Boswell bestsellers, week ending March 7, 2020
Hardcover Fiction:
1. Trace Elements, by Donna Leon
2. Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid (unfortunately, our 3/19 event with Reid has been cancelled)
3. This Town Sleeps, by Dennis E. Staples
4. The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich
5. Apeirogon, by Colum McCann
6. The Long Petal of the Sea, by Isabel Allende
7. The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett
8. Deacon King Kong, by James McBride
9. The Wild One, by Nick Petrie
10. City of Girls, by Elizabeth Gilbert (alas, our event is sold out)
Louise Erdrich's new novel, The Night Watchman (March 3 on sale) has a nice first week, only outsold by current and upcoming event titles. From the publisher: "Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman."
Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Ending Ageism, by Margaret Gullette
2. The Memo, by Minda Harts
3. Fearless Leadership, by Carey Lohrenz
4. Name Drop, by Ross Mathews
5. Power in Numbers, by Talithia Wiliams
6. The Splendid and the Vile, by Erik Larson
7. Brunetti's Cookbook, by Donna Leon and Roberta Pianaro
8. Salt Fat Acid Heat, by Samin Nosrat
9. Educated, by Tara Westover
10. Hood Feminism, by Mikki Kendall
Just out on February 25 is Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot. Library Journal writes: "In this collection of essays, Kendall explores how feminism has not acknowledged the many ways in which race, class, and sexual orientation intersect with gender. Through a biographical lens, Kendall examines how issues like food security, access to education, safe housing, and health care connect to feminist concerns, and ponders why they continue to be ignored by mainstream feminists."
Paperback Fiction:
1. Map of Salt and Stars, by Zeyn Joukhadar
2. The Waiting Life, by Mark Rader
3. The Story of a Goat, by Perumal Murugan
4. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
5. The Overstory, by Richard Powers
6. Normal People, by Sally Rooney
7. The Bear, by Andrew Krivak
8. News of the World, by Paulette Jiles
9. Black Leopard, Red Wolf, by Marlon James
10. Daisy Jones and the Six, by by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Not a surprise that we are #3 in sales in indies (according to Edelweiss) for The Story of a Goat. Yes, we are discussing the book for In-Store Lit Group on April 6, and yes, the author was longlisted for the National Book Award translation prize (for another title). It also got a nice review from Parul Sehgal in The New York Times: "He has returned with another parable about village life, written with breathtaking and deceptive simplicity, translated from the Tamil by N. Kalyan Raman. The novel examines the oppressions of caste and colorism, government surveillance, the abuse of women — all cunningly folded into the biography of an unhappy little goat." But really, all you have to do is face this book out and people are intrigued. I love this book jacket!
Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Discipline with Dignity, by Richard Curwin
2. Fading Ads of Milwaukee, by Adam Levin
3. Say Nothing, by Patrick Radden Keefe
4. Women Rowing North by Mary Pipher
5. Jesus Wasn't Killed by the Jews, by Jon M Sweeney
6. Gut Intelligence, by Susan Wehrley
7. Don't Overthink It, by Anne Bogel (Register here for event April 9 at the Pfister)
8. The Yogi Executive, by Susan Wehrley
9. The Story of More, by Hope Jahren
10. From the Emerald Isle to the Cream City, by Carl Baehr
Does one give St. Patrick's Day gifts? We often have a table, assuming interest. But this year, we actually have two Ireland themed books in our top two, Patrick Radden Keefe's Say Nothing, and the more updated From the Emerald Isle to the Cream City from Carl Baehr, about the Irish in Milwaukee. The table was originally focused on Sebastian Barry and his upcoming novel, A Thousand Moons, which isn't set in Ireland. There was talk of him visiting Boswell, but alas, that is not to be.
Books for Kids:
1. Prairie Lotus, by Linda Sue Park
2. The Distance Between Us young reader's edition, by Reyna Grande
3. A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park
4. Red Hood, by Elana K. Arnold
5. Be Not Far from Me, by Mindy McGinnis
6. The Story of Civil Rights Hero John Lewis, by Jim Haskins, illustrated by Aaron Boyd
7. Cloak of Night, by Evelyn Skye
8. Melena's Jubilee, by Zetta Elliott, with illustrations by Aaron Boyd
9. Smoky Night, by Even Bunting
10. A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park
It was a busy week for programs, but March 5 was a particularly busy, what with Linda Sue Park at North Shore Library at 4:30 and Evelyn Skye, Mindy McGinnis, and Elana K. Arnold at Boswell at 7. I attended both events (didn't have to run either!) as did Liza Wiemer, the kids book champion who has her own important YA title coming in August, The Assignment. We'll be celebrating the release date on August 25. This was our first visit from McGinnis and Skye, but our third from Arnold, who appeared for a previous YA and also did schools for a Middle Grade Mania school tour. Come to think of it, it might be visit #4 - she did a pre-pub lunch visit with Kelly Barnhill. We have signed copies of Red Hood, Be Not Far from Me, and Cloak of Night. We went a little light on Prairie Lotus signed copies - if you want one, you're going to want to get it right now.
At the Journal Sentinel book page, The Associated Press's Bruce DaSilva looks at Walter Mosley's latest. He writes: "Trouble Is What I Do is the seventh novel in Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Walter Mosley’s series featuring McGill, and as his fans already know, McGill is the right man for the job. He’s dangerous in his own right, and his network of underworld acquaintances who owe him favors are a match for anyone Charles’ money can buy.
"Racial identity is a prevailing theme in Mosley’s 44 novels, and this isn’t the first time he’s explored the complex perils of passing for white. In his debut novel, Devil in a Blue Dress, the first in his brilliant Easy Rawlins series, Easy is hired to track down a missing white girl named Daphne Monet who, it turns out, is actually a mixed-race woman named Ruby."
Patty Rhule reviews The Night Watchman. From the USA Today essay: "Thomas Wazhushk, the night watchman of the title, works security at a jewel bearing plant near the Turtle Mountain reservation in North Dakota that employs his niece, Patrice. It is 1953, and Thomas, a tribal council member, is fighting a congressman who wants to cut his people off from their land... Thomas is based on Erdrich’s grandfather, who testified before Congress against a bill that would have “emancipated” the tribe – in reality, stripping the tribe of all federal support and expelling them from their land."
Finally there is Russell Contreras's take on a new title from Gretchen Sorin, also from The Associated Press: "Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights by Gretchen Sorin, is a riveting story on how the automobile opened up opportunities for blacks in the U.S. The car allowed African Americans to avoid segregated trains and buses throughout the American South and gave blacks a chance to travel across the country. Travel guides presented a modern-day Underground Railroad to show black travelers which hotels and restaurants would serve them. The free movement opened the window to migration across the land and away from Jim Crow, bring in the modern Civil Rights Movement."
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