Weekly event blog: poet Stephen Anderson, Anna Quindlen in conversation with Carole E Barrowman at the Sharon Lynn Wilson Center, Diane Guerrero at UWM, Louis Bayard at Boswell, Best of the Undergraduate Writers, mystery novelist Jeffrey Siger, Bailey-the-cat-companion Erin Merryn, Jennifer Robson at the Lynden

Here's what's going on at Boswell this week:

Monday, April 29, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Stephen Anderson, author of The Dream Angel Plays the Cello

Prize-winning Milwaukee poet Stephen Anderson visits Boswell with his new collection of poetry, The Dream Angel Plays the Cello.

Anderson has traveled widely, taking notes, gathering landscapes and images, and his poetry reflects his travels to Europe and the Caribbean, his time spent in residence abroad as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chile, and a university lecturer in London. Lyrical and often ekphrastic, in his poems you will find Isadora Duncan, Winslow Homer, Wim Venders, Mozart and Lorca, all challenging the current political myopia, offering cultural critique, and turning back to reminiscence on time passing.

Stephen Anderson spoke to Mitch Teich at Lake Effect, where he read a few poems and talked about his work, his inspirations, and significance in the mundane.

Stephen Anderson is a Milwaukee poet and author of Montezuma Resurrected And Other Poems, Navigating in the Sun, and In The Garden Of Angels And Demons. His work has appeared in Southwest Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, and Verse Wisconsin.

Tuesday, April 30, 7:00 pm, at Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, 19805 W Capitol Dr, in Brookfield's Mitchell Park:
A ticketed event with Anna Quindlen, author of Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting, in conversation with Carole E Barrowman

The Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, Oconomowoc's Books and Company, and Milwaukee's Boswell Book Company present a grand evening with Anna Quindlen, the acclaimed novelist and journalist known for her candid, frank, and illuminating writing. She’s now appearing for Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting, a bighearted book of wisdom, wit, and insight, celebrating the love and joy of being a grandmother.

Tickets are $31 and include admission to the event, all taxes and fees, and a copy of Nanaville, available at quindlenwi.bpt.me.

Before blogs even existed, Anna Quindlen became a go-to writer on the joys and challenges of family, motherhood, and modern life, in her nationally syndicated column. Now she’s taking the next step and going full nana in the pages of this lively, beautiful, and moving book about being a grandmother. Quindlen offers thoughtful and telling observations about her new role, no longer mother and decision-maker, but secondary character and support to the parents of her grandson. She writes, “Where I once led, I have to learn to follow. Eventually a close friend provides words to live by: Did they ask you?”

Everything you love about Anna Quindlen is here in this special new book - her singular voice has never been sharper or warmer. With the same insights she brought to motherhood in Living Out Loud and to growing older in Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, this new nana uses her own experiences to illuminate those of many others. Helen McAlpin reviews Nanaville on NPR.

Anna Quindlen has written nine novels, including Object Lessons, One True Thing, and Alternate Side. She received the Pulitzer Prize for her work as a columnist at The New York Times. Carole E Barrowman is Director of Creative Writing Studies at Alverno college. She hosts the Morning Blend's book segment and writes a periodic mystery column for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and with her brother John is coauthor of the Hollow Earth series.

Bonus alert - Wednesday, May 1, 7:00 pm, at UWM Union Wisconsin Room, 2200 E Kenwood Blvd:
Diane Guerrero, author of In the Country We Love: My Family Divided and the memoir for kids, My Family Divided: One Girl's Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope.

The Distinguished Lecture Series and Organizing for Change presents Diane Guerrero, an outspoken advocate for comprehensive immigration reform. In her memoir, In the Country We Love, she details her life as the citizen-daughter of undocumented parents and her long struggle dealing with the consequences of the broken immigration system. Guerrero will speak at UWM about her personal story of how she transformed her terrible situation into a platform for advocacy and activism.

Guerrero is best known for her role as Maritza Ramos in the award-winning, Emmy and Golden Globe nominated Netflix series, Orange is the New Black, as well as roles in Jane the Virgin and Lina. She also has worked with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the New American Leaders Project, Mi Familia Vota, and was named an Ambassador for Citizenship and Naturalization by the White House.

Advance tickets are available to the general public on Eventbrite for $10, or you can buy at the door for $12.

Thursday, May 2, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Louis Bayard, author of Courting Mr. Lincoln

The prizewinning author of Mr. Timothy and The Pale Blue Eye comes to Boswell with Courting Mr. Lincoln, the surprising novel of a young Abraham Lincoln and the two people who loved him best: a sparky, marriageable Mary Todd and Lincoln’s best friend, Joshua Speed. Boswellians Jane Glaser and Kay Wosewick are fans of this novel.

