Boswell bestsellers, week ending September 26, 2020

Here's what's selling at Boswell this week.

Hardcover Fiction
1. Homeland Elegies, by Ayad Akhtar
2. The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman
3. The Boy, the Horse, the Fox, and the Mole, by Charlie Mackesy
4. The Evening and the Morning, by Ken Follett
5. Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman
6. Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
7. Troubled Blood, by Robert Galbraith
8. Monogamy, by Sue Miller
9. All the Devils Are Here, by Louise Penny
10. Squeeze Me, by Carl Hiaasen 

To us, Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club is a debut novel, but per The Guardian, in the UK, "Richard Osman (in a recent survey) emerged as the ninth most popular telly personality – the words most often used to describe him were 'likable, clever, quick-witted and charming.' Fans of Osman were, the survey suggested, most likely also to admire Dawn French, Judi Dench and appliances made by Russell Hobbs. All of which data no doubt helps to make Viking Penguin, the publisher of Osman’s first novel (The Thursday Murder Club), comfortable with its decision to invest a 'seven-figure advance' in a two-book deal, safe in the knowledge that the Pointless co-presenter is well on the way to national treasure status." 

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi
2. Solutions and Other Problems, by Allie Brosh
3. Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson
4. The Splendid and the Vile, by Erik Larson
5. The Well-Plated Cookbook, by Erin Clarke
6. All We Can Save, edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine Wilkinson
7. Rage, by Bob Woodward
8. His Truth Is Marching On, by John Meacham
9. Evil Geniuses, by Kurt Anderson
10. My Own Words, by Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Paperback Fiction:
1. Letters to a Young Brown Girl, by Barbara Jane Reyes
2. The Need, by Helen Phillips (Register for 10/5 event here)
3. Scorpionfish, by Natalie Bakopoulos
4. Miracle Creek, by Angie Kim (Register for 10/16 event here)
5. Grendel, by John Gardner
6. Normal People, by Sally Rooney
7. Chain, by Adrian McKinty
8. When No One Is Watching, by Alyssa Cole
9. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
10. If They Come for Us, by Fatimah Asghar 

It's been over a year that we talked up The Need on the Boswell and Books blog (The Need was my Crooked Hallelujah of 2019) and The New York Times offered its recommendation, and just a year later that the book was long-listed for the National Book Award. How time flies!

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Tightrope, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
2. So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo
3. We Want to Do More Than Survive, by Bettina Love
4. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
5. Walking Milwaukee, by Royal Brevväling and Molly Snyder
6. Million Billion, by Michael Perry
7. Associated Press Stylebook 2020
8. My Own Words, by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
9. Alone Together, by Jennifer Haupt
10. Say Nothing, by Patrick Radden Keefe

Alas, we don't have an event with Molly Snyder and Royal Brevväxling for Walking Milwaukee, but perhaps we sort of do, as Snyder is the conversation partner for Anna Lardinois's Storied and Scandalous Wisconsin, on October 8 (register here). Here's a link to Bobby Tanzilo's series of walks in OnMilwaukee, including one he did with Molly and Royal. 

Books for Kids
1. The Misadventures of Toni Macaroni in The Mad Scientist, by Cetonia Weston-Roy (Register for October 6 event here)
2. You Matter, by Christian Robinson
3. Last Stop on Market Street, by Matt De la Peña, with illustrations by Christian Robinson
4. Josephine, by Patricia Powell, with illustrations by Christian Robinson
5. Another, by Christian Robinson
6. Carmela Full of Wishes, by Matt De la Peña, with illustrations by Christian Robinson
7. The Very Last Leaf, by Stef Wade, with illustrations by Jennifer Davidson
8. Screaming Hairy Armadillo and 76 Other Animals with Weird Wild Names, by Matt Murrie
9. Stamped, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
10. Skunk and Badger, by Amy Timberlake, with illustrations by Jon Klassen (Register for October 12 event here)

No public event at the moment for Matt Murrie and Screaming Hairy Armadillo and 76 Other Animals with Weird Wild Names, but it's possible that one of our school events will decide to go public, as our Nic Stone event with ACCESS did for Dear Justyce on September 30, 10 am (register here).

Here's more about the screaming hairy armadillo on the Smithsonian's National Zoo page. And here's more about the book at Kirkus Reviews.

From Jim Higgins in the Journal Sentinel: "Somewhere east of Frog and Toad and west of The Odd Couple live Skunk and Badger, as mismatched a pair of musteloids as you’ll ever find in North Twist... How did they become housemates? More importantly, will they stay housemates? Those questions are explored in Amy Timberlake’s Skunk and Badger, a sweetly entertaining new novel for 8 to 12-year-olds, as well as older people who might enjoy reading along with them."