Boswell bestsellers, week ending March 30, 2024

Boswell bestsellers, week ending March 30, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Secrets of a Scottish Isle V5, by Erica Ruth Neubauer (signed copies available)
2. James, by Percival Everett
3. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
4. I Cheerfully Refuse, by Leif Enger (Boswell event April 15)
5. Wandering Stars, by Tommy Orange
6. The Angel of Indian Lake V3, by Stephen Graham Jones
7. How to Solve Your Own Murder, by Kristen Perrin
8. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett
9. The Price You Pay V8, by Nick Petrie
10. Hang the Moon, by Jeannette Walls (Boswell event April 10)

The Angel of Indian Lake is the concluding volume of the Indian Lake Trilogy. From the Kirkus: "The plotlines are often steeped in urban legend, which are gleefully punctuated by Jade's rat-a-tat-tat horror movie references à la Ready Player One. That's catnip for horror fans, and the images Jones conjures would give some of the movies a run for their money. Whether it's Jade's rapist father back from the dead, a murderous child mutilating the townsfolk, a pack of rampaging bears tearing through the flames, or the titular ghost making the rounds at the local lake, it's real peek-between-your-fingers stuff--when you can work out what exactly happened. A characteristically violent denouement for a girl given hell by just about everybody."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. There's Always This Year, by Hanif Abdurraqib
2. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger (WCW ticketed event April 4)
3. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
4. Three Shades of Blue, by James Kaplan
5. The Wager, by David Grann
6. The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt
7. Atomic Habits, by James Clear
8. Zaytinya, by Jose Andres
9. Illiberal America, by Steve Hahn
10. Disillusioned, by Benjamin Herold (Boswell event April 12)

While we should definitely give a shout out to the Penguin Press imprint, which has three books in our top 10, the top new release goes to a different PRH imprint with There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, the latest from Hanif Abdurraqib. A recommendation from Ross Gay: "Hanif Abdurraqib again shows us new ways to be a social critic, a dreamer, a historian, and a lover of hoop. But - and this feels especially moving - he shows us how he wonders about, and how he is transformed in the wondering about, what it means to belong to a place. And you know by place I mean the people, the memories, the sorrows, the tomorrows, who are that place. And you know by all that I mean the love.”

Paperback Fiction:
1. Monsters We Have Made, by Lindsay Starck (Boswell event April 19)
2. Dune V1, by Frank Herbert
3. Dune Messiah V2, by Frank Herbert
4. Weyward, by Emilia Hart
5. The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County, by Claire Swinarski
6. Old Babes in the Wood, by Margaret Atwood
7. Cascade Failure, by LM Sagas
8. Murder at the Mena House V1, by Erica Ruth Neubauer
9. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, by VE Schwab
10. One Dark Window V1, by Rachel Gillig

You might know Wisconsin author Claire Swinarski from her kids books, but The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County. From Booklist: " Readers will root for the characters and get swept up in the small-town Wisconsin setting. This is a great pick for anyone who liked Saturday Night at the Late Night Supper Club. Hey, that's me!

Paperback Nonfiction
1. Easy Walks and Paddles in Milwaukee, by Jennifer Lemke and Karen Lemke
2. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond
3. On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder
4. All About Love, by bell hooks
5. Wisconsin Death Trip, by Michael Lesy
6. The Splendid and the Vile, by Erik Larson
7. Cinema Speculation, by Quentin Tarantino
8. Capote's Women, by Laurence Leamer
9. On the Origin of Time, by Thomas Hertog
10. Beaverland, by Leila Philip

Out this week in paperback is Poverty, by America, Matthew Desmond's follow-up to Evicted. Crown chose to keep the type-forward hardcover-style jacket for the paperback, and that's probably the way to go. There are so many ways that an alternative could go wrong. NPR, The New Yorker, and Harpers loved it, but Jacobin (Socialist quarterly) gave it a pan. Jacobin did not review The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County, so I don't know what they thought.

