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.