Boswell annotated bestsellers for the week ending April 29, 2017, plus the Journal Sentinel book review links

On this week's list, I'm flipping paperback and hardcover because we had a particularly good run with trade paperback fiction this week, and not solely because of Kristin Hannah (although definitely partly because of Kristin Hannah). I am going to be doing some catchup blog posts this week and as a result, the dating will be a bit off.

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah (signed copies available)
2. Firefly Lane, by Kristin Hannah
3. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
4. Winter Garden, by Kristin Hannah
5. Home Front, by Kristin Hannah
6. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman
7. LaRose, by Louise Erdrich
8. Lilac Girls, by Martha Hall Kelly
9. The Secret History of Las Vegas, by Chris Abani
10. My Name Is Lucy Barton, by Elizabeth Strout
11. Night Road, by Kristin Hannah
12. Fly Away, by Kristin Hannah
13. True Colors, by Kristin Hannah
14. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
15. Eligible, by Curtis Sittenfeld
16. Sweetbitter, by Stephanie Danler
17. Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer (sf book club Mon 5/8, 7 pm)
18. The Little Red Chairs, by Edna O'Brien (in store lit group Mon 5/1, 7 pm*)
19. Spill Simmer Falter Wither, by Sara Baume
20. The Excellent Lombards, by Jane Hamilton

In addition to the backlist associated with Kristin Hannah's event for The Nightingale (signed copies available) and Chris Abani, we had a nice pop in paperback sales from a talk at the Woman's Club of Wisconsin on Friday and a good amount of sales off our tie-in table, including for Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, now showing on Hulu.

*We may vacate the store for the book club talk for Edna O'Brien's The Little Red Chairs if the crowd for Amy Goldstein's Janesville talk gets too large. It well could be.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
2. My Bookstore, edited by Ronald Rice
3. You Are a Badass, by Jen Sincero
4. The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman
5. The Face, by Chris Abani
6. What Makes a City Great, by Alexander Garvin
7. On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder
8. Rising Strong, by Brene Brown
9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
10. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

My Bookstore's paperback release did have a nice pop from Independent Bookstore Day. I suggest folks use the book as a travel guide and get the author or bookseller (or both!) to sign their respective chapters. Two more tie ins on the list with The Zookeepers Wife and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. And finally, another Independent Bookstore Day event led to a pop in sales for Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. Scholastic's Robin Hoffman did a storytime on Saturday, in memory of a beloved children's book writer.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah
2. Anything Is Possible, by Elizabeth Strout (ticket sales ended on April 28 for this event)
3. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
4. Beartown, by Fredrick Backman
5. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
6. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
7. Golden Prey, by John Sandford
8. Waking Gods, by Sylvain Neuvel
9. The Book of Joan, by Lydia Yuknavitch (this Sunday's front page of the NYTBR)
10. Miss You, by Kate Eberlen

Fredrick Backman's fourth novel (not including his novella), the hockey-themed Beartown, is released this week to a nice sales pop. Here's a really great review from Terri Schlichenmeyer in The Daily Oklahoman: "Indeed, Backman's exciting lead-up to the game is only a fraction of this story, which gives readers time to cultivate a good feel for who the characters are and how they jigsaw together in this small town in the woods. Knowing them and the baggage that keeps them in Beartown will keep you breathless as the fallout rains down, and as you race toward the Perfect-with-a-Capital-P ending of this book." The USA Today review from Eliot Schrefer is also enthusiastic.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. You Are a Badass at Making Money, by Jen Sincero
2. How to be Married, by Jo Piazza
3. Option B, by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant (Pabst tickets for 6/5 event here)
4. Janesville, by Amy Goldstein (event tonight 5/1, 7 pm, at Boswell)
5. Identity Unknown, by Donna Seaman
6. Milwaukee: City of Neighborhoods, by John Gurda
7. Six Seasons, by Joshua McFadden
8. This Fight Is Our Fight, by Elizabeth Warren
9. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan
10. Becoming Ms. Burton, by Susan Burton

From Publishers Weekly on Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, the new book by Portland, Oregon chef Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg: "No surprise that McFadden, a farmer and a chef at some of the country’s most innovative restaurants, would bring a clever spin to vegetables. He’s the man who made the kale salad famous, and this cookbook is filled with recipes that deserve to be as popular." Looking for more cookbook recommendations. Here's a nice roundup in Bon Appétit.

Books for Kids:
1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
2. I Am a Bunny, by Ole Rison and Richard Scarry
3. Radiant Child, by Javaka Steptoe
4. The Day the Crayons Quit, by Drew Daywalt, with illustrations by Oliver Jeffers (event 5/4, 4 pm, at the Wauwatosa Library)
5. The Inquisitors Tale, by Adam Gidwitz
6. Song of Glory and Ghost, by N.D. Wilson
7. Miss Elliott's School for the Magically Minded, by Sage Blackwood
8. Wonder, by R.J. Palacio
9. The Girl who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill
10. Triangle, by Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Jon Klassen

If you haven't yet bought Javaka Steptoe's Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, here's some more prodding. This Publishers Weekly article from Shannon Maughan talks about what it was like to win the Caldecott Medal. And here's a profile in the Kansas City Star, tied into Mr. Steptoe's recent visit to LitfestKC last weekend.

Over at the Journal Sentinel, Book Editor Jim Higgins reviews Imagine Wanting Only This, a graphic memoir from Green Bay native Kristen Radtke about copiing with her grief after the death of a beloved uncle. Higgins writes: "Her book has attracted national attention, and for good reasons. She's both a strong writer and an adept, fluid artist. She has a word lover's eye for found text on jars, postcards, documents, websites, hand-lettering them into her art. Unexpectedly, she also incorporates a few photographs into her panels."

The TapBooks section also has a review from Mike Fischer, Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart, by Scott Anderson. He writes: "For all the stories we read about the Middle East, comparatively few of them discuss the actual combatants, civilians and refugees as people, making it all the easier to dehumanize them...Focusing on six individuals, Anderson aims to use their stories in making sense of the larger story promised by his subtitle." The story was originally in The New York Times Magazine last August.

And finally, reprinted fromt he Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is a review of Joyce Carol Oates's newest, A Book of American Martyrs, reviewed by Marylynne Pitz. Not afraid to take on big issues, Oates "examines the pro-choice and anti-abortion movements through the experiences of the Dunphy and Voorhees families. After writing it, Oates said she realized the story had two martyrs: 'Though ideologically I am not identified with Luther Dunphy, I respected his integrity and wanted to give him as much space as needed to represent his position.'"

Boswell's annotated bestsellers for the week ending April 22, 2017

Here's a week in review at Boswell, via book sales.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
2. Earthy Remains, by Donna Leon
3. The Fix, by David Baldacci
4. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
5. Fallout, by Sara Paretsky (event 5/11 at Golda Meir Library, please register)
6. The Perfect Stranger, by Megan Miranda
7. One Perfect Lie, by Lisa Scottoline
8. City of Friends, by Joanna Trollope
9. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
10. The Women in the Castle, by Amor Towles

I wish I were a buyer so I'd know the backstory on why City of Friends, the latest Joanna Trollope is being imported by IPG instead of being published by an American House. I did find this story on the Macmillan site discussing Trollope's UK move from Transworld (a Bertelsman company) to Pan Macmillan, but why didn't one of the American subsidiaries take her on? It's not for us to know. Meanwhile, enjoy this video profile of Trollope and the new book, which is about a woman who loses her job and falls back on her old friends to see her through.


Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. This Fight Is Our Fight, by Elizabeth Warren
2. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
3. Janesville, by Amy Goldstein (event at Boswell Mon 5/1, 7 pm, with Community Advocates)
4. Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?, by Alyssa Mastromonaco
5. Shattered, by Jonathan Allen
6. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan
7. American Spirit, by David McCullough
8. Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari
9. Prince Charles, by Sally Bedell Smith
10. The Gatekeepers, by Charles Whipple

It's nice when everything comes together, isn't it? David Grann's new book, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, arrived in stores just as the film adaptation of The Lost City of Z opened at the Downer Theater down the block. Of the new book, Boswellian Tim McCarthy wrote: "Reading this book was like watching a train wreck - I couldn't have been at once more horrified and also transfixed." Laurie Hertz in the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote: "It is superbly done — meticulously researched, well-written — but it is hard to be entertained by a story of such unmitigated evil." Of the film, you can read Richard Brody's review/profile in The New Yorker.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Pleasantville, by Attica Locke
2. Death Goes Overboard, by David S. Pederson
3. Black Water Rising, by Attica Locke
4. The Cutting Season, by Attica Locke
5. Death Comes Darkly, by David S. Pederson
6. Half a Reason to Die, by Chip Duncan
7. LaRose, by Louise Erdrich
8. Our Man in Havana, by Graham Greene
9. Cold Pastoral, by Rebecca Dunham
10. All the Missing Girls, by Megan Miranda

You may think that our entire store has become a mystery specialty store from our fiction bestsellers, but I should note that Half a Reason to Die from Chip Duncan is actually a collection of short stories inspired by his travels and Cold Pastoral is a collection of poems inspired by environmental disasters. Both could be great mystery titles, could they not? For the latter, I can see the dead body laying in the field. But at the top was our Saturday duo of Attica Locke in the day and local David S. Pederson at night. At her Delta Memorial Endowment Fund Luncheon that featured Pleasantville (signed paperbacks available), she hinted at the subject of her next book coming in September, Bluebird, Bluebird, a new series about a Texas Ranger. And next year's DMEF speaker is already set, Natalie Baszile, the author of Queen Sugar.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Your First Year, by Todd Whitaker
2. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
3. Screenwise, by Devorah Heitner
4. Find a Way, by Diana Nyad
5. Wisconsin Literary Luminaries, by Jim Higgins (event WFB Library, Wed 5/10, 6:30 pm)
6. White Trash, by Nancy Isenberg
7. My Bookstore, edtied by Ronald Rice (event at Boswell, Sat 4/29, 7 pm with Liam Callanan and me)
8. Dark Money, by Jane Meyer
9. American Heiress, by Jeffrey Toobin
10. On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder

Here's more about My Bookstore. The new edition keeps all the essays of stores that have closed (like the much-missed Next Chapter in Mequon), but also includes new essays about:
--Full Circle Bookstore, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
--Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, New York
--R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut
--Munro's in Victoria, British Columia
--Writer's Block Bookstore in Winter Park, Florida (Orlando)
--Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kansas (Kansas City)
--Charis Books and More in Atlanta, Georgia
--Moe's Books in Berkeley, California

We'll celebrate our eighth anniversary, including a little toast.

