Sunday, December 26, 2021

Boswell bestsellers, week ending December 25, 2021

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending December 25

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Call Us What We Carry, by Amanda Gorman
2. Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr
3. The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles
4. The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich
5. Crossroads, by Jonathan Franzen
6. Our Country Friends, by Gary Shteyngart
7. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
8. Wish You Were Here, by Jodi Picoult
9. State of Terror, by Hilary Clinton and Louise Penny
10. Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead
11. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
12. Beautiful World, Where Are You?, by Sally Rooney
13. Shoulder Season, by Christina Clancy
14. Bewilderment, by Richard Powers
15. Gold Diggers, by Sanjena Sathian

It's easy to look at some of this year's top hits and see them as a bit of a pale comparison to their previous works in sales, but one has to remember that both Cloud Cuckoo Land and The Lincoln Highway only had one season - it took years for All the Light We Cannot See and A Gentleman in Moscow to hit their sales totals.  

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
2. The 1619 Project, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times
3. Atlas of the Heart, by Brené Brown
4. Taste, by Stanley Tucci
5. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner (best reviewed nonfiction of the year on Book Marks)
6. Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard
7. The Wisconsin Supper Clubs Story, by Ron Faiola
8. The Midwest Survival Guide, by Charlie Berens (we still don't have copies)
9. The Book of Hope, by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams
10. Carnival of Snackery, by David Sedaris
11. These Precious Days, by Ann Patchett
12. Empire of Pain, by Patrick Radden Keefe
13. How I Became a Tree, by Sumana Roy
14. Lyrics: 1956 to Present, by Paul McCartney
15. Atlas of the Invisible, by James Cheshire

Our top sales performer in nonfiction hardcover (which also dwarfed all fiction contenders) proved to be Giannis, just like we expected. We passed a landmark number when Jason found stock at a wholesaler's alternate warehouse. It turned out that there's not the same kind of demand for a Milwaukee Bucks star player at Ingram's Oregon warehouse.

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Anomaly, by Hervé Le Tellier
2. The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich
3. Send for Me, by Lauren Fox
4. Dune V1, by Frank Herbert
5. Leonard and Hungry Paul, by Rónán Hession
6. Circe, by Madeline Miller
7. The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune
8. The Searcher, by Tana French
9. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
10. Murder at the Mena House V1, by Erica Ruth Neubauer (new book in March!)
11. The Drifter V1 (two editions), by Nick Petrie
12. The Overstory, by Richard Powers
13. When We Cease to Understand the World, by Benjamin Labatut
14. Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller
15. Dune Messiah V2, by Frank Herbert

The big story is that while the hardcover list was short on sleepers, Jason's been able to position and hand-sell The Anomaly into our #1 slot. Hey, he got me to read it. We had a nice discussion over whether this novel, about a group of airline passengers who, three months after they landed in an electrical storm, land again, and how the world confronts this strange occurrence, is a thriller or not. Jason said no, and I said yes, it had enough elements to qualify. Judge for yourself!

Another nice development - I've been noticing sales of The Drifter substantially up over the last two years (we were down a little in 2020 over 2019, but that should be no surprise) - the trade paperback is holding pretty steady, but mass market sales were up a third over 2019. His new book, The Runaway, debuts January 18- register here for this event, in person or broadcast.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Gray Matters, by Ellyn Lem
2. The Best of Me, by David Sedaris
3. Milwaukee River Greenway, by Eddee Daniel
4. Talking to Strangers, by Malcolm Gladwell
5. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
6. Field Guide to Dumb Birds of the Whole Stupid World, by Matt Kracht
7. Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, by Noor Murad and Yotam Ottolenghi
8. Sapiens a Graphic History V1, by Yuval Noah Harari
9. Sapiens (the non-graphic version), by Yuval Noah Harari
10. New York Times Cooking No Recipe Recipes, by Sam Sifton

Of interest #1: So that's where the cookbooks are. This is not the first week on our bestseller list for Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love: Recipes to Unlock the Secrets of Your Pantry, Fridge, and Freezer, but being that paperback nonfiction has our weakest numbers in general, it's the first week with substantial sales. Sales are just a fraction of last year's Ottolenghi Flavor, but I don't think the expectations were as high either.

Of interest #2: Remember how avian (bird-filled) last year's bestseller list was? Much like jigsaw puzzles, interest is still there, but sales are back down to earth. This year's late entry is The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of the Whole Stupid World, which I guess you give as a joke to all the folks who took up birding in 2020. It's the follow-up to Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America, which is also still selling.

Books for Kids:
1. Cat Kid Comic Club: Perspectives V2, by Dav Pilkey
2. Change Sings, by Amanda Gorman, illustrations by Loren Long
3. Big Shot V16: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney
4. Tales of Fearless Girls, by Isabel Otter
5. The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo and Sophie Blackall
6. Stuntboy: In the Meantime, by Jason Reynolds, illustrations by Raul the Third
7. Norman Didn't Do It, by Ryan T Higgins
8. Turtle in a Tree, by Neesha Hudson
9. The Snowy Day board book, by Ezra Jack Keats
10. Every Day Amazing, by Mike Barfield
11. Aaron Slater, Illustrator, by Andrea Beaty, illustrations by David Roberts
12. The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne, by Jonathan Stroud
13. Twas the Night Before Christmas, by Clement C Moore, illustrations by PJ Lynch
14. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renee Graef
15. The Mitten board book, by Jan Brett

One kids book that we really took to (it's a Jenny pick) is Turtle in a Tree, by Neesha Hudson. She wrote: "Not only is the story charming, important, and slyly hilarious, but Neesha Hudson’s whimsical artwork does a beautiful job expressing the many emotions of her characters. Turtle in a Tree will be among my favorite picture books of the year." This is Neesha Hudson's first book that she wrote and illustrated - she illustrated Walk Your Dog for Elizabeth Stevens Omlor in 2018. I also see she has prints for sale - and as this is part of my job, I did check on greeting cards.

