Boswell Bestsellers, Week Ending April 23, 2016

Here is our bestseller lists!

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Excellent Lombards, by Jane Hamilton (event Sun 5/1, 1 pm, see Journal Sentinel story below)
2. The North Water, by Ian McGuire
3. The Nest, by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
4. Journey to Munich, by Jacqueline Winspear
5. The Last Mile, by David Baldacci
6. Eligible, by Curtis Sittenfeld (MPL lunch 5/3, 11 am)
7. The Murder of Mary Russell, by Laurie R. King
8. My Struggle V5, by Karl Ove Knaussgaard
9. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
10. The Other Side of Silence, by Philip Kerr

Let's talk about The North Water. This novel from Ian McGuire about the last days of the whaling industry has gotten massive attention in the UK, like this write up from Helen Dunmore in The Guardian which notes: "The strength of The North Water lies in its well-researched detail and persuasive descriptions of the cold, violence, cruelty and the raw, bloody business of whale-killing." It was a nuanced review, but The New York Times piece from Column McCann has no quibbles: "McGuire has an extraordinary talent for picturing a moment, offering precise, sharp, cinematic details. When he has to describe complex action, he ­manages the physicality with immense clarity. He writes about violence with unsparing color and, at times, a sort of relish. The writing moves sometimes from the poetic to the purple, but McGuire is careful not to use too many metaphors or similes or too much fancy writing when he needs to make clear what cold feels like, or hunger or fear." He sees it as a story of good v. evil and exhibit A for the latter is definitely Henry Drax, who has few qualms about violence.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Fierce Optimism, by Leeza Gibbons
2. The Third Wave, by Steve Case
3. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
4. The Gray Rhino, by Michele Wucker
5. Milwaukee: City of Neighborhoods, by John Gurda
6. Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Mirnda and Jeremy McCarter
7. The Art of Happiness, by Dalai Lama
8. Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
9. People Get Ready, by Robert McChesney and John Nichols
10. Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren

Lab Girl has become a national bestseller, chronicling the life of professor of geobiology Hope Jahren. The book was reviewed well by Michiko Kakutani in the daily New York Times, and by that, she mostly describes the book, but has no complaints: "By crosscutting between chapters about the life cycle of trees and flowers and other green things, and chapters about her own coming-of-age as a scientist, Ms. Jahren underscores the similarities between humans and plants — tenacity, inventiveness, an ability to adapt — but, more emphatically, the radical otherness of plants: their dependence on sunshine, their inability to move or travel as we do, the redundancy and flexibility of their tissues." Beth Kephart reviewed the book in the Chicago Tribune, while Renee Montagne talked to her on NPR's Morning Edition.

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Luckiest Girl Alive, by Jessica Knoll
2. The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George
3. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman (event Sat 5/14, 2 pm)
4. My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante
5. The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
6. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, by Fredik Backman
7. The Turner House, by Angela Flournoy
8. A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara
9. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, by Katarina Bivald (event Thurs 5/19, 7 pm)
10. The Dig, by John Preston

Another historical novel popping this week is John Preston's The Dig, a fictional recreation of the Sutton Woo dig, a priceless treasure discovered in East Anglia in the early years of World War II. Rowland Manthorope wrote in The Guardian: "The Dig shows a delicate awareness of modernity's ambivalent legacy. Preston's feeling is for the soil and its scions, not the bright, shiny figures of the modern age. Ignoring the self-proclaimed heroes of the excavation, he takes characters who are, themselves, submerged." Interestingly enough, this book came out in the UK in 2007 (more details in Wikipedia), and was a BBC Radio drama in 2008. Why was it released now? And here's Preston's version of how the book came about in the Telegraph.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Descent into Happiness, by David Howell
2. What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Jewishness of Jesus, by Evan Moffic
3. World War II Milwaukee, by Meg Jones
4. Dead Wake, by Erik Larson
5. Soup of the Day, by Ellen Brown
6. Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson
7. You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost), by Felicia Day (ticketed event 4/25, 7 pm)
8. Cream City Chronicles, by John Gurda
9. H Is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald
10. The Teenage Brain, by Frances E. Jensen with Amy Ellis Nutt

When I saw how many copies of The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist's Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults we had sold last week, I actually looked at the sales log to see if it was a bulk order. It was not - all the copies were to individual purchasers, and that made it worthy of writing up here. Jensen appeared on Fresh Air when the book came out in hardcover, where they noted: "Jensen, who's a neuroscientist and was a single mother of two boys who are now in their 20s, wrote The Teenage Brain to explore the science of how the brain grows — and why teenagers can be especially impulsive, moody and not very good at responsible decision-making." We had a pop the first time it aired too. Want more? Here's a C-SPAN interview.

Books for Kids:
1. The Boy in the Black Suit, by Jason Reynolds
2. Summerlost, by Ally Condie
3. Booked, by Kwame Alexander
4. The Crossover, by Kwame Alexander
5. When I Was the Greatest, by Jason Reynolds
6. All American Boys, by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
7. Tombquest: The Book of the Dead V1, by Michael Northrop
8. Hello?, by Liza Wiemer (event with Jennifer Armentrout on May 18, 6:30 Weyenberg Library)
9. Oh, The Places You'll Go, by Dr. Seuss
10. Surf's Up, by Kwame Alexander

It's a rare kids' top ten where three of my favorite books are the top three, but I guess that's what events are for. What an April we've had! I want to give special mention to Surf's Up, Kwame Alexander's February picture book about two frogs, one of whom doesn't want to go out to play because that frog is too involved in reading Moby-Dick, of all things. Alexander read the book dividing the audience into two halves, with each representing one of the two frog friends in the book. You can watch an animated version of the story from North South Books here.

