Boswell this week: Mary Roach, Lauren Fox, María Amparo Escandón, Jon M Sweeney, and Anna Lardinois

Here's what's happening at Boswell mostly virtually this week.

Monday, September 27, 7 pm
Mary Roach, author of Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law
In conversation with Roman Mars for a virtual event
Register for this event here.   

This event is cohosted by Schlitz Audubon Nature Center.

Join us for an evening featuring, per Peter Carlson in The Washington Post, America’s funniest science writer Mary Roach, who will take us along for an irresistible investigation into the unpredictable world where wildlife and humans meet. For this event, Mary Roach will be in conversation with Roman Mars, host and creator of 99% Invisible and author of The 99% Invisible City.

From Erik Larson: "Hilarious! With Fuzz, Mary Roach again takes us into an unfamiliar scientific realm, in this case the science of managing the conflicts between humans and the natural world—lethal leopards, rampaging elephants, jet-downing birds, even killer trees. It’s an ever-widening conflict zone, but one that Ms. Roach gleefully mines for a multitude of bizarre facts that’ll make you snort coffee through your nose." 

From Vicki Constantine Croke's review in The New York Times: "Roach delights in the disgusting details of science. For those of us with, ahem, a taste for scatological humor, she delivers the story of a gull in a crowded nesting area that managed to defecate directly into the mouth of a hooded student. Elsewhere, she tells us that, 'poundage aside, the Canada goose is a frequent crapper.' Rat droppings found all over her balcony at the decrepit lodge in India mystify her. What is the appeal for them? There’s no food, and not much of a view. She concludes: 'It appeared to be simply the place rats go to have a dump.'”

Mary Roach is author of best-selling books of nonfiction such as Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, and, most recently, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War. Her writing has appeared in Outside, National Geographic, and The New York Times Magazine.

Tuesday, September 28, 2 pm Lauren Fox, author of Send for Me
A bonus Readings from Oconomowaukee event - fall book talk!

Register for this event here.

Enjoy a Bonus Readings from Oconomowaukee in September, featuring Milwaukee’s Lauren Fox, celebrating the paperback release event for her nationally bestselling novel with a special fall reading conversation featuring recommendations from both store proprietors and the author.

Lauren Fox’s Send for Me was a Today Show Read with Jenna book club pick, an instant New York Times bestseller, and an Indie Next Great Read. We'll be catching up on how everything's gone with the book, plus sharing some of our favorite books. Look for a Lauren Fox recommends display at Boswell. 

An achingly beautiful work of historical fiction that moves between Germany on the eve of World War II and present-day Wisconsin, unspooling a thread of love, longing, and the powerful bonds of family. Based on letters from Lauren Fox's own family, Send for Me is a major departure for this acclaimed author, an epic and intimate exploration of mothers and daughters, duty and obligation, hope and forgiveness.

Lauren Fox earned an MFA from the University of Minnesota and is author of the novels Days of Awe, Still Life with Husband, and Friends Like Us. Her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Rumpus, and Salon.

Wednesday, September 29, 7 pm
María Amparo Escandón, author of LA Weather
in conversation with Tessa Bartels and Daniel Goldin for a virtual event
Register for this event here.

Boswell Book Company and the Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee present an evening with author María Amparo Escandón for a conversation about her fun, fast-paced novel of a Mexican American family wrestling with impending evacuations, secrets, deception, and betrayal. In conversation with Daniel Goldin of Boswell and Tessa Bartels of the HPGM Book Club.

From Publisher's Weekly: "Escandón is a pro at capturing the socioeconomic geography of L.A.; even scenes of mundane life such as a trip to get ice cream provide occasions for the characters to comment on the shifting fortunes of acquaintances after being priced out of up-and-came east side neighborhoods. This is by far one of the most endearing L.A. novels in recent memory." I concur!

From my recommendation: “LA Weather’s outrageous plot twists have a telenovela quality, as the Alvarados contend with just about every complication a family can face, except for maybe locusts. But they make it through (mostly), a little wiser for the journey, and it’s hard not to fall in love with them and all their messiness.” And Boswellian Kay Wosewick adds, “This LA-set story will quickly set its claws and pull you through a manic year in the lives of a well-off Mexican American family. You will smile gleefully as the family completes the eventful year with stronger bonds than ever.” 

From Dorany Pineda's profile in the Los Angeles Times, on Los Angeles: "The American city quickly worked its way into her: its ever-evolving gastronomy, its culture and 'fantastic' weather, its 'fabulous expressions of architecture.' Many of her passions are reflected in the Alvarado family. Sisters Claudia, Olivia and Patricia are, respectively, a professional chef, an architect (who feels guilty for abetting gentrification) and a social media guru. Keila, the matriarch, is a ceramicist - another passion of Escandón’s."

María Amparo Escandón is author of Esperanza’s Box of Saints and González & Daughter Trucking Co and was named a writer to watch by both Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times.

Thursday, September 30, 7 pm
Jon M Sweeney, author of Feed the Wolf: Befriending Our Fears in the Way of Saint Francis
in conversation with Adam Bucko for a now-virtual event.

