Boswell bestsellers, week ending May 25, 2024

Boswell bestsellers, week ending May 25, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Paradise Problem, by Christina Lauren
2. One Perfect Couple, by Ruth Ware
3. Kittentits, by Holly Wilson
4. The Sicilian Inheritance, by Jo Piazza (Boswell May 30 event)
5. James, by Percival Everettt
6. You Like It Darker, by Stephen King
7. The Guncle Abroad, by Stephen Rowley
8. Funny Story, by Emily Henry
9. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
10. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride

Stephen King's new collection of stories, You Like It Darker, includes five stories never before published. Unlike many authors, it is not unusual for King's stories to be adapted for film and streaming, which makes readers wonder, which story will be the next to hit the screen? Booklist says King is "at the height of his powers," while Publishers Weekly writes: "Themes of fate, morality, and heartache crop up again and again in these tightly coiled tales, and King expertly utilizes them to make every twist of the knife all the more terrifying. This remarkably assured collection will thrill the author's fans."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, by Amy Tan (MPL June 13 event)
2. The Demon of Unrest, by Erik Larson
3. What This Comedian Said Will Shock You, by Bill Maher
4. The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt
5. Earth, by DK
6. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger
7. Look Away, by Jacob Kushner
8. Rebel Girl, by Kathleen Hanna
9. Get Honest or Die Trying, by Charlamagne the God
10. In My Time of Dying, by Sebastian Junger

Get Honest or Die Trying: Why Small Talk Sucks is the latest from Charlamagne the God, the cohost of The Breakfast Club, a popular national radio show. His writing offers, per Kirkus, "a compellingly honest manifesto about authenticity." From Publishers Weekly: "The most successful selections showcase Charlamagne's comic chops and idiosyncratic thinking, as when he argues that delivering big ideas in a humorous way can encourage people to engage in difficult debates."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Long After We Are Gone, by Terah Shelton Harris
2. The Air He Breathes, by Brittainy Cherry
3. Love and Other Words, by Christina Lauren
4. The True Love Experiment, by Christina Lauren
5. Something Wilder, by Christina Lauren
6. Rouge, by Mona Awad
7. Zero Days, by Ruth Ware
8. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
9. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, by Satoshi Yagisawa
10. Murder at the Mena House, by Erica Ruth Neubauer

While local romance writer Brittainy Cherry, author of The Air He Breathes, had not previously appeared at Boswell, she is well known not just here, but in France, where she has the same publisher as Christina Lauren, making her a natural conversation partner for their event. Known for her "emotionally charged, devastating but ultimately cathartic modern romances that are very loosely tied together but easily able to stand alone," the the crowd went crazy. Once we sold out, she signed bookplates. Cherry is often at the top of TikTok "books that make you cry" lists.

If anyone is wondering, I am following British pop music guidelines for compiling this chart, not American.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Dear Readers and Riders, by Lettie Teague (Boswell June 5 event)
2. Murdle V1, by GT Karber
3. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond
4. Master, Slave, Husband, Wife, by Ilyon Woo
5. Sweet Wild and Vicious, by Jim Higgins
6. The Hundred Years War on Palestine, by Rashid Khalidi
7. A Philosophy of Walking, by Frédéric Gros
8. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
9. Everything I Know About Love, by Dolly Alderton
10. Over My Dead Body, by Greg Melville

Selling off Madi's rec shelf is Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of America's Cemeteries, which released in paperback last fall. Per the publisher, "Melville centers cemeteries within a larger cultural history and notes how cemeteries acted as our first city parks and art galleries, some of our earliest conservation projects, symbols for expressions of religious freedom, and the creation of suburban subdivisions, among other topics."

Books for Kids:
1. Finding Things, by Kevin Henkes, illustrations by Laura Dronzek
2. Dog Man V12: The Scarlet Shredder, by Dav Pilkey
3. The One and Only Family, by Katherine Applegate
4. Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, by Kevin Henkes
5. Peekaboo Sun, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
6. The World and Everything in It, by Kevin Henkes
7. The Wheel of the Year, by Fiona Cook, illustrations by Jessica Roux
8. Kitten's First Full Moon, by Kevin Henkes
9. Ursula Upside Down, by Corey R Tabor
10. May You Love and Be Loved, by Cleo Wade

It may be past Earth Day (where this book was displayed), but Fiona Cook's The Wheel of the Year: An Illustrated Guide to Nature's Rhythms continues to sell steadily. From Kirkus: "Cook's obvious wealth of knowledge and care in explaining both the light and dark of the world around us is complemented perfectly by Roux's charming, delicate illustrations of natural objects, critters both cute and crawly, and racially diverse young people. This book is, in a word, immaculate."