There are a lot of book features in today's Journal Sentinel!

Jim Higgins profiles Jane Hamilton, whose The Excellent Lombards is already this week's #1 hardcover fiction book. Higgins writes: The Excellent Lombards, her new novel, is both a lively coming-of-age story and a deeply felt portrait of an endangered species, the American farm family. The Excellent Lombards could be read and taught in both an eighth-grade classroom and a small-business course — the latter because it grapples with agonizing issues of partnership and succession."

Mike Fischer reviews two books this week. First up is Elizabeth Nunez's Even in Paradise. Fischer writes: "It can feel at times like a light beach read made for a Caribbean vacation. But it also continually journeys inland, looking hard at the 'tiny shacks' abutting the Ducksworth mansion, the Jamaican slums near Émile's university and the significance of shady Trinidadian trees protecting estates 'where there were Africans beaten and tortured.' Hence Nunez's frequent, deftly inserted lessons involving Caribbean history. As her title suggests, one can never escape that history, even when sipping rum on a hilltop mansion overlooking paradise."

Also covered by Mike Fischer is Howard Means's 67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocence, the Vietnam War protest that led to four student fatalities. On the book's take: "Means is less interested in blaming the soldiers than the leaders — civilian and military — who failed them by creating an impossible situation in the first place. His gallery includes a laissez-faire university president who let things drift; a mayor who panicked in calling for the Guard after an initial night of rioting that was less about Cambodia than beer; an overly zealous law-and-order governor in a tough election campaign; and Guard commanders who didn't have a clear sense of what they were trying to accomplish." He notes that the National Guard themselves were "young, sleep deprived, inexperienced, badly trained, poorly led, angry and scared."

Plus Meredith Black profiles Padma Lakshmi, author of Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir, newly out from Ecco. This profile, which originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times is of course conducted over food: "She writes with candor about her romances with author Salman Rushdie and billionaire Teddy Forstmann, her struggle with debilitating endometriosis, and the acrimonious legal battle for custody of her daughter, Krishna, now a spirited 6-year-old who tagged along with her mother to the interview. The memoir, which Lakshmi will discuss April 9 at the L.A. Times Festival of Books, also delves into childhood traumas, including sexual abuse, the car accident that resulted in a 7-inch scar on her right arm, and the rootlessness that arose as she shuttled back and forth between America and India." I was fascinated that the Ilene Beckerman memoir was influential enough to be a riff on another memoir title, but I remembered that Love, Loss, and What I Wore also became a play, which would probably have more cultural resonance, especially if the adaptation was by Nora and Delia Ephron.

Jim Stingl profiles Dobie Maxwell, whose recent Monkey in the Middle retells the legendary story of a legendary bank robber who turned out to be Maxwell's close friend: "The second of the two vault raids grabbed headlines in Milwaukee and beyond because the robber — Maxwell's best friend Timothy Raszkiewicz, a jury decided — was wearing a gorilla costume, carrying balloons and pretending to be delivering a gorilla-gram to First Financial Bank in downtown Milwaukee," write Stingl. The book is available from Eckhartz Press.

And finally, the Fresh section profiles new gardening books, including Container Theme Gardens: 42 Combinations, Each Using 5 Perfectly Matched Plants, by Nancy J. Ondra. Joanne Kempinger Demski has 20 suggestions. She writes: "Pick one that meets your needs, and then head outside and sit in the sun with it to start planning your dream garden."

A Day with Jason Reynolds and David Sedaris, but not together. It's a long day.

What an exciting day we have today. First Olivia S. and I are off to the Italian Community Center to sell books for the Delta Memorial Fund luncheon featuring Jason Reynolds. Their focal book is The Boy in the Black Suit, but we'll also have copies of All American Boys and When I Was the Greatest.*

Then Teasha and Jen and I are off to the Riverside Theater to sell books for David Sedaris, who is appearing as part of his national tour. I know he's traveling from Tampa, as I saw a sign for his event on April 22 at Inkwood Books. Hope that was a great evening.

I have always identified with Mr. Sedaris in quirky ways. I have also been known as the odd person who picks up litter. Years ago I met the owner of Bella's Fat Cat because he spotted me gathering wrappers and drink cups and (most difficult of all) cigarette and candy-flavored cigar butts off the nearby bus stop and sometimes the sidewalk in front of his store. It is not unusal for me to carry in some waste on my way into work, and I try to be good about gathering the smoker butts that gather on Downer. I even had a time when I picked one day a week when I would find a plastic grocery bag and try to fill it with as much garbage as I could before I threw it away. Anti-litter campaigns have given way to recycling campaigns but short of throwing the butts in a bowl and trying to roll a new cigarette, I think garbage is the best I can do. Even Mr. Sedaris has given up smoking!

I've tried to figure out how close our times at Macy's coincide, but in the late 70s, which is likely close to when Mr. Sedaris played a holiday elf and wrote his experiences into a legendary comic essay, I also got a job at the Macys Herald Square as Christmas help. Alas, I did not have what it took for people work, and thus was scheduled in the sub-basement, where we wrapped packages for shipping. It was a very structured environment, the kind of place where you clock in and out for bathroom breaks. I am suspecting that the hourly office help upstairs did not follow that protocol.