Carol Memmott writes in The Pioneer Post: "Lincoln is the novel’s anchor, but Speed is its most intriguing character. In a scene in which now-President Lincoln and Speed meet 20 years after the bulk of this novel takes place, the men make polite conversation until Lincoln plops himself down on Speed’s hotel bed and promptly falls asleep. Speed lies next to him and does the same. When they awake, Speed looks into Lincoln’s face and notices 'the same downturn of lip and residues of salt, like tracks across a desert. Why, he thought, it was like watching a heart break twice over.'"

And here's Kay's take: "Mary Todd arrives at her sister’s home in Springfield, Ill. with the reluctant understanding that she is to find herself a suitable husband. A prominent town hostess applies a touch of subterfuge to help bring about the improbable courtship of Mary and Abraham Lincoln. Their courtship rapidly runs the gamut from hesitant to glorious to perilous, and then ends abruptly. It seems that only the strident bullheadedness of both parties is responsible for bringing them together again, this time for life. Bayard succeeds in giving the reader a nerve-wracking, but ultimately satisfying, rollercoaster ride!"

Louis Bayard was a finalist for the Edgar Award for The Pale, Blue Eye. You will also recognize his name from his Washington Post reviews, many of which we've referenced in this blog. Bayard teaches fiction writing at George Washington University.

Friday, May 3, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Best of the Undergraduate Writers I

Boswell is happy to once again host our semi-annual celebration of student writers from Milwaukee area colleges and universities, featuring an evening of readings from students of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.

On Friday, our program will feature writing by Saul Lopez, Aishah Mahmood, Cain Schmitz, and Abby Vakulskas of Marquette University and Zach Small, Rachel Radomski, Tesia Zietlow, and Tyler Odeneal of UWM.

Saturday, May 4, 6:00 pm, at Boswell:
Best of the Undergraduate Writers II

Part two of our semi-annual celebration of student writers from Milwaukee area colleges and universities, features student reading from Cardinal Stritch, Carroll, and Mount Mary University. To our knowledge, this is the only multi-school, independent-bookstore-curated, undergraduate reading series in the country!

On Saturday, our program will feature writing by Kateri Duncklee and Jessica Hurtgen of Cardinal Stritch University, Lauren Brandmeier and Gabriel Mundo of Carroll University, and Quinn Clark and Brandi Kehl of Mount Mary University.

Saturday, May 4, 2:00 pm, at Boswell:
Jeffrey Siger, author of The Mykonos Mob

Siger appears at Boswell with the tenth installment of his internationally bestselling series of Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis mysteries, this time revealing the dark side of a Greek island playground for the world's rich and famous.

When a corrupt former police colonel on Mykonos is gunned down, Kaldis is suddenly face to face with Greece's top crime bosses, all just as surprised and baffled as he is at the assassination. Someone is making a move to take over the island's vice operations.

The New York Times calls Siger’s mysteries, "thoughtful police procedurals set in picturesque but not untroubled Greek locales," and dubbed him Greece's thriller writer of record. The Greek Government’s General Secretariat of Media and Communications selected Siger as one of six authors, and the only American, writing mysteries that serve as a guide to Greece.

Jeffrey Siger is author of the Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis mystery series, including Murder in Mykonos and An Aegean April, as well as the Inspector Keen Dunliffe mysteries, including Assassins of Athens. He contributes to the Murder Is Everywhere crime-fiction-travel blog and has served as Chair of the National Board of Bouchercon.

Sunday, May 5, 3:00 pm, at Boswell:
Erin Merryn, author of Bailey, No Ordinary Cat

Erin Merryn comes to Boswell with her new book, Bailey, No Ordinary Cat, about the heartwarming antics that launched Bailey’s internet stardom, as seen in videos shared by Ellen, CBS News, and Good Morning America.

For fans of Grumpy Cat and Cats on Instagram, there's a new cat in town. What makes Bailey more addictive than catnip? In addition to his adorable expressions, Bailey has a penchant for doing things that are characteristically uncatlike. Things like enjoying bubble baths, getting a "pet"-icure, and his unending patience while co-raising his human siblings - yes, there is photographic evidence that Bailey helped with potty-training.

Erin Merryn is an author, activist (she is behind the sexual abuse prevention program Erin's Law), and speaker named Glamour Magazine’s Woman of the Year in 2012 and a People magazine Hero Among Us. Bailey was a tabby cat who enjoyed bubble baths, joy rides in toy cars, and accessorizing with the latest footwear.

Monday, May 6, 7:00 pm reception, 7:30 talk, at Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W Brown Deer Rd:
A ticketed event with Jennifer Robson, author of The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding

The Lynden Sculpture Garden’s Women’s Speaker Series, cosponsored by Milwaukee Reads and Boswell, are pleased to present Jennifer Robson, author of Somewhere in France, takes us inside the workrooms where one of the most famous wedding gowns was created. Balancing behind-the-scenes details with a sweeping portrait of a society left reeling by the calamitous costs of victory, she introduces three unforgettable heroines and their alternating and intersecting points of view, whose lives are woven together by the pain of survival, the bonds of friendship, and the redemptive power of love.

