Boswell bestsellers, week ending August 26, 2023

Boswell bestsellers, week ending August 26, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett
2. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
3. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
4. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
5. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
6. The Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
7. Somebody's Fool, by Richard Russo
8. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
9. Whalefall, by Daniel Kraus
10. Yellowface, by RF Kuang

In celebration of the MTV Books imprint not making as much sense with Simon and Schuster being sold by Paramount to private investment firm KKR, their Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, hits our top ten in its third week. From the starred Booklist: "Prolific, best-selling (he also cowrote the screenplay for The Shape of Water with Guillermo del Doro) Kraus presents a moving character study disguised as a riveting, cinematic survival thriller. Jay is a high-school senior dealing not only with the loss of his local-hero and diving-legend father, Mitt, but also his unresolved anger with their complicated relationship."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
2. Necessary Trouble, by Drew Gilpin Faust
3. The Wager, by David Grann
4. Is Math Real?, by Eugenia Cheng
5. Underworld, by Susan Casey
6. What an Owl Knows, by Jennifer Ackerman 
7. England's Jews, by John Tolan 
8. Magnolia Table V3, by Joanna Gaines
9. Wisconsin Supper Clubs: Another Round, by Ron Faiola 
10. Cosmic Scholar, by John Szwed

Just out this week, former Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust's Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury, is out of stock at all Ingram warehouses. Checking in at BookMarks, they rate the book two raves and four positives, though I should note the raves are from trade publications Shelf Awareness and Publishers Weekly. From the latter: "Faust pulls off a brilliant synthesis, grounding the macro stresses of the period in her quest to distance herself from her culture of origin and sharpen her political sensibilities." And yes, that means that with Cosmic Scholar, we have two FSG books in our top 10.

Paperback Fiction:
1. A Death in Door Country, by Annelise Ryan  (click here to register for Ryan's Boswell event for the follow-up book to this title - Thurs, Dec 14)
2. All This Could Be Different, by Sarah Thankam Mathews 
3. Bride of the Tornado, by James Kennedy
4. The Rabbit Hutch, by Tess Gunty
5. Shady Hollow, by Juneau Black 
6. The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
7. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
8. Red, White, and Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston
9. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, by Satoshi Yagisawa
10. Lark Ascending, by Silas House

Also out of stock at all Ingram warehouses is Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, by Satoshi Yagisawa, translated by Eric Ozawa. Four positives and a mixed (Los Angeles Times), but these Japanese novels are, from my perspective, more likely to break out from social media. From Shelf Awareness: "Originally published in Japan in 2010 and adapted into a film the same year, Yagisawa's comforting, quotidian international bestseller arrives in a welcome translation by Eric Ozawa; perhaps ironically, Ozawa is a New York University professor who's also a Granta-level literary author. Here, Yagisawa's effortless, unembellished prose ensures a leisurely read, although not without the occasional, realistic reminders of entrenched sexism, privileged posturing, and mental health challenges."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
2. All About Love, by bell hooks
3. The Philosophy of Walking, by Frederic Gros
4. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
5. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
6. A Year in the Woods, by Torbjorn Ekelund
7. American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin
8. Milwaukee Bucket List 2e, by Barbara Ali
9. Don't Trust Your Gut, by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
10. Happy-Go-Lucky, by David Sedaris 

So many nonfiction books in hardcover crash in paperback, but when something takes off, either nationally (All About Love, The Body Keeps the Score) or locally (The Philosophy of Walking, A Year in the Woods), they can keep on selling off our front tables for a long time. Since the paperback release, Don't Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in Life, has two recs, from Kay and me, plus apparently an intriguing premise for browsers. Now published in Persian, per the Tehran Times. I like the Iranian jacket!

Books for Kids:
1. Out and About, by Liza Wiemer, illustrations by Margeaux Lucas
2. Peekaboo Pumpkin, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
3. Ghost Book, by Remy Lai
4. Pawcasso, by Remy Lai
5. Bluey: Pool, from Penguin Random House
6. Wombat, by Philip Bunting
7. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
8. Peekaboo Apple, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
9. Peekaboo House, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
10. The Crayons Go Back to School, by Drew Daywalt, illustrations by Oliver Jeffers

I guess this is the way things are supposed to work. At Children's Institute, the bookseller gathering that was in Milwaukee this past June, booksellers were treated to many, many presentations by folks from the sales and marketing departments. I took to a picture book called Wombat, by Philip Bunting, and it became part of my presentation for our recent Educators Night. Considering how many freebies we had for teachers, I think it's doubly impressive that the book made our weekly bestseller list. Trust Kirkus, when the reviewer says, "Readers will go batty for this one."