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Boswell bestsellers, week ending December 18, 2021

Here's what's selling at Boswell. No annotations this week - just glad to get the list out.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Call Us What We Carry, by Amanda Gorman
2. The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich
3. Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr
4. The Ballerinas, by Rachel Kaplke-Dale (signed copies still available)
5. The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles
6. Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead
7. Crossroads, by Jonathan Franzen
8. State of Terror, by Hilary Clinton and Louise Penny
9. Wish You Were Here, by Jodi Picoult
10. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
11. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, by VE Schwab (both editions)
12. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
13. Beautiful World, Where Are You, by Sally Rooney
14. Our Country Friends, by Gary Shteyngart
15. The Last Thing He Told Me, by Laura Dave

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
2. The 1619 Project, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times
3. Atlas of the Heart, by Brené Brown
4. Taste, by Stanley Tucci
5. These Precious Days, by Ann Patchett
6. The Book of Hope, by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams
7. The Midwest Survival Guide, by Charlie Berens (we don't have copies!)
8. Lyrics: 1956 to Present, by Paul McCartney
9. Wisconsin Supper Clubs Story, by Ron Faiola
10. World Travel, by Anthony Bourdain, Laurie Woolever
11. The Dawn of Everything, by David Graeber/David Wengrow
12. The Storyteller, by Dave Grohl
13. Baking with Dorie, by Dorie Greenspan
14. North American Maps for Curious Minds, by Matthew Bucklan and Victor Cizek
15. Carnival of Snackery, by David Sedaris

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich
2. The Anomaly, by Hervé Le Tellier (just finished this this morning!)
3. Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman
4. Circe, by Madeline Miller
5. When We Cease to Understand the World, by Benjamin Labatut
6. The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller
7. Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell
8. The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune
9. Dune V1, by Frank Herbert
10. Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke
11. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
12. Send for Me, by Lauren Fox
13. The Every, by Dave Eggers
14. The Thursday Murder Club V1, by Richard Osman
15. The Overstory, by Richard Powers

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Entangled Life, by Merlin Sheldrake
2. New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes, by Sam Sifton
3. Talking to Strangers, by Malcolm Gladwell
4. Humankind, by Rutger Bregman
5. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
6. Walking Milwaukee, by Royal Brevvaxling and Molly Snyder
7. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
8. The Best of Me, by David Sedaris
9. Hiking Wisconsin, by Kevin Revolinski
10. 111 Places in Milwaukee You Must Not Miss, by Michelle Madden
11. Vanguard, by Martha S Jones
12. Little Pieces of Hope, by Todd Doughty
13. Tacky, by Rax King
14. Field Guide to Dumb Birds of the Whole Stupid World, by Matt Kracht
15. Milwaukee River Greenway, by Eddee Daniel

Books for Kids:
1. Cat Kid Comic Club Perspectives V1, by Dav Pilkey
2. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
3. Clarice the Brave, by Lisa McMann
4. Change Sings, by Amanda Gorman, illustrations by Loren Long
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Big Shot V16, by Jeff Kinney
6. Dream Street, by Tricia Elam Walker, illustrations by Ekua Holmes
7. Tales of Fearless Girls, by Isabel Otter
8. Woodland Dance, by Sandra Boynton
9. Aaron Slater, Illustrator, by Andrea Beaty, illustrations by David Roberts
10. Norman Didn't Do It, by Ryan T Higgins
11. Turtle in a Tree, by Neesha Hudson
12. Stuntboy: In the Meantime, by Jason Reynolds, illustrations by Raul the Third
13. Frozen Moutain: Decide Your Destiny, by Emily Hawkins
14. Crayon's Christmas, by Drew Daywalt, illustrations by Oliver Jeffers
15. Willodeen, by Katherine Applegate

One week to go!

Monday, December 13, 2021

Our last three events of 2021 - Hannah Morrissey (hybrid), Robert Lloyd (virtual), Rachel Kapelke-Dale (hybrid)

Here's what is happening this week at Boswell.

Monday, December 13, 6:30 pm
Hannah Morrissey, author of Hello, Transcriber
in conversation with Tim Hennessy for a Hybrid Event at Boswell
Register for the virtual broadcast  

Join us for an evening with Milwaukee-area writer Hannah Morrissey, author of a captivating mystery suspense debut featuring a female police transcriber who goes beyond the limits to solve a harrowing case. Morrissey will be in conversation with Tim Hennessy, editor of Milwaukee Noir. Masks required during this event. Please note the author and conversation partner will likely be maskless during the conversation.

Morrissey’s debut novel is inspired by her work as a police transcriber. Every night, while the street lamps shed the only light on Wisconsin's most crime-ridden city, police transcriber Hazel Greenlee listens as detectives divulge Black Harbor's gruesome secrets. As an aspiring writer, Hazel believes that writing a novel could be her only ticket out of this frozen hellscape. And then her neighbor confesses to hiding the body of an overdose victim in a dumpster.

The suspicious death is linked to Candy Man, a notorious drug dealer. Now Hazel has a first row seat to the investigation and becomes captivated by the lead detective, Nikolai Kole. As the investigation unfolds, Hazel will learn just how far she'll go for a good story - even if it means destroying her marriage and luring the killer to her as she plunges deeper into the city she's desperate to claw her way out of. CJ Box says, “Hello, Transcriber is a dark, atmospheric, and compelling debut by a unique talent. I was sucked in immediately and could think of little else until the last page.”

Hannah Morrissey earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from UW-Madison.Tim Hennessy's work has appeared in Midwestern Gothic, Crimespree Magazine, and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He is the editor of Milwaukee Noir.

Readings from Oconomowaukee
Tuesday, December 14, 2 pm
Robert Lloyd, author of The Bloodless Boy
in Conversation with Daniel Goldin and Lisa Baudoin for a Virtual Event
Register for the virtual event here.  

The December edition of the Readings from Oconomowaukee virtual event series, hosted in partnership with our friends at Books & Company of Oconomowoc, presents Robert Lloyd, author of The Bloodless Boy, a new historical, literary thriller that’s perfect for readers of The Alienist or The Name of the Rose. The Bloodless Boy was just named one of the ten best mysteries of the year by Publishers Weekly.

