Sunday, December 3, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending December 2, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending December 2, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Fourth Wing V1, by Rebecca Yarros
2. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
3. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett (ticketed event December 6)
4. The Fraud, by Zadie Smith
5. The Narrow Road Between Desires, by Patrick Rothfuss
6. The English Understand Wool, by Helen Dewitt
7. North Woods, by Daniel Mason
8. The Bee Sting, by Paul Murray
9. The Mystery Guest V2, by Nita Prose
10. The Last Binding V3, by Freya Marske

The announcement of The New York Times ten-best list has an impact this week, as three of the top five fiction books show up in our top ten - North Woods, The Bee Sting, and The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. Perhaps The Washington Post is also helping, as Daniel Mason and Paul Murray also showed up on that list. They are not on The Wall Street Journal list, but that paper only designated three fiction titles, as opposed to the traditional half and half. We'll see if North Woods can catch up to our success with The Winter Soldier in hardcover, which had several reads and an author visit. Sales for his new book are great, but we still have a long ways to go.

In addition to Tom Lake being in our top ten, despite a book-with-ticket event next week, Patchett's enthusiastic recommendation of The English Understand Wool on NPR gave the book a top-ten-worthy pop in sales at Boswell.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. A Very Chinese Cookbook, by Kevin Pang and Jeffrey Pang
2. Wisconsin Supper Clubs 2E, by Ron Faiola
3. Prequel, by Rachel Maddow
4. The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl
5. Wisconsin Field to Fork, by Lori Fredrich
6. The Wager, by David Grann
7. World Within a Song, by Jeff Tweedy
8. How to Know a Person, by David Brooks
9. Surely You Can't Be Serious, by David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Jim Abra
10. Democracy Awakening, by Heather Cox Richardson

In addition to sales pops for last week's events, three books see continued sales weeks after their appearances, including World Within a Song, Surely You Can't Be Serious, and The Comfort of Crows. We are particularly excited because even though our event with Margaret Renkl was virtual (you can watch it here), we are holding our own against stores who hosted her in person (#4 on Edelweiss), as long as you don't look at Nashville!

Paperback Fiction:
1. Tannenbaum Arms, by Darlene Wesenberg Rzezotarski
2. The Thursday Murder Club V1, by Richard Osman
3. A Marvellous Light V1, by Freya Marske
4. Bookshops and Bonedust, by Travis Baldree
5. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, by Satoshi Yagisawa
6. A Court of Thorns and Roses V1, by Sarah J Maas
7. Sun Dog Memory, by Douglas Armstrong
8. The Employees, by Olga Ravn
9. The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon
10. Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr

Could it be possible to have two New Directions books on this week's bestseller list? In addition to The English Understand Wool, The Employees, pops as a particularly popular selection of the Science Fiction Book Club, meeting December 11. Though it's not at Comfort of Crows levels, we're still #21 in sales on Edelweiss, so we're punching a bit above our weight. Here's a link to the upcoming Boswell-run book club selections.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1 .Secret Milwaukee, by Jim Nelsen (Boswell event December 27)
2. Masterminds and Wingmen, by Rosalind Wiseman
3. Holy Food, by Christina Ward
4. Murdle V1, by GT Karber
5. Kodachrome Milwaukee, by Adam Levin
6. An Immense World, by Ed Yong
7. Dirtbag, Massachusetts, by Isaac Fitzgerald
8. Queen Bees and Wannabees, by Rosalind Wiseman
9. Persepolis V1, by Marjane Satrapi
10. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Selling off the new and noteworthy paperback table is Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional, a New York Times bestseller in hardcover (per the jacket - I'm not bothering to check) and the winner of the New England Book Award with blurbs from Roxane Gay, Min Jin Lee, and Marlon James. BookMarks has the book as six raves, five positives. From Publishers Weekly: "A marvelous coming-of-age story that's as wily and raunchy as it is heartfelt."

Books for Kids:
1. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh, by Mo Willems
2. Murtagh V5, by Christopher Paolini
3. How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney, by Mac Barnett, illustrations by Jon Klassen
4. Something Someday, by Amanda Gorman, illustrations by Christian Robinson
5. Red and Green, by Lois Ehlert
6. Dasher Can't Wait for Christmas, by Matt Tavares
7. The Fisherman, the Horse, and the Sea, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
8. Peekaboo Love, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
9. The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats
10. Before, Now, by Daniel Salmieri

He's not just the illustrator of the Dragons Love Tacos series. Daniel Salmieri has written and illustrated Before, Now, which was just named to The New York Times best illustrated kids books list. From Kirkus Reviews: "A series of moments, mundane and meaningful, capture the wonder of a life well lived. Each spread in the book offers a set of opposites... This meditation on the patterns of life shines with reminders of what we carry with us as we grow."

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