They also separated us by gender, to avoid social interaction of an intimate nature. The women wrapped soft goods and the men wrapped hard goods. A radio blasted WKTU and that's how I know it was 1979 - about every hour they played The Sugar Hill Gang's Rapper's Delight and close to half the gentlemen I was working with knew the lyrics. And that's why to this day, whenever I hear "Hotel, motel, Holiday Inn," my Pavlovian reflex is to worry about breaking a lamp.

Tickets still available to the show. Say hi to Boswell and don't forget to pick up David Sedaris's author rec, Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America, by Jill Leovy.

*The publisher has given us permission to sell As Brave As You, Reynolds's new middle-grade novel, before pub date. We'll have that too.

May Indie Next Selections, including three that are upcoming events with Boswell.

As you all know, every month we promote the Indie Next list, the 20 recently published titles that have the most recommendations from independent booksellers. Are they the books that independent booksellers like the most? No, there are many factors involved, including how much the publishers push it, the genre (some kinds of books have broader appeal at indie bookstores than others), and whether there's an advance copy. If there's no advance copy, or even if it's only an egalley, I think the odds for making the list go a bit long. I had a local author ask me how to make the list, and that's another thing--you've got to time everything just right. You can't start a campaign once the book is already out.

I am glad to say that this year's Pulitzer Prize winner, The Sympathizer, was an April 2015 pick, but alas, The Sellout, the National Book Critics Circle Award winner, did not make the list. It's possible that his next book will, now that he's better known. There are always some long shots too, and I would say that Julia Reed's South: Spirited Entertaining and High-Style Fun All Year Long is this month's.

May 2016's #1 pick is The Atomic Weight of Love, by Elizabeth J. Church. The selected quote, from Anderson McKean of Page and Palette of Fairhope (a gulf town not too far from Mobile), Alabama. McKean writes: "Church deftly traces the life of Meridian Wallace, an intelligent young woman who is searching for who she is and what she wants to become. As America braces for entrance into WWII, Meri falls for the ambitious Alden Whetstone, a much older but brilliant scientist. Aspiring to be a ‘good wife,’ Meri abandons her own academic pursuits in ornithology to follow Alden to Los Alamos, but the years that follow are filled with dashed hopes and compromises. Over the decades of her marriage, Meri attempts to fill the void of unrealized dreams by making a home and reclaiming her sense of self. Filled with sharp, poignant prose, the novel mimics the birds Meri studies, following her as she struggles to find her wings, let go, and take flight. Church gives readers a thoughtful and thought-provoking examination of the sacrifices women make in life and the courage needed for them to soar on their own."

One thing that we find in the store is that some months are stronger than others. There are some months where we don't have any reads from staff on books but May is chock full of bookseller favorites. Sharon Nagel's rec from Eligible was included on the list. She's on a roll, as we've heard they'll be using one of Sharon's recs for June too. As you know, the Milwaukee Public Library is featuring Sittenfeld at their literary lunch, but I can assure you that Sharon, a huge Sittenfeld fan, would have read the book even if Sittenfeld did not come within a thousand miles of us. That's quite unlikely, as the author lives in St. Louis and the book is set in Cincinnati. I'm just making a point. Here is info on how to attend the lunch on May 3.

And here is Sharon Nagel's rec for Eligible: “It is a universally acknowledged truth that a retelling of Pride and Prejudice must be cleverly written and wickedly funny. Sittenfeld has accomplished that and more with her fantastic new novel. The Bennet sisters have been transported to modern day Cincinnati. Jane is a yoga instructor, Liz, a writer for a women’s magazine, Lydia and Kitty do nothing but work out, and Mary spends most of her time in her room. The two older sisters live in New York, but have come home to check on Mr. Bennet who is recovering from a heart attack. The storyline is one that will be familiar to most Austen readers, but with some extremely funny twists.”

Sharon is also a big fan of Simon Van Booy's Father's Day and sent in a nomination. The rec is from Don Luckham, The Toadstool Bookshop, Keene, NH. And LaRose, the newest from Louise Erdrich, was recommended by Peter Sherman of Wellsley Books of Wellsley, Massachusetts, but we also sent in a nomination from Caroline Froh. Our rec nomination for Fredrik Backman's Britt-Marie Was Here came from Jen Steele, but Carol Schneck Varner of Schuler Books of Okemos, Michigan got the slot. And I sent in a recommendation for Everyone Brave is Forgiven from Chis Cleave, but the rec came from Casey Protti at Bookshop Santa Cruz.

Cleave, as you know, is visiting Boswell on May 5 and I'm going to be leading my first author conversation. And Fredrik Backman will be at Boswell too, also in conversation. We've just lined up Claire Hanan, senior editor at Milwaukee Magazine, to lead the discussion.

Like a good handout? We've got May Indie Next fliers for you to use as reference. We've also got some April ones left. The rule of thumb is that all the May books should be in store by May 10. Britt-Marie Was Here and Everyone Brave is Forgiven both come out May 3. Why not place a copy on hold with us now?