It's New Year's Day, 1678. Twelve years have passed since the Great Fire ripped London. Eighteen since the fall of Oliver Cromwell and the restoration of a King. London is gripped by hysteria, and rumors of Catholic plots and sinister foreign assassins abound. When the body of a young boy drained of his blood is discovered on the snowy bank of the Fleet River, Robert Hooke, the Curator of Experiments at the just-formed Royal Society for Improving Natural Knowledge, and his assistant Harry Hunt, are called in to explain such a ghastly finding - and whether it’s part of a plot against the king. Wary of the political hornet’s nest they are walking into - and using scientific evidence rather than paranoia in their pursuit of truth - Hooke and Hunt must discover why the boy was murdered, and why his blood was taken.

Robert Lloyd, the son of parents who worked in the British Foreign Office, grew up in South London, Innsbruck, and Kinshasa. He studied for a Fine Art degree, starting as a landscape painter, but it was while studying for his MA degree in The History of Ideas that he first read Robert Hooke’s diary, detailing the life and experiments of this extraordinary man. After a 20-year career as a secondary school teacher, he has now returned to painting and writing.

Wednesday, December 15, 6:30 pm
Rachel Kapelke-Dale, author of The Ballerinas
in Conversation with Christina Clancy at Boswell Book Company

Boswell presents an in-person event with Milwaukee native Rachel Kapelke-Dale, author of the novel The Ballerinas, a captivating, voice-driven debut novel about a trio of ballerinas who meet as students at the Paris Opera Ballet School. For this event, Kapelke-Dale will be in conversation with Christina Clancy, author of Shoulder Season. Masks required during this event. Please note the author and conversation partner will likely be maskless during the conversation.

Dare Me meets Black Swan and Luckiest Girl Alive in a captivating, voice-driven debut. Fourteen years ago, Delphine abandoned her soloist spot at the Paris Opera Ballet for a new life in St. Petersburg, taking with her a secret that could upend the lives of her best friends, fellow dancers Lindsay and Margaux. Now 36 years old, Delphine has returned to her former home and to the legendary Palais Garnier Opera House, to choreograph the ballet that will kickstart the next phase of her career and, she hopes, finally make things right with her former friends. But Delphine quickly discovers that things have changed while she's been away, and some secrets can't stay buried forever.

Rachel Kapelke-Dale is the co-author of Graduates in Wonderland and the Vanity Fair Hollywood's column "Advice from the Stars." Kapelke-Dale spent years in intensive ballet training before receiving a BA from Brown University, an MA from the Université de Paris VII, and a PhD from University College London. She currently lives in Paris, but she grew up in Milwaukee. Christina Clancy is the author of The Second Home and Shoulder Season and lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

More on upcoming Boswell events.

Sunday, December 12, 2021

Boswell bestsellers, week ending December 11, 2021

Here's what is selling at Boswell this week.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Wish You Were Here, by Jodi Picoult (signed tip-in copies available)
2. The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles
3. Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr
4. Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead
5. The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich
6. The Ballerinas, by Rachel Kapleke-Dale (Register for in-December 15 in-store or broadcast event here)
7. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, by VE Schwab (2 editions)
8. Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan
9. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
10. State of Terror, by Hilary Clinton and Louise Penny
11. Clark and Division, by Naomi Hirahara
12. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
13. Our Country Friends, by Gary Shteyngart
14. Oh William!, by Elizabeth Strout
15. The Kindest Lie, by Nancy Johnson

I decided to expand fiction this week, mostly because I like these four runners up - I read four of the five. Both Clark and Division and The Kindest Lie are novels set partly in Chicago, which might be why I gravitated to them. Johnson recently told me that she is working on her next book, which is exciting. And I should note that it's recommended by Jodi Picoult, this week's #1: "The Kindest Lie is a deep dive into how we define a family, what it means to be a mother, and what it means to grow up Black. This beautifully crafted debut will keep asking you these questions and more."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Carnival of Snackery, by David Sedaris
2. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
3. The 1619 Project, created by Hannah Nikole-Jones and The New York Times
4. These Precious Days, by Ann Patchett
5. Atlas of the Heart, by Brené Brown
6. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner (our signed copies have taken off!)
7. The Midwest Survival Guide, by Charlie Berens (we're out through Christmas if you haven't already ordered this)
8. North American Maps for Curious Minds, by Matthew Bucklan and Victor Cizek
9. The Storyteller, by Dave Groh
10. Atlas of the Invisible, by James Cheshire
11. The Wisconsin Supper Clubs Story, by Ron Faiola
12. How the Word Is Passed, by Clint Smith
13. Best Wishes, Warmest Regards, by Dan Levy and Eugene Levy
14. History Makers, by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
15. All About Me, by Mel Brooks (I think this also might be gone for the season)

This time of year I'm caught between reading ahead (what's good for the book) and reading 2021's highlights that I missed. On the fiction list, I caught up with Oh William! and Small Things Like These. Yes, you can call out that they are both relatively short books, but reading them has helped me sell them, particularly Keegan. On the nonfiction side, I spent part of my day finishing Clint Brown's How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slaves Across America. I liked that it was structured as a travel narrative, with Smith visiting places like Monticello, Angola Prison, and a walking tour of lower Manhattan.

Follow up to last week - I learned that Matthew Bucklan of North American Maps for Curious Minds lives in the Milwaukee area! Nobody tells me anything.

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Anomaly, by Hervé Le Tellier
2. The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich
3. The Thursday Murder Club V1, by Richard Osman
4. Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell
5. Dune, by Frank Herbert
6. The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller
7. Once and Future Witches, by Alix E Harrow
8. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
9. Hercule Poirot's Christmas, by Agatha Christie
10. When We Cease to Understand the World, by Benjamin Labatut, translated by Adrian Nathan West

When We Cease to Understand the World is one of The New York Times's top 10 books of 2021 and was shortlisted for the National Book Award for translated literature. Per the publisher, it's "a fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries resulted in moral consequences beyond their imagining." From The New York Times review by Corinna da Fonesca-Wollheim: "In any case, the individual characters are merely vehicles for Labatut. His true subject is the ecstasy of scientific discovery and the price it exacts — from the individuals who sacrifice everything in its pursuit, and from the human species, which gains ever more powerful tools to master a world that keeps eluding comprehension."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Best of Me, by David Sedaris
2. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
3. Holidays on Ice, by David Sedaris
4. On Story Parkway, by Jim Cryns
5. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
6. Calypso, by David Sedaris
7. When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris
8. Cain's Jawbone, by Edward Powys Mathers
9. Milwaukee River Greenway, by Eddee Daniel
10. Theft by Finding, by David Sedaris

Guess who came to Milwaukee? Thanks to Mr. Sedaris (who actually did bring snacks to his event, a lovely and quite large box of chocolates), I was able to keep the nonfiction paperback list to ten slots. The list is a couple of regional titles (On Story Parkway, Jim's biggest hit at Boswell), Milwaukee River Greenway, a couple of national standards that continue to work at Boswell (Braiding Sweetgrass and The Body Keeps the Score) and one sleeper (Cain's Jawbone), which might well be selling at bestseller levels (not the first week on this list) but the NYT is probably excluding it because it's a puzzle - that advice list is brutal.

Books for Kids - Picture Books and Board Books
1. Dream Street, by Trista Elam Walker, with illustrations by Ekua Holmes
2. The Snowy Day board book, by Ezra Jack Keats
3. Norman Didn't Do It, by Ryan T Higgins
4. Change Sings, by Amanda Gorman and Loren Long
5. Tiger Tiger Burning Bright, edited by Fiona Waters
6. The 1619 Project: Blood on the Water, by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson, illustrated by Nikolas Smith
7. The Mitten Board Book, by Jan Brett
8. Aaron Slater Illustrator, by Andrea Beaty with illustrations by David Roberts
9. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse with illustrations by Renée Graef
10. The Story Orchestra: The Magic Flute, by Jessica Courtney Tickle (and Mozart, sort of)

Named one of the New York Times best books of the year, Dream Street is, per the publisher "a magical story from the critically acclaimed author of Nana Akua Goes to School and a Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award winning illustrator. Illuminating this vivid cast of characters are vibrant, joyful illustrations that make this neighborhood - based on the Roxbury neighborhood in Boston where the author and illustrator grew up together as cousins - truly sing." We just hosted a virtual event with Walker.

Books for Kids - Middle Grade, Graphic Novels
1. Clarice the Brave, by Lisa McMann
2. The Unwanteds V1, by Lisa McMann
3. The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo with illustrations by Sophie Blackall
4. Kaleidoscope, by Brian Selznick
5. Pony, by RJ Palacio
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Big Shot V16, by Jeff Kinney
7. Cat Kid Comic Club: Perspectives V2, by Dav Pilkey
8. Bird and Squirrel on the Run V1, by James Burks
9. Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea, by Ben Clanton
10. Tales of Fearless Girls, by Isabel Otter, with illustrations by Ana Sender

I had YA categorized with middle grade/graphic novel, only to realize that there were no YA, graphic or otherwise, in our top 10. I find that adults get a little nervous buying books for teens, and I've also noticed there is nothing hot that's crossing over to us at the moment. The section almost always has people browsing it, but it looks like, at least for us, they are not coalescing around anything in particular as in past years.

Both The Beatryce Prophecy and Kaleidoscope might cross over to the younger demos of YA, so that's something. Kaleidoscope, the latest from Brian Selznick, is one of Amie's picks. Here's what the publisher had to say about this one: "A ship. A garden. A library. A key. In Kaleidoscope, the incomparable Brian Selznick presents the story of two people bound to each other through time and space, memory and dreams. At the center of their relationship is a mystery about the nature of grief and love which will look different to each reader." It's hitting a number of best-of-the-year lists. Still remember that magical night we hosted Selznick - it's so long ago I think it was at Alverno College, back when they had the Alverno Presents series.

Over at the Journal Sentinel, we've got the top books of the year from Jim Higgins and Carole Barrowman. Jim's picks include two of my favorites, Send for Me and Squirrel Hill. Access the whole list here.

Carole's got a great selection of mysteries and thrillers including two books I really liked, which I read at her suggestion - Clark and Division and Razorblade Tears. plus Kent Krueger's Lightning Strike, which we recently recommended not once but twice on Larry Meiller's recent Wisconsin Public Radio show.

Sunday, December 5, 2021

Boswell bestsellers, week ending December 4, 2021

Boswell Bestsellers, week ending December 4, 2021

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Wish You Were Here, by Jodi Picoult (Tickets for December 8 OAC event here)
2. The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles
3. The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich
4. Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr
5. Leviathan Falls V9, by James SA Corey
6. Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone V9, by Diana Gabaldon
7. Crossroads, by Jonathan Franzen
8. Bewilderment, by Richard Powers
9. Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan
10. State of Terror, by Hilary Clinton and Louise Penny

While you might not know James SA Corey if you weren't into science fiction, we have enough fans on staff for me to know that this Leviathan Falls (out of stock - more expected) is the final installment in the Hugo-award-winning Expanse series. Today I also learned that Corey is the work of two collaborators, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. From the Publishers Weekly starred review: "This fully satisfying resolution renders the entire series an all-time genre classic." Needless to say, if you're intrigued, start with Leviathan Wakes, not this one. By the way, James and Corey are the authors' middle names while S.A. is Abraham's daughter. In Germany, they leave out the middle initials. Oh, and Franck was George RR Martin's personal assistant - that's from Wikipedia, so take this all as you will.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Midwest Survival Guide, by Charlie Berens (not in stock - we're taking orders)
2. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
3. The 1619 Project, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times
4. Atlas of the Heart, by Brené Brown
5. North American Maps for Curious Minds, by Matthew Bucklan
6. These Precious Days, by Ann Patchett (Tickets for December 7 virtual event here)
7. Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard
8. The Book of Hope, by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams
9. Atlas of the Invisible, by James Cheshire
10. The Wisconsin Supper Clubs Story, by Ron Faiola
11. World Travel, by Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever
12. Baking with Dorie, by Dorie Greenspan
13. Carnival of Snackery, by David Sedaris 
14. The Secret History of Food, by Matt Siegel
15. Frank Lloyd Wright's Forgotten House, by Nicholas D Hayes

The lists are a bit lopsided during the holiday, so I grabbed five slots from paperback nonfiction and gave it to the hardcover list. Not as many cookbooks as you sometimes see on this list (we had four in the top 15 last year this week), but there are two map books, which also seems to be a holiday staple.

