Boswell bestsellers, week ending July 29, 2023

Boswell bestsellers, week ending July 29, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Dead Eleven, by Jimmy Juliano
2. The Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
3. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
4. Crook Manifesto, by Colson Whitehead
5. Yellowface, by RF Kuang
6. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
7. Light Bringer V6, by Pierce Brown
8. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonie Garmus
9. Somebody's Fool, by Richard Russo
10. Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano

Richard Russo's North Bath Trilogy comes to an end (following Nobody's Fool and Everybody's Fool) with Somebody's Fool, unless of course it becomes a quartet, but then there's the problem of finding another "body." From Ron Charles in The Washington Post: "Russo has become our national priest of masculine despair and redemption. The gruff grace that he traffics in might seem sentimental next to the merciless interrogation of John Updike’s Rabbit series or the philosophical musings of Richard Ford’s novels about Frank Bascombe. But Russo understands the appeal, even the necessity, of those absurd affections that exceed all reason and make the travails of human life endurable."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
2. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond
3. The Wager, by David Grann
4. The French Art of Living Well, by Cathy Yandell (Register for August 11 Boswell event here)
5. The Heat Will Kill You First, by Jeff Goodell
6. Baking Yesteryear, by B Dylan Hollis
7. The New Art of Coffee, by Ryan Castelaz
8. How to Read a Tree, by Tristan Gooley
9. The Year That Broke Politics, by Luke A Nichter
10. First to the Front, by Lorissa Rinehart

For folks who loved Elinor Lipman's novel Ms Demeanor who wondered, is this recreating old baking recipes on YouTube a thing? It is, and one of the most popular purveyors is B Dylan Hollis, whose book is Baking Yesteryear: The Best Recipes from the 1900s to the 1980s. I read in our bookseller notes that this was one of the most preordered Penguin Random House books ever.

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig
2. A Death in Door County, by Annelise Ryan (Register for August 23 Whitefish Bay Library event here)
3. Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St John Mandel
4. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
5. A Court of Thorns and Roses V1, by Sarah J Maas
6. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
7. Carrie Soto Is Back, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
8. Daisy Darker, by Alice Feeney
9. Notes on an Execution, by Danya Kukafka
10. A Court of Mist and Fury V2, by Sarah J Maas

In Daisy Darker, the fifth novel from Alice Feeney, a island family reunion leads to murder! From the starred Booklist: " Take one crumbling Victorian mansion, the only habitation on an island edged with treacherous cliffs off the Cornish coast. Fill it with warring relatives and murderous motives. Stir in a ticking clock in the form of a tide that cuts everyone off from the mainland for eight hours. Result? A sinisterly satisfying play on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, as crafted by Feeney."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1 American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin J
Sherwin 

2. Jews in the Garden, by Judy Rakowsky (Register for August 10 Boswell event)
3. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
4. The Philosophy of Walking, by Frederic Gros
5. Joy Ride, by Kriste Jokinen (Register for July 31 Boswell event here)
6. Dopamine Nation, by Anna Lembke 

7. All About Love, by bell hooks 8. Save the Cat!, by Jessica Brody 

9. A Short History of Queer Women, by Kirsty Loehr 

10. The Dawn of Everything, by David Graeber and David Wengrow

A Short History of Queer Women is Kirsty Loehr's informative and humorous historical survey which has been selling off our front tables since its American release last November. From Publishers Weekly: "Beginning with Sappho, the ancient Greek poet who was exiled from the island of Lesbos because of her forbidden desire, and ending with Naome Ruzindana and Li Tingting, queer activists who have been persecuted by the governments of South Africa and China, respectively, Loehr draws on a diverse range of first- and secondhand sources to portray the queer dimensions of her subjects' lives."

