff Kinney

Minh Lê was recently in town doing an area school visit. Her most recent picture book is Real to Me, which was featured on the May/June Indie Next List. From Kirkus: "The imaginary-friend trope gets turned on its head. Told mostly in first person, this story follows a large furry green creature and a small Black girl who are engaged in a series of adventures...Together the two laugh and play, are brave together, and get in trouble. Others say that the friend is imaginary, but our narrator isn't so sure. And then, one day, the friend is unexpectedly gone. Now it becomes clear that the narrator wasn't the girl but the newly morose and lonely monster."

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending October 28, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending October 28, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Wellness, by Nathan Hill
2. The Exchange, by John Grisham
3. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett (ticketed event December 6)
4. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
5. America Fantastica, by Tim O'Brien
6. The Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
7. The Last Devil to Die, by Richard Osman
8. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
9. Distant Sons, by Tim Johnston
10. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride

Tim O'Brien's America Fantasica, his first novel in two decades is, per Noah Hawley in The New York Times review, "a manic road-trip-meets-crime-spree novel." One unusual blurb is from Haruki Murakami: "Tim O'Brien is the one American author whose works I look forward to the most. His new novel’s ironic depiction of a post-Iraq war, mid-COVID, and mid-Trump world is piercing and razor-sharp." BookMarks has three raves, a positive, and a mixed. Hawley liked the entertaining parts of the book; less so the satire.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears
2. Surely You Can't Be Serious, by David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abra (screening and talk at Shorewood High School auditorium on November 2 - click here to register)
3. The Soul of Civility, by Alexandra Hudson
4. How to Know a Person, by David Brooks
5. The Last Supper Club, by Matthew Batt (Register for November 9 Boswell event here)
6. Prequel, by Rachel Maddow
7. The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl (Register for November 20 virtual event here)
8. A Very Chinese Cookbook, by Kevin Pang and Jeffrey Pang (Register for November 28 Boswell event here)
9. The Globemakers, by Peter Bellerby
10. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger

The Woman in Me trounced all other books for media attention, including a piece in The New York Times about how she didn't do any interviews for this book. But CAA organized a series of Britney Spears drag brunches around the country, including one at the Hamburger Mary's in Milwaukee. BookMarks tallied three raves and five positives, including Leah Greenblatt's in The New York Times. She writes, on referencing the title: "Here it has the cadences and stagecraft of a country song: striving, plucky, littered with almost operatic betrayals and misfortune. It’s also a tale of qualified triumph, albeit with its own star-crossed postscript."

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Rule of Thirds, by Jeanée Sacken
2. The Nix, by Nathan Hill
3. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
4. Last Summer on State Street, by Toya Wolfe
5. Liberation Day, by George Saunders
6. A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J Maas
7. Iris Kelly Doesn't Date, by Ashley Herring Blake
8. The Golem of Brooklyn, by Adam Mansbach
9. The Whalebone Theatre, by Joanna Quinn
10. Woman of Light, by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Iris Kelly Doesn't Date is the latest queer romance from Ashley Herring Blake concludes the Bright Falls Trilogy (Delilah Green Doesn't Care, Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail) features a romance writer and a struggling actor. Booklist notes that: "this book will delight fans of the previous books in the series and will appeal to other rom-com readers as well" while Kirkus concludes: "A treat for fake-dating fans (that's a trope) and happily-ever-after lovers alike."

Paperback Nonfiction
1. Penny, by Karl Stevens
2. Happy-Go-Lucky, by David Sedaris
3. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
4. Holidays on Ice, by David Sedaris
5. The Best of Me, by David Sedaris
6. The Philosophy of Walking, by Frédéric Gros
7. Where the Deer and the Antelope Play, by Nick Offerman
8. Vagina Obscura, by Rachel E Gross
9. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
10. An Immense World, by Ed Yong

Penny is the graphic nonfiction book that David Sedaris is touting at his theater shows this year. As he noted, it is going over quite well. He's even got a blurb on the book: "Penny is a major literary figure - right up there with Madame Bovary." And from the publisher: "Filled with ennui, angst, and vivid dreams, Penny proves that being a cat is more profound than we once thought."

Books for Kids:
1. How to Catch a Polar Bear, by Stacy DeKeyser
2. A Rhino in Right Field, by Stacy DeKeyser
3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: No Brainer, by Jeff Kinney
4. Peekaboo Pumpkin, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
5. The Cruel Prince collector's edition, by Holly Black
6. Eclipse, by Andy Rash
7. Something Someday, by Amanda Gorman, illustrations by Christian Robinson
8. Peekaboo Sun, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
9. New From Here, by Kelly Yang
10. Chalice of the Gods, by Rick Riordan

Something Someday, Amanda Gorman's collaboration with Christian Robinson, is a kids Indie Next Pick for September/October. School Library Journal offers: "This picture book's timely message about coming together to make a change is a perfect addition to all libraries." From Booklist: "This story would be a lovely choice for a garden or community-themed storytime and an exemplar for children's programming featuring poetry or collage."