We've got North American Maps for Curious Minds: 100 New Ways to See the Continent, the follow-up to 2019's Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds, which I should note was written by a different author. And then there's Atlas of the Invisible: Maps and Graphics That Will Change How You See the World, by James Cheshire and Oliver Uberti, which itself is the next project after 2017's Where the Animals Go: Tracking Wildlife with Technology in 50 Maps and Graphics. It just goes to show, if you have one map book in you, there's probably a follow-up somewhere. From Dave Pugl at the Ela Area Public Library in Lake Zurich, via Library Journal: "The resulting atlas will enable readers to better understand the world and its challenges. Furthermore, as the authors express eloquently in the epilogue, it is designed to inspire readers to act." 

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich
2. The Anomaly, by Hervé Le Tellier
3. Dune V1, by Frank Herbert
4. Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell
5. The Drifter V1, by Nick Petrie
6. Circe, by Madeline Miller
7. Leonard and Hungry Paul, by Rónán Hession
8. The Thursday Night Murder Club V1, by Richard Osman
9. The Witch's Heart, by Benevieve Gornichec
10. A Deadly Education V1, by Naomi Novik

Things are feeling a bit more normal on the paperback tables when we can see sales pops with paperback new releases. The Witch's Heart, inspired by Norse mythology, sold almost as many copies in its first week in paperback that it did life of book in hardcover. Bookmarks shows a lot of raves for the book, including Tom Shippey's in The Wall Street Journal, which noted: "Ms. Gornichec subverts the mythology from inside, knowledgeably and provokingly. Whatever the Elder Edda may say, the heroines of The Witch’s Heart will not be a delight to 'wicked women' alone." 

This is the February selection of the Books and Beer Book Club. More about upcoming book club discussions here.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kemmerer
2. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
3. New York Times Cooking No Recipe Recipes, by Sam Sifton
4. Humankind, by Rutger Bregman
5. An Entangled Life, by Merlin Sheldrake

Not much new here, but I don't think I've highlighted An Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures since it was in hardcover. Since then, I think it won the Royal Society Science Book Prize, whose finalists included Breath by James Nestor and The Last Stargazers by Emily Levesque, both of which have made appearances on this list. Paul Stamets, author of Mycelium Running, offered this praise: "Entangled Life is a must-read for citizen scientists hoping to make a positive difference on this sacred planet we share," but I should note he's obviously part of the mushroom lobby.

Books for Kids:
1. Tales of Fearless Girls, by Isabel Otter with illustrations by Anna Sender
2. Cat Kid Comic Club: Perspectives V2, by Dav Pilkey
3. Daughter of the Deep, by Rick Riordan
4. Change Sings, by Amanda Gorman with illustrations by Loren Long
5. Mindful Mr Sloth, by Katy Hudson
6. What's Up, Construction Truck?, by Matthew Reinhart
7. Stuntboy: In the Meantime, by Jason Reynolds with illustrations by Raul the Third
8. The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo with illustrations by Sophie Blackall
9. Aaron Slater, Illustrator, by Andrea Beaty, with illustrations by David Roberts
10. Norman Didn't Do It, by Ryan T Higgins

So excited to see the release of Jason Reynold's Stuntboy: In the Meantime, a collaboration with illustrator Raul the Third. Booklist offers a starred review: "Through 10 slice-of-life episodes interspersed with breaks for life rules ('1. Run up and down the hallways. All the hallways. Always.') and full-color inset panels recapping oddly parallel plotlines in a beloved sci-fi show that invariably climax with 'An Explosion of Great Magnitude,' the narrator records his growing anxiety over the 'meantime' arguments his parents have been having lately about their possessions - a sign, he twigs at last, of their impending separation. For a time he feels (and the illustrations depict literally him as) split in half, unrecognizable to friend and foe (ex-foe by the end: Herbert the 'Not So Bad After All') alike."

*I excluded some older school orders that we wound up needing time to process. But allow me to give a shout out to Stef Wade's Q and U Call It Quits.

Over at the Journal Sentinel, a piece from Kendra Meinert at the Green Bay Press Gazette about how Charlie Behrens's Midwest Survival Guide hit The New York Times Bestseller list.

Monday, November 29, 2021

What's going on this week? Lisa McMann, Joan He, two talks, and Dorie Greenspan

Here's what's happening at Boswell this week

Lisa McMann, author of Clarice the Brave
Virtual - in conversation with me
Tuesday, November 30, 10 am
Register for this event here

I love Clarice the Brave and want to do everything I can to help it find its audience. So in addition to our traditional virtual school visit, we're doing one as a conversation so that we can open it up to the public, and so we can have a recording available to share with interested individuals, families, and classrooms. We will make this event as perfect as we can for teachers registering a classroom, home schoolers, or any other fans of children’s literature.

Lisa McMann is author of dozens of books, many from The Unwanteds series. I'm not a great series reader, but the very first Unwanteds book works great as a stand-alone and I still recommend it to kids.

We've been hosting Lisa for school visits and sometimes public events for years. It is not unusual for us to try to do four schools in a day. It's kind of her mission to reach as many kids as possible. 

Tim McCarthy, our former elementary school teacher who hosted McMann with Margaret Peterson Haddix some years ago: "'It only takes one mouse to believe in you.' That was the lesson mother gave to Clarice and her brother, Charles Sebastian, but it takes a lot of believing to think any mouse can survive a ship divided by mutiny and prowled by hungry cats and angry sailors. When Clarice and Charles Sebastian get separated, they have constant doubts about each other's survival and how in the world they'll ever find each other again. Their determination to try takes them on an epic journey. Along the way they'll face great loss while discovering friendship and love in the most surprising places. As she did with her Unwanteds series, McMann writes with warmth, wisdom, and a perceptive view of humanity through the eyes of remarkable characters, some human and some animals with tremendous heart. This book may just renew your power to believe!"

I've also got a rec, but it's nothing compared to Tim's!: “Ship mouse Clarice has already lost her mother and siblings when a crew mutiny sends her over the side of the ship with provisions, leaving her brother Charles Sebastian behind. What’s worse, in this small boat is not just the Captain and his loyalists but also Special Lady, the very ship cat who ate Clarice’s sister Olivia. This is just the beginning of an epic tale of adventure and friendship that already feels like a classic. So exciting, so emotional, so many lines I want to quote - Clarice the Brave is a triumph!”