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending May 18, 2024

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending May 18, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Real Americans, by Rachel Khong (signed copies)
2. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
3. All Fours, by Miranda July
4. Funny Story, by Emily Henry
5. Kittentits by Holly Wilson (Boswell May 23 event)
6. Table for Two, by Amor Towles
7. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
8. Long Island, by Colm Toibin
9. James, by Percival Everett
10. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt

It's seven raves on BookMarks for All Fours, the second novel from Miranda July. I read something, but apparently that was a short story collection. From Shelf Awareness: "Whether it's directing films or performing in them, fashioning visual art, or writing, Miranda July (The First Bad Man) has demonstrated she's a multitalented creative. That talent manifests itself again in her second novel, All Fours, an unconventional but engaging story about one woman's attempt to navigate the sometimes perilous passage through the middle years"

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Look Away, by Jacob Kushner
2. The Demon of Unrest, by Erik Larson
3. Burn Book, by Kara Swisher
4. A Short Guide to a Happy Life, by Anna Quindlen
5. The Situation Room, by George Stephanopoulos
6. Rebel Girl, by Kathleen Hanna
7. Six Pack, by Brad Balukjian
8. My Life in Seventeen Books, by Jon M Sweeney
9. The Age of Magical Overthinking, by Amanda Montell
10. This Is Water, by David Foster Wallace

Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk chronicles Kathleen Hanna's life in the bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. Library Journal called it "a raucous, rousing tale about the power of music and activism." And from Michael Calderone in Vanity Fair: "Rebel Girl is Hanna in full: politically radical, funny, and fearless. Just as Hanna has never held back as a performer, she writes unflinchingly." Three raves and three positives in BookMarks, but the publisher has several annotations on their website that haven't been captured, including a positive one from Town and Country, which is a bit ironic, isn't it?

Paperback Fiction:
1. Goodbye, Vitamin, by Rachel Khong
2. Can't Spell Treason Without Tea V1, by Rebecca Thorne
3. Birnam Wood, by Eleanor Catton
4. This Summer Will Be Different, by Carley Fortune
5. Venomous Lumpsucker, by Ned Beauman
6. When the Moon Hatched, by Sarah A Parker
7. The Cartographers, by Peng Shepherd (Boswell July 11 event)
8. A Court of Mist and Fury, by Sarah J Maas
9. Honey Witch, by Sydney J Shields
10. Rouge, by Mona Awad

Rebecca Thorne's bestseller features a queen and her private guard who open a book and tea shop. From Booklist: "Can't Spell Treason without Tea might best be described by quoting the grandfather from cult classic The Princess Bride, since the book does contain 'fighting, torture, revenge . . .monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles.' This book was a self-publishing hit that has now gotten the full Bramble treatment, including turquoise edges. For fans of the Travis Baldree cozy fantasies.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Master Slave Husband Wife, by Ilyon Woo
2. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond
3. The Philosophy of Walking, by Frédéric Gros
4. Dear Readers and Riders, by Lettie Teague (Boswell June 5 event)
5. Milwaukee in Stone and Clay, by Raymond Wiggers
6. Sweet, Wild and Vicious, by Jim Higgins
7. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
8. Beyond Ethnic Loneliness, by Prasanta Verma
9. Pathogenesis, by Jonathan Kennedy
10. The Light We Carry, by Michelle Obama

After 18 months in hardcover, Michelle Obama's second book, The Light We Carry, edges into our top ten. To me, paperback publishing is a conundrum nowadays - the longer you wait, the less of a splash you will have, but if it means a longer run for the hardcover, that probably more than makes up for it. Long gone are the days of paperback contracts, where publication a year after hardcover pub date was a common clause. I am also intrigued that her photo was on the hardcover, but the paperback jacket is a type design. From Douglas Brinkley in The Boston Globe: "A complex, accomplished life recounted with confidence and candor . . . Every page sparkles with directness and grace."