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending August 19, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending August 19, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett
2. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
3. The English Experience, by Julie Schumacher (Register for August 30 Boswell event)
4. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
5. No Strangers Here V1, by Carlene O'Connor
6. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
7. The Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
8. Good Night Irene, by Luis Alberto Urrea
9. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
10. Murder at an Irish Bakery V6, by Carlene O'Connor
11. Crook Manifesto V2, by Colson Whitehead
12. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
13. Canary Girls, by Jennifer Chiaverini
14. Mister Magic by Kiersten White
15. Dead Eleven, by Jimmy Juliano

Aside from The English Experience, which is getting plenty of love from our event marketing (and staff recs from Rachel C. and me), the top debut is down at 14 on a particularly vibrant hardcover fiction list. Mister Magic, like Dead Eleven just below it, is playing to horror nostalgic with its story about the supernatural secrets of a cult classic children's show. Regular virtual event viewers might remember that White was the conversation partner for Chuck Wendig a couple of years ago. Starred Booklist: "Savvy readers will devour the subtext and ponder philosophical questions about reality."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. What an Owl Knows, by Jennifer Ackerman (Register for September 6 virtual event)
2. The Wager, by David Grann
3. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
4. The French Art of Living Well, by Cathy Yandell
5. Beyond the Story, by BTS and Myeongseok Kang
6. Freedom's Dominion, by Jefferson Cowie
7. The Book of Nature, by Barbara Mahany
8. Congratulations, The Best is Over, by R. Eric Thomas
9. Pulling the Chariot of the Sun, by Shane McCrae
10. Sit in the Sun, by Jon M. Sweeney

It's two weeks in a row for a pretty quiet hardcover nonfiction list. I can't remember this list not dominating or at least equal to fiction in quite a long time. Is it price increases? Releases that are not capturing the imaginations of our customers? Or is it just the summer of fiction, as one pundit noted. Among the first timers are Freedom's Dominion, by Jefferson Cowie, which came out last November and has some nice reviews, including this from Kirkus: "A broad-ranging history of resistance to the federal government, especially in matters of civil rights reforms... Toward the end of a lucid narrative that spans three centuries, the author argues that the federal government has been an unreliable ally and sometimes an open enemy of the rights of non-White people. Even so, without federal power, as current events richly suggest, even those tenuous rights would almost certainly be diminished or eliminated."

Paperback Fiction:
1. A Death in Door County, by Annelise Ryan (Register for August 23 WFB Library event)
2. All This Could Be Different, by Sarah Thankam Mathews (Register for September 20 Boswell event)
3. The Rabbit Hutch, by Tess Gunty
4. Bride of the Tornado, by James Kennedy (Register for August 22 Boswell event)
5. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
6. Murder in an Irish Village V1, by Carlene O'Connor
7. A Court of Mist and Fury V2, by Sarah J. Maas
8. The Nix, by Nathan Hill (Register for October 23 Boswell event here)
9. The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune
10. Search, by Michelle Huneven

We find that publishers don't tour paperback fiction reprints too much anymore, but somehow four of our top ten are connected to upcoming programs, and three more are for books that were featured at previous programs. Annelise Ryan and James Kennedy are in driving distance - much thanks to them for the commute. The Nix is selling because we're reading it for Lit Group in conjunction for the tour of Wellness, his next hardcover. But Sarah Thankam Mathews's All This Could Be Different is on a short but real tour for the paperback. We had a wonderful virtual for the hardcover, and it was perfect for our Rose Petranech Lecture series (which is usually not a lecture - it just sounds better that way).

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Kodachrome Milwaukee, by Adam Levin
2. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
3. American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin
4. Slenderman, by Kathleen Hale
5. Dopamine Nation, by Anna Lembke
6. Vagina Obscura, by Rachel E. Gross
7. Happy-Go-Lucky, by David Sedaris (Tickets for October 25 theater event)
8. Quarterlife, by Satya Doyle Byock
9. Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman
10. Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah

Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence​ has been on this list for multiple weeks now (last highlighted in May), which makes me think if I paid attention, I would spot it on The New York Times. Nope, not there, at least this week! Only three reviews in BookMarks too, though all were good, also too complicated for pull quotes. How about this blurb from Lori Gottlieb: "Anna Lembke deeply understands an experience I hear about often in the therapy room at the nexus between our modern addictions and our primal brains. Her stories of guiding people to find a healthy balance between pleasure and pain have the power to transform your life."

