1. Our Missing Hearts, by Celeste Ng
2. Under a Veiled Moon, by Karen Odden (Register for October 26 in-person event here)
3. Lucy by the Sea, by Elizabeth Strout
4. Babel, by RF Kuang
5. Illuminations, by Alan Moore
6. Shrines of Gaiety, by Kate Atkinson
7. The Whalebone Theatre, by Joanna Quinn
8. The Winners, by Fredrik Backman
9. The Golden Enclaves, by Naomi Novik
10. The Bullet That Missed, by Richard Oman
Our top debut this week is Illuminations, the first-ever story collection from Alan Moore, the acclaimed comic book writer of V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. Needless to say, Bloomsbury keeps the Neil Gaiman quote up front, which includes this turn of phrase: "Both mind-expanding and cosmic while utterly rooted in our urban reality, written in language that coruscates, concatenates and glitters." I had to look up coruscate, but I think I know what concatenate means from using the function on Excel.
1. The Book of Boundaries, by Melissa Urban
2. Bad Vibes Only, by Nora McInerny (we're just about at capacity, but as of now, there are a couple of spots left for October 20 event)
3. Slenderman, by Kathleen Hale
4. The Brain-Friendly Workplace, by Friederike Fabritius
5. Crossing the DMZ, by Dennis Darmek (signed copies available)
6. I'm Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy
7. Confidence Man, by Maggie Haberman
8. American Midnight, by Adam Hochschild
9. Sondheim and Me, by Paul Salini (Register for October 18 in person event here)
10. Painting Can Save Your Life, by Sara Woster (Register for November 2 in person event here)
It's a very event-driven list this week with three upcoming and three just-occurred events out of ten slots. For the rest, it's the second week of top 10 sales for Adam Hochschild's American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis, which looks at the violence and harassment perpetuated on immigrants, labor organizers, and people of color. . Five raves and a positive on Book Marks - this from Thomas Meaney in The New York Times: "At a time when professional doom-mongering about democracy has become one of the more inflationary sectors of the American economy, it is tonic to be reminded by Adam Hochschild’s masterly new book, American Midnight, that there are other contenders than the period beginning in 2016 for the distinction of Darkest Years of the Republic. By some measures - and certainly in many quarters of the American left - the years 1917-21 have a special place in infamy."
1. The Bronze Drum, by Phong Nguyen (signed copies available)
2. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
3. For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
4. Once Upon a December, by Amy E Reichert (Register for November 30 in-person event here)
5. A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J Maas
6. Bunny, by Mona Awad
7. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
8. The Personal Librarian, by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
9. Still Life, by Sarah Winman (Join a Boswell book club - we're discussing Still Life in December).
10. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro (Tomorrow! - Books & Beer Book Club)
Being that our sales on Mona Awad's Bunny are so strong, and noting that it has a rec card, but is not specifically on someone's rec shelf, I took a look on Edelweiss inventory sharing site. We're doing well, but nine stores have sales in the triple digits for the past 12 months. With momentum like that, and being the kind of book it is (the critics have compared it to Carrie, Mean Girls, Heathers, The Secret History), how is this not in streamer development? But wait, it did score a deal, back in 2019 - more on Deadline. We'll see if it makes its way to a finished product.
1. There Is No Backstage, by Linda Stephens (signed copies available)
2. Memorable Milwaukee, by Darlene Wesenberg Rzezotarski
3. A History of Milwaukee Drag, by BJ Daniels and Michail Takach (Register for October 24 in-person event here)
4. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
5. Getting Lost, by Annie Ernaux
6. Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest, by Teresa Marrone
7. Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold
8. The Complete Mushroom Hunter Revised, by Gary Lincoff
9. 111 Places in Milwaukee That You Must Not Miss, by Michelle Madden
10. The Birdman of Koshkonong, by Martha Bergland
That mushroom table's time is nearing its end as holiday ornaments, boxed cards, and themed books call dibs on display tables. It's had a good run - two books in our top ten again this week - Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest and The Complete Mushroom Hunter. If you live in Milwaukee or Chicago areas and shop for mushrooms, you probably shop at the farmers market stands of River Valley Ranch. I am a regular at the one at South Shore Park. I hope to visit their store in Burlington on the off season. And if you missed the Wall Street Journal article about mushrooms that featured Boswell, here it is. I think you'll see the shout out before the pay wall kicks in.
1. Our World of Dumplings, by Francie Dekker/Sarah Jung
2. Moving to Mars, by Stef Wade/Erin Taylor
3. A Place for Pluto, by Stef Wade/Melanie Demmer
4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by JK Rowling/Jim Kay
5. The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani
6. Two Roads, by Joseph Bruchac
7. My Brother Sam is Dead, by James Collier
8. Our Shadows Have Claws, by Yamile Saied Mendez
9. The Birthday of the World, by Rachel Naomi Remen/Rachell Sumpter
10. A Rover's Story, by Jasmine Warga
Soman Chainani visited area schools, Boswell, and an area library over more than one visit. Now his book series, The School for Good and Evil, has become a Netflix series. 106 reviews on Google rate it a 4.9 out of 5. I'd post a review but it actually hasn't opened yet (October 19 is the date), which calls those reviews into question, doesn't it? Here's a preview in Bloody Disgusting, which I'm sure you guessed is a horror fan site.
Up next - Boswell weekly event blog
No comments:
Post a Comment