Boswell bestsellers for the week ending April 27, 2024

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending April 27, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Funny Story, by Emily Henry
2. The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo
3. Pay Dirt, by Sara Paretsky (signed copies)

4. James, by Percival Everett
5. The Girl from the Red Rose Motel, by Susan Beckham Zurenda
6. Table for Two, by Amor Towles
7. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
8. The Paris Novel, by Ruth Reichl
9. I Cheerfully Refuse, by Leif Enger
10. Wandering Stars, by Tommy Orange

It's not much of a contest this week - Emily Harry blows out the competition with Funny Story, her latest novel. From Booklist: "With her latest impeccably written rom-com, literary supernova Henry continues to gracefully dispense wit, whimsy, and wisdom in equal amounts. Fans of opposites-attract love stories will revel in the buoyant banter and swoonworthy romantic moments, not to mention Henry's delightful pairing of a precision-driven children's librarian and a jack-of-all-trades winery employee who could give Matthew McConaughey lessons in chill."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel, by Douglas Brunt
2. Somehow, by Anne Lamott
3. There's Always This Year, by Hanif Abdurrqib
4. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
5. Plantyou Scrappy Cooking, by Carleigh Bodrug
6. The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl
7. Puerto Rico, by Jorell Meléndez-Badillo (Boswell May 8 event)
8. The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt
9. Supercommunicators, by Charles Duhigg
10. False White Gospel, by Jim Wallis

Second week on for Anne Lamott's Somehow: Thoughts on Love - last week she was #11. Reviews on BookMarks are all over the place - but there are three raves and two positives. One rave is from Meredith Maran in The Washington Post: "No matter a Lamott book’s title, no matter the theme of the yarns that burst from its pages like clowns from a circus car, its message is the same irresistible combo of love, hope, faith and laughter."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Relative Strangers, by AH Kim
2. Just for the Summer, by Abby Jimenez
3. A Death in Door County, by Annelise Ryan

4. This Time Tomorrow, by Emma Straub
5. A Stroke of the Pen, by Terry Pratchett (IBD exclusive)
6. The Trackers, by Charles Frazier

7. Birnam Wood, by Eleanor Catton
8. Weyward, by Emilia Hart
9. The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County, by Claire Swinarski

10. The Postcard, by Anne Berest

I think this is the first placement for Charles Frazier's The Trackers since its March 26 paperback release. Let me check. Yes, that's the case and I don't know why this week's sales were substantially higher than the first four weeks. There are fans like Rob Merrill of Associated Press, who wrote: "The narrator, Val, has journeyed from Virginia to Wyoming in 1937 to paint a mural in a post office as part of the Works Progress Administration, one of FDR’s projects to employ artists in the wake of the Great Depression. His local hosts are a wealthy rancher, John Long, and his wife, Eve. Long aspires to the U.S. Senate and Eve, before she met him, rode the rails as a transient and sang in a swing band. The book’s plot accelerates when Eve disappears and Long enlists Val to find out where she went and why...Frazier deftly blends an historical perspective throughout his fictional tale."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Beyond Ethnic Loneliness, by Prasanta Verma (signed copies)
2. Murdle V1, by GT Karber
3. A Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America, by Matt Kracht (IBD exclusive)
4. Backyard Bird Chronicles, by Amy Tan
5. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond

6. Master Slave Husband Wife, by Ilyon Woo
7. Wisconsin for Kennedy, by BJ Hollars
8. Milwaukee in Stone and Clay, by Raymond Wiggers (Virtual May 10 event)
9. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, by Bettany Hughes
10. Sweet Wild and Vicious, by Jim Higgins (Boswell May 9 event)

We had a nice first week pop on The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: An Extraordinary New Journey Through History's Greatest Treasures, by Bettany Hughes. It seems like a paperback reprint, but no, it's an original! Kirkus called it "a captivating journey with an erudite guide." And here's a nice blurb from Simon Sebag Montefiore: "A lively exploration of the ancient world, this fascinating book is brimming with stories of people and places, all told with Bettany's natural sense of wonder and adventure."