Register for this event here. Ask for your signed copies. 
This event is cohosted by Family of Four Milwaukee Parishes and Eat, Drink, and Be Catholic.

Milwaukee’s award-winning spiritual writer and Saint Francis scholar Jon M Sweeney joins us for a discussion of his latest work, a consideration of the spiritual practices that can be found in the life and teachings of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Our conversation partner Adam Bucko offers this recommendation: "This book is not just something you read; it is something you put into practice. And when we apply the wisdom of Saint Francis, it has the power not only to heal us, but through us, to heal a hurting world."

And from Shemaiah Gonzalez: "Sweeney's Feed the Wolf takes us deeper into the stories of Saint Francis, offering us inspiration to move our heart and hands away from fear and comfort, and toward listening and gentleness."

Jon M Sweeney is author of thirty books, including The Complete Francis of Assisi, and is considered the authoritative voice on the life and spirituality of Saint Francis. He is also a regular speaker at literary and spirituality conferences.

Saturday, October 2, 11 am
Anna Lardinois, author of The Ghostly Tales of Milwaukee
in person at Boswell

Register for this in-person event here. We will be holding this event outdoors.  

Ask for your signed copy.

Join us for an in-person event that’s great for kids and adults with Anna Lardinois, founder of Gothic Milwaukee, featuring her latest book that’s full of ghost stories from the Brew City. So creepy, fun, and full of mystery!

Milwaukee's haunted history comes to life - even when the main players are dead. Explore the caves below the Miller Brewery to see if they're really haunted. Listen at the Lake Park Lions Bridge to hear the laughter of ghostly children. Or tiptoe through La Belle Cemetery to see if the spirit of a young girl throws herself into Fowler Lake (she usually does). Dive into this spooky chapter book for suspenseful tales of bumps in the night, paranormal investigations, and the unexplained. Just be sure to keep the light on.

Anna Lardinois tingles the spines of Milwaukee locals and visitors through her haunted, historical walking tours known as Gothic Milwaukee. The former English teacher is an ardent collector of stories, an avid walker and a sweet treat enthusiast. She happily resides in a historic home in Milwaukee that, at this time, does not appear to be haunted.

Monday, October 4, 7 pm
Sara Biren, author of Bend in the Road
in conversation with Andrew DeYoung for a Virtual Event 

Register for this event here. Ask for your signed copy!

Boswell presents a special YA, Boswell! evening with Wisconsin author Sara Biren for a conversation about her latest contemporary novel about a teen rock star who returns home to Minnesota and finds himself falling for a local farm girl. In conversation with Andrew DeYoung, author of The Exo Project, winner of the Minnesota Book Award.

Here's a nice review from School Library Journal: "Told in alternating perspectives, Biren's novel is set in the Midwest and is a slow simmer. What appears to be a novel about farming and gardening turns out to focus on relationships and grief. Readers who are musically inclined will appreciate the side story of Gabe's rocky music career. The characters, who are light skinned, are likable and complex in this heartwarming romance that slowly develops between Juniper and Gabe, who seem to have realistic differences.  Fans of Sarah Dessen will find this novel appealing and will reach for others written by Biren."

Sara Biren is author of The Last Thing You Said and Cold Day in the Sun. She earned an MFA in creative writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Andrew DeYoung is author of the forthcoming book The Temps.

More on the Boswell upcoming events page.

Photo credits

Mary Roach by Jen Siska

Lauren Fox by Rachel Dickman

María Amparo Escandón by Chris Fortuna

Sara Biren by Mars Ehlers

Boswell bestsellers, week ending September 25, 2021

Here's what is selling at Boswell.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead
2. Bewilderment, by Richard Powers
3. Beautiful World, Where Are You, by Sally Rooney
4. Under the Whispering Door, by TJ Clune
5. The Madness of Crowds, by Louise Penny
6. Matrix, by Lauren Groff
7. Apples Never Fall, Liane Moriarty
8. The Last Thing He Told Me, by Laura Dave
9. The Love Songs of WEB DuBois, by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
10. The Final Girl Support Group, by Grady Hendrix

The top fiction debut this week is Richard Powers's Bewilderment, which is both longlisted for the National Book Award and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. That said, if you look at Bookmarks, you can see mixed reviews and even pans, including Dwight Garner in The New York Times and Sam Sacks in The Wall Street Journal, unusual for a book already getting award mentions. Event Adam Roberts's rave in The Guardian should actually be classified as either positive or mixed, calling it "suffocating" and noting there's "much to admire" but "doesn't reach the heights of his previous work." He compares it to Flowers for Algernon.

