Sunday, September 25, 2022

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending September 24, 2022

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending September 24, 2022

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Lucy by the Sea, by Elizabeth Strout
2. Less Is Lost, by Andrew Sean Greer (Tickets for September 30 event here)
3. The Bullet that Missed V3, by Richard Osman
4. The Marriage Portrait, by Maggie O'Farrell
5. The Old Place, by Bobby Finger
6. All This Could Be Different, by Sarah Thankam Mathews
7. The Ski Jumpers, by Peter Geye (Register for today's 2 pm event here until 1 - limited walk-up registration available)
8. Fairy Tale, by Stephen King
9. Ink Black Heart, by Robert Galbraith
10. Marple: Twelve New Mysteries inspired by Agatha Christie (no editor listed - I'll do more sleuthing)

Bobby Finger debuts this week with The Old Place, complete with advance blurbs from Emma Straub and Rumaan Alam. Kirkus writes: "In his first novel, New York-based journalist and podcaster Finger delves into the intricate entanglements of a small Texas town with flinty, sharply observed affection. Yes, everyone knows everybody's business in Billington, where gossip is the currency; yes, much of the town's social life during the week in August 2014 when this novel takes place revolves around the annual church picnic; and yes, outsiders are the exception in Billington, where traditional values hold sway. But do not expect cowboy swagger or cartoonish hayseeds from Finger, who grew up in Texas...A surprising page-turner - homey, funny, yet with dark corners of anger and grief."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Dinners with Ruth, by Nina Totenberg
2. What If 2, by Randall Munroe
3. I'm Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy
4. The Divider, by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser
5. The Mosquito Bowl, by Buzz Bissinger
6. Catching Excellence, by Chuck Carlson
7. The Constitution in Jeopardy, by Russ Feingold and Peter Prindiville
8. Sacred Nature, by Karen Armstrong
9. Indigenous Continent, by Pekka Hämäläinen
10. An Immense World, by Ed Yong

After a relatively light summer of nonfiction (I guess publishers don't see these books for beach reading), serious nonfiction heats up in September. This week saw the release of Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America from Oxford University scholar and Bancroft Prize-winner Pekka Hämäläinen. From Kirkus: "A vigorous, provocative study of Native American history by one of its most accomplished practitioners." And Publishers Weekly: "This top-notch history casts the story of America in an astonishing new light."

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, by Bianca Marais
2. The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich
3. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
4. Verity, by Colleen Hoover
5. The Second Home, by Christina Clancy
6. Shoulder Season, by Christina Clancy
7. This Tender Land, by William Kent Krueger
8. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
9. The Kiss Curse, by Erin Sterling
10. Shady Hollow, by Juneau Black

Only one new release this week - The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling. It continues the march of witchy fiction that has come to define Spooktember. Booklist is enthusiastic: "This glittery romance featuring the cousin and brother of Vivi and Rhys from The Ex Hex is truly a delight."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Growing Up Little Chute, by John M Van Lieshout
2. Owning Grief, by Gael Garbarino Cullen (Register for November 11 event here)
3. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
4. The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay
5. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
6. Invisible Child, by Andrea Elliott
7. Fever of Unknown Origin, by Judith Ford
8. Tacky, by Rax King
9. Fuzz by Mary Roach
10. Entangled Life, by Merlin Sheldrake

The Book of DelightsRoss King's exuberant collection of essays, was released in paperback in April after three years, just in time for his newest collection, Inciting Joy, which has a pub date of October 25. From the new book's Kirkus review: "A prizewinning poet's thoughts about grief, gratitude, and happiness... Gay, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry for Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude, ruminates about joy in a warm, candid memoir composed of 12 essays. In prose that veers between breezy and soulful, the author reflects on a wide range of topics, including basketball, dancing, skateboarding, couples' therapy, music, masculinity, and his father's cancer."

Books for Kids:
1. Best Wishes V1, by Sarah Mylnowski
2. Shot Clock, by Caron Butler and Justin A Reynolds
3. Upside Down Magic, by Sarah Mlynowski
4. Our World of Dumplings, by Francie Dekker (signed copies available)
5. Fairest of All V1: Whatever After, by Sarah Mylnowski
6. Farmhouse, by Sophie Blackall
7. Spy School Project X, by Stuart Gibbs
8. The Girl from the Sea, by Molly Knox Ostertag
9. Moving to Mars, by Stef Wade
10. Noodle and the No Bones Day, by Jonathan Graziano/Dan Tavis

We recently did a virtual school visit with Sarah Mlynowski for Best Wishes, her latest. From Kirkus, a bestseller annotator's best friend, so it appears: "Be careful what you wish for. Becca, who lives on New York City's Upper West Side, is planning a sleepover for her 10th birthday. But her best, and only, friend, Harper, seems uninterested, admitting that she has a new best friend. After the two have a falling out, Becca is truly friendless. Everything changes when she receives a mysterious box containing a magic bracelet with a poem saying that the bracelet will ease her sadness and will provide a single wish. She is instructed to mail the bracelet forward when it is no longer needed...A coming-of-age tale told with humor, compassion, and more than a touch of magic."

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