Books for Kids: 

1. Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea, by Dav Pilkey
2. Bluey: The Pool, from Penguin Young Readers
3. The Eyes and the Impossible, by Dave Eggers
4. Peekaboo House, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
5. Peekaboo Sun, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
6. The Red Jacket, by Bob Holt
7. This Winter, by Alice Oseman
8. I Must Betray You, by Ruta Sepetys
9. Peekaboo Baby, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
10. See the Cat, by David LaRocdhelle and Mike Wohnoutka (Keep your eye out - David and Mike are coming to town October)

The UPS strike didn't happen, but many publishers prepared for that eventuality by releasing books early. Some publishers are having us stage the releases while others gave us permission to put out books earlier. Alice Oseman's This Winter: A Heartstopper Novella has a September 5 on sale date, but this is one of the books where permission was granted. From Kirkus: "Although the story handles heavy themes of mental illness, Oseman balances the fraught emotions with tender moments and a hopeful but honest outlook on recovery that emphasizes the value of therapy. There will be greater emotional impact for those familiar with the original stories, but as a bonus entry, this novella has high appeal for devoted fans. Occasional illustrations add to the charm. Short and sweet."

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending July 22, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending July 22, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
2. Crook Manifesto V2, by Colson Whitehead
3. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
4. Sleepless City, by Reed Farrel Coleman
5. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
6. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
7. The Collector, by Daniel Silva
8. Silver Nitrate, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
9. Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, by J Ryan Stradal
10. Yellowface, by RF Kuang

Top debut honors go to Crook Manifesto, Colson Whitehead's second Ray Carney novel. Boswellian Tim McCarthy noted, of the latest: "I took my sweet time, savoring every literary morsel." Plus Gabriel Bump writes in The Washington Post: "With these books, Whitehead has identified deficiencies in the noir genre, and injected beauty and grace into its often too-predictable and clichéd conventions."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Owner of a Lonely Heart, by Beth Nguyen
2. Redeeming Justice, by Jarrett Adams
3. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
4. Peking Express, by James M Zimmerman
5. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond
6. The Heat Will Kill You First, by Jeff Goodell
7. The Devil's Element by Dan Egan
8. Pageboy, by Eliot Page
9. Glucose Revolution, by Jessie Inchaupse
10. The New Cooking School Cookbook, by America's Test Kitchen

Lots of great press for The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet probably helped launch Jeff Goodell's book into a national bestseller, but a record breaking prolonged heat wave isn't hurting either. From Jennifer Szalai in The New York Times: "Complacency would only compound the horror, which perhaps explains the tenor of this book: scary, yes, though decidedly not alarmist, considering so much of what he describes is already happening." Also a staff rec from our buyer Jason and another read from Jenny.

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Cat Who Saved Books, by Sosuke Natsukawa
2. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
3. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
4. Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller
5. When the Hibiscus Falls, by M Evelina Galang (Register for August 8 Boswell event here)
6. A Death in Door County, by Annelise Ryan (Register for August 23 library event here)
7. When Women Were Dragons, by Kelly Barnhill
8. Shady Hollow, by Juneau Black (Register for November 7 Boswell event here)
9. The Blacktongue Thief, by Christopher Buehlman
10. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I noted that three of our top ten authors have upcoming events. I should note that the Annelise Ryan program on August 23 (A Death in Door County released this week in paperback) is sort of responsible for two of them, as Sharon Nagel (of Juneau Black) is the conversation partner for this event. Then in December for book #2, Ryan will talk to Patricia Skalka, her fellow Door County chronicler. And next week, Jimmy Julian's Dead Eleven is also set just off the peninsula.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Kodachrome Milwaukee, by Adam Levin
2. Jews in the Garden, by Judy Rakowsky (Register for August 10 Boswell event here)
3. Joy Ride, by Kristen Jokinen (Register for July 31 Boswell event here)
4. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
5. Two Wheels Good, by Judy Rosen
6. A Year in the Woods, by Torbjor Ekelund
7. The Black Attache, by JK Cheema (Register for August 29 event here)
8. Walking Milwaukee, by Royal Brevvaxling and Molly Snyder
9. Murdle V1, by GT Karber
10. American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherman

The paperback release of Two Wheels Good: The History and Mystery of the Bicycle was in June, but last week was its best showing, perhaps appealing to fans signing up for our Kristen Jokinen event for Joy Ride on July 31. From Charles Finch's review in The New York Times: "Two Wheels Good takes the form of bricolage, blending meticulous historical research, local reporting from bicycle-dependent locales like Bhutan and Bangladesh and personal memories of riding in New York and Boston. Rosen is arguably strongest in the first of these three styles, but the book excels across all of them and, in its curious, mingled character, calls to mind Bill Bryson, John McPhee, Rebecca Solnit — obsessives, for whom the material world and their own infinitesimal presence within it constitute the most natural subject of artistic inquiry."

Books for Kids:
1. Curious George's First Day of School, by Margaret and HA Rey
2. The Night Before Kindergarten, by Natasha Wing
3. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renee Graef
4. Nimona, by ND Stevenson
5. Heartstopper V1, by Alice Osema
6. Scythe,V1, by Neal Shusterman
7. Peekaboo House, by Camilla Reid, illustratios by Ingela P Arrhenius
8. True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, by Kathi Appelt
9. The Eyes and the Impossible, by Dave Eggers
10. Goddesses and Heroines, by Jean Menzies, illustrations by Katie Ponder

Goddesses and Heroines: Meet More Than 80 Legendary Women from Around the World was released on July 11 and hits our top 10 in its second week. This looks like one of our oversized kids nonfiction books where the authors name might not even be listed on the cover, but this DK book is clearly branded - Jean Menzies is a podcaster, vlogger (I guess that's more generally described as YouTuber), and winner of the Books Are My Bag Breakthrough Author Award 2020 for Greek Myths.

Boswell bestsellers, week ending July 15, 2023

Boswell bestsellers, week ending July 15, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Spare Room, by Andrea Bartz
2. The Writing Retreat, by Julia Bartz
3. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
4. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
5. Dead Eleven, by Jimmy Juliano (Register for July 28 Boswell event here)
6. Yellowface, by RF Kuang
7. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
8. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
9. All the Sinners Bleed, by SA Cosby
10. Sleepless City, by Reed Farrel Coleman (Register for July 20 Boswell event here)

It's relatively unusual for the big book clubs to pick a selection months after release date, quite a change from the original Oprah's book club, which picked several titles out of publishing obscurity. Don't worry, the new Reese pick, Yellowface, is still a hardcover.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, by Lisa Damour
2. The Peking Express, by James M Zimmerman (Register for July 17 Boswell event here)
3. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond
4. Beyond the Story, by BTS and Myeongseok Kang
5. Redeeming Justice, by Jarrett Adams (Register for July 19 Boswell event here)
6. A Guide to Midwestern Conversation, by Taylor Kay Phillips (Register for August 9 Boswell event here)
7. Outlive by Peter Attia and Bill Gifford
8. A Fever in the Heartland, by Timothy Egan
9. The Devil's Element, by Dan Egan
10. The Heat Will Kill You First, by Jeff Gooddell

While most books have a Tuesday on-sale date, James Patterson titles release on Monday, and many independent presses have random weekdays as pub date (not on-sale date, you can generally put these out as they arrive), a Sunday on-sale is almost unknown. But that's the case for the BTS book Beyond the Story. We still have some gift-with-purchase premiums for buyers.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
2. Tatami Galaxy, by Tomihiko Morimi (Upcoming Boswell-run book club meetings here)
3. We Were Never Here, by Andrea Bartz
4. Latecomer, by Jean Hanff Korelitz
5. Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller
6. Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St John Mandel
7. Switchboard Soldiers, by Jennifer Chiaverini (Register for August 9 Tosa Library event here)
8. The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles
9. Bunny by Mona Award
10. Cult Classic, by Sloane Crosley

