What's Selling at Boswell This Week? I'm Anxiously Awaiting a Breakout Paperback--Where are The Reliable Wives and Little Bees of Just a Few Years Ago.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach
2. American Dervish, by Ayad Akhtar
3. Believing the Lie, by Elizabeth George
4. Death Comes to Pemberley, by P.D. James
5. The Orphan Master's Son, by Adam Johnson

Our reprint order came in for The Art of Fielding--hooray! 

Our event with Adam Johnson for The Orphan Master's Son is tomorrow, January 23, 7 pm. Entertainment Weekly gave it an A and called it "vivid and chilling." This is the kind of event where you are going to kick yourself for not having gone. And you're really going to wish you had a signed first edtion.

Hardcover Nonfiction:

1. The Journal of Best Practices, by David Finch

2. The Big Thirst, Charles Fishman

3. In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson

4. Charles Dickens, by Claire Tomalin
5. Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson

We had a wonderful time with Finch (I may have mentioned that previously), but I also enjoyed my lunchtime talk with Charles Fishman, who was in town for a water conference and also for a luncheon with Tempo, the Milwaukee organization that promotes women in business.

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Fates will Find Their Way, by Hannah Pittard
2. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford
3. The Tiger's Wife, by Téa Obreht
4. A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan
5. Swamplandia, by Karen Russell

Ms. Pittard noted to me that there is an homage to the hardcover jacket inside the paperback edition. And I noted that unlike many novels written by women, there are no body parts on the paperback jacket. "That's in my contract," Pittard replied. I'm not sure if she was kidding.

Note on paperback releases. That rash of paperback breakouts has slowed to a crawl without Borders, especially when you exclude the award-driven ones. Any suggestions on likely candidates?

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Big Thirst, by Charles Fishman
2. The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin
3. Your True Home, by Thich Nhat Hanh
4. The Hare with Amber Eyes, by Edmund de Waal
5. The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson

I don't think The Big Thirst was a hard on sale (that means you can't sell it before a certain date), but thank you to Free Press for letting us sell the paperback at the event slightly before the book was schedule to arrive in soft cover.

Aside from that, no surprises on our list. Gretchen Rubin and Thich Nhat Hanh waltz along. Your True Home reminds me of The Power of Kindness--many an indie could be selling tons of this book by just featuring it in an impulse or prime display area.

Books for Kids:
1. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
2. Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
3. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
4. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
5. I am a Bunny, by Ole Rissom/Richard Scarrey

I'm getting the wrap-up on how Winter Institute went for Stacie. John Green gave us Facebook advice! Well, not us personally--it was addressed to 500 booksellers.