Breaking Out of Boswell - The Annotated Bestseller Lists for Week Ending April 16, 2016

Hardcover Fiction (and Poetry):
1. Shaler's Fish, by Helen Macdonald
2. The Nest, by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
3. The Little Red Chairs, by Edna O'Brien
4. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
5. Patience, by Daniel Clowes
6. Fool Me Once, by Harlan Coben
7. The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah
8. The 14th Colony, by Steve Berry
9. Spill Simmer Falter Wither, by Sara Baume
10. The Summer Before the War, by Helen Simonson

Patience, the new graphic novel from Daniel Clowes is just about every genre out there - science fiction, mystery, romance. It's about a man whose pregnant girlfriend is murdered, and many years later, is able to use a time travel device to find out what happened. The starred Booklist review raves: "This is no mere sci-fi romp, however; time travel becomes a poignant metaphor for wraithlike Jack's obsessive mourning, and, before long, his schemes become as destructive as his grief. Punctuated by meltingly grotesque evocations of Jack's time-shattering flashes of awareness, Clowes' brilliant artwork homes in on expressions of aching feeling, particularly in Patience, who, through Jack's observations, gradually becomes vividly, marvelously multifaceted."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Third Wave, by Steve Case
2. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
3. They Are All My Family, by John Riordan
4. Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter
5. The Rainbow Comes and Goes, by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt
6. The Non-National in Contemporary American Literature, by Dalia Gomaa
7. Milwaukee: City of Neighborhoods, by John Gurda
8. When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi
9. Dark Money, by Jane Mayer
10. Becoming Wise, by Krista Tippett

We have some Hamilton obsessives on our staff (who doesn't?) so there was a lot of anticipation for Hamilton: The Revolution, the tie-in book to the show, filled with history, footnotes, and plenty of photos. From his NPR Weekend Edition interview: "As Miranda recalls, those early stages fittingly included a crucial spark from the White House. In May 2009, at An Evening of Poetry, Music And The Spoken Word at the White House, Miranda was expected to perform a number from In the Heights, a musical running on Broadway at the time that he wrote and starred in. But he decided to try something else. 'When the White House calls and says, we'd love for you to perform, or if you have anything else on the American experience, and you have a hot 16 bars about Alexander Hamilton in your back pocket, my choice was clear,' Miranda says. 'It actually felt like a sign, that the thing I had been working on in my spare time, there might be an audience for it.'"

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Turner House, by Angela Flournoy
2. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman (at Boswell Sunday, May 14, 2 pm)
3. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend (at Boswell Thursday, May 19, 7 pm)
4. The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George
5. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, by Fredrik Backman
6. Luckiest Girl Alive, by Jessica Knoll (at Boswell Tuesday, April 19, 7 pm)
7. My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante
8. Again and Again, by Ellen Bravo
9. Reflections, by Frank Zeidler
10. The Dream Lover, by Elizbeth Berg (at Lynden, Thursday, April 28, 7 pm - tickets here)

This is the third nonconsecutive week at one for Angela Flournoy's The Turner House, and while our in-store book club pick (May 2, 7 pm, all are welcome - I've already gotten a "loved, loved, loved it" back from an attendee) is definitely helping the momentum,we've got a number of other book clubs out there reading it now, and Jane's working her way through it when we feature it at several upcoming talks. If you're from a large family, you'll see you're own family reflected in the dynamics. There's no question that Mike Fischer's tremendous hardcover review in the Journal Sentinel has driven a lot of our momentum: " One of the many strengths of this book — entertaining, well-written and keenly insightful without calling attention to itself — is its clear-eyed, unsentimental vision. Flournoy never ignores the problems afflicting family and place — a 13-child clan and Detroit — even as she pays homage to both."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. H Is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald
2. Conservative Counterrevolution, by Tulla Connell
3. Mindset, by Carol Dweck
4. World War II Milwaukee, by Meg Jones (event Monday, 4/18, 6 pm, at MPL Rare Books Room)
5. The Residence, by Kate Anderson Brower
6. Claiming Place, by Chia Youyee Vang
7. Between You and Me, by Mary Norris
8. Cream City Chronicles, by John Gurda
9. Bettyville, by George Hodgman
10. The Red Parts, by Maggie Nelson

Republished books have a good week as Maggie Nelson's The Red Parts hits top ten paperback while Helen Macdonald's first poetry collection, Shaler's Fish, was the selection of a good number of folks at the sold-out Schlitz Audubon Nature Center event. I'm behind on building our new book club flier but you can see a bit of preview based on Jane and my talk at the Woman's Club last Wednesday with three selections - The Residence, Between You and Me, and Bettyville popping there. From the Washington Post Book World review, Krissah Thompson writes about Kate Anderson Brower's White House history: "These kinds of stories have rarely been told. But it seems there was never a formal policy demanding secrecy from residence staffers, just a long-standing culture of discretion. That, plus the fact that few people ever bothered to ask them about their time at the White House before."

Books for Kids:
1. Explore MKE, by Adam Carr
2. Summerlost, by Ally Condie
3. Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine
4. The Thickety: Well of Witches V3, by J.A. White
5. Matched V1, by Ally Condie
6. Stolen Magic, by Gail Carson Levine
7. Atlantia, by Ally Condie
8. The Thickety: Whispering Trees V2, by J.A. White
9. The Thickety: Path Begins V1, by J.A. White
10. Pax, by Sara Pennypacker, with illustrations by Jon Klassen

Event alums had a clean sweep of the top ten if you note that Sara Pennypacker (who hasn't visited yet) shares a credit with Jon Klassen (who has). I am a bit fan of Ally Condie's Summerlost and while we've had some very strong hits for recent blog posts, the one about her coming-of-age middle grade book set at at a Shakespeare Festival in small-town Utah flew under the radar (link here). Perhaps it's because I started out by talking about how many display tables we have focused on authors who've recently passed, but now that I condensed that into a rec, perhaps more folks will take my advice. But please, give it a look and next time you're at Boswell, come in a read a bit of Summerlost.