Tickets cost $23, $18 for Lynden members, and include an autographed paperback copy of The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding, light refreshments, and admission to the sculpture garden. Register by phone at (414) 446-8794 or online, at lyndensculpturegarden.org/jenniferrobson19

Jennifer Robson is author of five novels, including Goodnight from London, Moonlight Over Paris, and After the War is Over. She holds a doctorate in British economic and social history from Saint Antony’s College, University of Oxford.

More info available at the Boswell upcoming events page.

Photo credits!
Anna Quindlen: Maria Krovatin
Louis Bayard: Tim Coburn Photography
Jennifer Robson: Natalie Brown

Boswell bestsellers, week ending April 27, 2019

Boswell Bestsellers, week ending April 27, 2019

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Leading Men, by Christopher Castellani
2. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
3. Courting Mr Lincoln, by Louis Bayard (event Thu May 2, 7 pm, at Boswell)
4. Machines Like Me, by Ian McEwan
5. Black Leopard, Red Wolf, by Marlon James
6. Neon Prey (Lucas Davenport V29), by John Sandford
7. Circe, by Madeline Miller
8. The Parade, by Dave Eggers
9. The Current, by Tim Johnston
10. The Parisian, by Isabella Hammad

Mary Ann Gwinn in the Seattle Times talks to Ian McEwan about Machines Like Me: "Ian McEwan’s new novel is set in an alternate version of the late 20th century, when many things we hope for and fear have already happened. Electric cars are commonplace, and so is rising unemployment, thanks to the increasing presence of artificial intelligence in the workplace."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Italian Table, by Elizabeth Minchilli
2. Nanaville, by Anna Quindlen (event Tue Apr 30 at Wilson Center - tickets here)
3. Becoming, by Michelle Obama
4. Quaint, Exquisite, by Grace Lavery
5. The Second Mountain, by David Brooks
6. Educated, by Tara Westover
7. Everything in Its Place, by Oliver Sacks
8. Lessons from Lucy, by Dave Barry
9. The End of Ice, by Dahr Jamail
10. Working, by Robert A Caro

Marc Freedman reviews The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life, by David Brooks, in The Washington Post. He writes: "Brooks, one of the most influential columnists of our time, tells a compelling redemption story. He takes us on his journey up the first mountain of outward success and professional achievement, down to the valley of midlife divorce and doubt, then on to a second mountaintop, this one characterized by commitment and community, love and connection."

Paperbacks Fiction:
1. The Overstory, by Richard Powers
2. Paris by the Book, by Liam Callanan
3. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
4. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson
5. Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan
6. Milwaukee Noir, by Tim Hennessy (event at Boswell Tue May 7, 7 pm)
7. Transcription, by Kate Atkinson
8. The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin
9. A Discovery of Witches (V1), by Deborah Harkness
10. The Rules of Civility, by Amor Towles

Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan had a nice pop on the Midwest Independent bestseller list, which is based on Bookscan reports from stores from the MIBA (Midwest) and GLIBA (Great Lakes) trade regions. Edgyan's novel was named a top 10 book of the year by New York Times, Washington Post, TIME, Entertainment Weekly, and Slate. Renée Graham wrote in The Boston Globe: "Every story about slavery is ultimately about freedom - its absence, the hunger for it, and how we define what it means to be truly free. That elusive yearning propels Esi Edugyan’s soaring new novel, Washington Black. More than a tale of human bondage, it’s also an enthralling meditation on the weight of freedom, wrapped in a rousing adventure story stretching to the ends of the earth.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Keep Going, by Austin Kleon
2. Strong Is the New Pretty, by Kate T Parker
3. The Heart of a Boy, by Kate T Parker
4. Living and Dying on the Factory Floor, by David Ranney
5. The Milwaukee Anthology, edited by Justin Kern
6. The Mueller Report, US Department of Justice and the Washington Post (Scribner)
7. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan
8. Born a Crime, by Noah Trevor
9. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
10. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann

The first of the Mueller Report editions hit our bestseller this week, the Scribner edition was commentary from The Washington Post. There are at least two more - from Melville House and Skyhorse. Here's Ben Kesling in The Wall Street Journal discussing the publication. First to market with print editions, however, were several stores with print-on-demand machines, including Harvard Bookstore.

Books for Kids:
1. Sweeping Up the Heart, by Kevin Henkes
2. Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal, by Jeff Kinney
3. A Parade of Elephants, by Kevin Henkes
4. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, with illustrations by Renée Graef
5. Sport: Ship Dog of the Great Lakes, by Pamela Cameron, with illustrations by Renée Graef
6. Kitten's First Full Moon board book, by Kevin Henkes
7. Caps for Sale, by Esphyr Slobodkina
8. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, by Fred Rogers, with illustrations by Luke Flowers
9. Darius the Great Is Not Okay, by Adib Khorram
10. Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants (exclusive bookstore edition), by Andrea Beaty

We're not doing a public event with Paula Cameron and Renée Graef for Sport: Ship Dog of the Great Lakes, but they will be visiting several area schools for Boswell. The public event in the area is at the North Point Lighthouse on Sunday, May 12, 1 pm. More on the Wisconsin Historical Society website.

