Sunday, March 4, 2012

What Sold This Week? Events that Happened (Donatich), Didn't Happen (Henderson) or Are About to Happen (Lerangis, Cronin, Robison).

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Variations, by John Donatich (signed copies available)
2. What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, by Nathan Englander
3. The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach
4. The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides
5. The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain

It was great to host Mr. Donatich, who made a side trip up from Chicago's AWP conference and those 8000 creative writing professionals. Stacie sent me a note that things were going very well. I hope we'll have a post soon about her panel about violence in fiction.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. While America Sleeps, by Russ Feingold
2. House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East, by Anthony Shadid
3. The Science of Yoga, by William Broad
4. Rez Life, by David Treuer (used to teach at UWM)
5. In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson

We're mourning the loss of William Shadid, as well as the great fiction writer William Gay. Sigh.

Paperback Fiction:
1. A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan
2. Ten Thousand Saints, by Eleanor Henderson
3. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson
4. The Tiger's Wife, by Téa Obreht
5. Room, by Emma Donoghue

Rock lives on this list, what with our top two titles being music themed. It's also nice to see a little female domination of a list, after noting that nine of our top ten hardcover titles are penned by men.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Look me in the Eye, by John Elder Robison
2. The Lifespan of a Fact, by John D'Agata and Jim Fingal
3. Final Gifts, by Maggie Callanan
4. The Physics of the Future, by Michio Kaku
5. Garden Wisdom, by Jerry Apps

Interest in John Elder Robison's event on March 22 is heating up. Tickets are $5, which goes completely to Autism Speaks. In addition, last week's New York Times Book Review cover story for The Lifespan of a Fact makes an appearance on this week's bestseller list. There's also a great On the Media storgy for the book. Johanna told us to watch out for this one.

Books for Kids:
1. The Invisible Tower, by Nil Johnson-Shelton
2. 39 Clues Cahills Vs. Vespers #3: Dead of the Night, by Peter Lerangis
3. 39 Clues Cahills Vs. Vespers #1: The Medusa Plot, by Gordon Korman
4. Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
5. Catching Fire, by Suzane Collins
6. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
7. Duck and Goose: Here Comes the Easter Bunny, by Tad Hills
8. The Trouble with Chickens, by Doreen Cronin
9. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
10. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

We've got several event books on the list. Nils Johnson-Shelton visited several schools last week, while two other authors are gearing up for school and library visits mid month. We've got Peter Lerangis speaking at Bay View Library on March 13 and Doreen Cronin at Franklin Library on March 15. Both events start at 6:30 pm.

Up next week on the list, perhaps we'll see Hari Kunzru's new novel, Gods Without Men, which gets a rave this week from Mike Fischer in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. It's an "ambitious and wonderful" novel about a couple searching for their missing son in the Mojave Desert. It's Kunzru's first novel set entirely in the United States.

No comments: