Monday, July 31, 2023

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."

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