Books for Kids:
1. Hello?, by Liza Wimer
2. Maybe a Fox, by Kathi Appelt and Alison McGhee
3. Rulers of the Playground, by Joseph Kuefler
4. Outlaws of Time #1: The Legend of Sam Miracle, by N.D. Wilson
5. Dragons Love Tacos, by Adam Rubin, with illustrations by Daniel Salmieri
6. Pax, by Sara Pennypacker, with illustrations by Jon Klassen
7. Almost Everything Book, by Julie Morstad
8. Jack and the Geniuses, by Bill Nye
9. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, by Mem Fox, with illustrations by Helen Oxenbury
10. Baby Animals, from Workman

Here's a little more about the Outlaws of Time series from N.D. Wilson, who recently came to Milwaukee to visit area schools. Of volume one, now in paperback, The Legend of Sam Miracle, the Publisher calls this "Back to the Future meets Holes" and goes on to describe it as: "a fantasy-adventure trilogy about a misfit twelve-year-old with a dangerous destiny to fulfill, a mystical time walker who is sent to protect him, and a maniacal villain with a deadly vendetta that began two hundred years ago in the heart of the Old West." Booklist wrote: "Wilson's novels are always a treat, and this first in a series is no exception, as it introduces a wide world of incredible magic." Expect to see more N.D. Wilson on next week's list, including the sequel, The Song of Glory and Ghost. We also have some signed copies.

From Journal Sentinel book editor Jim Higgins comes his take on Elizabeth Strout's Anything Is Possible, which goes on sale this Tuesday. Tickets for the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library Literary Lunch (which include a book) are close to being sold out and this review should close out sales. Higgins writes: "Characters mentioned briefly in Lucy Barton" such as Mississippi Mary Mumford, come to the forefront in this new book, set largely in the fictional Illinois town of Amgash and neighboring communities. Neither novel nor linked story collection strikes me as adequate terms to describe this book's ingenious structure, in which characters reappear in each other's stories. In a few cases, we experience remarkable encounters from different points of view in different stories."

Last chance to register! Well, almost.

Also in the Journal Sentinel TapBooks section, Erin Kogler reviews Min Kym's Gone: A Girl, a Violin, a Life Unstrung, which she notes may remind Milwaukeeans of Frank Almond's loss of his Stradivarius in 2014, only with quite a different ending. In the book, "Kym offers a rare glimpse into the life of the soloist in the orchestra world as she excels in her field, from finding the right teachers to working with conductors, orchestras and orchestra leaders." Also note that Kogler's other gig is Director of Communications for the Milwaukee Symphony. Talk about a great match of reviewer and subject!

Two additional reviews are in the print edition. John Reinan's review of The One Cent Magenta, originally published in the Star Tribune, is the story of a stamp that sold for nearly 9.5 million dollars lays it out: "New York Times reporter James Barron takes the reader into Stamp World, an exclusive and eccentric land whose inhabitants vie for prestige with a fierce and somewhat musty gentility that has largely managed to withstand the onslaught of new, vulgar money." Sarah Laskow's notes in The New York Times Book Review that this quest is more about a search for rare treasures than an indication that stamp collecting still holds allure. Alas, it ain't what it was when I was in grade school and a good third of us had collections.

And originally published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is Courtney Linder's review of the breakout novel from Kayla Rae Whitaker. Linder writes (and I include some bonus words that didn't make it into the print review): "The Animators is a quick read, with delightful language and quirky characters that are difficult to forget long after finishing the last few pages. It fills a literary gap, which has been waiting for a tale of millennial female friendship and love without tacky genre borders or stereotypes."

Boswell annotated bestsellers, week ending April 15, 2017

Boswell is open 10 am to 5 pm on Easter Sunday.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
2. Earthly Remains V26, by Donna Leon
3. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
4. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
5. The Hearts of Men, by Nickolas Butler
6. The Women in the Castle, by Jessica Shattuck
7. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman
8. Difficult Women, by Roxane Gay
9. Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett
10. Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid

At book #26, you'd think Donna Leon's series would be showing its age. But Marilyn Stasio in The New York Times Book Review wrote: "When she’s writing about her beloved Venice, Donna Leon can do no wrong. And Earthy Remains, her new mystery featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti, is one of her best. It’s also one of her saddest, dealing as it does with the seemingly unstoppable polluting of the great lagoon. 'We’ve poisoned it all, killed it all,' mourns Davide Casati, the aged caretaker of the house on the island of Sant’Erasmo where Brunetti is taking a medical leave for job-induced stress."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Wealth Can't Wait, by David Osborn
2. Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance
3. Halleluhjah Anyway, by Anne Lamott
4. Moth Presents All These Wonders, edited by Catherine Burns
5. Dear Ijeawele, by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie
6. King Solomon's Table, by Joan Nathan
7. Convergernce, by Peter Watson
8. Prince Charles, by Sally Bedell Smith
9. The Great Unknown, by Marcus Du Sautoy
10. Waiting to Listen, by Andrew Forsthoefel

From Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times: "A wonderful new book, The Moth Presents: All These Wonders — which takes its title from a thrilling account by the NASA scientist Cathy Olkin of last-minute emergency repairs made to the New Horizons spacecraft as it traveled three billion miles to get a close-up of Pluto — gathers 45 stories from the last two decades. Some are heartbreakingly sad; some laugh-out-loud funny; some momentous and tragic; almost all of them resonant or surprising. They are stories that attest to the startling varieties and travails of human experience, and the shared threads of love, loss, fear and kindness that connect us."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Arrow: The Dark Archer, by John and Carole E. Barrowman
2. The Nest, by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney (signed copies available)
3. The Excellent Lombards, by Jane Hamilton
4. The Woman in Cabin 10, by Ruth Ware
5. The Improbability of Love, by Hannah Rothschild
6. The Little Red Chairs, by Edna O'Brien (In Store Lit Group 5/1)
7. Lilac Girls, by Martha Hall Kelly
8. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
9. The Light of Paris, by Eleanor Brown
10. Britt-Marie Was Here, by Fredrik Backman