I can't let that sit. Let's quote Ellen Akins in the Star Tribune: "This all might sound a bit sci-fi technical, but all the scientific razzle-dazzle, including the details of the planets that Theo elaborately imagines for Robbie, simply underlines the human story at its center - and makes the tenderness between father and son seem so real and heartfelt that the novel becomes its own empathy machine. What's more powerful, though, is how the emotions Bewilderment evokes expand far beyond the bond of father and son to embrace the living world and Robin's anguish at its plight, experienced ever more exquisitely as the experiment progresses."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X Kendi
2. Peril, by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa
3. Provoke, by George Tuff
4. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
5. Fuzz, by Mary Roach (Register for September 27 event here)
6. All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days, by Rebecca Donner
7. The Secret History of Food, by Matt Siegel (Register for October 5 event here)
8. Vanderbilt, by Anderson Cooper
9. Unbound, by Tarana Burke
10. Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard

Our new releases about President Trump have taken a bit of a downward sales trajectory, but we saw strong sales of Peril, the conclusion of Bob Woodward's Trump trilogy, with help from Robert Costa. We'll be back in stock shortly. Chris Megerian in Los Angeles Times called it "tedious" - that was a pan, while Ron Elway's positive (per Bookmarks - so nice that I don't have to select the adjective, though as above, I can sometimes question their conclusion) NPR review says that while other revelations are familiar, others have an element of discovery.

One book with nothing but raves (albeit from trade sources rather than the big newspapers is Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement, by Tarana Burke. Kirkus Reviews called it "an unforgettable page-turner of a life story rendered with endless grace and grit." But maybe an endorsement and social media push from Brené Brown is more important that that. She notes: "Sometimes a single story can change the world. Unbound is one of those stories. Tarana’s words are a testimony to liberation and love.” The book is also from Oprah Winfrey's Oprah subimprint of Flatiron.

Paperback Fiction:
1. You Exist Too Much, by Zaina Arafat
2. Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell
3. The Overstory, by Richard Powers
4. Dune (two editions), by Frank Herbert
5. The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich
6. People We Meet on Vacation, by Emily Henry
7. Anxious People, by Fredrick Backman
8. The Lying Life of Adults, by Elena Ferrante
9. Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno Garcia
10. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

When we get a multi-copy purchase, there are several things that will make it show up or not show up on our bestseller list. How new is the book? Is it selling individually as well? Is it a trade title we can easily get for other readers? How crowded is the list - will the bulk orders push out the titles selling to folks shopping at the bookstore or at events? You Exist Too Much passes on all counts, so allow me to share Gabino Iglesias's review on the NPR website: "Arafat tries to do a lot in this novel, and she pulls it off. This is a story about a woman trapped in the interstitial space between different cultures and religions, but it's also about sexual identity and the effects of fear of rejection and codependency. The main character knows what she wants, but she doesn't know why she wants it — and understands that her family will abandon her if she tells them what she wants. Her desires are always in conflict with what she's been told she should want — a good husband, babies, and a nice house. Her struggle with sexuality pushes her towards cocaine, alcohol, and random romantic encounters, but none of that stops the confusion and pain." Plus Roxane Gay called it "my favorite book of the year."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Stamped from the Beginning, by Ibram X Kendi
2. Being Lolita, by Alisson Wood
3. Milwaukee River Greenway, by Eddee Daniel
4. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kemmerer
5. The Best of Me, by David Sedaris
6. The Socrates Express, by Eric Weiner
7. New York Times Cooking No Recipe Recipes, by Sam Sifton
8. The Vapors, by David Hill (Join our virtual book club - details here)
9. Voice of Milwaukee Bronzeville, by Sandra E Jones
10. Inspired, by Rachel Held Evans

The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers has been out in paperback since May and this week pops onto our bestseller list. Eric Weiner (The Geography Genius and The Geography of Bliss, a recent WPR book club selection) gets this praise from Lucinda Robb in The Washington Post: "Part travelogue, part soul-searching memoir and part intellectual matchmaker, Weiner’s book packs an extraordinary amount into 287 pages of text. Erudite, funny and frequently self-deprecating, Weiner serves as your interpreter and guide along the way."

Books for Kids:
1. Change Sings, by Amanda Gorman
2. Antiracist Baby Picture Book, by Ibram X Kendi and Ashley Lukashevsky
3. Stamped, by Ibram X Kendi and Jason Reynolds
4. Last Kids on Earth and the Doomsday Race V7, by Max Brallier
5. Stamped for Kids, by Ibram X Kendi and Jason Reynolds
6. Fallout, by Steve Sheinkin
7. Egg Marks the Spot V2, by Amy Timberlake and Jon Klassen
8. Rite of Passage, by Richard Wright
9. Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao
10. Eek Halloween, by Sandra Boynton

National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, whose poem "The Hill We Climb" was featured at President Biden's inauguration this week released her first picture book. Change Sings has illustrations by Loren Long. From Booklist: "The positive messaging speaks to building bridges rather than walls and embracing differences, and with each new child encountered, the girl hands them an instrument, inviting them to take up the song. A lovely and loving call to action and kindness."

Over at the Journal Sentinel, Jim Higgins has a feature on 21 books by Wisconsin writers for the 21st Century, including works from Ayad Akhtar, Lydia Barry, Jane Hamilton, and Dasha Kelly Hamilton.