Wednesday, December 1, 6 pm
Joan He, author of The Ones We’re Meant to Find
Virtual - in conversation with Jenny Chou
Register for this event here.

Speaking of books we love, Jenny is a big fan of Joan He, whom she first met in Pitch Wars (if you are in the YA world at all, you know what this is.) Join us for a virtual YA, Boswell! event featuring Joan He, author of one of our favorite YA novels of the year - The Ones We’re Meant to Find. He will chat about her book, gripping and heartfelt YA sci-fi with mind-blowing twists, with Boswellian Jenny Chou.

I read that wrong. I thought that Joan would be griping. But no, she's happy!

Set in a climate-ravaged future, He's beautifully written novel follows the story of two sisters, separated by an ocean, desperately trying to find each other. Cee has been trapped on an abandoned island for three years with no memories from her life prior. All she knows is that somewhere out there, beyond the horizon, she has a sister named Kay, and it’s up to Cee to cross the ocean and find her. A world away, Kasey wants escape from the science and home she once trusted. The Metropolis - Earth's last unpolluted place - is meant to be sanctuary for those committed to planetary protection, but it’s populated by people willing to do anything for refuge, even lie. Now, she'll have to decide if she’s ready to use science to help humanity, even though it failed the people who mattered most.

Perfect for fans of Rick Yancey and Marie Lu, The Ones We're Meant to Find is, per Booklist, "exhilarating and heartbreaking!" And here’s Jenny Chou’s take: "In Joan He’s enthralling, futuristic page-turner, the relationship between two sisters holds the destiny of earth in the balance. In a twisty, unpredictable way that’s reminiscent of We Were Liars, nothing is as it seems in this unforgettable book."

Joan He studied psychology and Chinese history at the University of Pennsylvania and is also author of Descendant of the Crane.

I'm doing two book talks this week. I promised Jason that both of them would feature Mary Jane, so I'm picture that book here. 

On Thursday, December 2, I'll be at the Sharon and Lynn Wilson Center for the Arts Tickets for this event are $10 and are available here. It's in person!

On Saturday, December 4, 11 am, I'll be doing our annual event with the Shorewood Public Library Friends. It's virtual again this year. If you shop between December 4 and December 6 and want to support the library, use the code SPL in lieu of Boswell Benefits, in store or on the website, and 10% of your sales will be donated back to the Shorewood Friends. And if we do enough business, it jumps to 15. Register for the virtual event here.

Bonus event!
Wednesday, December 1, 7:30 pm
Dorie Greenspan, author of Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty and Simple
in Conversation with Claire Saffitz for a Virtual Event
Register for this multi-store event here.

William Morrow and Company Publishing hosts a virtual event with James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and, per The New York Times, "culinary guru" Dorie Greenspan for an evening featuring her latest, a book that celebrates the sweet, the savory, and the simple. It's also one of the books we've chosen to feature in our 2021 Holiday Gift Guide! Greenspan will be in conversation with fellow baker and dessert lover Claire Saffitz, author of the cookbook Dessert Person.

Photo credits
Lisa McMann by Ryan Nicholson

More upcoming events here.

Sunday, November 28, 2021

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending November 27, 2021

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending November 27, 2021

People are really taking the advice to shop early this year. We're out of a number of items that are in high demand; many we expect to come back into stock, but there are plenty more which are gone for the season. Like most other stores, we did stock up on a number of titles. Fortunately, the publishers put in place a lot of dating offers to help bookstores make this happen. That said, it's always a bit of a crapshoot.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich
2. Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr
3. The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles
4. Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone V9, by Diana Gabaldon
5. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
6. Our Country Friends, by Gary Shteyngart
7. Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead
8. Oh William!, by Elizabeth Strout
9. Crossroads, by Jonathan Franzen
10. State of Terror, by Hilary Clinton and Louise Penny

The Washington Post picked its top 10 for the year, and of the five fiction titles, two made our top ten - Klara and the Sun and Crossroads.

The top debut in hardcover fiction was Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, by Diana Gabaldon. I learned its been seven years since the last major Outlander novel, which has now run to six seasons on Starz. It is clearly the middle of a series, because if you are an outsider, your first question is, why do the bees want to know you're gone? When asked by Maureen Lee Lenker in Entertainment Weekly why it took so long, she answered: "In my own defense, I must note that I wrote four other books during this time period, which I don't normally do. The other thing was that the show started right when the eighth book was published. I'm a consultant on the show, which means that they show me everything and invite my comment on it, which means while they're filming, I get all of the scripts and eight iterations or so of each script as they come in, and I read them all."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. These Precious Days, by Ann Patchett (Tickets for December 7 virtual event here)
2. The Midwest Survival Guide, by Charlie Berens (Tickets for January Riverside events here - provided as a service)
3. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
4. The 1619 Project, by Nikole Hannah-Jones
5. Taste, by Stanley Tucci (Fresh Air interview here)
6. The Storyteller, by Dave Grohl
7. Carnival of Snackery, by David Sedaris (Tickets for December 10 event here)
8. Baking with Dorie, by Dorie Greenspan (Register for December 1 event here)
9. Gastro Obscura, by Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras
10. The Wisconsin Supper Clubs Story, by Ron Faiola

I don't recall linking to quite so much programming in December. Leading the pack, at least for us, is the first week of Ann Patchett's These Precious Days. You don't have to buy the book to join our event (there's a $5 option, with the proceeds going to BINC, the nonprofit to help booksellers in need - including comic book employees, by the way), but many people have. From Michele Filgate's review in The Washington Post: "To read this piece is to be suspended in the intimacy and connection and collaboration of a friendship between two artists inhabiting the liminal space of terminal illness. Every second is, indeed, precious, and Patchett’s prose is as welcoming and comforting as the chickpea stew Sooki cooks for her."