And now, here are the Journal Sentinel book features and reviews.

1. Jim Higgins reviews and profiles Curtis Sittenfeld's Eligible, who is the feted author at the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library Literary Lunch on Tuesday, May 3. Tickets are available here. From his article: "Sittenfeld has suitably and often wittily refashioned the characters for our crazy time as well. Bingley's colleague Darcy is a neurosurgeon. Cousin Willie is a wealthy tech savant devoid of social skills and emotional intelligence. Kathy de Burgh is a famous feminist who Liz Bennet is desperately trying to reach for a magazine article. And in a novel filled with exchanges sharp enough to make Niles and Frasier Crane take notice, look out for the scenes with Mr. Bennet. Responding to a male nurse who greets him with institutional enthusiasm, the elder Bennet replies, 'Bernard! We're mourning the death of manners and the rise of overly familiar discourse. How are you?'"

2. David Sedaris is profiled by Joanne Weintraub for his upcoming performance at the Riverside Theater on Saturday, April 23, 8 pm. This is not part of his book tour (meaning the book is not included in the price of the ticket) but we have been brought in as the bookstore partner, which is why you've gotten some emails and we have a lovely display in the store, featuring not just Sedaris's backlist, but his featured title, Jill Leovy's Ghettoside. From Weintraub: "The humorist, who will read from his work April 23 at Milwaukee's Riverside Theater, was actually invited to Buckingham Palace recently to collect an award for his anti-littering efforts. 'No, I didn't get to meet the queen,' he says in a phone chat from his London apartment, 'but I did get to stand about six feet away from her.'" We'll have books for sale in the lobby, as a signing follows the talk and reading.

3. Lori Ahrenhoerster reviews the new book from Journal Sentinel reporters Mark Johnson and Kathleen Gallagher, Pulitzer Prize winners for their work. Her take on One in a Billion: The Story of Nic Volker and the Dawn of Genomic Medicine: "One strength of this book is how it describes the science involved in layman's terms: for example, comparing the intricate cascade of genetic pathways to a 'tumble of dominoes,' or describing a SNP as a 'typo.' The authors explain how sequencing Nic's entire genome wasn't possible, but determining the exons, which are responsible for making proteins, was a sensible gamble. The book succeeds in impressing on the reader the massive work that goes into developing research that gets translated into practice. It masterfully lays out the depth of collaboration that is necessary for such a development to occur." The book is on sale now and the authors will speak at Boswell on Thursday, May 26, 7 pm. We're hoping to confirm a special guest in appearance, and I'll let you know when that T is crossed.

4. And finally, it's time for Paging Through Mysteries, the column from Carole E. Barrowman, who will be at Boswell on Tuesday, April 19, in conversation with the writer of one of her favorite mysteries of last year, Luckiest Girl Alive. Her top pick is Hard Light, the new mystery from Elizabeth Hand about a photographer who jump-started New York's punk scene, decamped to Iceland, and then flees to London (her boyfriend is on the run from several crime syndicates), where she discovers the body of a punk singer she knew. I may have sent the plot a bit askew but I can only quote Barrowman when she raves: "I loved everything about this book, especially the history of punk music and new wave photography the author shot through the narrative as well as working into the back stories of her characters."

4b. Allow me to relink to that piece, as Barrowman is also bullish for Lindsay Faye's Jane Steele, chronicling a fictional woman who has been inspired to tell her own story after reading Jane Eyre. It's a mash-up of a 19th century comedy of manners and a serial-killer novel. From the critic: "Let me humbly share that there's no madwoman in this mansion's attic, but there's more than enough crazy to go around, including dark deeds in the cellar. Jane Steele falls in love with Mr. Thornfield and 'wrestles' with how to 'force it to flourish,' using 'tactics that would have positively curled Miss Eyre's hair.'" I'm only going to guess that at one point, Steele says, "Reader, I murdered him."
See you today at 2 for our cosponsored talk with Bill Berry for his book Banning DDT or at 3 for our event with Kwame Alexander (at Boswell) for his new book, Booked.

Day excursion to Tampa to visit one lost department store and one charming-and-still-thriving independent bookstore.

Alas, a funeral for a dear uncle forced me to adjust plans for this week and fly to Orlando for his memorial. Although I've been to Orlando three times in the past for family functions, I haven't really gotten to see the city. But the truth is that even if you get beyond Disney and Universal and the various other smaller theme parks, it's really a relatively recent build, and I was hoping for a place with a little more history.

You see, Thursday was my birthday and while in years past, I enjoyed spending the day out of town, generally in Chicago or Madison, but at least once in Beijing, and a no-less-memorable stay in Cleveland*, of late, the store has generally called in the very busy month of April and its been hard to go anywhere. But being that I was concerned that if I flew in the same day for the event, I might well miss it if the plane was delayed, I might as well come in early on Thursday and have at least a little time to explore. And because it turned out that Tampa is really only about as far from Orlando as Milwaukee is from Chicago, that's where I decided to go.

According to Wikipedia, Tampa is ranked as the 5th most desired city where people want to live, but not only did I not know anyone there now, the only person I could think of was a college friend who was in a medical practice there some twenty years ago. I was trying to think of what the city is known for beyond the old Cuban cigar factories, but Wikipedia listed finance, health care, education, and tourism. The area has always thought of its major asset as sunshine.