This week: Rebecca Donner and Jarrett Adams, plus Mary Roach next Monday

Here's what's going on with Boswell this week. All start times are Central Time.

   

Thursday, September 23, 5 pm
Rebecca Donner, author of All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler
in conversation with Sam Goldberg for a virtual event
Register for the event here.

This event is cohosted by the the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center, and Jewish Museum Milwaukee. Sam Goldberg is the Director of Education for HERC. Please note this is now virtual only. When you sign up, please don't be confused by a sold-out-notice general admission. That's a residue of when the event was hybrid. Instead, you will see an active registration link, which will get you your Zoom link.

Wisconsinites know the story of Mildred Fish-Harnack. Born in Milwaukee, Mildred Fish went to UW-Madison, where she met and married Arvin Harnack. We recently celebrated her birthday - the Hoan Bridge was lit up red in her honor. Her story is not well know to others, but this new book, written by her great great niece, could be changing things.

From a profile by Jane Burn in Isthmus: "Donner, who has previously published a novel and a graphic novel, believed there was a story to tell beyond the basics of Mildred’s story (unfamiliar to many, especially outside Wisconsin). Beyond family insights and new documents, Donner says, there were errors and misconceptions that have been perpetuated over the years."

From her interview with Melissa Ingells on Wisconsin Public Radio's Morning Show: "It was very clear that she was hiding a lot, and she was profoundly misunderstood by family members who saw that 'the old Millie' was no longer there. And that the woman who had replaced her - there was something 'hardened' about her, was a quote from somebody. And she seemed very nervous, and when anybody questioned her about what was going on in Germany, she said, 'We don't talk about that.' She couldn't risk saying anything. And she was convinced at that point that she was under surveillance, too. So her brother actually thought she had lost her mind. And ironically, a few of her college friends thought that she had 'gone Nazi' because she was so stern. And because she seemed so severe. Little did they know."

Rebecca Donner is author of the novel Sunset Terrace and the graphic novel Burnout. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Bookforum, and The Believer. Donner was a fellow at the Leon Levy Center for Biography and is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University, and has taught writing at Wesleyan University, Columbia University, and Barnard College.

Friday, September 24, 12:30 pm
Jarrett Adams, author of Redeeming Justice: From Defendant to Defender, My Fight for Equity on Both Sides of a Broken System
in conversation with Mike Gousha for a virtual event
Register for this event here

This event is cohosted by Marquette University Law School. Mike Gousha serves as a distinguished fellow in law and public policy at Marquette University Law School. An award-winning journalist, Gousha explores important public policy issues through his work at the Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education.

Adams was seventeen when an all-white jury sentenced him to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Now, in this unforgettable memoir, a pioneering lawyer recalls the journey that led to his exoneration - and inspired him to devote his life to fighting the many injustices in our legal system.

Jarrett Adams talked to the Chicago Bar Foundation about why he wrote this book: "By opening myself up in this book, I hope to inspire a new generation to take up this cause. Jarrett Adams Law can make a real difference in representing young Black men who are my clients and the immediate lives around them. In order for me to really make a bigger impact though, we need to inspire everyone to understand and empathize with these issues to build the base of advocates and resources necessary for change."

From People Magazine on his nonprofit: "Life After Justice is the organization that I co-created to help exonerees - and we need support. We need monetary resources. More importantly, we need law firms to donate pro bono hours to help us fix this thing. You fix it by getting people out of prison and helping them gain stability and staying out. Over 50 percent of the people who are currently incarcerated have been incarcerated before. So, that means that our incarceration system is the problem, not the person."

Jarrett Adams earned his Juris Doctorate from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. After working for the Innocence Project in New York, he launched the Law Office of Jarrett Adams, PLLC and now practices in both federal and state courts throughout the country. 

Monday, September 27, 7 pm
Mary Roach, author of Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law
In conversation with Roman Mars for a virtual event
Register for this event here

Join "America’s funniest science writer" (Peter Carlson, Washington Post), Mary Roach, on an irresistible investigation into the unpredictable world where wildlife and humans meet.

This event is cohosted by Schlitz Audubon Nature Center. Roman Mars is the host and creator of 99% Invisible, a sound-rich, narrative podcast about the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world. He is also a co-founder of Radiotopia, a collective of ground-breaking independent podcasts. Most recently, he co-authored The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design. We still have a limited number of tie-in Fuzz patches available with purchase.

From Terry Gross's Fresh Air interview, on how Roach got the idea for this book: "I was flailing around looking for a book topic, as happens every few years, and I got interested in the forensics of wildlife crime - not when the animals are the 'criminals,' but when the animals are the victims. So I got interested in the forensics of animal trafficking, specifically a woman who published a guide for wildlife law enforcement on how to distinguish real versus fake tiger penis that is dried, which is sold medicinally. And I thought, that's kind of a bizarre expertise, and I spoke to her, and I kind of got interested in wildlife forensics. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to tag along on any open cases, and I always like to be on the scene in my books. And so that was a dead end. But as often happens, it morphed into a related topic in which I kind of turned it inside out: What if the animals were the perpetrators of these 'crimes'?"