Books for Kids:
1. Big, by Vashti Harrison
2. The Bard and the Book, by Ann Bausum
3. Little Dreamers, by Vashti Harrison 

4. Dog Man V12: The Scarlet Shredder, by Dav Pilkey
5. Lights Out, by Jessica Stremer
6. Little Leaders, by Vashti Harrison
7. Buffalo Fluffalo, by Bess Kalb, illustrations by Erin Kraan
8. Very Good Hats, by Emma Straub, illustrations by Blanca Gomez
9. Stuck, by Oliver Jeffers
10. Great Carrier Reef, by Jessica Stremer, illustrations by Gordy Wright

Jenny brought Ann Bausum to several schools for The Bard and the Book: How the First Folio Saved the Plays of William Shakespeare from Oblivion. It was a hit! Kirkus writes: "An introduction to the most important book in the history of theater. Bausum focuses on the miracle that so many of Shakespeare's brilliant plays were preserved and explores how that came to happen." The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books praised it as "lively," while the starred Booklist praised it as "a beautiful, well-researched book exploring an intriguing subject."

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending April 20, 2024

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending April 20, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Unsettled, by Ayana Mathis (a few real signed copies, not tip-ins)
2. I Cheerfully Refuse, by Leif Enger (signed copies)
3. Table for Two, by Amor Towles
4. Pay Dirt V22, by Sara Paretsky (Event today! Register here)
5. The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo
6. James, by Percival Everett
7. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
8. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
9. The Hunter, by Tana French
10. Close to Death V5, by Anthony Horowitz

The Delta Memorial Endowment Fund has another successful fundraiser luncheon for college scholarships. This year's speaker, Ayana Mathis, had critical acclaim with her novel The Unsettled, with six raves and a positive on BookMarks, not including Sam Sacks in The Wall Street Journal (don't worry - I wrote to them to ask them to add the link), who wrote "The Unsettled follows Ms. Mathis’s debut, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, whose loosely assembled family vignettes also explored the ambivalent aftermath of the Great Migration north. But this is a far better book, more focused and cohesive, and also more alive. This may be because here the South is not merely a ghostly memory but, in the form of Dutchess’s riotous monologues, an expressive voice, cajoling and imploring its exiles and calling them back home."

The Unsettled arrives in paperback in June. You can preorder here.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Knife, by Salman Rushdie
2. Financial Literacy for All, by John Hope Bryant
3. An Unfinished Love Story, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
4. The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt
5. Puerto Rico, by Jorell Meléndez-Badillo (May 8 Boswell event)
6. The Age of Magical Overthinking, by Amanda Montell
7. Charlie Hustle, by Keith O'Brien
8. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
9. There's Always Next Year, by Hanif Abdurraqib
10. Come Together, by Emily Nagoski

An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, by Doris Kearns Goodwin is a memoir/history about her life with her husband Dick Goodwin, notably his years in government with John F Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. BookMarks notches two raves, four positives and a mixed - including Chris Vognar in The San Francisco Chronicle, who writes: " This is not a news-breaking book, and it’s not about dish; that’s not really the Kearns Goodwin brand. But it is eminently readable, appealing especially to anyone fascinated by the period covered, and a touching invitation to eavesdrop on a long marriage between two people who had an unusual level of access to presidential policy and personality."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Monsters We Have Made, by Lindsay Starck (signed copies)
2. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, by Ayana Mathis
3. Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, by J Ryan Stradal
4. What the Chickadee Knows, by Margaret Noodin
5. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
6. Weweni, by Margaret Noodin
7. Weyward, by Emilia Hart
8. The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig
9. Virgil Wander, by Leif Enger
10. Horse, by Geraldine Brooks