Books for Kids:
1. Messy Roots, by Laura Gao
2. The Scarlet Shredder V12, by Dav Pilkey
3. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
4. I Am a Bunny, by Ole Risom, illustrations by Richard Scarry
5. The Great Lakes, by Barb Rosenstock, illustrations by Jamey Christoph
6. Most Ardently, by Gabe Cole Novoa
7. Eclipse, by Andy Rash
8. Olivetti, by Allie Millington
9. Return of the Vengeful Queen, by CJ Redwine
10. What Feelings Do When No One's Looking, by Tina Oziewicz, illustrations by Aleksandra Zajac

Olivetti is the first novel by Allie Millington. From the starred Booklist: "An introverted boy and his missing mother's cherished typewriter plumb forgotten family stories while journeying toward acceptance in this touching middle-grade mystery...Offering a Where'd You Go, Bernadette vibe, with its unspooling of a youth perspective on the adult world, this melancholic yet hopeful pick will appeal to fans of books with nonhuman protagonists and readers who enjoy emotional stories with alternating perspectives, such as Jasmine Warga's A Rover's Story and The Lost Library."

Boswell bestsellers, week ending March 23, 2024

Boswell bestsellers, week ending March 23, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. James, by Percival Everett
2. The Great Divide, by Cristina Henríquez (signed copies)
3. The Hunter, by Tana French
4. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
5. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
6. Whalefall, by Daniel Kraus (April 8 Boswell event)
7. Expiration Dates, by Rebecca Serle
8. Until August, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
9. Come and Get It, by Kiley Reid
10. Wandering Stars, by Tommy Orange

This might have been the eighth novel (I'm having trouble counting!) from Percival Everett since Boswell has been open, but James definitely has his best first week to date. In fact, is already #4 in sales for us after Dr No (PEN winner and we did this for book club) The Trees (finalist for the Pulitzer), and Erasure (the source for American Fiction). BookMarks tabulates 11 raves and a positive. From Dwight Garner in The New York Times: "What sets James above Everett’s previous novels, as casually and caustically funny as many are, is that here the humanity is turned up - way up. This is Everett’s most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Right Kind of Wrong, by Garret Bucks (signed copies)
2. The Blues Brothers, by Daniel de Visé
3. Surely You Can't Be Serious, by David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abra
4. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
5. Wisconsin Field to Fork, by Lori Fredrich
6. Secrets of the Octopus, by Sy Montgomery
7. How to Know a Person, by David Brooks
8. Reading Genesis, by Marilynne Robinson
9. Barbie The World Tour, by Margot Robbie and Andrew Mukumal
10. The Burn Book, by Kara Swisher

Octopus fever continues! With Remarkably Bright Creatures coming up on its two year anniversary as a hardcover bestseller, it's no surprise to the follow up to one of Shelby Van Pelt's inspirations (The Soul of an Octopus) has a good first week. Sy Montgomery's Secrets of the Octopus also has a great rec from Kay, praising its "gorgeous illustrations" and "funny, weird, and intense stories." 

Paperback Fiction:
1. Dune, by Frank Herbert
2. Happy Place, by Emily Henry
3. A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara
4. The Case of the 66 Ford Mustang, by Tom Meschery
5. Babel, by RF Kuang
6. Bride, by Ali Hazelwood
7. Weyward, by Emilia Hart
8. Twilight Falls, by Juneau Black
9. What Moves the Dead, by T Kingfisher
10. Dune Messiah, by Frank Herbert

I note that there are two editions of Dune combined for bestseller placement, one trade paperback and one mass market (rack size). I don't include the hardcover, which is officially not a paperback, and the graphic edition, which doesn't contain the complete text. We don't stock the movie tie-in edition, which are really only different cover images. We sometimes do and sometimes don't - I will leave that to the buyer to explain.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Last Call at the Hotel Imperial, by Deborah Cohen
2. Wisconsin for Kennedy, by BJ Hollars (signed copies)
3. The Fight for Black Empowerment in the USA, by Kareem Muhammad
4. Beyond Ethnic Loneliness, by Prasanta Verma (Boswell April 26 event)
5. Murdle V1, by GT Karbert
6. Pathogenesis, by Jonathan Kennedy
7. Dopamine Nation, by Anna Lembke
8. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
9. Spinning Out, by Charlie Hertzog Young
10. The Way Home, by Ben Katt