The Halloween shopping season is as over as its going to be and its official, we had the best sales of Peekaboo Pumpkin of the 500 or so stores reporting to Edelweiss. I'd like to suggest to any store with kids books to do a display of these Peekaboo books. They are a hit!

Boswell bestsellers, week ending October 21, 2023

Boswell bestsellers, week ending October 21, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Brotherless Night, by VV Ganeshananthan
2. Roman Stories, by Jhumpa Lahiri
3. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
4. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett
5. The Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
6. The Postcard, by Anne Berest
7. The Exchange, by John Grisham
8. The Fraud, by Zadie Smith
9. Wellness, by Nathan Hill (Register for October 23 Boswell event)
10. Distant Sons, by Tim Johnston (Register for October 25 Boswell event)

Our first event with Tim Johnston took place during a bad snowstorm. It's unlikely this time, and we're excited that Distant Sons takes place in Wisconsin. We've had two great staff recs on the title, from Tim, who wrote "I won’t call Tim Johnston an outstanding writer of thrillers. He’s an outstanding writer. No qualifications are needed, and thriller fans reap the rewards." And from Kay: "The story slips easily between the past and present and slams into full thriller mode after a dramatic turn of events. You’ll be speed reading to the end."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Death of Public School, by Cara Fitzpatrick
2. Surely You Can't Be Serious, by David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abra (Register for November 2 Boswell event)
3. Prequel, by Rachel Maddow
4. C'mon Get Happy, by David Fantle and Tom Johnson
5. The Civil War: A Concise History, by Louis P Masur
6. Enough, by Cassidy Hutchinson
7. The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl (Register for November 20 virtual event)
8. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger
9. The Soul of Civility, by Alexandra Hudson (Register for October 22 Boswell event-today)

10. Democracy Awakening, by Heather Cox Richardson

Rachel Maddow's latest book Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism,  is inspired by her podcast Ultra, and has four raves on LitHub, including from reviews from The New York Times and The Washington Post. Katherine Belew writes in the latter: "Prequel is a vivid, urgent, smart history of the years before and during World War II, when German agents, Nazi sympathizers, theocrats and others attempted to steer the United States away from fighting Germany - sometimes through isolationism, sometimes hoping the United States might align with Adolf Hitler’s Germany."

Paperback Fiction: 

1. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
2. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, by Sangu Mandanna
3. The Thursday Murder Club V1, by Richard Osman
4. Daisy Darker, by Alice Feeney
5. A Court of Mist and Fury V2, by Sarah J Maas
6. Bunny, by Mona Awad
7. A Death in Door County V1, by Annelise Ryan (Register for December 14 Boswell event here)
8. Big Girl, by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
9. The Anomaly, by Herve Le Tellier
10. Kingdom of Ash V7, by Sarah J Maas

I have been working with one book club off and on for over thirty years, and over the next few weeks, we should see some of my picks hit the list. Out of about 25 titles, they usually pick 6-7, with 1-2 selections coming from the members.  One title I recommended was Big Girl, by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan. From my rec: "Sullivan does a great job immersing you in 1980s and 1990s New York and Philadelphia and effortlessly balances carefree moments with some very serious observations about race, gender, body image, and gentrification." The book was also shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. 

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Lincoln's Last Speech, by Louis J Masur
2. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
3. Where the Deer an the Antelope Play, by Nick Offerman
4. The Indigenous Continent, by Pekka Hämäläinen
5. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
6. The Bald Eagle, by Jack E Davis
7. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
8. Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman
9. The US Civil War: A Very Short Introduction, by Louis P Masur
10. Live and Let Live, by Evelyn M Perry

Just out for a few weeks, the paperback edition of Nick Offerman's  Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Likes to Walk Outside. From the publisher: " In 2018, Wendell Berry posed a question to Nick, a query that planted the seed of this book, sending Nick on two memorable journeys with pals - a hiking trip to Glacier National Park with his friends Jeff Tweedy and George Saunders, as well as an extended visit to his friend James Rebanks, the author of The Shepherd's Life and English Pastoral." Maybe we should be bringing this book to our Jeff Tweedy event.