From Bethany Brookshire in Science News: "The book brims with Roach’s irreverent humor, which particularly shines when she experiences human-animal conflict firsthand. She tastes rat bait to better understand its allure and gets training on how to tell if a human body was mauled by a bear or by a human pretending to be a bear. She even engineers a robbery: 'I had bananas. I was asking for it. I wanted to know what it was like to be mugged by monkeys.'"

Mary Roach is author of best-selling books of nonfiction such as Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, and, most recently, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War. Her writing has appeared in Outside, National Geographic, and the New York Times Magazine.

Photo credits

Rebecca Donner by Beowulf Sheehan

Mary Roach by Jen Siska

Jarrett Adams by Nagine Sakandari

More upcoming events here.

Boswell bestsellers, week ending September 18, 2021

Another exciting fall week at Boswell - here are the bestsellers for the week ending September 18, 2021

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead
2. Beautiful World, Where Are You, by Sally Rooney
3. Apples Never Fall, by Liane Moriarty
4. Matrix, by Lauren Groff (NBA Longlist)
5. The Paper Palace, by Miranda Cowley Heller
6. The Love Songs of WEB Du Bois, by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers (NBA Longlist)
7. Velvet Was the Night, by Silvia Moreno Garcia
8. Slow Fire Burning, by Paula Hawkins
9. Lightning Strike, by William Kent Krueger
10. The Guide, by Peter Heller

Another week of high-profile new releases is led by Colson Whitehead's Harlem Shuffle, his take on a mystery. Bookmarks collected 16 raves and 4 positives on his latest, which also got a great recommendation by Tim at Boswell. From Clifford Thompson in The Wall Street Journal: "The book might be called 'Colson Comes to Harlem,' because in bringing his singular gifts to this storied place, the novelist turns to the crime genre ... In his eminently enjoyable new novel, Mr. Whitehead’s various powers have attained something like equilibrium. The humor and flashes of the old word-wizardry are there, as is the philosophical subtext; race, while not foregrounded the way it is in The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, is woven inextricably into the background, like subtle but effective film music."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Fuzz, by Mary Roach (Register for September 27 event here)
2. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
3. Feed the Wolf, by Jon M Sweeney (Register for September 30 event here)
4. All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days, by Rebecca Donner (Register for September 23 event here)
5. Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson
6. Let's Do Dinner, by Antoni Porowski
7. The Reckoning, by Mary Trump
8. Redeeming Justice, by Jarrett Adams (Register for September 24 event here)
9. The Bomber Mafia, by Malcolm Gladwell
10. Wintering, by Katherine May

It usually seems like we have more bestsellers on the fiction side linked to upcoming events, but nonfiction takes the crown this week with four slots linked to programming. At the head of the pack is Mary Roach's Fuzz - the Fuzz patch give-away certainly helped. We're not quite out yet.

Peter Fish in The San Francisco Chronicle, with his of-the-moment comparison: "Mary Roach is the Deborah Vance of science writing. As played by Jean Smart in the HBO series Hacks, Vance is the raucous, sequin-suited Las Vegas comic who’s made a career mining laughs out of cheating husbands, sleazy boyfriends and botched plastic surgery. And Roach? She’s built her impressive literary presence in part by mining laughs out of topics that fascinate us but also make us squirm. In Stiff, the Oakland author explored what happens to our bodies after we die. (Spoiler alert: nothing pretty.)... Here is Roach’s and Vance’s shared secret: Beneath laughter lies wisdom. What the two grasp is that to truly understand life, death, sex, love and the other mysteries of the universe, it helps to wield some killer jokes."

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich
2. Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo (The current Literary Journeys selection)
3. People We Meet on Vacation, by Emily Henry
4. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
5. Circe, by Madeline Miller
6. Send for Me, by Lauren Fox (Register for September 28 event here)
7. The Overstory, by Richard Powers
8. Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman
9. The Book of Two Ways, by Jodi Picoult
10. Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell

Our bestselling Louise Erdrich hardcover (since we opened in 2009, and going back a little further looking at the Downer Schwartz numbers) remains The Round House by a bit, but It won't be too much longer until The Night Watchman tops that National Book Award winner in paperback sales. It becomes a question of when the award is given and how that falls into the paperback release schedule.