Here's a book that I didn't catch in hardcover, but had a nice pop off our new paperback table - Pathogenesis : A History of the World in Eight Plagues. BookMarks gave it three raves, five positives, and one mixed. Dave Robson in the Times (UK): "In any bold retelling of history viewed through a single lens, there is a danger of being blinded by one’s theory. This is common to the smart thinking genre: if a writer’s big idea is the peg, you’ll be astonished to discover how every world issue suddenly matches the same shaped hole. Kennedy doesn’t suffer this tunnel vision, although he does sometimes downplay the many factors - including chance - that might be at play in the events he describes."

Books for Kids:
1. Dog Man V12: The Scarlet Shedder, by Dav Pilkey
2. The Great Lakes, by Barb Rosenstock, illustrations by Jamey Christoph
3. Every Day's a Holiday, by Stef Wade, illustrations Husna Aghniya
4. Ferris, by Kate DiCamillo
5. A Place for Pluto, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Melanie Demmer
6. I Am a Bunny, by Ole Risom, illustrations by Richard Scarry
7. The Lightning Thief, by Percy Jackson
8. Under This Red Rock, by Mindy McGinnis (Boswell April 3 event)
9. Buffalo Fluffalo, by Bess Kalb, illustrations by Erin Kraan
10. Finally Heard, by Kelly Yang

After months of anticipation, the new Dog Man is here. The Scarlet Shedder. From the publisher: "P.U.! Dog Man got sprayed by a skunk! After being dunked in tomato juice, the stink is gone but the scarlet red color remains. Now exiled, this spunky superhero must struggle to save the citizens who shunned him! Will the ends justify the means for Petey, who's reluctantly pulled back into a life of crime in order to help Dog Man? And who will step forward when an all-new, never-before-seen villain unleashes an army of A.I. robots?"

Boswell bestsellers, week ending March 16, 2024

Boswell bestsellers, week ending March 16, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Anita de Monte Laughs Last, by Xochitl Gonzalez (signed copies)
2. The Hunter, by Tana French
3. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
4. Wandering Stars, by Tommy Orange
5. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
6. The Great Divide, by Cristina Henríquez (Boswell event March 21)
7. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt
8. Martyr!, by Kaveh Akbar
9. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
10. Prophet Song, by Paul Lynch

Does one celebrate St Patrick's Day by reading a dystopian novel about set in Dublin about a Civil War that creates a migrant crisis? Maybe if it's the Booker winner Prophet Song. The New York Times said the critical response to the book was mixed, but I count the BookMarks annotations - 11 raves, 2 positives, one mixed, and one pan - as a positive response. It looks like the Irish Times also had a positive review (I had to search for this one, and it is subscriber only), which would add to its take.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Birding to Change the World, by Trish O'Kane (signed copies)
2. Surely You Can't Be Serious, by David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Jim Abraham
3. An End to Inequality, by Jonathan Kozol
4. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger (April 4 WCW ticketed dinner - open to the public)
5. Lessons from the Heartland, by Barbara Miner
6. Little Frog's Guide to Self-Care, by Maybell Eequay
7. Wisconsin Supper Clubs, by Ron Faiola
8. Cooking in Real Life, by Lidey Heuck
9. Oath and Honor, by Liz Cheney
10. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin

Highest debut this week is Jonathan Kozol's latest. From Dana Goldstein's profile in The New York Times: "Now, at 87, he has published An End to Inequality: Breaking Down the Walls of Apartheid Education in America, his 15th book — and his last, he says. It is an unapologetic cri de coeur about the shortcomings of the schools that serve poor Black and Hispanic children, and thus, the moral failure of the nation to end the inequality he has documented for decades."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Between You and Us, by Kendra Broekhuis
2. One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, by Marianne Cronin
3. Olga Dies Dreaming, by Xochitl Gonzalez
4. Dune, by Frank Herbert
5. A Dish Best Served Hot, by Natalie Caña
6. A Proposal They Can't Refuse, by Natalie Caña
7. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
8. Nettle and Bone, by T Kingfisher
9. The Drifter, by Nick Petrie
10. Bridge, by Ali Hazelwood