Paperback Fiction: 
1. The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich (a double category number one this week!)
2. The Anomaly, by Herve Le Tellier
3. The Searcher, by Tana French
4. Dune, by Frank Herbert
5. The Overstory, by Richard Powers
6. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
7. Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman
8. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
9. Best American Short Stories 2021, edited by Jesmyn Ward
10. Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller

No less than five of this week's top 10 fiction are at least three years old - so much for immediate paperback reprint success. But our top debut, The Anomaly, is actually a 2020 publication in its original French - that's pretty fast for a translated title (thank you, Adriana Hunter!) - and it's even a Prix Goncourt winner. This speculative thriller, one of Jason's top picks for the year, is set in an alternate 2021 and concerns a mysterious Paris-to-New-York flight. From the Kirkus review: " Hunter's brilliant translation from the French - her fifth collaboration with Le Tellier - transforms Le Tellier's distinct French voice into a distinct English one. More importantly, Hunter captures the playful exhilaration with which Le Tellier marries his audacious plot to a deep concern for existentialist philosophy."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. 111 Places in Milwaukee That You Must Not Miss, by Michelle Madden
2. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
3. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
4. Walking Milwaukee, by Royal Brevvaxling and Molly Snyder
5. Tacky, by Rax King
6. Voices of Milwaukee Bronzeville, by Sandra E Jones
7. The Electricity of Every Living Thing, by Katherine May
8. Sapiens a Graphic History V2, by Yuval Noah Harari
9. Wisconsin Farms and Farmers Markets, by Kristine Hansen
10. Humankind, by Rutger Bregman

What do you know? Humankind: A Hopeful History is a relatively recent paperback on the list selling of the new paperback table. Frans de Waal explains it best: "Humankind is an in-depth overview of what is wrong with the idea is that we humans are by nature bad and unreliable. In vivid descriptions and stories, Rutger Bregman takes us back to the questionable experiments that fed this idea and offers us a more optimistic view of mankind." The book, translated from the Dutch (original title: De Meeste Mensen Deugen) by Erica Moore and Elizabeth Manton, was named the Sapiens of 2020, with the book appearing on several year-end best-of lists. Weirdly enough, that pronouncement from The Guardian is accompanied by the book's only bad review on Bookmarks - also from The Guardian.

Books for Kids:
1. The Fastest Girl on Earth, by Dean Robbins, with illustrations by Elizabeth Baddeley
2. Thank You Dr Salk, by Dean Robbins, with illustrations by Mike Dutton
3. Mambo Mucho Mambo, by Dean Robbins, with illustrations by Eric Velasquez
4. Big Shot V16, by Jeff Kinney
5. Norman Didn't Do It, by Ryan T Higgins
6. The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson, with illustrations by Nikkolas Smith
7. The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo, with illustrations by Sophie Blackall
8. The Ones We're Meant to Find, by Joan He (register for December 1 event here)
9. Pony, by RJ Palacio
10. Woodland Dance, by Sandra Boynton

Dean Robbins dominates the top 3 with new picture books connected to a recent series of virtual school visits. The fourth isn't quite out yet. Read the Journal Sentinel piece on Dean's productive year here). The Fastest Girl on Earth is about Kitty O'Neil, a deaf, part-Cherokee stunt driver who broke the woman's land speed record and held it until 2019. From School Library Journal: "Young race fans and car enthusiasts will appreciate these details. There are also author's notes which, like the facts and details, are written with young readers in mind. With exciting prose and positive representation, this book would be an excellent addition to biography collections."

Over at the Journal Sentinel, Carole E Barrowman highlights three new mysteries: 
--My Sweet Girl, by Amanda Jayatissa 
--The Ghost Tracks, by Celso Hurtado 
--Death Under the Perseids, by Teresa Dovalpage

Up tomorrow - We've got events again.

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Thanksgiving - Ann Patchett, Jodi Picoult, Charles Baxter, Jo PIazza

Thanksgiving gives me the chance to catch my breath and write a post. 

The tidal wave of new releases slows down by mid-November. One gets the feeling that if you release too late, you won't make roundups. For example, Charles Baxter's The Sun Collective just made the New York Times notable books of 2021 - the link is to the paperback. The reason that is odd is that the book came out in November 17, 2020. I remember - we hosted Mr. Baxter virtually. But the review for the book came out in the December 13 print issue of The New York Times, after the deadline for their notable books roundup, and rather than ignore those books altogether, they feature them the next year. But other roundups basically ignore books they got to too late.

Our buyer Jason told me that about six 2020 titles wound up on the 2021 list. It reminds of when I followed Billboard and some of the biggest titles on the yearend roundup to my mind were from the prior year. 

This week's notable new release for us was Ann Patchett's collection of essays, These Precious Days. You'll see its presence on Sunday's bestseller list roundup. I like to say that the book starts out like This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage and then morphs into Truth and Beauty. It's a lovely book and if I hadn't read it already, I'd say it's a great book to read on Thanksgiving if you don't want to watch football. Just beautiful! (More on our shared December 7 event here). It could be a notable book of 2022.

We've continued our COVID policy of offering bundled event books before the event, so if you ordered These Precious Days from us and you haven't picked it up yet, you can this weekend. We're trying something new - we've always bagged paid purchases to distinguish them from unpaid holds. But with us doing this for close to two years, and a 20% increase in our paper bag prices, we're experimenting with just having a paid bookmark in them. We're hoping to expand this to all prepaid purchases of one book. And then when you pick them up, if you want a bag, just ask. 

A big release next Tuesday is Jodi Picoult's Wish You Were Here. Picoult generally releases every two years, but she had a little time on her hands and was inspired to write a novel set during COVID-19. This might be one of the reasons why there seem to be so many heavy hitters this fall. We also think there were a number of titles delayed from 2020, with good reason.

We're doing an event (tickets here) with Ms. Picoult as well, a joint program with Books & Company at the Oconomowoc Arts Center on December 8, the day after Ms. Patchett. This one's in person - our first big thing we're running that's not virtual. It's been an interesting season - virtual attendance has declined, but in-person attendance, we're told, is also not at the levels it was pre-pandemic. While we might not equal her previous numbers, ticket sales for Picoult's event are going well, so that's a relief. Alas, because the event is in person and run jointly, we cannot facilitate picking up books in advance.