We had a pop in sales for Tatami Galaxy, but I don't actually think this was for the Books and Beer Book Club, which meets tomorrow. We might see another appearance next week. Tomihiko Morimi's novel was shortlisted for the PEN translation prize. It was described as Midnight Library-esque.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Kodachrome Milwaukee, by Adam Levin (Register for July 21 Boswell event here)
2. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
3. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
4. Murdle V1, by GT Karber
5. American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin
6. A Philosophy of Walking, by Frederic Gros
7. Joy Ride, by Kristen Jokinen (Register for July 31 Boswell event here)
8. Solito, by Javier Zamora
9. All About Love, by bell hooks
10. Brewtown Tales, by John Gurda

A movie in theaters spurs book sales? How old-fashioned! But that's the case for American Prometheus, which is breaking with the release of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. Variety gathers up the first critical impressions, which are enthusiastic.

Books for Kids
1. The Skull, by Jon Klassen
2. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renee Graef
3. Peekaboo Sun by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
4. Nimona, by ND Stevenson
5. In the Night Garden, by Carin Berger
6. Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea, by Dav Pilkey
7. Peekaboo Farm, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
8. The Eyes and the Impossible, by Dave Eggers
9. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willem
10. The Sun and the Star, by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro

Now that's more like it. Nimona is back on bestseller lists, spurred by the Netflix streaming series debut. The original release was a National Book Award finalist. Here's the Entertainment Weekly review of the series.

Boswell bestsellers for week ending July 8, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for week ending July 8, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
2. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
3. Happy Place, by Emily Henry
4. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
5. Yellowface, by RF Kuang
6. The Librarianist, by Patrick deWitt
7. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
8. Zero Days, by Ruth Ware
9. When in Rome, by Liam Callanan
10. I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home, by Lorrie Moore

Top debut this week goes to The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt. His top book is still The Sisters Brothers, though his last, French Exit, made up ground from Undermajordomo Minor. From Kirkus: "An old man's routines are interrupted by a woman in pink in this wistful fable." From Library Journal: "The Booker Prize-shortlisted deWitt creates an endearing character in Bob Comet, who, at the age of 72, and after a lifetime of low expectations, finds life's answers and the friends he deeply needs. This novel begs to be read."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
2. Pageboy, by Elliot Page
3. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond
4. Guide to Midwestern Conversation, by Taylor Kay Phillips (Register for August 9 Boswell event here)
5. The Devil's Element, by Dan Egan
6. On the Origins of Time, by Thomas Hertog
7. Outlive, by Peter Attia and Bill Gifford
8. The Book of Cocktail Ratios, by Michael Ruhlman
9. A Fever in the Heartland, by Timothy Egan
10. The Peking Express, by James M. Zimmerman (Register for July 17 Boswell event here)

We don't see too many Bantam nonfiction titles anymore, but On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking's Final Theory, is a follow-up to one of Bantam's bestselling books ever, A Brief History of Time. From Sean Carroll: ""Like his mentor and colleague Stephen Hawking, Thomas Hertog has never shied away from being ambitious in theorizing about the universe. This sweeping book provides an accessible overview of both what we know about cosmology and some audacious ideas for moving into the unknown. It is an introduction to Hawking's final theory, but also a glimpse into even grander theories yet to come."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
2. The Cartographers, by Peng Shepherd
3. The House in the Cerulean Sea, by T.J. Klune
4. The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman
5. The Mountain in the Sea, by Ray Nayler
6. Lapvona, by Ottessa Moshfegh
7. The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig
8. The Rabbit Hutch, by Tess Gunty
9. Plain Bad Heroines, by Emily M. Danforth
10. A World of Curiosities, by Louise Penny