It's been a year since Nettle and Bone was released in paperback, but it's only weeks after T Kingfisher's What Feasts at Night was released, so we're still in the Kingfisher publication window. She also has a new book coming out in August, A Sorceress Comes to Call. Nettle and Bone had seven raves on BookMarks, including this Catherine Paxson on the NPR website: "This is an adult fantasy novel - all the characters are over 30 - but it reads like the fantasy novels I devoured when I was a teen, in the days of yore before YA was a thing."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Easy Walks and Paddles in Milwaukee, by Jennifer Lemke and Karen Lemke (Boswell March 27 event)
2. Wisconsin for Kennedy, by BJ Hollars (Boswell March 19 event)
3. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
4. Milwaukee in Stone and Clay, by Raymond Wiggers (May 10 virtual event)
5. A Philosophy of Walking, by Frédéric Gros
6. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
7. The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine, by Michael Scott Baumann
8. The Hundred Years War on Palestine, by Rashid Khalidi
9. The Fight for Black Empowerment in the USA, by Kareem Muhammad (Boswell March 18 event)
10. Thinking the Twentieth Century, by Tony Judt with Timothy Snyder

Just published by Northern Illinois University Press, which is run as an imprint of Cornell University Press, is Milwaukee and Stone and Clay, Raymond Wiggers's follow-up to Chicago in Stone and Clay. This architectural guidebook takes a materials-based approach. Says Mayor Cavalier Johnson: "Every reader will enjoy a greater understanding and appreciation of the structures that define our city. And yes, I wholeheartedly agree with the author that Milwaukee City Hall is the most marvelous city hall on the planet!

Books for Kids:
1. The Lost Library, by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass
2. Eclipse, by Andy Rash
3. The Happy Book, by Andy Rash
4. Alone, by Megan E Freeman
5. Buffalo Fluffalo, by Bess Kalb, with illustrations by Erin Kraan
6. Ferris, by Kate DiCamillo
7. Out and About, by Liza Wiemer, with illustrations by Margeaux Lucas
8. Max in the House of Spies, by Adam Gidwitz
9. Evil Spy School, by Stuart Gibbs
10. The Assignment, by Liza Wiemer

I am visiting family and two of the gifts I brought with me are in this week's top ten. My older great nephew is getting a copy of Max in the House of Spies while the younger will get Buffalo Fluffalo, which finally came back into stock after its reprint. Adam Gidwitz (#8) reviews Ferris (#6) in this week's New York Times Book Review.

Boswell bestsellers, week ending March 9, 2024

Boswell bestsellers, week ending March 9, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Hunter, by Tana French
2. Anita de Monte Laughs Last, by Xochitl Gonzalez (register for March 13 MARN/La Revo event- almost at capacity)
3. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett
4. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
5. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
6. After Annie, by Anna Quindlen
7. Wandering Stars, by Tommy Orange
8. Martyr!, by Kaveh Akbar
9. The Great Divide, by Cristina Henríquez (register for March 21 Boswell event)
10. A Fate Inked in Blood, by Danielle Jensen

Top debut this week is The Hunter, the "slow burn sequel to 2015's The Searcher" (Publishers Weekly). It's got four raves and four positives from BookMarks, including this from Maureen Corrigan in The Washington Post: "A glance, a grimace, a tightening of shoulders: Suspense is in the details - small details - scattered throughout Tana French’s new novel, The Hunter. These moments pile up until, in the novel’s stunning climax, the veneer of the mundane collapses, revealing the unthinkable that lies beneath."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Blues Brothers, by Daniel de Vise (register for March 20 Boswell event)
2. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
3. Little Frog's Guide to Self Care, by Maybell Eequay
4. The House of Hidden Meanings, by RuPaul
5. Slow Productivity, by Cal Newport
6. How to Know a Person, by David Brooks
7. Birding to Change the World, by Trish O'Kane (register for March 13 UEC event - almost at capacity)
8. I Must Be Dreaming, by Roz Chast
9. Grief Is for People, by Sloane Crosley
10. The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl

There's no question that some signed copies helped pop The House of Hidden Meanings, a memoir (but not the first book) from RuPaul. The author talked with Tanya Mosly on Fresh Air and was profiled by Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker. I have to say I was not expecting Paul to have a security compound in Wyoming.