I had a couple of destinations in mind. I'm a department store obsessive, so I had to visit the parking lot that once was Maas Brothers, a department store from the 1800s that continued into 1991, when it was folded into Burdines, though for the last couple of years, it had the unwieldy name of Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh. While it was part of the Allied (first Hahn) chain since 1929, a nephew of the Maas family ran in well into mid century and had its distinctions, like cinnamon twists in the restaurant bakery and counters where you could mail back citrus fruit to northern neighbors. I read Michael Lisicky's Remembering Maas Brothers to prepare for the trip; I don't love the Arcadia photo scrapbooks as much as the History Press narratives. They must have had problems with a store archive, as more than half the photos of the downtown store were from 1946.

There was a second smaller store downtown called O. Falks and a multi-story clothing specialty store called Wolf Brothers. I couldn't find those either, as the downtown had not been too aggressive on preservation, nor had their dreams of redevelopment really come to pass. There are a good amount of financial and municipal high rises, a few generic hotels (except for the nice Meridien) and post-modern musueums, with several blocks of one-story buildings that looked like they were waiting to be torn down. There was some new condo construction, but it didn't feel like it was done. The Tampa Theatre is still beautiful.

Nearby was the stadium and Channelside district, which is one of those prefab districts that is probably packed before a game but not other times. Nearby Ybor City had some nice architecture, but the Bourbon Street vibe of the main drag was a little bar heavy for me. The architecture in the neighborhood seemed to have a lot of those shotgun homes you see in the South on House Hunters, particularly New Orleans. I also visited Hyde Park and Soho (South Howard), which looked a bit like a fancier East Side, and Seminole Heights, which felt like Rivewest mixed with South 27th Street. I ate at a nice ramen noodle place called Ichicoro. The Hyde Park Village shopping center had a lot of the same chain stores that have been seeping into the Third Ward - Anthropologie and West Elm and Lululemon. Do they have a phrase for this? Chain gentrifiers?

My other real destination was Inkwood Books, the well known Tampa bookstore that changed hands about three years ago. It's in a converted home just off Howard, across from a Greenwise Publix Supermarket. Greenwise is what they call their organic sections in traditional Publix - it really didn't seem that different to me. I've never seen a green market with as much fried food in the hot bar.

Inkwood had a kids wing which interestingly enough, had faceouts of several authors who'd come to Boswell lately, such as G Neri's Tru and Nelle, who I know lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The larger adult wing had a lot of displayed titles and very nice staff rec card that featured a line drawings of the various booksellers.

I clearly picked out that the bookseller on duty was Donovan from his recs, and being that we both had read and liked My Father the Pornographer, I started up a conversation. I was interested in buying a distinctively Tampa author, and after ruminating on Tim Dorsey - his newest is Coconut Cowboy, I instead gravitated to a short story writer named Shane Hinton, who has a collection called Pinkies published by an independent press in Orlando called Burrow Press. Donovan also told me that there's a relatively new Orlando indie bookstore called Bookmark It, which makes Inkwood look gigantic. It's 205 square feet. 

The store had a nice selection of cards and the Litographs spinner. I really liked their Amber Tamblyn upcoming event sign and and their Inkwood books window shades. The signage in general was particularly nice - the large fiction and home signs really caught my eye. 

And pretty much that was my day. I went back to my room in Orlando and read the first story by Shane Hinton, about a man who worries when he and his spouse are told she is pregnant with multiple kids. They obsess over names by trying to remember famous cartographers and reading their favorite books for name inspiration, but the narrator is distracted when the doctor tells him he lost one of his 13 kids to a python attack. It's time to investigate snake traps! I guess this is more of an issue in Florida than it is in Wisconsin. 

*Fine. Slightly less memorable.

What Did the Book Club Think of Fredrik Backman's "A Man Called Ove"?

So the first question that came up is how do you pronounce his name. One of our attendees has a Swedish friend who called him "OH-vuh" with a longer stress on the first syllable, but one of our booksellers said he listened to the audio and it was distinctly "OOH-vuh." (Photo credit Edward Koinberg.)

However his name is pronounced, Ove is the culimination of years of cantankerous heroes. He know the right way to do everything, and it's generally different from however you happen to do it. His life is changed a boisterous neighbor family moves in, the very clumsy Patrick, his friendly wife Parvaneh (she's Iranian), and their two kids.

And yes, there's a plot, but like many of these transformational novels, A Man Called Ove is as much a character study. There are two trajectories going one, one in present time, where Ove is continually frustrated in a particular thing he is trying to get done, and another in the past, where Ove's life is chronicled up to this point. 

And the thing is, as the folks in his neighborhood get to know Ove, we do as well. One of Backman's particular triumphs is the way he parcels out little bits of revelatory information about Ove's life. We've seen this before, with Andrew Sean Greer's The Story of a Marriage, and recently with another book club pick, Helen Oyeyemi's Boy Snow Bird. But in that case, the publisher decided to reveal the first big revelation on the copy. In this case, Atria/Washington Square Press kept mum, and even with the book being on the bestseller lists for months, it caught me and most of the attendees of the in-store lit group by surprise. So I'm deciding not to do any spoilers here. That said, I think the structure of the book was perhaps what made it stand out from the pack.

The word of mouth on the book has been amazing, but at least initially, like many books of this sort, traditional reviews were hard to come by, with mostly bloggers writing the book up. Interestingly enough, the British press loves books like these, and has no problem finding space:

--Here's the review for The Express from Jane Clinton, who gave it five stars!