For its second week on sale, the paperback of Jodi Picoult's The Book of Two Ways jumps into our top ten. I can't say whether she's done this before, but this is Picoult's Sliding Doors novel, or should I now call it her Midnight Library novel, about a woman who has two possible futures after a crash landing. Karin Tanabe wrote in The Washington Post, "In the mood to contemplate your own mortality? Then Jodi Picoult has the book for you...The Book of Two Ways is a return for Picoult to the themes of her earliest books - motherhood, complicated romantic love...Picoult, at this point in her career, could skillfully build tension in a broom closet, but the best part of this book is not the suspense; it’s the look at the complexity of a woman as she enters middle age." If you love Picoult, her next book, Wish You Were Here, is coming late November. You might wish to put off preordering for a few weeks - fingers crossed.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Gift of Years, by Joan Chittister
2. My Meteorite, by Harry Dodge
3. New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes, by Sam Sifton
4. We Keep the Dead Close, by Becky Cooper
5. The Lazy Genius Way, by Kendra Adachi
6. Milwaukee River Greenway, by Eddee Daniel
7. On Story Parkway, by Jim Cryns
8. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
9. The Dressmakers of Auschwitz, by Lucy Adlington
10. Universal Christ, by Richard Rohr

There's a story for just about every book in the top 10. We could shout out We Keep the Dead Close, a true crime book that had strong sales and several great recommendations from Boswellians. Or I could note that Milwaukee Greenway (we're getting this book indexed for our website still) inspired a walk with my friend John along the Milwaukee River on Saturday - we found steps to nowhere that probably were the remnants of a path from the train tracks down to the river, where there were several shacks in the past.

Congrats to Jim Cryns for getting his book On Story Parkway: Remembering County Stadium in our top 10 - he's written all kinds of books, but this is selling the best for us of the last few. It's a good year to have a Milwaukee baseball book - The New York Times just profiled Craig Counsell. On Story Parkway has 152 never-seen-before photos.

Books for Kids:
1. Fast Pitch, by Nic Stone
2. Stamped, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi
3. Defy the Night, by Brigid Kemmerer
4. Egg Marks the Spot, by Amy Timberlake and Jon Klassen
5. The Last Kids on Earth and the Doomsday Race V7, by Max Brallier
6. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse and Renee Graef
7. How to Find What You're Not Looking For, by Veera, Hiranandani
8. Eyes of the Forest, by April Henry
9. Playing with Fire, by April Henry
10. Room on the Broom board book, by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

Speaking of baseball, Jenny's been working on a school program for Nic Stone, the author of Dear Martin and other Boswell favorites. Fast Pitch is a middle grade (8 and up) story of the Fulton Firebirds, a girl's softball team and a pitcher, Shenice Lockwood, whose aiming for a regional championship, who is given her Great Grampy JonJon's baseball mitt and uncovers a mystery about his life. Kirkus writes, "This energetic, engaging, complex novel will appeal to readers whether or not they are fans of baseball. A grand slam of an adventure." And Publishers Weekly proclaimed, "Black Girl Magic hits a home run in Stone's latest novel." 

Boswell bestsellers - week ending September 11, 2021 - lots of new releases!

Boswell bestsellers for week ending September 11, 2021

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Beautiful World, Where Are You?, by Sally Rooney
2. Matrix, by Lauren Groff
3. The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All, by Josh Ritter (another debut)
4. The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig
5. The Madness of Crowds, by Louise Penny
6. The Magician, by Colm Tóibín (another debut)
7. We Were Never Here, by Andrea Bartz
8. In the Middle of Others, by Leila Slimani
9. The Nature of Middle Earth, by JRR Tolkin
10. The Heron's Cry, by Ann Cleeves (another debut)

Five debuts in hardcover fiction this week in our top 10. This is where the action is. Topping the newcomers is Sally Rooney's third novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You? It's unusual to see a publisher change after a breakout. Sometimes the new contract was already signed. There's always the case that an Irish author is more closely tied to the UK than the American publisher and FSG's publisher is Mitzi Angel, who came from Faber and Faber, Rooney's UK publisher. Who knows? I'm just watching from the peanut gallery. Over 50 reviews are indexed for this at Bookmarks.

Lauren Groff's Matrix has fewer reviews on Bookmarks (16), but it looks like that is due to an American launch, rather than a worldwide one. She does have a lot of raves. Ron Charles writes in The Washington Post: "Though Matrix is radically different from Groff’s masterpiece, Fates and Furies, it is, once again, the story of a woman redefining both the possibilities of her life and the bounds of her realm... Although there are no clunky contemporary allusions in Matrix, it seems clear that Groff is using this ancient story as a way of reflecting on how women might survive and thrive in a culture increasingly violent and irrational."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
2. Feed the Wolf (Register for September 30 virtual event here)
3. All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days (Register for September 23 virtual event here)
4. On Freedom, by Maggie Nelson
5. The Afghanistan Papers, by Craig Whitlock
6. Poet Warrior, by Joy Harjo
7. Misfits, by Michaela Cole
8. History Makers, by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
9. American Experiment, by David Rubenstein
10. Noise, by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R. Sunstein

Actually half this list is debuts as well, only the numbers at the top are lower than fiction for the newcomers and the Journal Sentinel's History Makers Bucks chronicle isn't first-week new - it's just as fast as we could get it (Call to order it). Three-term poet laureate Joy Harjo's Poet Warrior gets six reviews, all but one raves, but it strikes me that four of the six are the trades (PW, Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus) and the only traditional review is from Marion Winik in the Star Tribune. Don't know why, though I must acknowledge the heavy release schedule. Gabino Iglesias on the NPR website calls the memoir "a wonderful hybrid text that mixes memoir, poetry, songs, and dreams into something unique that opens a window into the most important events of Harjo's life and invites readers to reconnect with themselves - as well as with the land and the knowledge of their people."