Paperback Fiction
1. The Berlin Letters, by Katherine Reay (signed copies)
2. The Rabbit Hutch, by Tess Gunty (upcoming book club picks)
3. Old Babes in the Woods, by Margaret Atwood
4. Happy Place, by Emily Henry
5. Circe, by Madeline Miller
6. Goodbye Vitamin, by Rachel Khong (register for May 15 Boswell event)
7. Dune Messiah, by Frank Herbert
8. Empty Theatre, by Jac Jemc
9. Bride, by Ali Hazelwood
10. Weyward, by Emilia Hart

Selling off the new paperback table after a decent run in hardcover is Empty Theatre: A Novel: Or the Lives of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Empress Sisi of Austria. BookMarks gave it three raves and two positives, though three of them were trade reviews and a fourth was from 4Columns, which I had not previously come across. I read the positive review by Jeremy Lybarger and would have called it mixed. A rave comes from Katy Simpson Smith in The New York Times Book Review: "Modern and mythic, “Empty Theatre captures the outrageous taste of an era while measuring the steep costs of our dream worlds. I could pay 15 euros to see Neuschwanstein again, but I couldn’t live there. I thought this is more of a positive than a rave - this is why I hate giving my reviews rating numbers.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Complications, by Atul Gawande
2. Everything I Know About Love, by Dolly Alderton
3. Wisconsin for Kennedy, by BJ Hollards (register for March 19 Boswell event)
4. A Philosophy of Walking, by Frédéric Gros
5. The Way Home, by Ben Katt
6. Have I Told You This Already?, by Lauren Graham (tickets for April 7 Pabst Theater event here)
7. Murdle V1, by GT Karber
8. Great Lakes Water Wars, by Peter Annin (register for April 10 Marquette Law School event)
9. Easy Walks and Paddles in Milwaukee, Jennifer Lemke and Karen Lemke (register for March 27 Boswell event)
10. Hollywood the Oral History, by Jeanine Basinger

Jeanine Basinger's Hollywood: An Oral History has been out in paperback since November, but this is her first appearance on the list. It was wonderful to meet her and hear her talk when she visited for a previous book. Publishers Weekly called it "a fascinating conversation about Hollywood’s magical blending of art and commerce."

Books for Kids:
1. Max in the House of Spies, by Adam Gidwitz
2. The Inquisitors, by Adam Gidwitz
3. Ferris, by Kate DiCamillo
4. Millie, by McCall Hoyle
5. Keena Ford and the Field Trip Mix Up, by Melissa Thompson
6. The Prisoner's Throne V2, by Holly Black
7. Finding Bear, by Hannah Gold
8. Peekaboo Farm, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
9. The One and Only Ruby, by Katherine Applegate
10. Heroes, by Alan Gratz

Just out this week Ferris, which has two staff recs, from Jen and Tim.  Jen Steele's take: "Funny and heartwarming, these characters jumped off the page for me and captured my heart." And from Horn Book: "The limited third-person narration glimpses other lives but never dwells on them, thus leaving Ferris's honest, pre-adolescent perspective to drive the story line. As Clarisse tells Ferris, 'Every good story is a love story.' Here, DiCamillo adeptly proves this axiom."

Boswell bestsellers, week ending March 2, 2024

Boswell bestsellers, week ending March 2, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Wandering Stars, by Tommy Orange
2. The Price You Pay, by Nick Petrie
3. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
4. The Book of Love, by Kelly Link
5. After Annie, by Anna Quindlen
6. The House of Flame and Shadow, by Sarah J Maas
7. Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett
8. Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
9. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
10. The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon

No competition for this week's top release. Tommy Orange's second novel, Wandering Stars outshines the other entries. The novel has ten raves, three positives, and a pan on BookMarks. From Ron Charles in The Washington Post: "It’s not too early to say that Orange is building a body of literature that reshapes the Native American story in the United States. Book by book, he’s correcting the dearth of Indian stories even while depicting the tragic cost of that silence. As one lost character in Wandering Stars says, 'I want to come home.' Orange is getting that place ready."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Two-Parent Privilege, by Melissa S Kearney
2. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
3. Birding to Change the World, by Trish O'Kane (March 13 UEC event)
4. Tread Loudly, by Kristine Cherek
5. The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, by Tim Alberta
6. How to Know a Person, by David Brooks
7. Supercommunicators, by Charles Duhigg
8. Milwaukee: A City Built on Water, by John Gurda
9. Little Frog's Guide to Self Care, by Maybell Eequay
10. Five Ingredients Mediterranean, by Jamie Oliver

Our top debut turns out to be our upcoming program for Trish O'Kane. Birding to Change the World. No BookMarks, but I can already see a Scientific American review, as well as Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus. Rob Thomas has a profile in the Cap Times: "Her new book, Birding to Change the World, weaves together the natural history of birds (she can rhapsodize in a phone interview about 'murmuration,' the almost supernatural ability of a flock of starlings to change course together mid-flight), her own personal history, and her belief that the human species could learn a lot from avian species. Our destinies are intertwined." O'Kane lived in Madison back in the aughts.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Bride, by Ali Hazelwood
2. A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J Maas
3. Trespasses, by Louise Kennedy (Boswell book club checklist)
4. Weyward, by Emilia Hart
5. The Housemaid, by Freida McFadden
6. Dune, by Frank Herbert
7. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
8. A Crown of Midnight, by Sarah J Maas
9. Exiles, by Jane Harper
10. The Three Body Problem, by Cixin Liu

Cross Kate Morton and witchcraft and you have Weyward, by Emilia Hart, our top debut fiction paperback, which had two raves and a positive on BookMarks in hardcover. They kept the image and added reviews and blurbs to the cover, and why not? Sales were strong at indies and it hit The New York Times bestseller list too. From Julia Kastner at Shelf Awareness: "Emilia Hart's first novel, Weyward, glows and glimmers with hidden powers, thrills and danger, a close connection with nature and between women across time. Three distinct stories eventually link to form a larger tale about strength, resilience and love."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. We've Got to Try, by Beto O'Rourke
2. Yoke, by Jessamyn Stanley
3. Every Body Yoga, by Jessamyn Stanley
4. Wisconsin for Kennedy, by BJ Hollars (March 19 Boswell event)
5. Ignite Top Line Growth, by Melanie Varin
6. The Hundred Year's War on Palestine, by Rashid Khalidi
7. John Gurda's Milwaukee, by John Gurda
8. Capote's Women, by Laurence Leamer
9. A Philosophy of Walking, by Frédéric Gros
10. Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman

Jessamyn Stanley and Melissa Kearney were both at UWM last week as part of their lecture series. Every Body Yoga: Let Go of Fear, Get on the Mat, Love Your Body is more of a practical book, with yoga poses and sequences, while Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance is an essay collection. From Nataya Culler in Booklist, on the latter: ".Abstract, funny, heartfelt, and inspiring, Yoke is a fundamental book for those learning to feel present in their emotions and to take up space for themselves, both on the yoga mat and off."

Books for Kids:
1. Women in Science, by Rachel Ignatofsky
2. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne
3. The Life I'm In, by Sharon G Flake
4. The Skin I'm In, by Sharon G Flake
5. Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park
6. A Place for Pluto, by Stef Wade, with illustrations by Melanie Demmer
7. Max in the House of Spies, by Adam Gidwitz
8. Finally Heard, by Kelly Yang
9. The Lost Library, by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass
10. Pik and Pak Vs the Vampire Bees from Outer Space, by Lara Hau

Despite keeping my pledge to read at least one middle-grade novel per month, they don't always show up on the list, unless I happen to be doing a talk to area school librarians. It's the first week out for Max in the House of Spies, an adventure novel set in World-War-II Germany and England. I should say up front that this is the first book in either a duology or a full series. He doesn't actually get to spy until the sequel, but this setup features, per Kirkus "a truly likeable hero and clever puzzling." And from Booklist: "This heartfelt historical novel explores big questions of autonomy and allegiance with an admirable protagonist readers will respect and adore."