Sunday, February 4, 2024

Boswell bestsellers, week ending February 3, 2024

Boswell bestsellers, week ending February 3, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. House of Flame and Shadow V3, by Sarah J Maas
2. Northwoods, by Amy Pease (signed copies)
3. Martyr!, by Kaveh Akbar (Boswell event Feb 13 - register here)
4. Fury, by Alex Michaelides
5. Fourth Wing V1, by Rebecca Yarros
6. Come and Get It, by Kiley Reid
7. Starter Villain, by John Scalzi
8. The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon
9. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
10. Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect V2, by Benjamin Stevenson

A bookseller was explaining to me all the exclusive editions of House of Flame and Shadow, the third volume in Crescent City series. No fancy edge stain on our editoin, but exclusive content. I went to Target and saw four different versions of the CD of 1989 (Taylor's version). which for some reason I connect in my head. No advance reviews from the trades (no need for ARCs, but the publisher called it "stunning." Probably one of the bigger openings for the first half of 2024.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Fight Right, by Julie Schwartz Gottman and John Gottman
2. My American Dream, by Barbara Feigin
3. Atlas of the Heart, by Brené Brown
4. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger
5. The Intersectional Environmentalist, by Leah Thomas
6. Wisconsin Supper Clubs 2E, by Ron Faiola
7. The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, by Tim Alberta
8. All the Beauty in the World, by Patrick Bringley
9. Our Hidden Conversations, by Michele Norris
10. Oath and Honor, by Liz Cheney

The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet came out in 2022 and has been selling steady since then, though this is the first time in our top 10. At the time, Nylah Burton offered a round-up of environmentally themed books in Shondaland. There are well-known titles like The Parable of the Sower and Braiding Sweetgrass and other suggestions that still might be new to readers.

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
2. The Best That You Can Do, by Amina Gautier
3. Trespasses, by Louise Kennedy
4. Three Theban Plays, by Sophocles
5. A Court of Thorns and Roses V1, by Sarah J Maas
6. Horse, by Geraldine Brooks
7. Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
8. Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
9. Babel, by RF Kuang
10. Assistant to the Villain, by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Two upcoming Boswell-run book club picks here. Trespasses is the next Lit Group pick, while Assistant to the Villain is the February Romance Book Club selection. Trespasses was shortlisted for the Woman's Prize and was a best book of the year by The Washington Post. Kevin Power in The Guardian wrote: ""Distinguished by a quality rare in fiction at any time: a sense of utter conviction. It is a story told with such compulsive attention to the textures of its world that every page feels like a moral and intellectual event."

Regarding the older titles on the list, several are student purchases for high school and college courses, while Three Theban Plays is being read by a local book club.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. My American Dream, by Barbara Feigin
2. The Hundred Years War on Palestine, by Rashid Khalidi
3. The Switch, by Jason Puskar (Boswell event Feb 15 - register here)
4. John Gurda's Milwaukee, by John Gurda
5. A Philosophy of Walking, by Frédéric Gros
6. Everything I Know About Love, by Dolly Alderton
7. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
8. All About Love, by bell hooks
9. An Immense World, by Ed Yong
10. Penny, by Karl Stevens

Barbara Sommer Feigin appeared locally for My American Dream: A Journey from Fascism to Freedom, speaking to her son Peter Feigin of the Milwaukee Bucks organization. Her memoir alternates growing up a refugee in Seattle with details of her family's escape from Nazi journal, using her father's journals as source material.

Books for Kids:
1. Buffalo Fluffalo, by Bess Kalb, illustrations by Erin Kraan
2. Dogtown, by Katherine Applegate, illustrations by Gennifer Choldenko
3. The Eyes and the Impossible, by Dave Eggers
4. Most Ardently, by Gabe Novoa
5. The Knight Owl, by Christopher Denise
6. Who Got Game: Basketball, by Derric Barnes
7. Peekaboo Love, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
8. The Lightning Thief V1 deluxe edition, by Rick Riordan
9. Out and About, by Liza Wiemer (Wauwatosa Library event March 5)
10. Eclipse, by Andy Rash (Solar eclipse is April 8)

The Knight Owl is a Caldecott Honor Book that also has a rec from Jen: "Superb illustrations from the author as well as a story that is sure to be a bedtime favorite!" Plus Kirkus offered: "A charming blend of whimsy and medieval heroism highlighting the triumph of brains over brawn." The second book in the series, Knight Owl and Early Bird, is scheduled for this October.

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