Books for Kids:
1. See the Ghost, by David LaRochelle, illustrations by Mike Wohnoutka
2. See the Cat, by David LaRochelle, illustrations by Mike Wohnoutka
3. See the Dog, by David LaRochelle, illustrations by Mike Wohnoutka
4. Ups and Downs, by Mike Wohnoutka
5. How to Apologize, by David LaRochelle, illustrations by Mike Wohnoutka
6. Peekaboo Pumpkin, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
7. The Wild Robot Protects, by Peter Brown
8. Ghostly Tales of Milwaukee, by Anna Lardinois
9. Chalice of the Gods V6, by Rick Riordan
10. When Stars Are Scattered, by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

So much of our promotion for David LaRochelle and Mike Wohnoutka's visit to schools and the Greendale Public Library focused on the See the Ghost series, but Mike Wohnoutka wrote and illustrated the September release Ups and Downs: A Book of Emotions. Kirkus wrote: "Children will feel reassured to have their own emotions validated, perhaps under circumstances they've experienced, and to note that the book ends happily. The soft gouache illustrations are comforting; occasional onomatopoeic words add dramatic interest to scenes." Emotion books can do very well!

Boswell bestsellers, week ending October 14, 2023

Boswell bestsellers, week ending October 14, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Postcard, by Anne Berest
2. Wellness, by Nathan Hill (Register for October 23 Boswell event)
3. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride (Kirkus Prize winner)
4. The Mysteries, by Bill Watterson and Jon Kascht
5. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
6. Crook Manifesto, by Colson Whitehead
7. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
8. The Last Devil to Die V4, by Richard Osman
9. The Oceans and the Stars, by Mark Helprin
10. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett (Tickets for December 6 event here)

Apparently retailers underestimated the appeal of Bill Watterson's very un-Calvin-and-Hobbes-ian return to publishing. Ingram is completely sold out of The Mysteries, the beautiful fable for adults he created with Jon Kascht. More from the LitHub announcement, back in February.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Soul of Civility, by Alexandra Hudson (Register for October 22 Boswell event here)
2. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger
3. MCU, BY Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards
4. The Death of Public School, by Cara Fitzpatrick (Contact Marquette Law for October 20 virtual event link)
5. Enough, by Cassidy Hutchinson
6. The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl (Register for November 20 virtual event here)
7. Run to Win, by Jerry Kramer with Bob Fox
8. Wisconsin Field to Fork, by Lori Fredrich
9. Be Useful, by Arnold Schwarzenegger
10. Democracy Awakening, by Heather Cox Richardson

Top non-event debut honors go to MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, by three writers, two of whom also host the Trial by Content podcast. From Publishers Weekly: "There's fascinating trivia on every page (for instance, Daniel Craig was a front-runner for the part of Thor), and the authors maintain an evenhanded perspective, celebrating the studio's successes while calling out its missteps, namely the MCU's lack of direction after 2019's Avengers."

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Rule of Thirds V3, by Jeannée Sacken
2. Justified Malice V2, by Harry Pinkus
3. La Carte Postale, by Anne Berest
4. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
5. All This Could Be Different, by Sarah Thankam Mathews
6. A Death in Door County V1, by Annelise Ryan (Register for Boswell December 14 event)
7. Godkiller V1, by Hannah Kaner
8. Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St John Mandel
9. Lark Ascending, by Silas House
10. The Hero of This Book, by Elizabeth McCracken

We had a nice run in hardcover (four staff recs and a wonderful event) for Silas House's Lark Ascending, a post-apocalyptic novel that traded an eerie landscape jacket in hardcover for a dog-friendly paperback pitch. The dog is a great side character, but I'm not sure I see it. I didn't know it won the Southern Book Prize - congratulations! From Kay Wosewick: "Lark grows up as climate-driven wars pit gun-toting fanatics intent on complete control against loosely formed bands of resisters. While most of Lark's early life is spent idyllically at a distance, he is finally forced to travel a long distance through war zones. Lark recounts times of bliss and harrowing moments of horror with equally affecting and lovely prose."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. 33 1/3: Madonna's Erotica, by Michael Dango
2. A Philosophy of Walking, by Frederic Gros
3. The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay
4. American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin
5. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
6. A Year in the Woods, by Torbjorn Ekelund
7. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
8. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
9. Holy Food, by Christina Ward
10. Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe

Don't forget about Christina Ward's double-dose of programs next weekend for Holy Food. She'll be at Milwaukee Public Library's Good Hope Branch on Saturday and Lion's Tooth on Sunday, both at 2 pm.

Books for Kids:
1. This Is a Story, by John Schu, illustrations by Lauren Castillo
2. This Is a School, by John Schu, illustrations by Veronica Miller Jamison
3. Find Where the Wind Goes, by Mae Jemison
4. The Memory Thieves V2, by Dhonielle Clayton
5. The Marvellers V1, by Dhonielle Clayton
6. Eclipse, by Andy Rash
7. Mae Jemison, by Jodie Shephard
8. The Happy Book, by Andy Rash
9. Peekaboo Pumpkin, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
10. Chalice of the Gods V6, by Rick Riordan

John Schu, former school librarian and now readng evangelist for educators, is doing a day of schools for us for his latest picture book, This Is a Story. From Publishers Weekly: "Starting in close and pulling back, this love letter to libraries foregrounds their gift for connecting each reader with just the right story."