--Here's the review from The Independent, whose headline still says "A Man Called Over" and spells the authors name wrong. I'm just one blogger, and while my posts are riddled with errors, I do correct them when someone finds them.

Fredrik Backman has noted that this novel grew out of a blog he wrote. The character was based partly on him, partly his father. Readers just couldn't get enough of him, and I guess that is true, no matter the format.

So what did the book club think of A Man Called Ove? Well, it turned out everybody loved the book, and it got me wanting to be more negative just to stimulate discussion. I'm thinking the folks who might have had more criticism didn't come?

Here are a few things we discussed--

1. Whether Ove's behavior nature (mental illness) or nurture (the result of hardship)

2. The role of perspective, and differentness in how characters saw the world

3. His longstanding feud with Rune, his neighbor

4. The nature of goodness - does it matter how you treat people on the outside if you're good on the inside? And really, was Ove nice to people or not? His actions toward his work bully seem justified, but what about Rune? 

5. How did a person like Ove's wife Sonja understand him so quickly and completely? I guess there's someone for everyone.

There is definitely an air of Luddite-lite about the story. Ove has a lot of trouble confronting change. is this one of the key things that makes people cantankerous in the first place. 

Being that I love international jackets, A Man Called Ove is a good example of publishers searching around for an iconic image, and then going with something that works. An early Swedish jacket uses Ove's tools, but gives away one of the book revelations. A British cover uses a silhouette variation which became the rage after Little Bee hit big, but the paperback jacket, while not exactly what became the standard European cover, is closer. And the American cover is a variation of that UK standard of the man and his cat. The UK is a profile and another is side image, but most of them show Ove from the rear. The French jacket similarly was changed, with the 2nd jacket giving away less of the plot and was more upbeat, less, well gruesome.

But thematically, while at first glance, Ove's plot seems a little dire, it's been quite popular with inspirational books. Look at The Elegance of the Hedgehog, for example. And what about our success with All My Puny Sorrows.

Here's a link to Simon and Schuster's reading group questions. And don't forget, Fredrik Backman is appearing at Boswell on Saturday, May 14, 2 pm for his third novel, Britt-Marie Was Here. His second novel, My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry. In Australia and some other countries, the book is called My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologies. Here's a review in the Whitsunday Coast Guardian from John Grey who calls the book "enchanting and emotionally engaging."

What's next for the in-store lit group? On Monday, May 2, pm, the in-store lit group will be tackling The Turner House, the breakout novel from Angela Flournoy, about an extended African American family in Detroit. Who knew at the time this would be a breakout hit, but a stock-up special from the publisher indicated to us that the book is working in many places across the country.

On Monday,  June 6, we'll meet at a special time of 6 pm, to discuss Paul Goldberg's The Yid. Goldberg will join us at 6:30 and then will be in conversation for a public event at 7 pm. Our 6:30 session is the time to ask your spoiler questions. And because this book is hardcover, it will be 20% off through the day of the event.  

Boswell Event Alert: Ally Condie, Ellen Bravo, Chia Youyee Vang with Dalia Gomaa, Adam Carr, Gail Carson Levine, Kwame Alexander, Bill Barry, plus a shout out for Milwaukee Day and a reminder for Meg Jones next week.

What's Boswell up to this week? Please note that our event with Helen Macdonald has sold out, but there are still several great options.

Monday, April 11, 6:30 pm, at the West Allis Public Library, 7421 W National Ave:

Ally Condie, author of Matched and Summerlost.

This story aimed at kids 10 and up is about a girl whose mom brings the family to a small town with a summer Shakespeare Festival after the deaths of her father and brother.  I wanted to devote a little more space to Ally Condie's Summerlost so I wrote a separate blog post. Since we boost this one, many of you probably haven't read it. I suggest you link to it here. I corrected some of the typos.

And it's nice to see Condie get a nice write up in the Deseret News from Christine Rappleye, who writes: Summerlost, written for middle grade readers, doesn’t have the fantasy elements, but it does explore relationships with friends and family, and the moments that can change those relationships. It’s an emotional story as Cedar and Leo face events in their lives and try to figure out how to be understood while their adventures draw them into a mystery that means a lot to them. 'One of the biggest compliments I could receive was when my 12-year-old read it and came back with tears in his eyes and sighed,' she (Condie) said."

Tuesday, April 12, 7 pm, at the UWM Union Fireside Lounge, 2200 W Kenwood Ave:
Ellen Bravo, author of Again and Again.

From the UWM Women's Resource Center: "Ellen Bravo, a former UWM Women’s Studies professor, returns to present her latest fiction novel Again and Again. This poignant work follows college roommates as they experience the trauma of campus sexual assault and their lives, 20 years later, when they have another opportunity to feel justice. Ellen will read a few passages from her book and engage us in riveting conversation. Light refreshments will be provided."

Ellen Bravo is currently head of Family Values @ Work, which has been in the news promoting paid family leave. She was formerly executive director of 9 to 5, and also taught women's studies at UWM. This event is cosponsored by UWM Women’s Resource Center, Sociocultural Programming, Women and Gender Studies, Student Association and Women’s Advocacy Committee.

Thursday, April 14, 4 pm, at UWM Greene Hall, which is on Downer Ave between Hampshire and Newport:
Chia Youyee Vang, co-editor of Claiming Place: On the Agency of Hmong Women and Dalia Gomaa, author of The Non-National in Contemporary American Literature: Ethnic Women Writers and Problematic Belongings.