Over at the Journal Sentinel, Jim Higgins reviews Milwaukee Noir, the new anthology edited by Tim Hennessy. He notes: "If the persistent drip-drip-drip of stories, slogans and #hashtags about how great Milwaukee is supposed to be leaves you feeling grumpy, then Milwaukee Noir is a book for you. Luxuriate in the seedy, wallow in the angry, and shiver at the horrors that surely await you around the corner."

Originally from the Arizona Republic, Barbara VandenBurgh reviews Normal People, the hot second novel from Sally Rooney: "Everything feels so important when you’re a teenager, every misstep and mistake catastrophic and world-ending. The world, of course, rarely ends in high school, even when you desperately wish it to. And two young people from different social and economic castes desperately wish it to in Normal People, after an intense sexual affair comes to an ignominious end.

Hey, this is a cool program!

The Risk of Us, by Rachel Howard, is reviewed by Kim Curtis. This, from the Associated Press (via the Worcester Telegram): "With breathtaking brevity, Rachel Howard’s debut novel, The Risk of Us, illuminates the joys, challenges, fears and frustrations of adopting a foster child. And while she delves into the minutiae of “the system” and the differences of opinion about parenting styles, her deceptively thin volume is about much more than plunging into parenthood."

And that's our week!

Bookstore Visits in the Detroit Metropolitan Statistical Area

This week I was in Michigan at a work meeting, and also had time to visit my friend Scott. In my free time, we did what I like to do best - visit other bookstores.

If you ask someone from Ann Arbor if the city is part of suburban Detroit, I think they'd say no, but I guess it is officially in the Detroit Metropolitan Statistical Area, just like Racine is part of Milwaukee. I don't consider a Racine author event to conflict with ours, so psychologically I think it is not Milwaukee. But I do know people who commute there and we do host school visits there so the long and short of it is that this can be argued for hours.

The store I was most hoping to see was Literati Books, just named Publishers Weekly Best Bookstore of 2019. It's in the downtown area, and sort of takes the place of both Shaman Drum and the flagship Borders store, both of which are now closed. The first thing I must say is that their outside sign, which mimics a typewriter, might be the most beautiful bookstore sign I've ever seen.

It's a three story store without an elevator, and I asked my friend Scott how they handle events, which are in the third floor cafe space. The talk or reading is piped down to the first floor. I do like the look of multi-story stores but I'm glad that Boswell is all on one level.

The typewriter theme is played out in their graphics, but the highlight is in the lower level, where there's a typewriter for you to write you deepest thoughts. Some of the best are reproduced on the outside of the building.

Section headers are in chalk (that is the thing right now) with fiction, poetry, and new releases being stars on floor one. Nonfiction is mostly in the lower level and picture books and board books are on floor two. Scott told me the cafe was sized down a bit to make it happen. He noted that this space is the unofficial clubhouse of the Michigan MFA program. Was it ever Drake's Sandwich Shop? What department (if any) held sway over Washenaw Dairy.

As you can see, I bought Washington Black there.

Also downtown is Vault of Midnight (one of three), with comics, graphic novels, and collectibles, which explains why they don't focus on graphic novels like a lot of stores with a younger audience. We also went to the new Shinola store and browsed their extensive journal collection. We carry a number at Boswell - it might well be our only journal that's made in the United States - Jen can correct me if I'm wrong.

Driving to North Campus, we stopped at Bookbound, another store that Scott and Jim frequent. The store was started by an ex-Borders buyer, and is now five years old. Peter knew several of our sales reps, also from Borders folk, as well as our friend Michael, who ran the Borders on University in Madison.They had recently expanded, and they also have a bookstore dog.

Scott had noted that they used to have more bargain books in the store, but Peter noted that this was a way of making a limited amount of cash go farther, much like you saw more second hand books at Boswell when we first opened. And it's possible that a number of them said "property of Daniel Goldin."

At Bookbound, I bought a copy of Milkman, our July In-Store Lit Group selection.

I'd already been to Nicola's several times, and both Scott and Jim said it hasn't changed much since being taken over by Schuler's.

The next day we headed for Detroit. I had several things on my agenda. I was interested in seeing how old building restoration was coming along. And it's coming along! So many beautiful buildings now back again as offices, with others being hotels or apartments or both. I could fill the blog with building photos but I'll try to keep to the subject of books.