The National Book Award winner The Rabbit Hutch gets a hardcover-like treatment from Vintage. It's rare that there's actually less artwork on the paperback reprint, but this edition is literally but not figuratively heartless. Tess Gunty visited us the hardcover tour and it was one of those situations where we wish we'd bought a lot lot more books to get signed. Clea Simon in The Boston Globe: "Hildegard of Bingen had little to say about human connectivity, being more concerned with the divine. But the spirit of the 12th-century mystic runs through The Rabbit Hutch, uniting and celebrating the disparate misfit residents of the low-rent apartment complex of the same name in Tess Gunty’s transcendent debut novel."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Joy Ride, by Kristen Jokinen (Register for July 31 Boswell event here)
2. Slenderman, by Kathleen Hale
3. Kodachrome Milwaukee, by Adam Levin (Register for July 21 Boswell event here)
4. River of the Gods, by Candice Millard
5. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
6. Murdle, by G.T. Karber
7. Frank Lloyd Wright's Wisconsin by Kristine Hansen
8. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmmerer
9. Happy-Go-Lucky, by David Sedaris
10. Dopamine Nation, by Anna Lembke

We've been promoting our event with Kristen Jokinen for Joy Ride: A Bike Odyssey from Alaska to Argentina for a while, but there's no question an email feature in our newsletter drove interest this week. Our purchases spiked on Friday, which is when we pushed send on the feature. Hey, it doesn't always work that way, but we usually have a market for bicycle narratives. A nice introduction from Cheryl Strayad doesn't hurt either.

Books for Kids:
1. Scythe V1: Future Perfect, by Neal Shusterman
2. Peekaboo Farm, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P. Arrhenius
3. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renee Graef
4. Dog Man V11: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea, by Dav Pilkey
5. Peekaboo Pumpkin, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P. Arrhenius
6. Big Tree, by Brian Selznick
7. The Eyes and the Impossible, by Dave Eggers
8. Dragon Hoops, by Gene Luen Yang
9. Finding My Dance, by Ria Thundercloud
10. Best Flower Ever, by Neesha Hudson

The Best Flower Ever! is the follow-up to the Boswell bestseller Turtle in a Tree, due to a hand-selling charge led by Jenny. We were #1 on Edelweiss for sales for a long time. From the publisher: "An Australian shepherd thinks he has the most special flower in the world. He loves the way it smells and how soft it is and how the petals tickle his nose. But one by one, more dogs show up with flowers that seem to be even more special than his! A humongous sunflower with a bejeweled pot? A plant that can survive in the desert? How could his little flower compete against those? But when he accidentally destroys his flower, this pup learns that just because other flowers are special doesn't mean his can't be too."

Boswell bestsellers, week ending July 1, 2023

Boswell bestsellers, week ending July 1, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano
2. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
3. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
4. Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
5. I am Homeless If This Is Not My Home, by Lorrie Moore
6. Happy Place, by Emily Henry
7. Yellow Face, by RF Kuang
8. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
9. Good Night Irene, by Luis Alberto Urrea
10. The Rachel Incident, by Caroline O'Donoghue

It's now been over 14 years since we hosted Lorrie Moore for her last novel, A Gate at the Stairs. It's one thing to convince a publisher to send over an author from Madison; it's another to detour them from Nashville. Hope all you fans were paying attention - she was at the Harold Washington Library last Wednesday. From Maureen Corrigan on NPR's Fresh Air: "As a writer, Lorrie Moore is an all-American genius-eccentric. When I reviewed her 2014 short story collection Bark, I likened her — in her loopy, macabre vision — to Emily Dickinson; Moore's new novel, I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home, only intensifies that comparison."