Books for Kids:
1. Spin to Survive: Deadly Jungle, by Emily Hawkins
2. Out and About, by Liza Wiemer, illustrations by Margeaux Lucas (The event is today at 2 at Friendship Cafe -registration requested)
3. Peekaboo Farm, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P. Arrhenius
4. Bluey: Camping, from Penguin Random House
5. Gertie the Darling Duck of World War II, by Shari Swanson, illustrations by Renée Graef
6. Peekaboo Pumpkin, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P. Arrhenius
7. Bluey: Pool, from Penguin Random House
8. Spin to Survive: Frozen Mountains, by Emily Hawkins
9. Goddesses and Heroines, by Jean Menzies
10. One of Us Is Back, by Karen M. McManus

We hosted Karen McManus back in the day of One of Us Is Lying, though we had no idea it would become a phenomenon, with a series on Peacock. The latest, One of Us is Back, has been out for several weeks. Publishers Weekly has this to say: "Someone from the Bayview Crew's past has resurfaced to finish what they started in this electrifying mystery, the third installment in McManus's One of Us Is Lying series... Bombshell reveals unfurl alongside reflections on honesty, empathy, and cycles of violence, resulting in a soulful, high-stakes thrill ride."

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending August 12, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending August 12, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Canary Girls, by Jennifer Chiaverini
2. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett
3. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
4. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
5. The Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
6. Crook Manifesto, by Colson Whitehead
7. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
8. Somebody's Fool, by Richard Russo
9. Mrs. Porter Calling, by AJ Pearce (Register for virtual August 24 event)
10. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, James McBride's latest novel, has one rave from Boswell (via Tim) and 11 more on LitHub's BookMarks. Here's Ron Charles in The Washington Post: "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store confirms the abiding strength of McBride’s vernacular narrative. With his eccentric, larger-than-life characters and outrageous scenes of spliced tragedy and comedy, 'Dickensian' is not too grand a description for his novels, but the term is ultimately too condescending and too Anglican. The melodrama that McBride spins is wholly his own, steeped in our country’s complex racial tensions and alliances. Surely, the time is not too far distant when we’ll refer to other writers’ hypnotically entertaining stories as McBridean."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. A Guide to Midwestern Conversation, by Taylor Kay Phillips
2. The French Art of Living Well, by Cathy Yandell
3. Outlive, by Peter Attia and Bill Gifford
4. What an Owl Knows, by Jennifer Ackerman (Register for September 6 virtual event)
5. Stay True, by Hua Hsu

Hey, I guess summer isn't hardcover nonfiction season. Just wait until October! Jennifer Ackerman's What an Owl Knows jumped back into the national top 10. I don't know why, but I also saw that Ingram reordered close to 1500 copies. I didn't find anything that would have caused the sales pop on my key word seach. If you know, let me know!

Paperback Fiction:
1. All This Could Be Different, by Sarah Thankam Mathews (Register for September 20 Boswell event)
2. When the Hibiscus Falls, by M Evelina Galang
3. A Death in Door County, by Annelise Ryan (Register for August 23 WFB library event)
4. The Swimmers, by Julie Otsuka
5. Switchboard Soldiers, by Jennifer Chiaverini
6. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
7. The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig
8. Daisy Darker, by Alice Feeney
9. The Nix, by Nathan Hill (Register for October 23 Boswell event)
10. Circe, by Madeline Miller

After noticing that we were #4 on Edelweiss in sales, I wondered why the Western region was selling The Swimmers so much better than the rest of the country. It turns out that Julie Otsuka's lastest novel is the 2023 Seattle Reads selection for the Seattle Public Library. Maybe folks from Milwaukie, Oregon were ordering it from us? But no, that would have been if it were Portland Reads. The Swimmers is our September Lit Group selection, only with Labor Day and all, we're meeting on August 28. Here are all our Boswell-run book club selections.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Jews in the Garden, by Judy Rakowsky
2. American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin
3. Murdle V1, by GT Karber
4. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
5. Dopamine Nation, by Anna Lembke
6. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
7. The Philoosophy of Walking, by Frederic Gros
8. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
9. Our Town, by Cynthia Carr
10. Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah

It's not common to have five events in a week in August, and it's even more unusual for all five of them to make solid sales showings. Imagine if we'd gotten on the Ann Patchett tour!

The America's Black Holocaust Museum is reading Our Town: A Heartland Lynching, a Haunted Town, and the Hidden History of White America by Cynthia Carr for their recurring book club. Carr, who wrote for The Village Voice for many years, chronicled the 1930 lynching of three men in Marion, Indiana. One of them, James Cameron, survived, and as you know he founded the original ABHM.

