Monday, September 29, 6:30 pm, at the Loos Room at Milwaukee Public Library's Centennial Hall, 733 N. Eighth St. 53233: J.F. Riordan, author of
North of the Tension Line.
Riordan was born in New Jersey and moved to Wisconsin as a child. She has been a professional singer and high school English teacher, and now is a program officer for a local foundation.
Fiona Campbell is a newcomer to tiny Ephraim, Wisconsin. Populated with artists and summer tourists, Ephraim has just enough going on to satisfy Fiona’s city tastes, but she is fascinated and repelled by what lies at the furthest tip of the Door County peninsula: Washington Island, a place utterly removed from the hubbub of modern life. Fiona’s foray into the vicious politics of small town life, her encounters with a ruthless neighbor and the captain of a haunted ferry, leads her to eventually discovery the peculiar spiritual renewal of life as it is “north of the tension line.” At turns comic, romantic, and thought provoking, this book is equal parts romance and comedy of manners.
Tuesday, September 30, 7 pm, at Boswell: Simon Van Booy, author of
The Illusion of Separateness.Yes, it's really finally here!
As recommended by Boswellian Sharon Nagel: "An act of mercy that takes place on a field in France during World War II is the nucleus of this book. All the other characters and events are connected in a gorgeous tapestry that is slowly and masterfully revealed to the reader. This novel is based on a true story and is a lovely illustration that separateness is indeed an illusion, and that we are all connected. Rilke said something along the lines of 'Words can only point at emotions.' This is quite accurate as I read this most amazing of novels almost a month ago and have only lately been able to talk about it in full sentences. Seriously, I have rarely been so affected by a book in recent memory."
I can't be prouder of the booksellers who have recommended The Illusion of Separateness over the past year. It's rare that we can see the impact that our recommendations take, but this book has true word-of-mouth appeal. Even one of our friends who works at an area chain store said the book was selling very strongly for them. (Photo credit: Renaud Monfourny)
Wednesday, October 1, 6:30 pm, at the Shorewood Public Library, 3920 N. Murray Ave., 53211:
Scott Westerfeld, author of
Afterworlds and the
Uglies series.
Scott Westerfeld is the author of the
Leviathan Series, the first book of which was the winner of the 2010 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Fiction. His other novels include The
Uglies Series (which has over 4 million books in print and has been translated into 28 languages),
The Last Days,
Peeps, So Yesterday, and the
Midnighters Trilogy.
Darcy Patel has put college on hold to publish her teen novel,
Afterworlds. With a contract in hand, she arrives in New York City with no apartment, no friends, and all the wrong clothes. But lucky for Darcy, she’s taken under the wings of other seasoned and fledgling writers who help her navigate the city and the world of writing and publishing. Over the course of a year, Darcy finishes her book, faces critique, and falls in love. Woven into Darcy’s personal story is her novel, Afterworlds, a suspenseful thriller about a teen who slips into the “Afterworld” to survive a terrorist attack. The Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead, and where many unsolved—and terrifying—stories need to be reconciled. Like Darcy, Lizzie too falls in love…until a new threat resurfaces, and her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she cares about most.
Wednesday, October 1, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Charles Eigen, editor of
Inner Dialogue in Daily Life: Contemporary Approaches to Personal and Professional Development in Psychotherapy
Charles Eigen is a Milwaukee-based psychotherapist and bodywork/movement practitioner. Each chapter of
Inner Dialogue in Daily Life is written by an expert in their field, some of whom were invited to contribute by the founder of the approach. The authors include personal stories of how they have used the approach in their own lives and work as therapists, giving a deeper insight into each method. As well as developing a connection to the mind, several of the approaches focus on deepening an awareness of the body and listening to its voice. Approaches covered include the Jungian approach, Gestalt therapy, Focusing, internal family systems therapy, and Hakomi. Drawing on both Eastern and Western traditions and methods, this fascinating book will be of interest to psychotherapists, counselors and students, as well as anyone with an interest in inner dialogue, healing and personal development.
Thursday, October 2, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Larry Widen, author of
Milwaukee Rock and Roll.
Larry Widen is a Milwaukee-based journalist and entrepreneur who has interviewed Alice Cooper, Buddy Guy, Gregg Allman, B.B. King, Joan Jett, and many other musicians. When he owned a Milwaukee cinema, he booked Johnny Winter, Rick Derringer, Canned Heat, and David “Honeyboy” Edwards.
In
Milwaukee Rock and Roll, Widen recollects the rock and pop acts that came through the Milwaukee music scene from the 1950s to the 1990s in
Milwaukee Rock and Roll. With a foreword by Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, and more than160 images—some of which have never been published and some of which are from the author’s personal collection—readers will take a wild trip down memory lane. In
Milwaukee Rock and Roll, readers are able to see the venues and festivals that hosted various rock powerhouses, from the Arena, Summerfest, Eagles Club, as well as two dozen bars and clubs that no longer exist.
Saturday, October 4, 7 pm, at Boswell
Garth Stein, author of
A Sudden Light and
The Art of Racing in the Rain.