My #1 request was a stop I could have done at any number of trips - John W. King Books on the edge of the downtown core. This four-story building will remind a lot of Milwaukeeans of the Old Renaissance Books but without the foundation issues and with pricing on the books. Sometimes it reminded me of the old Schroeders, not in the messiness, but in the things they thought were worth cataloging, from 1970s travel guides to coin directories to lots and lots of mass markets and textbooks.

I have to say I don't think I saw very much that was less than ten years old, but I did buy a few things, inspired by our recent book talk on American Advertising Cookbooks. The staff was helpful and spread out, and one English couple noted that they'd been to a lot of second hand bookstores and this one was particularly well organized.

We ate at some great restaurants, including Folk in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, and Zingerman's relatively recent Miss Kim, a Korean restaurant. But the one with the book tie-in was Sister Pie, a small bakery in the West Village neighborhood, which led to book published last fall that was a big hit at Boswell. Is carrot pie a thing? It turns out that, yes, it is. My only regret is that they weren't making sweet beet pie, as both Scott and I are beet fans. But he did have beet hummus the day before at folk and I could go on about the beet and garlic Hummus from Waukesha's Noisy Kettle.

Of course there are many other Detroit-metro bookstores. But I did have work to do too!

Seven reasons to come to our event with Christopher Castellani for Leading Men - two of them are Liam Callanan and Milwaukee Opera Theatre

I know we just did our event blog but I'm really excited about our event with Christopher Castellani for Leading Men on Wednesday, April 24, and I just wanted to say a few more words recommending to attendees. I think it's time for a list.

1. This is Christopher Castellani's third event in Milwaukee. He came once to Schwartz and again to Boswell for his series of novels based on his Italian family in Wilmington, Delaware. We're not focusing on those books today, you can read Castellani's interview with Paul Salsini, himself the author of novels set in Italy, in The Italian Times. It's page 19. In the story, they talk about how Castallani kept coming back to the lives of Italian immigrants, and those stories come up again in Leading Men.

2. Many great reviews on Leading Men. Publishers Weekly wrote: "This is a wonderful examination of artists and the people who love them and change their work in large and imperceptible ways."

Here's John Francis Leonard in the Lambda Literary Review: "Leading Men is a finely-rendered narrative based upon some of the twentieth century’s most compelling artistic figures. It is broad in scope and lush in detail, without every tipping into sentimentality. It is a love story between two men — two men who existed in a rarefied world that accepted this relationship without judgment, at a time when the world-at-large most certainly did."

Michael Upchurch in The Boston Globe: "Castellani’s quiet portrait of Merlo has a deep, aching appeal, and while his invented story of Anja’s legendary career and reclusive later years has its moments, it doesn’t match the passages where he plunges directly into the give-and-take of Merlo and Williams’s loving if volatile relationship. Castellani’s prose has a beguiling lilt and color, whether he’s evoking his characters’ evasive or erratic emotions, or conjuring the far-flung locales where these globe-hoppers touch down."

David Leavitt didn't really like it, alas. I'm sure you've read that one in The New York Times. I'm not linking to it. However, Dwight Gardner, in his review for the Times, raves: "[Castellani’s] scenes glitter... This book is a kind of poem in praise of pleasure. Its author knows a great deal about life; better, he knows how to express what he knows. But this is an alert, serious, sweeping novel. To hold it in your hands is like holding, to crib a line from Castellani, a front-row opera ticket.”

3. Here's a sliver of  my recommendation - the rest is on my website: "Tenn and Frank’s relationship is at the heart of the story, of a playwright who wasn’t really aware he had a muse until he lost him. Lush writing, intricate characterizations, themes that resonate from Williams’s own work, and a Beautiful Ruins type vibe in the fifties section that had me looking at flights to Italy." (Daniel Goldin)

My marketing colleague Chris Lee is also a fan. Here's a snap of his shelf talker for this "literary feast."

4. But that's not all. Castellani will be in conversation with Liam Callanan, author of Paris by the Book, and Professor of English at UWM. You know how vibrant our conversations can be and in particular, how wonderful Liam Callanan conversations are. Liam and Chris know each other from those things authors do - conferences, teaching, talking about their books.

It was just announced that Liam Callanan has won the Edna Ferber Prize for Paris by the Book. The CWW lunch is May 11. I'm attending! You can attend too. Congrats to the other winners, including Christi Clancy, who has a novel coming out in 2020 that we're already abuzz about.

5. Castellani is Artistic Director for Grub Street, the writing center in Boston, not the New York Magazine food blog. He surely has interesting things to say for you creative writers out there.

6. But wait, there's more. Instead of a regular reading before the conversation, we're working with Jill Anna Ponasik from Milwaukee Opera Theatre on a scene reading. You know Ponasik from her non-traditional productions all over town, including two at Boswell, The Story of My Life and more recently, Antiology, inspired by Dana Spiotta's Eat the Document. And the stars of The Story of My Life, Doug Clemons and Adam Estes, are back at Boswell, appearing with Jenny Wanasek for the reading. Wanasek is making her Boswell debut. Yes, this could go in her Playbill. It's sort of a 10th anniversary present to Boswell.