Books for Kids:
1. Dolly Parton's Billy the Kid Makes it Big, written with Erica S Perl and illustrated by Haley MacKenzie
2. Last Stop on Market Street, by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson
3. Peekaboo Pumpkin, by Camilla Reid, illustred by Ingela P Arrhenius
4. The Eyes and the Impossible, by Dave Eggers
5. Gertie the Darling Duck of World War II, by Shari Swanson, illustrated by Renee Graef
6. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrated by Renee Graef
7. Peekaboo Farm, by Camilla Reid, illustrated by Ingela P Arrhenius
8. Peekaboo Sun, by Camilla Reid, illustrated by Ingela P Arrhenius
9. One of Us Is Back, by Karen McManus
10. Have You Seen My Invisible Dinosaur, by Helen Yoon

Here's how our rep sold in Have You Seen My Invisible Dinosaur: it's a story that subtly explores problem-solving, logic, and basic pet care. Hey, it worked! We're #2 in the country on Edelweiss. From Booklist: "The clever premise is carried out with heaps of humor and cheer, and the mixed-media illustrations are expressive and comical, including delightful spreads that appear to be the child's crayoned diagrams. A sweetly satisfying story with lots of laughs."

Boswell bestsellers, week ending August 5, 2023

Boswell bestsellers, week ending August 5, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett
2. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
3. Hang the Moon, by Jeannette Walls
4. The Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
5. Crook Manifesto, by Colson Whitehead
6. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
7. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
8. Babel, by RF Kuang
9. Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, by J Ryan Stradal
10. All the Sinners Bleed, by SA Cosby

No competition this week. It may be August but the first bestseller of fall is here with Tom Lake. Reviews are superb and with the added bonus of being a Reese's Book Club pick, maybe we'll get a #1 debut on The New York Times. Patchett's not coming to Boswell this time, but we did get a nice shout out on The New York Times podcast. From Helen McAlpin at The Wall Street Joural: "...The result is a master class in narrative - and parental! - control. Ms. Patchett glides easily between past and present, manipulating the rate and timing of the release of key information for maximum effect - such as one character’s identity, and news of another’s untimely demise."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Good Life, by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz
2. The French Art of Living Well, by Cathy Yandell (Register for August 11 Boswell event)
3. A Guide to Midwestern Conversation, by Taylor Kay Phillips (Register for August 9 Boswell event)
4. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
5. The Heat Will Kill You First, by Jeff Goodell
6. What an Owl Knows, by Jennifer Ackerman (Register for September 6 virtual event)
7. Building, by Mark Ellison
8. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond
9. Little Frog's Guide to Self Care, by Maybell Eequay
10. Baking Yesteryear, by B Dylan Hollis

Around since May is Building: A Carpenter's Notes on Life and the Art of Good Work by Mark Ellison, who was profiled back in a 2020 issue of The New Yorker as New York's best carpenter - that might have led to this book. We gifted a copy to our wonderful carpenter, who I won't mention by name, because it's hard enough to get an appointment.

Paperback Fiction:
1. A Death in Door County, by Annelise Ryan (Register for August 23 WFB library event)
2. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
3. Switchboard Soldiers, by Jennifer Chiaverini (Register for August 9 Tosa library event)
4. A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J Maas
5. Daisy Darker, by Alice Feeney
6. The Last Thing He Told Me, by Laura Dave
7. Red White and Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston
8. The Genesis of Misery, by Neon Yang
9. Too Late, by Colleen Hoover
10. All This Could Be Different, by Sarah Thankam Mathews (Register for September 20 Boswell event)

Second week out for The Genesis of Misery is Neon Yang's first week in our top 10. From the publisher: "An immersive, electrifying space-fantasy, Neon Yang's debut novel The Genesis of Misery is full of high-tech space battles and political machinations, starring a queer and diverse array of pilots, princesses, and prophetic heirs." From Oli's staff rec: "A tale of divine messages, faith, war, void-madness, and gemstone battle mechs will keep you on your toes."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Joy Ride, by Kristen Jokinen
2. A Philosophy of Walking, by Frederic Gros
3. Jews in the Garden, by Judy Rakowsky (Register for August 10 Boswell event)
4. America Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin
5. Kodachrome Milwaukee, by Adam Levin
6. Anthropocene Reviewed, by John Green
7. Vagina Obscura, by Rachel E Gross
8. Murdle V1, by GT Karber
9. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
10. Slenderman, by Kathleen Hale

Shortlisted for the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, plus a New York Times Editor's Choice, Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage came out in paperback in May and continues to sell off Parker's rec shelf. From Ed Yong: "Through her seamless storytelling and meticulous research, Rachel Gross shows how long we have misunderstood the bodies of half the people who have ever lived, how much we still have to learn, and how wondrous and rewarding that quest can be. Vagina Obscura is science writing at its finest--revelatory, wry, consequential, necessary, and incredibly hard to put down." I wrote this up once before, but I think every book in our paperback nonfiction top 10 has been highlighted here already.