It's the release week for the paperback of J Ryan Stradal's Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club. And what do you know? It was also Supper Club Week on Top Chef Wisconsin. If you are wanting a truly wonderful supper club novel, check on J Ryan's latest. Wisconsinites can tell you that the Harvey House is a more urbane version of the Supper Club experience, but that doesn't mean I don't want to eat there. I do! Here's the recap from Milwaukee Record.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Strangers No Longer, by Sergio M González (signed copies)
2. River Profiles, by Pete Hill
3. When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, by Le Ly Hayslip
4. They Called Me a Lioness, by Ahed Tamimi
5. Child of War, Woman of Peace, by Le Ly Hayslip
6. Between Two Worlds, by Suleika Jaouad
7. Reading the Room, by Paul Yamazaki
8. Mexicans in Wisconsin, by Sergio M González
9. Milwaukee in Stone and Clay, by Raymond Wiggers (May 10 virtual event)
10. Wisconsin for Kennedy, by BJ Hollars

Alas, our event with Paul Yamazaki for Reading the Room: A Bookseller's Tale next Friday was cancelled, but Yamazaki's book recommendations continue. We've put together a display of some of the books that have particular meaning for him. From the starred Booklist review: " Yamazaki has exquisite taste and a hunger for representative viewpoints. He wears his erudition casually as part of his drive to be the Coltrane of booksellers, to curate 'twelve well-selected, serendipitous linear inches and find a universe.'"

Books for Kids:
1. The Secret Code Inside You, by Rajani Larocca, illustrations by Steven Salerno
2. Endlessly Ever After, by Laurel Snyder, illustrations by Dan Santat
3. Charlie and Mouse V1, by Laurel Synder
4. Orphan Island, by Laurel Snyder
5. This Again, by Adam Borba
6. The Reappearance of Rachel Price, by Holly Jackson
7. The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein
8. Buffalo Fluffalo, by Bess Kalb, illustrations by Erin Kraan
9. The Great Lakes, by Barb Rosenstock, illustrations by Jamey Christoph
10. Dog Man V12: The Scarlet Shredder, by Dav Pilkey

Jenny Chou's enthusiasm for a great time travel novel is contagious. She notes that "This Again is LOL funny but also a great reflection on being a good friend and doing what makes you happy rather than trying to meet what you think are other people’s expectations. "Plus Booklist wrote: "Despite being a bit zany, this novel strikes a tone that is both nostalgic and fresh." Zany as a negative - I never heard of such a thing!

Boswell bestseller blog - week ending April 13, 2024

Boswell bestsellers for the week of April 13, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo (signed copies)
2. James, by Percival Everett
3. Whalefall, by Daniel Kraus (signed copies)
4. Table for Two, by Amor Towles
5. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
6. I Cheerfully Refuse, by Leif Enger (Boswell April 15 event)
7. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
8. The Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo
9. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
10. The Divorcées, by Rowan Beaird (signed copies)

Between the endpapers and black edging, I am gaga for The Familiar's packaging. Leigh Bardugo hadn't remembered being in Milwaukee before until she checked into her hotel. Sure enough, she was part of a group Fierce Reads tour some years ago. It reminds us that these tours can be pretty tough on authors. What city am I in again? And that makes it even more special that authors such as Bardugo continue to tour. Did I mention that The Familiar was the best reviewed fiction book on LitHub's BookMarks this week? Eight raves!

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Disillusioned, by Benjamin Herold (signed copies)
2. The Wide, Wide Sea, by Hampton Sides
3. The Age of Revolutions, by Fareed Zakaria
4. Somehow, by Anne Lamott
5. In Conclusion, Don't Worry About It, by Lauren Graham
6. The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians, by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann
7. There's Always This Year, by Hanif Abdurraqib
8. The Wager, by David Grann

9. The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt

10. The False White Gospel, by Jim Wallis

Looking for something to read after The Wager? Why not try The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook with three raves and two positives on BookMarks. From Doug Bock Clark in The New York Times: "...Sides isn’t just interested in retelling an adventure tale. He also wants to present it from a 21st-century point of view. The Wide Wide Sea fits neatly into a growing genre that includes David Grann’s The Wager and Candice Millard’s River of the Gods, in which famous expeditions, once told as swashbuckling stories of adventure, are recast within the tragic history of colonialism."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Hang the Moon, by Jeannette Walls (signed copies)
2. Someday, Someday, Maybe, by Lauren Graham
3. The Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo
4. Just for the Summer, by Abby Jimenez
5. Dune V1, by Frank Herbert
6. Dunne Messiah V2, by Frank Herbert
7. Birnam Wood, by Eleanor Catton
8. The Three Body Problem V1, by Cixin Liu
9. The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty
10. The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune

Second week out for Just for the Summer and Abby Jimenez sees a fourfold increase in sales over week one. Perhaps that's the impact from the GMA Book Club. From BookPage: "Everyone wants a shortcut to love, especially if a happily ever after is guaranteed. So it's not surprising that Justin Dahl gets a big response when he explains his gift (or curse) on Reddit: Whoever he dates goes on to meet her perfect match right after things end with him. To his shock, Justin soon hears from Emma, a woman with the same problem. What starts as a half-joking suggestion soon starts to form into a real plan - what if they date each other? Wouldn't that mean instead of being merely the gateway to love, they could finally have it for themselves... right after they break up?"

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Have I Told You This Already?, by Lauren Graham
2. Talking As Fast As I Can, by Lauren Graham
3. Purified, by Peter Annin
4. The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls
5. Congrats, You're Having a Teen, by Kenneth Ginsburg
6. Raising Kids to Thrive, by Kenneth Ginsburg
7. The Mechanic Shop Femme's Guide to Car Ownership, by Chaya M Milchtein
8. The Body Keeps the Store, by Bessel van der Kolk
9. Everything I Know About Love, by Dolly Alderton
10. Beyond Ethnic Loneliness, by Prasanta Verma (Boswell April 26 event)

Peter Annin appeared at Marquette Law School to talk about his book Purified: How Recycled Sewage Is Transforming Our Water, whose publisher copy notes that "sensationalist media coverage has repeatedly crippled water recycling efforts." From a review by Sasha Harris-Lovett in Science magazine: "Vivid and engaging.... As fresh water supplies become increasingly scarce and technologies for water treatment improve, potable water reuse will likely become widespread. Annin's timely and important reporting empowers readers to understand the critical issues at hand and offers an engaging introduction to potable water reuse."

Books for Kids:
1. Gaga Mistake Day, by Emma Straub and Susan Straub, illustrations by Susan Love (signed copies)
2. Very Good Hats, by Emma Straub, illustrations by Blanca Gomez
3. Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo
4. Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo
5. Demon in the Wood, by Leigh Bardugo
6. Oh, Are You Awake?, by Bob Shea, illustrations by Jarvis
7. Dog Man V12: The Scarlet Shredder, by Dav Pilkey
8. Louder Than Hunger, by John Schu
9. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
10. Big, by Vashti Harrison

Bob Shea collaborates with Jarvis for Oh, Are You Awake?. From Julie Roach in Horn Book: "This contentious going-to-sleep sequence between two appealing characters has all the right ingredients for sharing aloud, whether it is time for bed or simply time for a story." And Publishers Weekly: "It's a funny, visually playful bedtime battle of wills in which both beings get the resolution of their dreams."

Boswell bestsellers, week ending April 6, 2024

Boswell bestsellers, week ending April 6, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. James, by Percival Everett
2. Table for Two, by Amor Towles
3. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
4. The Price You Pay V8, by Nick Petrie
5. I Cheerfully Refuse, by Leif Enger (Boswell Apr 15 event)
6. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
7. Wandering Stars, by Tommy Orange
8. The Hunter V2, by Tana French
9. The Great Divide, by Cristina Henríquez
10. Whalefall, by Daniel Kraus (Boswell April 8 event)

