Sunday, July 9, 2023

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."

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