It's book club presentation season! Saturday's talk with Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney boosted sales of a number of titles on our new book club flier, including The Excellent Lombards, The Woman in Cabin 10, and The Light of Paris. As Jane noted, now I don't have to worry about this until August (or maybe September). Of The Woman in Cabin 10, Variety recently reported that Hillary Seitz has been signed to do the movie adaptation for CBS Films. Of the book, Ginny Greene in the Star Tribune wrote: "Cabin 10 just may do to cruise vacations what Jaws did to ocean swimming. You’ll be afraid to go out on the water."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
2. Live and Let Live, by Evelyn M. Perry
3. The Pleasure of the Text, by Roland Barthes
4. Dark Money, by Jane Mayer
5. You Are a Badass, by Jen Sincero
6. Brick Through the Window, by Steven Nodine, Eric Beaumont, Clancy Carroll, David Luhrssen
7. Radical Hope, by Jonathan Lear
8. Secreenwise, by Devorah Heitner (event at USM 4/17)
9. White Trash, by Nancy Isenberg
10. How to Be Alive, by Colin Beavan

Jane Mayer's Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right continues to resonate with its paperback release. Here's Mayer talking to Jack Holmes at Esquire about Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court.

Tarik Moody, a Riverwest resident, takes to Evelyn M. Perry about Live and Let Live on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee.

Here's Devorah Heitner interviewed on Austin360's parenting blog. And don't forget about University School of Milwaukee's event with Devorah Heitner tomorrow. Register here.

Books for Kids:
1. Just Fly Away, by Andrew McCarthy
2. Green Pants, by Kenneth Kraegel
3. Bone Quill V2, by John and Carole E. Barrowman
4. The Book of Beasts V2, by John and Carole E. Barrowman
5. The Forgetting Spell V2, by Lauren Myracle
6. The Star Thief, by Lindsey Becker
7. The Conjuror V1, by John and Carole E. Barrowman
8. Night of the Twisters, by Ivy Ruck
9. Hollow Earth V1, by John and Carole E. Barrowman
10. Wishing Day V1, by Lauren Myracle
11. Wishing Day V1 (cloth), by Lauren Myracle
12. Song of Delphine, by Kenneth Kraegel
13. Oh, Ick, by Joy Masoff and Jessica Garrett
14. A Is for Activist, by Innosanto Nagara
15. Life on Mars, by Jon Agee

This week has a lot of event programming factored into our bestseller list. Lauren Myracle visited three schools but didn't have a public event so we didn't talk much about her series Wishing Day. In volume 1, Natasha gets three wishes after her 13th birthday. In the second book, The Forgetting Spell, sister Darya approaches her 13th birthday and her own three wishes. Publishers Weekly wrote: "Though there are more questions than answers by the novel's end (the book is first in a planned trilogy), Myracle leaves readers with the powerful idea that wishing is more about appreciating what one already has than about getting what one wants." And yes, we have signed copies.

Over at the Journal Sentinel, we've got a couple of bonus book reviews that expanded beyond the TapBooks page. Washington Post reporter Amy Goldstein's Janesville is covered by Jim Higgins. The story focuses on the GM plant closing and what happened to the people. Higgins observes that retraining is not always what one hopes: "She recounts determined middle-age parents doing their tech-school homework at night side by side with their school-age children — and landing jobs, after graduation, that pay $12 an hour. One of her book's saddest stories is of a factory worker, laid off after 13 years, who graduated at the top of her Blackhawk class in criminal justice studies and landed a job as a correctional officer at the Rock County Jail. But marital and other stresses and a bad decision lead her to take her own life. Like Matthew Desmond's Evicted, Goldstein's Janesville offers many reminders that many working Americans are only one or two bad breaks and decisions away from disaster." Amy Goldstein at Boswell on May 1, 7 pm, cosponsored by Community Advocates Public Policy Institute.

You've seen My Two Elaines show up on our bestseller list for several months. Now Jim Higgins reviews Martin J. Schreiber's memoir of caring for his wife after her Alzheimer's diagnosis. Says Higgins: "Schreiber, a former Wisconsin governor, opened many eyes when he shared his caregiving story with Journal Sentinel reporter Mark Johnson in December 2015. My Two Elaines expands on the primary theme of that article: the corrosive effect of loneliness on the caregiver, which can lead to poorer health and quality of life for both spouses. Figuratively speaking, his book reminds other caregivers to put their own oxygen masks on first, so they can truly be present for their spouses."

And finally, a profile of Nay Tait Fraser's Mending the Earth in Milwaukee, which is available at Woodland Pattern and several area nature centers. It is both a memoir and a how-to guide to natural landscaping.

Mike Fischer reviews A Grace Paley Reader, a new collection of stories, essays and poetry, edited by Kevin Bowen and Nora Paley. Fischer notes: "In his marvelous introduction, fellow short-story master George Saunders describes Paley as 'one of the great writers of voice of the last century' because of her uncanny ability to channel “the dynamic energy of human thought” as experienced by her characters."

Carole E. Barrowman's Paging Through Mysteries offers three new suggestions:

--On The Good Byline, Jill Orr's story of a library assistant in a small town who is asked to write an obituary about her best friend: "Fresh and funny, romantic and sunny, Orr’s book checked three genre boxes for me: a smart cozy series, a Southern small town setting, and, my favorite, a newspaper mystery."

--"Lori Rader-Day’s psychological mystery, The Day I Died, has a pitch-perfect prologue and the rest of the novel never hits a false note. In her prologue, Rader-Day’s narrator, Anna Winger, describes the day she died, teasing just enough detail to keep the event echoing across the pages as Anna investigates a troubling disappearance of a boy and his mother from a small Indiana town." Note that Lori Rader-Day will be at MobCraft Brewery on Thursday, June 8 with David Krugler and Nick Petrie. Register here for the taproom tour at 7. The event follows at 7:45.