Associate Professor of History Chia Youyee Vang teaches at UWM where she specializes in 20th century US-Asia relations, Cold War politics, Asian America history, refugee migration, transnational and diaspora communities.

Dalia Gomaa is a lecturer in the Women's and Gender Studies program where her areas of specialty are Transnational feminisms, ethnic American literature, and postcolonial and Third World literature.

Thursday, April 14, 6pm, at Turner Hall: Milwaukee Day 2016

We have no evening event today, but one option for you is the annual Milwaukee Day Celebration at Turner Hall, featuring a concert by Aill, Def Harmonic, Midnight Reruns, Lex Allen, Space Raft, and Skai Academy. Buy tickets here.

On the upper level will be 15 of Milwaukee's finest arts and crafts vendors, with proceeds benefit TransCenter for Youth's Escuela Verde.

Friday, April 15, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Adam Carr, author of Explore MKE: Your Neighborhood, Our City, presented by SHARP LITERACY.

One day after Milwaukee Day (it's unofficially San Francisco day I guess), we're hosting Adam Carr, Milwaukee-based writer, storyteller, producer, and all-around urban champion. His work explores the kaleidoscope of community in his hometown through a variety of mediums and platforms. This includes (but is not limited to) public art installations, bus tours, multi-media projects, photography, teaching, radio stories, and now, a children’s book.

Explore MKE is an invitation to Milwaukeeans of all ages to explore our many communities and discover our city. Inside, you’ll find the story of Jayden and Anya, two students who live in Milwaukee, but who experience their city in different ways. Informational sections weave together iconic Milwaukee institutions and neighborhood-based landmarks with common themes.

SHARP Literacy publishes one book annually as part of their mission. Their goal is to enchance future life success by energizing urban children, motivating them to identify themselves as confident, capable scholars and lifelong learners by inspiring engagement in reading, writing and research through hands-on interaction and visual arts.

Saturday, April 16, 2 pm, at Boswell:
Gail Carson Levine, author of Ella Enchanted, cosponsored by First Stage Milwaukee.

Ella Enchanted the musical is having its world premiere at First Stage from now through May 1. Based on the book by Gail Carson Levine, the stage play and lyrics by Karen Zacaris, with music and additional lyrics by Deborah Wicks LaPuma. Mike Fischer in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote: "To steal the names of First Stage's alternating casts of young performers, Ella is both 'spectacular' and 'brilliant.' Despite its serious message, it's also uproariously funny, calling to mind two other recent First Stage shows featuring strong women overcoming benighted medieval settings: Shrek and Once Upon a Mattress.

We're excited to be hosting Gail Carson Levine, author of the classic novel, for a talk and signing cosponsored by First Stage. We'll have a First Stage representative talk about the show. For more about the production, including an author brunch on Sunday, April 17, visit their web page.

Sunday, April 17, 2 pm, at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, 1111 E Brown Deer Rd:
Bill Berry, author of Banning DDT: How Citizen Activists in Wisconsin Led the Way.

Berry is back with a talk about his book, discussing the garden club ladies, hunters and fishers, bird-watchers, university professors and scientists, newspaper reporters and columnists, and traditional conservationists who drew attention to the harmful effects of the miracle pesticide DDT, which was being used to control Dutch elm disease. You can read an interview with Berry here, conducted by the River Alliance of Wisconsin.

Admission to the Schlitz Audubon grounds is $8. We have five passes for free admission for your carload, which we will give out by drawing. Please email mew with the subject heading "Bill Berry Admission." We will contact the winners on Wednesday. And don't forget, admission is free for Schlitz Audubon Nature Center members.

Sunday, April 17, 3 pm, at Boswell:
Kwame Alexander, author of Booked and The Crossover.

We are honored to be hosting the Newbery-medalist author and poet Kwame Alexander in conjunction with the release of Booked, the story of a soccer-loving kid who has simply not discovered books...yet. Advance reviews have been terrific, with Publishers Weekly's starred review noting that "middle-school readers and their advocates will surely love Alexander's joyous wordplay and celebration of reading."

Rachel Martin at NPR spoke with Kwame Alexander who talked about getting kids hooked on books through poetry. He noted: "The power of poetry is that you can take these emotionally heavy moments in our lives, and you can distill them into these palatable, these digestible words and lines and phrases that allow us to be able to deal and cope with the world," he says. "I think it's one of the reasons why young people love reading novels in verse. It's because, on a very concrete level, it's not that many words so it's not that intimidating to me. There's so much white space."

Earlier, we posted our own celebration of Booked, with recommendations from Tim, Barbara, and myself.

Monday, April 18, 6:30 pm, at the Milwaukee Public Library's Rare Books Room, 814 W Wisconsin Ave, 2nd floor:
Meg Jones, author of World War II Milwaukee.

Armed with years of military and veteran reporting experience, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Meg Jones, general assignment reporter who specializes in military and veterans issues, brings to life Milwaukee's role in World War II, telling the stories of men and women fighting and reporting on the front lines, and the retooling of "the Machine Shop of the World" to become a major cog in the Arsenal of Democracy on the home front.

From her interview with WUWM's Lake Effect: "I thought here are these two very influential people with Milwaukee ties at the beginning and the end of World War II for America, so then that kind of helped me frame the book," explains Jones. "Then I started thinking about the interesting businesses, companies, factories that were making stuff, and then I thought about the interesting people ... journalists ... I knew that there was also a strong pro-Nazi presence here in Milwaukee also during the 1930s. So things just kind of began falling into place."

Hope to see you at one of this week's events.