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich
2. Dune (two editions), by Frank Herbert
3. Circe, by Madeline Miller
4. Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart
5. Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller
6. Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
7. Send for Me, by Lauren Fox (Register for September 28 event here)
8. People We Meet on Vacation, by Emily Henry
9. Dune Messiah, by Frank Herber
10. Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman

Not a lot of turnover here, but even without the once grand pops of paperback releases (the paperback prices are creeping up faster than hardcovers, making paperbacks less of a deal, exacerbated at Boswell because we discount a lot of hardcovers, but not many paperbacks), there's also the issue that publishers tend to release high profile paperback reprints from January to July more than in the fall. We close to hosting a virtual event for Richard Osman, but our format fell apart when Osman's schedule was condensed. Alas. Rochelle O'Gorman writes of The Thursday Murder Club in the Christian Science Monitor: "Humor is everywhere, and it is very British - smart and a little prickly - but it would not be lost on an American audience. The wit and the plot will bring readers back for more of this series." This paperback release was August, the traditional slot for a series whose hardcovers come out in September (The Man Who Died Twice). Lately we're seeing them faster, but this is the way they used to do them, with the paperback coming out 30-60 days in advance of the next hardcover.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Displaced, edited by Viet Thanh Nguyen
2. My Meteorite, by Harry Dodge
3. Milwaukee River Greenway, by Eddee Daniel
4. The Best of Me, by David Sedaris (Tickets for Riverside appearance on December 10 here)
5. The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls
6. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
7. Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah
8. Undocumented Americans, by Karla Corneyjo Villavicencio
9. Built for This, by The Athletic
10. Reaganland, by Rick Perlstein

We've got an actual first-week pop in paperback nonfiction with David Sedaris's The Best of Me, with his new release, A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries (2003-2020), coming out in October. Hey, it's another paperback 30 days in advance! As noted, the Sedaris appearance at the Riverside now looks firm at December 10, 2021. It was originally scheduled for 2020 spring. In addition to this rescheduling, there are a lot of new dates - my friends at fellow bookstores have been promoting. From Andrew Sean Greer writing about The Best of Me in The New York Times Book Review last year: " Is Amy here? Yep. His mom? His dad? The Rooster who becomes The Juicester? Bien sûr. In fact, this book is all about his family and … all right, I’ll say it: love."

Books for Kids: 

1. Willodeen, by Katherine Applegate
2. The First 100 Words, by Priddy
3. Everywhere Babies, by Susan Meyers
4. Giraffes Can't Dance, by Giles Andreae
5. Baby Faces, from DK
6. Fallout, by Steve Sheinkin (Register for September 14 virtual school visit here - open to the public)
7. Indigenous People's History of the United States for Young People, by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz
8. Fast Pitch, by Nic Stone
9. Eyes of the Forest, by April Henry
10. It's Not the Stork, by Robie H Harris

I wish a switch was thrown and on the first of September, families streamed into Boswell to buy our favorite kids books in bestseller quantities, but that's not the case. However, something does happen, which is that our school visits (all but one virtual this fall) start having an impact. Like regular author tours, these school visits are scheduled by publishers not just to have the initial pops but to prime many of these titles for holiday sales later. Our first big appearance was for Katherine Applegate, whose new book is Willodeen. Booklist writes: " You know you're in for a treat with an Applegate fantasy, but when she dreams up hummingbears - tiny, winged bears that nest in bubbles - it's instantly catapulted into irresistible territory. For Willodeen, who happens to have a flightless hummingbear as a pet, her heart is far more occupied with the welfare of unlovable creatures, namely the widely detested screechers - grumpy combo of skunk (odor), warthog (snout, tusks), beaver (tail), and porcupine (quills)."

Over at the Journal Sentinel, I missed giving a shout out to Jim Higgins' piece on which Wisconsin writers appear in the New Yale Book of Quotations. 

Coming up next, four Boswell events on the docket.

Boswell bestsellers, week ending September 4, 2021

Boswell bestsellers, week ending September 4, 2021

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Madness of Crowds, by Louise Penny
2. Lightning Strike, by William Kent Krueger
3. The Last Thing He Told Me, by Laura Dave
4. A Slow Fire Burning, by Paula Hawkins
5. The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig
6. The Final Girl Support Group, by Grady Hendrix
7. The Comfort of Monsters, by Willa C Richards
8. Raft of Stars, by Andrew J Graff
9. Shoulder Season, by Christina Clancy
10. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir

The top debut this week is Paula Hawkin's A Slow Fire Burning, following Into the Water and the megahit Girl on the Train. To me, four years is a long time for thrillers, but she can't beat Gillian Flynn. It's been nine years since Gone Girl. Malcolm Forbes called her latest a "compulsively readable whodunit" in the Star Tribune. The story focuses on three women who might have killed the man in the houseboat, repeated stabbed with a smile carved into his face. As Forbes notes, "The source of its narrative force is its compellingly unpredictable characters. As Miriam (one of the protagonist/suspects puts it, 'We all have our monstrous moments.'"