--Judith Flanders has a British series about a book editor, the latest of which is A Cast of Vultures. Barrowman notes that heroine Samantha Clair "is the kind of witty well-read woman I love to hang with...a cheeky observer of the world." The new book has Clair trying to figure out the death of her upstairs neighbor.

Secrets of the book club talks. Our new yellow book club flier is now available (plus if you're reading this before Saturday, we'll be giving at talk at Boswell with Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney on April 15, 2 pm.

It's a new season of book club picks. Jane and I spent hours hashing out what to add to our flier, which we use not just as a handout and display in the store, but as a guide for our presentations to area groups. We're launching the new list on Saturday, April 15, 2 pm, at Boswell for book club afternoon with Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest.

We last switched over our titles in January, but this is more of a major shift, with fully half the titles changing from our last handout. In addition, we have an insert of six titles coming out in June and July to keep an eye on. And because an insert only printed on one side looked naked, the back half has six upcoming events that are great tie ins for book clubs.

Apples and Oranges

I generally use the previous newsletter to lay out the new one, but at least in some cases, that meant moving around the titles that were staying to create new themes. Two books I had to include together were Ann Patchett's Commonwealth and Jane Hamilton's The Excellent Lombards, for several reasons.
--Each novel draws on the authors' own stories
--The authors are close friends and each was an early reader of the other's book
--The obvious fruit connection. I love the idea of matching jackets--I'm a big fan of the Patchett jacket, and can you imagine how great Hamilton's would have looked with apples? And in a boxed set, right?

Love Jane Hamilton? She'll be in conversation with Sheryl Sandberg at the Pabst on Monday, June 5, 7 pm. Sandberg's new book is Option B. Ticket link!

What to Read After Ove

It seemed like our flier was becoming one big Ove ouvre. But nothing got added to this season's list that I would put in that category, so we'd probably recommend Helen Simonson's The Summer Before the War and Phaedra Patrick's The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper. Fortunately, we have a "What to read after A Man Called Ove" table to satisfy your cravings.

World War II Mania

While I think every book club has read or will read Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See and Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale, (alas, our event with Hannah is sold out, but we'll have signed copies after the event) one could probably spend the whole year reading World War II historicals. Currently on our checklists:

--Lilac Girls, by Martha Hall Kelly (also on the national bestseller lists)
--Everyone Brave is Forgiven, by Chris Cleave
--They Were Like Family to Me, by Helen Maryles Shankman
--The Improbability of Love, by Hannah Rothschild

If you, like many book clubs, include hardcovers (we don't think it's fair to your members who buy physical books in bookstores, and why are you surprised?), Jessica Shattuck's The Women in the Castle is a clear addition, the latest of HarperCollins's books in the Lead Read program to break out.

What Do These Books Have in Common?

I was taken by the similarities between The Improbability of Love and Elizabeth McKenzie's The Portable Veblen. Both touch on how children must overcome the legacy of their parents, both have semi-supernatural elements (talking paintings and squirrels) and both touch on the excesses of capitalism. I think they would be interesting to read in succession like we did for our In Store Lit Group.

STEM Reading

Jumping off of The Portable Veblen, there are a number of titles that touch on the sciences.

Added onto our Hidden Figures recommendation is one new nonfiction book, Lab Girl, recently awarded a National Book Critics Circle Award, and one novel, Vinegar Girl.

A book club could do a whole year of science reading. Why not consider Lauren Redniss's Radiocative, her graphic biography about Marie and Pierre Curie?

Award winners

 Adding to its award basket, Matthew Desmond's Evicted just won the Pulitzer Prize. How cool is that?

I wondered whether we would keep Paul Beatty's The Sellout on our list, but being that the In-Store Lit Group had a very positive reaction to the book, we decided to keep it going another season.

What's the In Store Lit Group Reading?

Our May 1 selection is The Little Red Chairs, by Edna O'Brien. I've never read her and being that this newest book has gotten some of the best reviews of her career (and she's 85!), I felt intellectually bereft.

One new novel that I'm very excited to suggest to book clubs is Homegoing, the first novel  from Yaa Gyasi that won the John Leonard Prize. I won't be at our program on June 5, as I'll be working our Sheryl Sandberg event at the Pabst Theater. So I used this opportunity to put in a title I'd already read. Plus Sharon, who likely will be working that evening, did read it and liked it as much as I did. Homegoing is on sale in paperback May 2.

New Staff Favorites

Two staff favorites had good hardcover sales and so we decided to aim for the stars with a book cluib pitch. I haven't read either, but they are certainly on my "hope to read soon" list.

--Spill Simmer Falter Wither, by Sara Baume. We had a great event for her in hardcover, and Anne turned out to be a huge fan. It works great as an Irish book and as a dog book, and a number of people have compared the book to a grown-up version of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

--Father's Day, by Simon Van Booy. Van Booy's newest is up to three reads in store, and it's a total embarrassment that I am not one of those reads. It's never too late, right? It's inspired by Van Booy's own life (of sorts), in that it is about a young girl who is taken in by her uncle, so in a way it plays upon Van Booy's life a young widower. He's now remarried, by the way, and her family story inspired The Illusion of Separateness. On sale April 25.

Also added is The Light of Paris, by Eleanor Brown because...we always have to have at least one recommendation set in Paris.

Our June/July picks. Think of them as late adds for spring or an early preview for our fall.
--Another Brooklyn, by Jacqueline Woodson (on sale May 30)
--As Good As Gone, by Larry Watson (pub date June 13)
--Hero of the Empire, by Candice Millard (on sale May 30)
--Miss Jane, by Brad Watson (pub date July 11)
--News of the World, by Paulette Jiles
--They May Not Mean To, But They Do, by Cathleen Schine

We also have a list of events that have reading group suggestions attached.