7. What more can we say? Oh, yes, one more thing. We're discounting Leading Men 20% through Wednesday. Including online.

Our event is Wednesday, April 24, 7 pm, at Boswell. No reservation, no cost - just show up for a great time. I'm flying back early from a conference in Ann Arbor to be there!

Thank you to Liam, Jill Anna, Doug, Adam, Chris for making this event happen. And also you - we wouldn't have a bookstore without you.

Boswell Bestsellers, week ending April 20, 2019

What's selling at Boswell?

Hardcover Fiction:
1. My Lovely Wife, by Samantha Downing
2. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
3. Lost Roses, by Martha Hall Kelly
4. Circe, by Madeline Miller
5. Metropolis (V14), by Philip Kerr
6. Department of Sensitive Crimes (V1 Varg), by Alexander McCall Smith
7. Black Leopard, Red Wolf, by Marlon James
8. The Witch Elm, by Tana French
9. Leading Men, by Christopher Castellani (event Wed 4/24, with Liam Callanan and Milwaukee Opera Theatre)
10. Henry Himself, by Stewart O'Nan

Well that's crazy! Penguin Random House and its distributees account for a third of our book business, but they account for nine of our top ten hardcover fiction bestsellers. Seven of the top ten come from the Penguin division, with one each from Knopf/Doubleday and Random House. The lone outlier is Madeline Miller's Circe, which is also the only non-PRH title on our Schwartz 100 that was published in 2018. It doesn't hurt that Samantha Downing was at Boswell this past week for My Lovely Wife (signed copies available) and Chris Castellani will be here April 24.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Healing Self, by Deepak Chopra
2. The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, by Deepak Chopra
3. The Second Mountain, by David Brooks
4. Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook, by Alice Waters
5. Save Me the Plums, by Ruth Reichl
6. Educated, by Tara Westover
7. The Art of Simple Food, by Alice Waters
8. 100 Most Jewish Foods, by Alana Newhouse
9. Genesis, by Edward O Wilson
10. Salt Fat Acid Heat, by Samin Nosrat

Same song, different lyrics on the nonfiction list. PRH dominates that list too with five titles, and with the Crown division folded into Random House, they hold all five slots, thanks to us selling books at Deepak Chopra's Pabst Theater event and a signing with Alice Waters in conjunction with her No Studios visit. What was interesting to me is that aside from Waters, we had a nice pop in cookbook sales this past week. Are Easter and Passover the second Christmas when they coincide? That might be exaggerating a tad, especially when few people are probably cooking holiday dinners out of Save Me the Plums, though I suppose you could.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Who Is the Black Panther?, by Jesse Holland
2. The Overstory, by Richard Powers (Pulitzer winner)
3. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles (we have signed copies)
4. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead (finally out of signed copies!)
5. The Milkman, by Anna Burns
6. The House of Broken Angels, by Luis Albert Urrea (event now Thu May 9, 7 pm)
7. Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng
8. The Friend, by Sigrid Nunez
9. Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje
10. Paris by the Book, by Liam Callanan (he'll be here Wed for Chris Castellani

Blah, blah, blah, Penguin Random House. But when it comes to paperback fiction, my obsession is generally over how many books have I read in the top ten. My current total is six, but I'm halfway through The House of Broken Angels for our May 9 event (I didn't read it for the Library Lunch last year - it worked quite well without me) and we're tackling The Milkman for our July In-Store Lit Group. It meets July 1, which is known as Summerfest break day in Milwaukee. I was kind of thrilled to have read the Pulitzer fiction winner and both finalists. I don't think that's happened to me (reading all three before the awards were announced) in 33 years of bookselling. And just a week after we took down our 'What to Read After The Overstory' display - that might be going up again!

Paperback Nonfiction
1. The Invisibles, by Jesse Holland
2. You Are the Universe, by Deepak Chopra
3. The Milwaukee Anthology, by Justin Kern
4. Black Men Built the Capitol, by Jesse Holland
5. Quantum Healing, by Deepak Chopra
6. Super Brain, by Deepak Chopra and Rudolph Tanzi
7. The Heart of a Boy, by Kate T Parker
8. Super Genes, by Deepak Chopra and Ruldoph Tanzi
9. Vote for Us, by Joshua A Douglas
10. The Big Book of Dog Tricks for the Best Dog Ever, by Larry Kay and Chris Perondi

Finally, a list with a twist - more than half the books on this list are from independent publishers (though one is distributed by PRH) and the rest are from Deepak Chopra. If we dug farther down, we'd see two more Workmans, an Orbis, and a Reedy, the new edition of 100 Things to Do in Milwaukee Before You Die. Of course they are mostly event driven, but you take the event stats you get, right? While Holland's focus title at the Delta Memorial Endowment Fund Luncheon was Who Is the Black Panther, his history books also had a good sale. His more recent is Black Men Built the Capitol: Discovering African-American History in and Around Washington, D.C from Lyons Press. What a great travel/history guide for the next time I visit my niece and nephew!