Also, Jenny would like me to give a shout out to The Rachel Incident, which she loves.   Click on the title to read her rec.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond
2. Sea Change, by Christina Gerhardt
3. Outlive, by Petter Attia and Bill Gifford
4. Stay True, by Hua Hsu
5. King: A Life, by Jonathan Eig
6. A Fever in the Heartland, by Timothy Egan
7. What an Owl Knows, by Jennifer Ackerman (Register for September 6 virtual event here)
8. Braiding Sweetgrass (hardcover edition), by Robin Wall Kimmerer
9. Pagans, by Ethan Doyle White
10. The Wager, by David Grann

I don't often get to shout out Thames and Hudson titles on this blog, so it's nice to see a sales pop (and not a bulk order) for Pagans: The Visual Culture of Pagan Myths, Legends and Rituals from Ethan Doyle White. It also seems to be the case that the book is selling off the shelf - I can't find much news about the book through a casual internet search. Here's a nice article about the book in the New York Daily News from Jacqueline Cutler: "The word pagan originated as a slur. From Latin, paganus, it means pertaining to the country. If you were one of the pagani, you were considered unsophisticated, uneducated, and prey to foolish superstitions. But now, like some other minorities, modern Pagans have taken the word back and proudly turned its meaning inside out."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Carrie Soto Is Back, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
2. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
3. A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J. Maas
4. The Maid, by Nita Prose
5. Cult Classic, by Sloane Crosley
6. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
7. Her Majesty's Royal Coven, by June Dawson
8. The Swimmers, by Julie Otsuka
9. Overboard, by Sara Paretsky
10. Too Late, by Colleen Hoover

The publisher, on Cult Classic: "A twisted mystery on the metaphysics of modern love, memory, and mind control in the city." If you liked Sloane Crosley's essays and are wondering if you should follow her to fiction (and to be clear, you should have figured this out already as this is her second novel), read this from Kirkus: " The story is plenty engaging, but it's Crosley's analytical acumen and gift for the striking metaphor that really gives the book life. Thoughtfully and humanely acerbic." And Booklist: "Novelist and essayist Crosley casts a spell with lightning wit, devilish dialogue, and walloping truths about how little reason there is to anything resembling love."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Frank Lloyd Wright's Wisconsin, by Kristine Hansen
2. We Don't Know Ourselves, by Fintan O'Toole
3. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
4. Quietly Hostile, by Samantha Irby
5. Small-Town Wisconsin, by Mary Bergin
6. The Dawn of Everything, by David Graeber and David Wengrow
7. A Path Lit by Lightning, by David Marainss
8. Joy Ride, by Kriste Jokinen (Register for July 31 Boswell event here)
9. Happy-Go Lucky, by David Sedaris (Tickets for October 25 Pabst event here)
10. Solito, by Javier Zamora

Solito is a New York Times bestseller and notable book of the year, and winner of an ALA Alex Award and the Christopher Isherwood Prize, a category of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. It was also a Read with Jenna pick and for those who are interested in these things, was apparently the first nonfiction title published under the American Hogarth imprint, which was, specifically created to brand literary fiction at the former Crown Publishing Group, recently resurrected as a separate entity, but no longer including Hogarth, which remains at Random House. Gabino Iglesias called it "required reading" on the NPR website.

Books for Kids:
1. Family Style, by Thien Pham
2. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renee Graef
3. You Need to Chill, by Juno Dawson
4. This Book Is Gay, by Juno Dawson
5. What's the T?, by Juno Dawson
6. Spin to Survive Deadly Jungle, by Emily Hawkins
7. The Eyes and the Impossible, by Dave Eggers
7. The Digger and the Butterfly, by Joseph Kuefler
9. How to Catch a Polar Bear, by Stacy DeKeyser
10. Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo

I had no idea The Digger and the Butterfly was part of the series. The Digger has previously paired up with The Flower and The Duckling! The plot for this one: "a crew of building trucks who befriend a caterpillar and witness its metamorphosis into a beautiful butterfly." From Kirkus: "While not overtly a book of mindfulness, this gentle look at taking time to pay attention to nature relays its message without overt proselytizing, and as always, Kuefler's bold, blocky illustrations bring the tale to life beautifully, imbuing his vehicular cast with verve and personality."