All, this, plus Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, the author of The Nest. Pick up your pastel yellow book club flier at Boswell, and why not attend our presentation on Saturday, April 15, 2 pm? We have been told it's very entertaining.

Event Alert: Andrew McCarthy, Kenneth Kraegel with Fox and Branch, Lindsey Becker, Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, Devorah Heitner

Don't forget, #1: We close at 6 pm tonight to the general public, due to the Andrew McCarthy event described below.

Don't forget, #2: Tickets were announced today for our event with Sheryl Sandberg, co-author of Option B, in conversation with Jane Hamilton, Monday, June 5, 7 pm, at the Pabst Theater. Visit their website for more details.

Monday, April 10, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
A ticketed event with Andrew McCarthy, author of Just Fly Away.

Andrew McCarthy has worn many hats. He's beloved for his starring film roles in Pretty in Pink, Mannequin, and Less than Zero. He appeared on Broadway in the Tony-Award-winning production of Side Man. He's directed series such as Orange Is the New Black and The Blacklist. And his work as a travel writer and Editor at Large for National Geographic led to his bestselling memoir, The Longest Way Home, and the editor slot for Best American Travel Writing 2015.

Now his first novel, Just Fly Away, is being published in April, and we're thrilled to be hosting a ticketed talk and signing for this powerful young-adult novel on Monday, April 10, 7 pm. It starts when fifteen-year-old Lucy Willows discovers that her father has a child from a brief affair, an eight-year-old boy named Thomas who lives in her own suburban New Jersey town. She begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her family and her life. Lucy can't believe her father betrayed the whole family, or that her mother forgave him, or that her sister isn't rocked by the news the way Lucy is. Worse, Lucy's father's secret is now her own, one that isolates her from her friends, family, and even her boyfriend, Simon, the one person she expected would truly understand. When Lucy escapes to Maine, the home of her mysteriously estranged grandfather, she finally begins to get to the bottom of her family's secrets and lies.

Tickets are $19 and include admission to the event and a copy of Just Fly Away. On the night of the event only, a $12 Boswell gift card is available in lieu of the book. That said, you must take the book option to get in the signing line.

Thursday, April 13, 4:00 pm, at Boswell:
A Green Pants Dance Party with Kenneth Kraegel, author of Green Pants featuring musical guests Fox and Branch

Jameson only ever wears green pants. When he wears green pants, he can do anything. But if he wants to be in his cousin's wedding, he's going to have to wear a tuxedo, and that means black pants. It's an impossible decision: Jameson would love nothing more than to be in his cousin's wedding, but how can he not wear green pants? Will Jameson turn down this big honor, or will he find a way to make everyone happy, including himself?

About the Author: Kenneth Kraegel is the author-illustrator of the picture books The Song of Delphine and King Arthur's Very Great Grandson, which was a New York Times Notable Book and a Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year.

Dave Fox and Will Branch strive to create a communal atmosphere of fun and high spirits wherever they play. A Fox and Branch show is as much a celebration of being together as it is a musical performance. Based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the nationally known duo has toured the Midwest, the East Coast and the South. They are the winners of four Parent’s Choice recommended awards.

Friday, April 14, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Lindsey Becker, author of The Star Thief.

The constellations come to life in this imaginative fantasy adventure debut from UWM alum and Indie Introduced author Lindsey Becker.

Honorine's life as a maid at the Vidalia mansion is rather dull, dusting treasures from faraway places and daydreaming in front of maps of the world. But everything changes when she catches two brutish sailors ransacking Lord Vidalia's study, and then follows a mysterious girl with wings out into the night.

Suddenly, Honorine is whisked into the middle of a battle between the crew of a spectacular steamship and a band of mythical constellations. The stars in the sky have come to life to defend themselves against those who want to harness their powers. Much to her surprise, Honorine is the crux of it all, the center of an epic clash between magic and science, the old ways and the new. But can this spirited young girl bring both sides of a larger-than-life fight together before they unleash an evil power even older than the stars?

Lindsey Becker writes middle grade fiction with ghosts, monsters, mythical beasts, and daring children who love adventure and magic. The Star Thief is her first novel.

Saturday, April 15, 2:00 pm, at Boswell:
Book Club Afternoon with Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest featuring recommendations from Jane Glaser and Daniel Goldin

Join us for an afternoon delight featuring book club recommendations from Boswell’s Jane Glaser and Daniel Goldin and a talk from Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, the bestselling author of The Nest. A breakout debut novel in 2016, The Nest offers a warm, funny, and acutely perceptive novel about four adults siblings and the fate of their shared inheritance that has shaped their choices and lives.

Every family has its problems. But even among the most troubled, the Plumb family stands out as spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking point on an unseasonably cold afternoon in New York City as Melody, Beatrice, and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab. Months earlier, an inebriated Leo got behind the wheel of a car with a nineteen-year-old waitress as his passenger. The ensuing accident has endangered the Plumbs' joint trust fund, "The Nest," which they are months away from finally receiving. Meant by their deceased father to be a modest mid-life supplement, the Plumb siblings have watched The Nest's value soar along with the stock market and have been counting on the money to solve a number of self-inflicted problems.

A story about the power of family, the possibilities of friendship, the ways we depend upon one another and the ways we let one another down. In this tender, entertaining, and deftly written debut, Sweeney brings a remarkable cast of characters to life to illuminate what money does to relationships, what happens to our ambitions over the course of time, and the fraught yet unbreakable ties we share with those we love.

Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney's first novel, The Nest, is The New York Times bestseller which has been translated into more than 25 languages and optioned for film with Sweeney writing the adaptation.