Garth Stein is the author of the bestselling novel, The Art of Racing in the Rain (and its tween adaptation,
Racing in the Rain), a picture book,
Enzo Races in the Rain, and several other books. Before turning to writing full-time, he was a documentary filmmaker, directing, editing, and/or producing several award-winning films, including
The Lunch Date, winner of the Academy award for live action short in 1990, and
The Last Party, starring Robert Downey, Jr. He is the cofounder of
Seattle7Writers.org, a nonprofit collective of sixty-two Northwest authors dedicated to fostering a passion for the written word
In the summer of 1990, fourteen-year-old Trevor Riddell gets his first glimpse of Riddell House. Built from the spoils of a massive timber fortune, the legendary family mansion is constructed of giant whole trees and is set on a huge estate overlooking Seattle’s Puget Sound. Trevor’s bankrupt parents have begun a trial separation, and his father, Jones Riddell, has brought Trevor to Riddell House with a goal: to join forces with his sister, Serena, dispatch the ailing and elderly Grandpa Samuel to a nursing home, sell off the house and property for development, divide up the profits, and live happily ever after. But as Trevor explores the house’s secret stairways and hidden rooms, he discovers a spirit lingering in Riddell House whose agenda is at odds with the family plan. Only Trevor’s willingness to face the dark past of his forefathers will reveal the key to his family’s future. (Photo credit: Susan Doubé)
Sneak Peek of Monday, October 6, 6:30 pm, at the Shorewood Community Room at the Shorewood Public Library, 3920 N. Murray Ave., 53211:
Genevieve G. McBride and Stephen R. Byers, author of
Dear Mrs. Griggs’: Women Pour Out Their Hearts from the Heartland.
The Shorewood Historical Society presents a biography of the woman behind the long-running advice column in the Milwaukee Journal Green Sheet. For those not old enough, one section of Milwaukee's afternoon newspaper came on green paper and was quite popular.
Several books coming today have had heightened interest. One of them is The Zone of Interest (Knopf), the new novel from Martin Amis, which has gotten much better reviews than his previous release. FOB Dennis had me put one on hold for him last week. Yes, you can do that too! Publishers Weekly writes: "An absolute soul-crusher of a book, the brilliant latest from Amis is an astoundingly bleak love story, as it were, set in a German concentration camp, which Thomsen, one of the book’s three narrators, refers to as Kat Zet...the result is devastating." And Alan Taylor in The Herald (Scotland) writes "The Zone Of Interest may be his greatest book; it is that good. You want to put it down but you know you can't and you know that you shouldn't. It is inventive, awful, testing and, like Picasso's Guernica, incongruously beautiful. Would that Primo Levi were around to read it."
Similarly, Hilary Mantel's The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher (Henry Holt) has readers abuzz. In her case, however, it is due to reviews, but to a conservative backlash in Great Britain. Now that I understand the politics better, I would suspect the backlash is specifically in England, but probably not Scotland. Here's Kelly Lawler's take in USA Today. Also
The Wall Street Journal recently profiled Ms. Mantel. Ellen Gamerman noted that "though the pieces are unrelated, certain patterns appear. Deformed, ailing or dead children figure in four stories, three pieces feature women with mysterious or undiagnosed ailments and two tales touch on the dread of potent prescription drugs."
Riverhead hopes to make a splash with the new novel from Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings, which should arrive in the store around Thursday or Friday. It will be hard to say goodby to these Penguin soft Thursday landings. After the distribution consolidation, Penguin books will move to the Random House standard of Tuesdays for everything. His new book is inspired an attempted assassination of Bob Marley in 1976. It's interesting that it comes at the same time as John Ridley's Jimi, another look at a pivotal moment in a prominent Black musician. Michiko Kakutani broke pub date with her New York Times review to set the tone for this "monumental work." She wrote in her September 21 review: "Brief History draws heavily upon White’s Catch a Fire and a 1991 article that he wrote for Spin magazine. But Mr. James, who was born in Kingston in 1970, is really interested in using both the facts and the speculation surrounding the murder attempt on Marley as a portal into Jamaican culture and politics. Marley (who is referred to here almost always as 'the Singer') becomes an almost peripheral figure in this novel, as the story focuses in on fictional versions of 'the people around him, the ones who come and go.'"
Out last week is Rooms (Ecco), the first "adult" novel from Lauren Oliver, and it's a ghost story. A patriarch has died, the alienated family has come to claim their inheritance, but two invited guests are also on hand. Publishers Weekly's starred review notes: "Oliver makes vivid use of both dead and living characters—all of whom are trapped in the past and striving toward a happier existence—to narrate her intricate, suspenseful story." That said, I found more blogger write ups than traditional reviews when searching the web. It's not because it's a ghost story; many authors in the genre have found broad critcal acceptance, including such developing writers as Rebecca Makkai, let alone Sarah Waters, and Audre Niffenegger. Maybe it's a bias against young adult writers by critics, or perhaps they are just holding it for today's release of another ghost-story novel, Garth Stein's A Sudden Light (who will be at Boswell on Saturday, October 4, 7 pm).
Norton is trying to rush out Neel Mukherjee's The Lives of Others, which has been shortlisted for the Man Booker prize. They work on a pub date model, so usually an October 1 pub date would have the books on sale about a week or two ahead of time. The story is about the extended Ghosh family, all living on a floor of the patriarch's manse. It's the 1960s and things are not going well, with the various siblings and their in-laws fighting over the family business, while unrest brews around them. A. S. Byatt writes in The Guardian: "One of Mukherjee's great gifts is precisely his capacity to imagine the lives of others. He can move from inside one head to inside another in a conversation or conflict and take the reader with him. He isn't really an omniscient narrator, there is no authorial voice – just an imagination that is more than adequate to its task." Should come in any day!