Books for Kids:
1. The Skull, by John Klassen
2. Peekaboo Pumpkin, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
3. Nimona, by ND Stevenson
4. When You Can Swim, by Jack Wong
5. Hippos Go Berserk, by Sandra Boynton
6. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renee Graef
7. Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea, by Dav Pilkey
8. The Eyes and the Impossible, by Dave Eggers
9. The Sinister Booksellers of Bath, by Garth Nix
10. How to Count to One, by Caspar Salmon

After Workman became part of Hachette, the Sandra Boynton library consolidated at Simon and Schuster as Boynton Bookworks. For Hippos Go Berserk, we are stocking both the classic board book and the deluxe anniversary picture book edition. We sold out of both this week, so I don't know the difference. As a person who gave the "Hippo Birdy Two Ewes" card more than a few times in my younger days, you would think I would know these things.

It's TOM LAKE Day - Ann Patchett's latest

I’m not going to lie (at least here). When we weren’t on the shortlist to host an event with Ann Patchett for Tom Lake (out today), I went to the tour list (here it is) and tried to figure out if I could attend an event elsewhere. I just couldn’t make it work.

But that’s the thing about Tom Lake; after I finished it, I just wanted to hear Ann Patchett talk about it. I will definitely attend online or hybrid conversation; it just would have been fun to be there in person. There is nothing like seeing an author talk about a book you really love, is there?

Last time around, Boswell cohosted a virtual program for These Precious Days, as it was released during peak COVID. Patchett was writing Tom Lake at that time; her latest is definitely set during COVID, but it's not, for those of you balking, a COVID novel. And of all the writers out there, COVID was a situation that was almost made for Patchett. That’s why so many folks have compared the new book to Bel Canto, another story about people being locked down, in that case, because they were hostages. But Run’s 24-hour story is set in a snowstorm, another event that forces people to be together. And here are probably more examples, if I think this through.

If you regularly read Ann Patchett, you’ll also know that she loves family stories, how they become mythologized, and how those myths are not universally held – think about this and how it relates to both Commonwealth and The Dutch House. If this is your thing, I’d suggest pre-ordering Nathan Hill’s Wellness, which I just read in a heady two-day marathon. Hill is visiting Boswell on October 23; I’m very excited for that!

There’s so much to love in Tom Lake – the farm, the summer stock, the Hollywood stories, the mother-daughter relationships. There are already seven rave reviews on LitHub, including Marion Winik’s review in The Washington Post, which begins: “So many books about love are actually about heartbreak. Ann Patchett’s new novel, Tom Lake, is not. Tom Lake is about romantic love, marital love and maternal love, but also the love of animals, the love of stories, love of the land and trees and the tiny, red, cordiform object that is a cherry. Not that a heart is not broken at some point, but it breaks without affecting the remarkable warmth of the book, set in summer’s fullest bloom.”

And of course I must include my own staff rec: “For every Jane Fonda or Rita Moreno, famous actresses into their eighties, there is a Kim Novak, who married an equine veterinarian and lived a quiet life in the countryside. Imagine if you had an acting career and then didn’t, but someone you know (the acclaimed Peter Duke) went on to a glorious career. Your family knows the story, but they don’t exactly have it quite right. More than that, each of your children has created their own mythology of the story. With the world locked down, Lara and Joe and their daughters Emily, Maisie, and Nell, are brought together to the family farm to unpack that story, set at a season of summer stock at Tom Lake, Michigan. I love how Lara’s career jump starts with a small production of Our Town, and that Thornton Wilder resonates through the rest of the story. And I love the way Patchett can write about the complications of families, even loving ones like the Nelsons. The story may be quiet, but it will stick with me for a long time.”

Context! I read Tom Lake at the same time as Laurence Leamer’s Hitchcock’s Blondes, which comes out October 10. Don’t you love when books play off each other? I do!

I would also be remiss not to mention that our buyer Jason bought a whole bunch of signed first editions. To be clear, they are tip-ins, but that appears to be good enough to sticker them. Ann also offered to personalize books for our customers. Perhaps I will have enough energy to put that together for the holidays. We’ll see if by the time I can put this together, the offer still stands.

In short, Tom Lake is out today  - buy it and read it. This is not one that you should let languish on your bookshelf.  You've got a month of summer left, more or less. I can't think of a better book to take with you wherever you're going.