1. Paris by the Book, by Liam Callanan
2. An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
3. There, There, by Tommy Orange (Register for 9/25 event here)
4. The President Is Missing, by Bill Clinton and James Patterson
5. Clock Dance, by Anne Tyler
6. The Woman in the Window, by A.J. Finn
7. My Year of Rest and Relaxation, by Ottessa Moshfegh
8. Dear Mrs. Bird, by AJ Pearce
9. The Other Woman, by Daniel Solitzer
10. The Female Persuasion, by Meg Wolitzer
Hand-selling part one: A few month's ago, Jane came to me with a special request - "Find me a copy of AJ Pearce's Dear Mrs. Bird." She'd been reading lots of write ups from the British edition and she was convinced this was the next Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. It turns out that Scribner was hearing buzz from other booksellers too and sent out a finished-copy mailing. Both of us read it and loved it, with Jane noting that this is almost definitely going to reach her top 5 for 2018. From The Guardian's very positive review: "Along the way she shows some grown-up insights as well as true grit, and gives a voice to all those women who had to be “chipper and stoic and jolly good sorts and wear lipstick and … not cry or be dreary."
1. The Fall of Wisconsin, by Dan Kaufman
2. The Bone and Sinew of the Land, by Anna-Lisa Cox
3. Calypso, by David Sedaris
4. Rendezvous with Oblivion, by Thomas Frank
5. Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah
6. The Death of Truth, by Michiko Kakutani
7. A Sloth's Guide to Mindfulness, by Ton Mak (#slothsummer)
8. The Soul of America, by Jon Meacham
9. The Russia Hoax, by Gregg Jarrett
10. Milwaukee: A City Built on Water, by John Gurda
The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump is not Michiko Kakutani's first book (there was a collection called The Poets at the Piano) but it's definitely her first Boswell bestseller. Louis P. Masur in The San Francisco Chronicle writes: "Kakutani, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former chief book critic for The New York Times, draws on her vast literary knowledge (she quotes dozens of writers, from Hannah Arendt to Tom Wolfe) to pen truth’s obituary in the era of Trump." If you feel otherwise, there's Gregg Jarrett's The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump.
1. Less, by Andrew Sean Greer
2. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman
3. Hotel Silence, by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
4. Manhattan Beach, by Jennifer Egan
5. Hope Never Dies, by Andrew Shafer
6. Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward
7. Crazy Rich Asians, by Kevin Kwan
8. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, by Arundhati Roy
9. The Little Paris Bistro, by Nina George
10. How to Find Love in a Bookshop, by Veronica Henry
Hand-selling, part two: Hotel Silence came out last February as a paperback original and sold very nicely off our front table, what with its appealing book jacket and French flaps. We even had a nice staff rec from Lynn. But then our buyer Jason's spouse Melissa picked it out, read it, chose it for a book club that included Jason, and he came to me and said that we could sell a lot of copies of this wonderful novel. I read it, and now Jane has read it, and now we want all of you to read it too. From Publishers Weekly's starred review: "The story moves at a consistently engaging pace, and Olafsdottir’s blend of sly humor and bleak realities makes for a life-affirming tale without any treacle."
Paperback Nonfiction:1. Raising Rosie, by Eric and Stephani Lohman
2. American Prophets, by Albert J. Raboteau
3. The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein
4. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan
5. Why We Sleep, by Mattthew Walker
6. Somos Latinas, edited by Andrea Teresa Arenas and Eloisa Gómez
7. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
8. Not That Bad, by Roxane Gay
9. Life Without Pockets, by Carla Anne Ernst (event Tue 7/31, 7 pm, at Boswell)
10. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann (book club discussion Mon 8/6, 7 pm, at Boswell)
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams has its best week at Boswell in its 6th week of paperback release, following a nice hardcover run. The book got much attention in hardcover, including Rob Ewing's review in The Scotsman: "Most compelling are his arguments against early school start times (particularly in the US), where teenage brains are being systematically sleep-deprived, and his description of the effects of sleep deprivation on the body are excellent, and should be required reading for anyone who thinks they can get by with less of it."
Books for Kids:
1. Miss Communication, by Jennifer L. Holm 2. A Place for Pluto, by Steff Wade (event Wed Aug 1, 6:30 pm)
3. Scythe, by Neal Shusterman
4. The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
5. Click Click Quack to School, by Doreen Cronin, with illustrations by Betsy Lewin
6. Endling: The Last, by Katherine Applegate
7. The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill
8. How to Sell Your Family to the Aliens, by Paul Noth
9. A Is for Activist, by Innosanto Nagaro
10. Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi
Can it be time for our back-to-school table? Yes it can! The first book to pop is Click, Clack, Quack to School, by longtime collaborators Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin. Kirkus notes there are " a few chuckles and opportunities for children to moo, cluck, and oink." I still remember the enthusiasm many booksellers (particularly our old friend Sylvia) had for the first book in the series, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type.
It's a special State Fair issue of the Journal Sentinel Tap section so there's only one book review this week, for Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man, by Lynn Vincent and Sarah Vladic. Reviewer Chris Woodyard writes: "The disaster has been the subject of numerous books, including several excellent ones, and became part of popular lore when it was referenced in the movie Jaws. Like yet another Lincoln or Nixon biography, you wouldn’t think there would be much left to say. But, as it turns out, there is."
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