Monday, April 17, 6:30 pm, at University School Milwaukee, 2100 E Fairy Chasm Rd, River Hills:
Devorah Heitner, author of Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World.

Many parents feel that their kids are addicted, detached, or distracted because of their digital devices. Media expert Devorah Heitner, however, believes that technology offers huge potential to our children—if parents help them. Screenwise offers a realistic and optimistic perspective on how to thoughtfully guide kids in the digital age. Using the foundation of their own values and experiences, parents and educators can learn about the digital world to help set kids up for a lifetime of success in a world fueled by technology.

Screenwise is a guide to understanding more about what it is like for children to grow up with technology, and to recognizing the special challenges—and advantages—that contemporary kids and teens experience thanks to this level of connection. In it, Heitner presents practical parenting hacks: quick ideas that you can implement today that will help you understand and relate to your digital native. The book will empower parents to recognize that the wisdom that they have gained throughout their lives is a relevant and urgently needed supplement to their kid’s digital savvy, and help them develop skills for managing the new challenges of parenting.

This is part of USM’s speaker series. This event will be held in Mellowes Hall at the Upper School. Registration is requested.

Devorah Heitner, PhD is the founder and director of Raising Digital Natives, a resource for parents and schools seeking advice on how to help children thrive in a world of digital connectedness.

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending April 8, 2017, plus Journal Sentinel book links

Here's what's been selling at Boswell. We're mystery heavy this week in fiction.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
2. Earthy Remains, by Donna Leon
3. In This Grave Hour, by Jacqeline Winspear
4. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
5. The Women in the Castle, by Jessica Shattuck
6. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman
7. The Idiot, by Elif Batuman
8. Everything You Want Me to Be, by Mindy Mejia
9. Prussian Blue, by Philip Kerr
10. American War, by Omar El-Akkad

Elif Batuman has another good week on the bestseller list with The Idiot. It's the story of a disengaged first-generation Turkish immigrant at Harvard in the 1990s who starts a complicated email relationship with a Hungarian graduate student. Elaine Margolin at The Washington Post found it "quirky" and a bit "rambling" while Constance Grady in Vox called it "chilly" and "playful" and notes that the story is about semiotics. But whatever people think, it's the debut that everyone is writing about - she's a New Yorker writer, so that makes sense. For I think the best explanation of why you might love this book, try Mike Fischer's review in the Journal Sentinel.

And we should note that if you were waiting for A Gentleman in Moscow to come out in paperback this fall, or even summer (as was once planned), you should readjust. Due to continuing demand, Amor Towles's beloved novel has been pushed back. And I should note that word of mouth really is amazing on this book - we get so many customers coming back to talk about it.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Truth About Your Future, by Ric Edelman
2. The Kim Kardashian Principle, by Jeetendr Sehdev
3. Hallelujah Anyway, by Anne Lamott
4. Wisconsin Sentencing in the Tough-on-Crime Era, by Michael O'Hear
5. Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari
6. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan
7. The Book of Joy, by the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Carlton Abrams
8. The Education of Will, by Patricia McConnell
9. When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi
10. Dear Ijeawele, by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie

Chimananda Ngozi Idichie has another bestseller in her second short work of nonfiction, Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. Zoe Greenberg in The New York Times calls this "a 63-page blueprint for achieving that reality. Written as a letter to a friend, the book offers a set of guidelines for how to raise a feminist daughter." The profile goes onto note her literary superstardom: "She took the stage in front of a sold-out crowd at Cooper Union, and there was 'this kind of unanimous scream,' said Robin Desser, a Knopf editor who has worked with Ms. Adichie for 12 years. 'I really have never seen anything like this,” Ms. Desser said. “And I’ve published people who are really popular.'"

Paperback Fiction:
1. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
2. Bertrand Court, by Michelle Brafman
3. The Little Red Chairs, by Edna O'Brien (In Store Lit Group 5/1, 7 pm)
4. Milk and Honey, by Rupi Kaur
5. The Excellent Lombards, by Jane Hamilton
6. The Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett
7. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
8. The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George
9. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
10. The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Boswellian Jane tells me that her latest Literary Journeys program at the Whitefish Bay Library sold out within the week. It's been building in popularity but Ernest Hemingway (hence the bestseller appearance for The Sun Also Rises) put it over the edge. It's been a big week for paperback releases, with the three year wait for All the Light We Cannot See finally over. We're also pleased to see Jane Hamilton's The Excellent Lombards place the first week out, helped by a big recommendation from Jim Higgins at his event for Wisconsin Literary Luminaries, our #1 nonfiction book this week. Look for a big event involving Hamilton to be announced later this week by our email newsletter.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Wisconsin Literary Luminaries, by Jim Higgins (event at Whitefish Bay Library Wed 5/10, 6:30 pm)
2. Borchert Field, by Bob Buege (event at Books and Company in Oconomowoc Thu 5/11, 7 pm)
3. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
4. Brick Through the Window, by Steven Nodine, Eric Beaumont, Clancy Carroll, David Luhrssen
5. Requiem for the American Dream, by Noam Chomsky
6. My Two Elaines, by Martin Schreiber
7. Live and Let Live, by Evelyn Perry
8. The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman (playing at the Downer Theater, see offer below)
9. On Reading, Writing, and Living with Books, edited by Pushkin Press
10. KL, by Nikolaus Wachsmann

The Zookeeper's Wife, based on Diane Ackerman's book, has been playing at the Downer Theater for a week. Katie Walsh in the Chicago Tribune wrote: "The Holocaust film has become a genre unto itself, and sadly, there are more than enough stories from that era to continue the trend. Against ever-shifting, polarized political landscapes, the lessons gleaned from the horrors of this very recent past are never not relevant. But too often, many of these biopics fall prey to well-trod norms and conventions. In Niki Caro's The Zookeeper's Wife, the backdrop of a Warsaw zoo offers a new angle, and features a show-stopping performance from Jessica Chastain as the real-life Antonina Zabinski, but it otherwise follows a familiar path."