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days, by Rebecca Donner (Register for this now-virutal September 23 event here)
2. Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson
3. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
4. Refugee High, by Elly Fishman
5. Hero of Two Worlds, by Mike Duncan
6. Weekday Vegetarians, by Jenny Rosenstarch
7. Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman
8. The Afghanistan Papers, by Craig Whitlock
9. How the Word Is Passed, by Clint Smith
10. Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard

Published on the date of the final withdrawal, The Afghansitan Papers: A Secret History of the War, is written by three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Craig Whitlock of The Washington Post. The book was reviewed with Carter Malkesian's American War in Afghanistan in The New York Times by Fredrik Logevall. He writes: "The two volumes constitute a powerful one-two punch, covering as they do the key developments in the war and reaching broadly similar conclusions, but with differing emphases. Malkasian provides greater detail and context, while Whitlock’s United States-centric account is fast-paced and vivid, and chock-full of telling quotes. Both authors paint a picture of an American war effort that, after breathtaking early success, lost its way, never to recover."

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich (Book Club authorless discussion on October 4)
2. People We Meet on Vacation, by Emily Henry
3. Dune (two paperback editions), by Frank Herbert
4. Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller
5. The Overstory, by Richard Powers
6. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe 

7. The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune
8. Lakewood, by Megan Giddings
9. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
10. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong

Several authors on the paperback top ten have new releases coming this fall. Louise Erdrich's The Sentence is a ghost story mystery set in an independent bookstore in Minneapolis, much like the real-life Birchbark Books. It comes weeks after the In-Store Lit Group discusses The Night Watchman. The follow-up to Richard Powers's The Overstory is Bewilderment, a story about an astrophysicist set in Madison, Wisconsin. Pub date for that one is September 21, just two weeks away! Also out that day is Under the Whispering Door, the next novel for adults by TJ Klune, author of the bestselling The House in the Cerulean Sea, is about a newly dead man who is given a week to live out his life before crossing over. I think I got that right - we already have a great rec from Boswellian Jen Steele.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Indigenous People's History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz
2. Banned Book Club, by Kim Hyun Sook
3. Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah
4. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
5. Life in Short, by Dasha Kelly
6. The Vapors, by David Hill
7. The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls
8. Epic Hikes of the World, by Lonely Planet
9. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
10. American Nations, by Colin Woodard

Speaking of the In-Store Lit Group, which hasn't met in store for the last 18 months, our November selection is The Vapors: A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America's Forgotten Capital of Vice, a nonfiction book (I like to include at least one narrative nonfiction title) by David Hill. It is crime history of Hot Springs, which once looked like it might be the Southeast equivalent of Las Vegas, but it's also a family story, so in that way, it reminds me of Rich Cohen's work (Sweet and Low et al). 

From Jonathan Miles's New York Times review which convinced me to read it: "Most mob stories — even The Godfather — are essentially business stories, their dramatic conflicts arising from structure, succession and competition (and their appeal, I suspect, deriving from their portrayal of capitalism without its inert ingredients). In The Vapors, Madden and Harris’s rise is fueled by palm-greasing, ballot-stuffing, judge-bribing, loophole-hunting and various other tricks and ploys designed to keep the feds and rival mobsters at bay. The closest we get to a mob hit is when Frank Costello, the New York crime boss, visits the Maddens for dinner, and, after a single taste, insults Agnes Madden’s spaghetti and meatballs. 'Agnes did not hesitate,' Hill writes. 'She picked up the bowl and dumped it right on Costello’s head.' Southern hospitality has its limits."

Books for Kids:
1. Stamped, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi
2. Ghostly Tales of Milwaukee, by Anna Lardinois (Register for October 2, 11 am outdoor event)
3. Rite of Passage, by Richard Wright
4. Egg Marks the Spot V2, by Amy Timberlake/Jon Klassen (Register for September 15, 2 pm virtual event with Timberlake)
5. Skunk and Badger V1, by Amy Timberlake/Jon Klassen
6. Mindful Mr Sloth, by Katy Hudson
7. Tomatoes for Neela, by Padma Lakshmi
8. Any Way the Wind Blows V3, by Rainbow Rowell
9. Ace of Spades, by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
10. Take Me With You When You Go, by David Levithan

The kids numbers are still a bit low before school starts and our schedule is crowded with virtual (and one in-person) school visits, but Ace of Spades has been selling consistently well since its spring release to deserve special mention. Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is a contemporary YA thriller (and Indie Next pick) about two students attempting to confront an anonymous bully. School Library Journal noted in their star review that "readers will love this thriller-mystery reminiscent of Gossip Girl and Get Out. The plot keeps readers guessing."

Over at the Journal Sentinel, Book and Arts Editor Jim Higgins profiles two book about Marquette, Black Marquette: In Their Own Words, and Linked by Ink: Marquette Journalism Grads Reflect on Six Decades.