I was just talking about Wish You Were Here with Jo Piazza, who was visiting family for Thanksgiving. You might know Piazza from her many novels and works of nonfiction. We just hosted her with Christine Pride for We Are Not Like Them - you can watch that wonderful event here. Jo also signed our stock, if you were thinking of buying a copy. Piazza and Picoult were touting each other's novels. I really love the way Picoult champions up-and-coming writers. 

Patchett does as well. Speaking of which, I think I promised I'd read Sorrow and Bliss. Maybe by the end of 2021.

Have a great turkey/tofurkey day.

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending November 20, 2021

Here's what is selling at Boswell for the week ending November 20, 2021

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich
2. The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles
3. Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr
4. Our Country Friends, by Gary Shteyngart
5. Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead
6. Bewilderment, by Richard Powers
7. Oh William, by Elizabeth Strout
8. Termination Shock, by Neal Stephenson
9. State of Terror, by Hilary Clinton and Louise Penny
10. The Four Winds, by Kristin Hannah

While the bulk of fall releases had November 9 release dates or earlier, there are still high profile titles schedule going forward. The top first week fiction release for us is Termination Shock, said to be Neal Stephenson's return to the technothriller genre. It's got a rec from Boswellian Kay Wosewick who says, "Termination Shock is set about two decades out, when climate change is wreaking havoc in nearly all corners of the world. Someone must take action ASAP, right?! Politics are messy, technology is clever, and the characters are an eclectic lot. This is top-notch Stephenson, though he leaves us hanging. Speed it up Neal!!"

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. 1619 Project, by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times Magazine
2. The Midwest Survival Guide, by Charlie Berens
3. Lead with Me, by Simon Mainwaring
4. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
5. The Bathroom Book for People Not Pooping or Peeing but Using the Bathroom as an Escape, by Joe Pera
6. Gastro Obscura, by Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras
7. How Magicians Think, by Joshua Jay
8. The Wisconsin Supper Clubs Story, by Ron Faiola
9. Lyrics, by Paul McCartney
10. The Dawn of Everything, by David Graeber and David Wingrow

Two huge books for us out of the gate, one that probably had similar sales at many bookstores (1619 Project) and the other that might have had an edge in Wisconsin (The Midwest Survival Guide), being that Charlie Berens has the popular Manitowoc Minute web series. We have more copies of hot title #1 (1619 - though no signed copies left) and we should have more of #2 (Berens) shortly. We're still taking orders for this this. Fox6 has a story on the book and Berens three January 2022 shows at the Riverside Theater.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Dune V1 (two editions), by Frank Herbert
2. Churchill's Secret Messenger, by Alan Hlad
3. Leonard and Hungry Paul, by Rónán Hession
4. Dune Messiah V2 (also two editions), by Frank Herbert
5. The Drifter V1 (two editions), by Nick Petrie
6. The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune
7. The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich
8. The Christmas Bookshop, by Jenny Colgan
9. Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller
10. Send for Me, by Lauren Fox

Nick Petrie's Peter Ash series no longer has dual trade/mass editions as of #6 The Breaker, but we're still selling both of The Drifter. While I'm not mourning the loss of the trade editions of the later titles, I'm hoping that trade edition of The Drifter stays available, being that the book works as a stand-alone, a book club selection, and the entry point to the series. We continue to backlist the further adventures of Dune, with a lot of folks wondering if they will shoot the film that would be the second part of Dune plus Dune Messiah (#2) at the same time, much as they did for Lord of the Rings. Final box office will likely be a factor in that.

2021 is very different from 2020 - it's much harder to make a sleeper book work, but we're still getting sales on Leonard and Hungry Paul, plus now we have some book clubs picking it up. I looked at Edelweiss and there are definitely more stores doing well with the paperback than were with the hardcover. The big question is, who will publish Panenka, Hession's follow up, in the US?

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Watergate Girl, by Jill Wine-Banks (some signed copies available)
2. Voices of Milwaukee Bronzeville, by Sandra E Jones (same)
3. Cain's Jawbone, by Edward Powys Mathers
4. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
5. Tacky, by Rax King

No, we don't have Cain's Jawbone in stock. And once again I am stumped - is this a novel (fiction) or a book of puzzles (nonfiction?) And while it's fun (and featured on BookTok), the prize is already claimed. In fact, this is a reissue of a book from 1934! But our publisher notes say the prize of £1,000 for the first reader to solve the puzzle within a year of publication was awarded to the actor and comedy writer John Finnemore. Or maybe he has film rights with Neil Gaiman. I'm completely confused. (Time passes) Update - according to The Guardian, he did actually re-solve the puzzle, as it had been solved a few times before, only the answer had been lost for decades. I'm still a little confused.

Up next, a run on Who Killed the Robins Family? If only we'd had BookTok back then, maybe the paperback would have worked (released after the prize was given out), says my former publicist self.

Since our 6-10 numbers are pretty small in this category, I gave the shelf space to the remaining list with the best 11-15 numbers, and that happens to be hardcover nonfiction.
11. Betrayal, by Jonathan Karl
12. Best Wishes Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt's Creek, by Daniel and Eugene Levy
13. World Travel, by Anthony Bourdain
14. Carnival of Snackery, by David Sedaris (Tickets for December 10 Riverside show here)
15. Shape, by Jordan Ellenberg

Books for Kids:
1. Roxy, by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman (signed copies available - real ones!)
2. 1619 Project: Born on the Water, by Nikole Hannah-Jones
3. Aaron Slater, Illustrator, by Andrea Beaty, with illustrations by David Roberts
4. Big Shot V16, by Jeff Kinney
5. The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo
6. Willodeen, by Katherine Applegate
7. African Icons, by Tracey Baptiste
8. It Fell from the Sky, by The Fan Brothers
9. Norman Didn't Do It, by Ryan T Higgins
10. The Snowy Day Board Book, by Ezra Jack Keats

In Aaron Slater, Illustrator, the new Questioneers book (Ada Twist, Scientist, et al), Aaron Slater doesn't let his dyslexia stand in his way of becoming a storyteller. The story is informed by illustrator David Roberts's dyslexia. From the starred Kirkus review: "In the illustration, a tableau of colorful mythological beings embodies Aaron's tale. The text is set in a dyslexia-friendly type. Empathetic art and lyrical text blend for a touching and empowering tale"

Jim Higgins unveils his holiday picks in the Journal Sentinel!