The studio sent us totes and pens celebrating the release. Show us your ticket receipt and get a tote or pen or both, while supplies last.

Books for Kids:
1. Jake the Fake Keeps It Real, by Craig Robinson and Adam Mansbach, with illustrations by Keith Knight
2. Bently and Egg, by William Joyce
3. Oh Ick, by Joy Masoff and Jessica Garrett
4. Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo, by William Joyce
5. A Day with Wilbur Robinson, by William Joyce
6. The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors, by Drew Daywalt, with illustrations by Adam Rex (Drew Daywalt at Wauwatosa Public Library, Thu May 4, 4 pm)
7. Spy School, by Stuart Gibbs
8. A Is for Activist, by Innosanto Nagara
9. Forge V2, by Laurie Halse Anderson
10. Beyond the Pond, by Joseph Kuefler (event at Boswell Fri Apr 21, 4 pm, with Miss Cupcake dirt cupcakes for attending kids)

We had a busy week with school visits, with three of our authors crisscrossing the metro area. Two other authors, Drew Daywalt and Joseph Kuefler, will be visiting area schools in the weeks to come. Kuefler is touring for Rulers of the Playground, hence the dirt cupcakes from Miss Cupcake. The pop in sales was for his previous work, Beyond the Pond. Daywalt's The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors just came out--he'd normally be coming this week, but we had to adjust for family spring break. The new book has the same playful spirit of The Day the Crayons Quit and its spinoffs. Our third picture book writer (like Kuefler, also an illustrator) is Kenneth Kraegel for Green Pants. He'll be at Boswell this Thursday, also at 4 pm, with Fox and Branch opening. It's a Green Pants dance party.

As we were moving displays, we realized it was time for our graduation table display and the alarm for publishers also went off as here come the graduation books. Turning speeches into books has been a big trend for a long time and Jim Higgins at the Journal Sentinel reviews the newest high-profile speech as book, John Waters's. He's a fan: "Make Trouble, adapted from his speech to the Rhode Island School of Design class of 2015, is a commencement address I consumed with joy, will likely read again and would be happy to give to young people — especially brooding, complicated young people. (Yes, you.) Its pleasures are enhanced by playful typography and droll, sketchy illustrations by Eric Hanson, including several delightful ones of Waters, a pencil-thin man with a pencil-thin mustache."

It's rare to see a Penguin Classic getting first-class review attention but Mike Fisher encourages people to rediscover one this week's TapBooks page: "'God help Kenya, my love.' So says Warĩĩnga, heroine of Kenyan novelist Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o’s Devil on the Cross, a classic indictment of neocolonialism and corruption in Kenya. First published in Gĩkũyũ in 1980 and then in English in 1982, it’s being republished this week as the latest addition to the Penguin African Writers Series." Whoever was chatting with me this week looking for novels about colonialism after reading Monique Roffey's The White Woman on the Green Bicycle, I hope you're reading this.

And finally, originally publisherd in the Star Tribune is a roundup of young adult novels from Trisha Collopy. Featured are:
--The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
--The Exo Project, by Andrew DeYoung
--Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story, by Caren Stelson
--Just a Girl, by Carrie Mesrobian

DeYoung could have appeared at UW-Madison's Nelson Institute Earth Day conference that features a number of dystopian writers, including Emily St. John Mandel.

A day with cartoonist Keith Knight, the illustrator behind "Jake the Fake Keeps it Real"

Jake is a kid who gets into Music and Art Academy by playing the piano. There's only one problem. It turns out it's the only song he knows.

His sister Lisa is so talented she can make butteflies and candy fly out of her saxophone when she plays it. It turns out that Keith Knight confirms this is true. If you haven't seen this happen, it means that the saxophonist in question isn't as good as Lisa. Even if it's Kenny G.

Jake the Fake Keeps it Real is a new book written by Craig Robinson and Adam Mansbach, based on Robinson's childhood. Did you know he was a musician before he broke out as a comedian and actor in The Office and Hot Tub Time Machine? The illustrator is Keith Knight, whose work is inspired by Charles M. Schulz, Bill "Calvin and Hobbes" Watterson, and Chuck Jones. So you can imagine that when Crown Books for Your Readers asked if we wanted to host Mr. Knight for a day of school visits, I jumped at the chance and offered to do the school visits myself.

Aside: in our office hangs a poster of the Chuck Jones exhibition at the Circle Gallery in New York. It was given to me when I worked at Warner Books in New York and has followed me to every job. While I can't say I have every cartoon memorized, I have been a huge cartoon and animation fan for much of my life. Knight noticed this when he was at the store, but probably didn't know it was mine. Now he knows!

Knight's day began at Morning Blend on TMJ4. You can watch his interview here.


Knight visited two schools. If you are an educator and want to know more about our authors-in-schools programs, contact Todd.

In between schools, Mr. Knight spotted a Little Free Library. He placed his book there for borrowing.

Knight then spoke to Mitch Teich at Lake Effect. We'll post that interview when it airs.

And then Knight did a public event at Boswell, cosponsored by 4Core. They did a great job at getting out kids, and we also had a number of adults who followed Knight's work as a cartoonist, having created three strips - the Knight Life, (th)ink, and the K Chronicles. He has was named a 2015 History Maker by the NAACP. Read his bio here.

Why have signed copies of Jake the Fake at Boswell.