Top (and only) first week out this week is Amor Towles's Table for Two, stories and a novella. Our staff rec is from Tim, for whom this was his Towles introduction. I suspect that is rather unusual. On BookMarks, Towles got three raves and three positives - Hamilton Cain in The New York Times is one of the raves, calling it a knockout collection. From the review: "The Oscar goes to 'Eve in Hollywood,' a novella that unfolds during the filming of Gone With the Wind. Towles tricks out the Tinseltown lore in a homage to the heyday of studio moguls and the hard-boiled fiction of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, even alluding to actual legends like Errol Flynn’s use of two-way mirrors and peepholes."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The False White Gospel, by Jim Wallis (signed copies)
2. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger (Kissinger in conversation at Boswell April 30)
3. There's Always This Year, by Hanif Abdurraqib
4. The Age of Revolutions, by Fareed Zakaria
5. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
6. The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl
7. Oath and Honor, by Liz Cheney
8. Plantyou: Scrappy Cooking, by Carleigh Bodrug
9. Slow Productivity, by Cal Newport
10. Burn Book, by Kara Swisher

Top non-event debut is Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present from CNN host Fareed Zakaria. BookMarks roundup: two raves, a positive, a mixed, and a pan. I read The New Yorker view and based on other ratings BookMarks offered, I would call it mixed. From David Brooks: "Zakaria's book will help readers feel honored and grateful that we get to be part of this glorious and ongoing liberal journey. He understands that we liberals can't just offer economic benefits; we also have to make the spiritual and civic case for our way of life."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Goodbye Vitamin, by Rachel Khong (May 15 Boswell event)
2. Hang the Moon, by Jeannette Walls (April 10 Boswell event)
3. Dune V1, by Frank Herbert
4. Birnam Wood, by Eleanor Catton (Boswell-run book club checklist)
5. When Women Were Dragons, by Kelly Barnhill
6. Dune Messiah V2, by Frank Herbert
7. A Court of Thorns and Roses V1, by Sarah J Maas
8. A Court of Silver Flames V5, by Sarah J Maas
9. The Three Body Problem V1, by Cixin Liu
10. The Rule Book, by Sarah Adams

I'm sure you all know that sports romance is a hot subgenre, though The Rule Book, the latest romance from Sarah Aadms, is football-based and not the hottest of the hot sub-subs, hockey. From Publishers Weekly: Publishers Weekly: "Adams dazzles in her latest, a saucy second chance rom-com. Quirky Nora 'Mac' Mackenzie struggles to make a name for herself as a sports agent. After working her way up through the male dominated corporate ladder, she finally has a chance to represent legendary NFL tight end Derek Pender. There's just one problem: eight years ago, Nora walked away from Derek, her first love, without explanation." 

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Have I Told You This Already?, by Lauren Graham 
2. Dead Man Walking, by Helen Prejean 
3. Christ in Crisis, by Jim Wallis
4. Master Slave Husband Wife, by Ilyon Woo
5. Reading the Room, by Paul Yamazaki (Boswell event April 26)
6. River Profiles, by Pete Hill (Boswell event April 17)
7. Rand McNally Road Atlas 2025 large scale
8. Wisconsin for Kennedy, by BJ Hollars
9. Pathogenesis, by Jonathan Kennedy
10. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond

I haven't really paid attention to the Rand McNally Road Atlas in years. I had no idea that the large scale spiral bound seemingly outsells the classic, with Ingram stocking twice as many copies of the former.

Books for Kids:
1. The Mystery of Locked Rooms, by Lindsay Currie
2. Claymates, by Devorah Petty
3. Every Day's a Holiday, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Husna Aghiniya
4. Scritch Scratch, by Lindsay Currie
5. A Place for Pluto, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Melanie Demmer
6. Sleep Train, by Jonathan London
7. Hustle Bustle Bugs, by Catherine Bailey
8. Dog Man V12: The Scarlet Shredder, by Dav Pilkey
9. Amulet V9: Waverider, by Kazu Kibuishi
10. Nothing, by Nicholas Day

We had a wonderful day of school visits with Lindsay Currie, featuring her latest Novel, The Mystery of Locked Rooms. From Publishers Weekly: "Seventh grader Sarah and her two best friends West and Hannah call themselves the Deltas for their love of puzzles. Their unique and perfectly balanced individual skills aid in their team efforts to solve even the hardest of escape room riddles. ...Currie builds suspense via high-stakes brain teasers in dark rooms and periods of isolation as the Deltas endeavor to solve the biggest, most dangerous series of escape rooms they've ever faced."