Books for Kids:
1. Star Wars: Finn's Story, by Jesse Holland
2. Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick
3. Outrun the Moon, by Stacey Lee
4. Under a Painted Sky, by Stacey Lee
5. Sweeping Up the Heart, by Kevin Henkes (event Sat 4/27, 2 pm)
6. Silver People, by Margarita Engle
7. The Story of Civil Rights Hero John Lewis, by Jim Haskins, with illustrations by Aaron Boyd
8. Chupacabras of the Rio Grande (V4 Unicorn Rescue), by Adam Gidwitz
9. Little White Rabbit, by Kevin Henkes
10. Sophia and Rainbow (V1 Unicorn Academy), by Julie Sykes

We had a nice sales pop for the week out in the latest entry in the Unicorn Rescue Society, the early middle-grade (ages 7 and up) from Adam Gidwitzz (with a rotating series of co-authors - this entry features David Bowles. In The Chupacabras of the Río Grande, Elliot and Uchenna are taken by Professor Fauna to the Mexican-American border to help another mystical creature in need of rescue. After all, that's what they do.

Over at the Journal Sentinel...

--David Holahan (USA Today) review A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of a Spy Who Helped Win World War II. Says Holahan: "Virginia Hall was considerably more than simply an American spy. She was, to be sure, a crackerjack infiltrator, first for the British and later for her own country. But she also was a guerrilla leader fighting the good fight against Nazi Germany four years before the allies landed at Normandy in 1944."

--Mark Athitakis (USA Today) says that Susan Choi's Trust Exercise is an update on the coming-of-age story"with remarkable command and sensitivity." The review also notes "So many books and films present teenage years as a passing phase, a hormonal storm that passes in time. Choi, in this witty and resonant novel, thinks of it more like an earthquake – a rupture that damages our internal foundations and can require."

--T.C. Boy'e's Outside Looking In is the subject of a review from Rob Merrill (Associated Press, linked to the Holland Sentinel). The setup: "Just as he did in his last novel about scientists inhabiting Arizona’s Biosphere 2 in the 1990s (The Terranauts), T.C. Boyle’s latest novel, Outside Looking In, takes a real world event — Harvard psychologist Timothy Leary’s LSD experiments in the 1960s — and imagines some of the people who went along for the trip."

Kate T Parker celebrates boyhood, Chris Perondi and Kathleen Dunn celebrate doghood, Samantha Downing shares thrills with Nick Petrie, Alice Waters signing, Elizabeth Minchilli ICC dinner, special Easter hours

Boswell events for the week of April 15. Happy Easter and Passover - note special Easter Sunday hours of 10 am to 5 pm.


Tuesday, April 16, 6:30 pm, at Boswell:
Kate T Parker, author of The Heart of a Boy: Celebrating the Strength and Spirit of Boyhood

Kate T Parker, bestselling author and photographer of Strong Is the New Pretty, visits Boswell with her new book, a photographic celebration of what makes a boy, with portraits and quotations from today's boys, from ages five to eighteen. Boys can be wild. But they can also be gentle. Bursting with confidence, but not afraid to be vulnerable. Ready to run fearlessly downfield or reach out to a friend in need. This event is cosponsored by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Milwaukee.

The Heart of a Boy is a deeply felt celebration of boyhood. There’s the pensive look of a skateboarder caught in a moment between rides. The years of dedication in a ballet dancer’s poise. The love of a younger brother hugging his older brother. The intensity in a football huddle. There are guitarists, fencers, wrestlers, star-gazers, a pilot - it’s the world of our sons, in all their amazing variety and difference.

Kate T Parker is a former collegiate soccer player, Ironman, and professional photographer. Her Strong Is the New Pretty photo series has led to collaborations with brands like Athleta, Oxygen, and Girls on the Run. The project inspired Kate to launch a philanthropic arm of Strong Is the New Pretty, partnering with organizations that invest in girls' health and education.

Wednesday, April 17, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Chris Perondi, coauthor of The Big Book of Tricks for the Best Dog Ever: A Step-by-Step Guide to 118 Amazing Tricks and Stunts

Chris Perondi, creator of The Stunt Dog Show, visits Boswell to chat with former WPR host Kathleen Dunn about The Big Book of Tricks for the Best Dog Ever. This event is cosponsored by Pets Helping People, an organization whose mission is to improve the lives of others, many with special needs, through the practice of animal assisted interventions.

Chris Perondi, with his family, created and runs Stunt Dog Productions. Now, he, along with Larry Kay, also coauthor of Training the Best Dog Ever, offers up a step-by-step guide to more than 100 dog tricks specially designed for effective training, pure fun, and even for turning your dog into a YouTube star. Using the secrets of professional dog trainers, Perondi’s tricks run the gamut from the kinds of things any well-behaved dog should know - fetch, shake, roll over - to stunts that are guaranteed showstoppers.

Chris Perondi runs Stunt Dog Productions and the Stunt Dog Academy with his wife, Suhey, and their team of canine performers, putting on more than 1,000 shows every year across the country. Please note that while Perondi will be at the store with his canine companion, attendees are asked to please leave their furry friends at home.

Thursday, April 18, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Samantha Downing, author of My Lovely Wife

Samantha Downing visits Boswell for a chat with Milwaukee’s own Nick Petrie about her dark mystery debut - it’s Dexter meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith in this thriller about a couple whose fifteen-year marriage has finally gotten a little bit too interesting. Note that My Lovely Wife is a hit in Milwaukee, showing up on the top fiction bestsellers of Bookscan for two weeks running.

New Orleans-based Downing’s debut is the book Entertainment Weekly calls, “the thriller we're most excited to stay up with all night." A corpse is discovered in an abandoned Florida motel, and soon police identify the body of Lindsay, a young woman who went missing a year earlier. This revelation shocks the narrator, since he and his wife, Millicent, were the ones who abducted Lindsay as part of a ploy to spice up their marriage.

Publishers Weekly calls My Lovely Wife, a "taut thriller," noting "Downing's tale unfolds slowly and sinuously, building tension about the couples' fate while revealing the origins of their homicidal hobby. The first-person, present-tense narration makes readers feel uncomfortably complicit in all that transpires, underscoring the plot's grim and twisted nature. Readers will eagerly await Downing's next." The Washington Post seconds that, calling Downing's debut a “dark, disturbing exploration of family, marriage and murderous compulsions.”

Saturday, April 20, 11:00 am, at Boswell:
A Ticketed Signing with Alice Waters, author of Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook, cosponsored by Groundwork Milwaukee

Boswell hosts a book signing with chef, restaurateur, activist, and author Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse, a pioneering restaurant of California cuisine. Please note, this is a book signing only – Waters will not be speaking at this event. To get in the signing line, attendees must purchase a ticket-plus-book at watersmke.bpt.me. Each attendee can buy a ticket bundled with one of the following books to get in the signing line: Coming to My Senses, The Art of Simple Food, The Art of Simple Food II, or Chez Panisse Café Cookbook. Additional titles will be for sale at the event or attendees can bring up to 3 books from home.

Three dollars from each ticket purchased will be donated to Groundwork Milwaukee, a nonprofit and land trust whose mission is to bring about the sustained regeneration, improvement and management of the physical environment.

At the same time, we’ll be hosting a signing with Andrew R. Ruis, Researcher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research and Fellow at Department of Surgery. His book, Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat: The Origins of School Lunch in the United States, explores the origins of American school meal initiatives to explain why it has been so difficult to establish meal programs that satisfy the often competing interests of children, parents, schools, health authorities, politicians, and the food industry.

Waters is coming as part of a special event at NŌ Studios at the Pabst Brewery Complex, starting at 4 pm on Saturday, April 20. Looks like the NO Studios event is at capacity.

Tuesday, April 23, 6:30 pm, at The Italian Community Center:
Bartolotta Catering and Events Present a ticketed Cookbook Dinner with Elizabeth Minchilli, author of The Italian Table: Creating Festive Meals for Family and Friends

We're including our Elizabeth Minchilli event in this week's blog because registrations will likely close out before next Sunday.

Bartolotta Restaurants and Boswell Books Company present an author dinner with Elizabeth Minchilli, founder of the Eat Italy App and author of The Italian Table. Tickets cost $85, $75 for Italian Community Center members, and include a four-course meal and a copy of The Italian Table. More information and tickets can be found on the Bartolotta events page.

Elizabeth Minchilli has lived in Rome for over 30 years and written 9 books, including Eating Rome: Living the Good Life in the Eternal City. Her culinary writing online has won the Saveur Award, the Italy Magazine Award, and she created the Eat Italy App. The Italian Community Center is located at 631 E Chicago St in the Third Ward.

In The Italian Table, Minchilli delivers both the fantasy and reality of Italian meals as they would be eaten on location with her unique approach to a beloved cuisine. Combining menus and recipes with visual experience and inspiration, as well as insight into the traditions of the food and celebrations, she gives home cooks and hosts step-by-step guidance on how to re-create these fabulous meals at their own tables.

Read this profile with Elizabeth Minchilli in the Journal Sentinel.

More upcoming events on our upcoming events page.

Photography credits:
--Kate T. Parker: Kate T. Parker Photography
--Samantha Downing: Jacqueline Dallimore