Books for Kids:
1. The One and Only Family V4, by Katherine Applegate (signed copies)
2. The One and Only Bob V2, by Katherine Applegate
3. The One and Only Ivan V1, by Katherine Applegate
4. Everything Sad Is Untrue, by Daniel Nayeri
5. Finding Things, by Kevin Henkes, illustrations by Laura Dronzek (Boswell event today at 4 pm)
6. Patron Saints of Nothing, by Randy Ribay
7. Dear You, Dream Big, by Baptiste Paul, illustrations by Toni D Chambers
8. Buffalo Fluffalo, by Bess Kalb, illustrations by Erin Kraan
9. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
10. Dog Man V1: The Scarlet Shredder, by Dav Pilkey

In addition to her public event at Brookfield East Elementary, Katherine Applegate also visited two area schools to talk about her beloved series of novels based on a real gorilla. The One and Only Family is the final entry in the One and Only series and one should caveat that in real life, Ivan wasn't able to have kids. From the starred Booklist: " This is a satisfying send off, and readers will want to reread the whole series to share the laughs and the tears surrounding this memorable band of buddies one more time.

Boswell bestsellers, week ending May 11, 2024

Boswell bestsellers, week ending May 11, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Funny Story, by Emily Henry
2. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
3. Table for Two, by Amor Towles
4. James, by Percival Everett
5. Real Americans, by Rachel Khong (Boswell event May 15)
6. Long Island, by Colm Tóibín
7. The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley
8. The Paris Novel, by Ruth Reichl
9. The Hunter, by Tana French
10. The Women, by Kristin Hannah

The May selections for the big national book clubs are well-represented on this week's top 10. Real Americans is the Read with Jenna/Today Show pick, Long Island is Oprah's Book Club pick, and Good Morning America selected The Ministry of Time. Kaliane Bradley's debut was also the #1 Indie Next Pick for May and it's got five raves on BookMarks. Ron Charles in The Washington Post writes: "In fact, if I could travel back in time, one of the things I’d do, after strangling baby Hitler and buying Apple stock, would be to tell younger me not to waste time reading so many novels about time travel. But Bradley has got me rethinking that prejudice. Her utterly winning book is a result of violating not so much the laws of physics as the boundaries of genre."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Look Away, by Jacob Kushner (Boswell event May 16)
2. The Demon of Unrest, by Erik Larson
3. My Life in Seventeen Books, by Jon M Sweeney (signed copies)
4. Puerto Rico, by Jorell Meléndez-Badillo (signed copies)
5. The Serial Killer's Apprentice, by Katherine Ramsland and Tracy Ullman
6. There Are Dad's Way Worse Than You, by Glenn Boozan
7. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, by Amy Tan
8. Dan County Farmers Market Cookbook, by Terese Allen (Boswell event June 6)
9. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
10. The Light Eaters, by Zoë Schlanger

First week pop for The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth. It's got three raves (from the trades - Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist) plus a positive from Laura Miller in Slate: "Schlanger, who spends much of the book seeking confirmation from her scientist subjects that plants could be 'intelligent' and perhaps even possess 'consciousness.' The fact that there isn’t a scientific consensus on how to define either of those terms makes it especially difficult to pin them to an edge case like plants, which don’t have brains or nervous systems." The author is a staff writer at The Atlantic.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Birnam Wood, by Eleanor Catton (Lit Group June pick)
2. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
3. Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, by J Ryan Stradal
4. Just for the Summer, by Abby Jimenez
5. I Have Some Questions for You, by Rebecca Makkai
6. This Summer Will Be Different, by Carley Fortune
7. The Bodyguard, by Katherine Center
8. When in Rome, by Liam Callanan
9. Abyss, by Pilar Quintana
10. Penance, by Eliza Clark

Despite reviews being all over the place (3 raves, 5 positives, 2 mixed, 2 pans), Eliza Clark's Penance has a first-week paperback sale edges into the top ten. Clark broke out with her indie debut Boy Parts and has been named one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists 2023. One of the raves is from Matt Rowland Hill in The Guardian: "Any lingering suspicions that Clark is a mere provocateur will be banished by Penance, which – though it won’t appeal to all tastes – is a work of show-stopping formal mastery and penetrating intelligence."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Sweet, Wild and Vicious: Listening to Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, by Jim Higgins
2. Highly Irregular, by Arika Okrent
3. Puerto Rico (Spanish language edition), by Jorell Meléndez-Badillo
4. Milwaukee in Stone and Clay, by Raymond Wiggers
5. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
6. Fieldwork, by Iliana Regan
7. The Hundred Years War on Palestine, by Rashid Khalidi
8. Master Slave Husband Wife, by Ilyon Woo
9. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
10. The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown

Arika Okrent appeared UWM for a talk on Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme - And Other Oddities of the English Language, the reprint of an Oxford book from 2021. From Choice: "In more than 40 brief, readable chapters, Okrent brings both erudition and wit to the history of English and the mechanisms of language change and all the quirky consequences. With illustrations by talented cartoonist Sean O'Neill (of Rocket Robinson fame) on almost every page, Highly Irregular is the sort of book that can be read either at a slow pace (a chapter a day) or straight through. Okrent organized the material into thematic sections around the quirks, such as the spelling of colonel and the illogic of parkway versus driveway; the influences of Scandinavian, French, and the printing press; and the roles of both snobbery and human creativity. Every language should have a book like this one."

Books for Kids
1. The One and Only Family, by Katherine Applegate (Alas, this event is at capacity)
2. Things That Shimmer, by Deborah Lakritz
3. Summer Is Here, by Renée Watson, illustrations by Bea Jackson
4. Look How Much I've Grown in Kindergarten, by Vera Ahiyya, illustrations by Joey Chou
5. Tryouts, by Sara Sax
6. Buffalo Fluffalo, by Bess Kalb, illustrations by Erin Kraan
7. The Outdoor Scientist, by Temple Grandin
8. Dog Man V12: The Scarlet Shredder, by Dav Pilkey
9. May You Love and Be Loved, by Cleo Wade
10. Orris and Timble V1: The Beginning, by Kate DiCamillo, illustrations by Carmen Mok

Kate DiCamillo's new chapter book series features a friendship by a rat and an owl. From Kirkus on The Beginning: Orris and Timble V1: "Orris the rat seems quite comfortable nested amid his gathered treasures, which include a special marble, a cozy red velvet slipper, and a sardine can with the phrase 'Make the good and noble choice!!' That pesky moral imperative proves its worth when, after crawling out to investigate a cry for help, Orris finds himself, against his better judgment, negotiating with a trapped young owl named Timble by telling him part of the story of the Lion and the Mouse and then actually helping to free the owl's trapped claw."

Boswell bestsellers, week ending May 4, 2024

Boswell bestsellers, week ending May 4, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Miss Morgan's Book Brigade, by Janet Skelsien Charles (signed copies)
2. The Museum of Lost Quilts, by Jennifer Chiaverini (signed copies)
3. Funny Story, by Emily Henry
4. Real Americans, by Rachel Khong (Boswell May 15 event)
5. Table for Two, by Amor Towles
6. James, by Percival Everett
7. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
8. The Sicilian Inheritance, by Jo Piazza (Boswell May 30 event)
9. The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo
10. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride

April 30 releases were just a palate cleanser before the May 7 deluge of new releases. Is it the official start date of summer reading? Real Americans has 12 reviews on BookMarks including four raves. From Hannah Bae in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Riveting in its unexpected turns, Real Americans is a novel about past mistakes and their echoes — and a reminder that those histories need not be binding."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger
2. The Demon of Unrest, by Erik Larson
3. An Unfinished Love Story, by Doris Karns Goodwin
4. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, by Amy Tan
5. Puerto Rico, by Jorell Meléndez-Badillo (Boswell May 8 event)
6. The Garretts of Columbia, by David Nicholson
7. The Algebra of Wealth, by Scott Galloway
8. There's Always Next Year, by Hanif Abudrraqib
9. Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, by Judi Dench
10. The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl

An update on The Backyard Bird Chronicles from Amy Tan. Last week a paperback (verified on several websites including Edelweiss, the NYT bestsellers), but this week a hardcover (Ingram, the PRH website), these flexibind titles are tricky. Will it change lists on the NYT this week? Whatever the binding, Amy Tan's book has been met with a lot of enthusiasm, including Kirkus: "A charming bird journey with the bestselling author...An ebullient nature lover's paean to birds."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Murder at the Mena House, by Erica Ruth Neubauer (May 19 Weyenberg Library event)
2. Dune, by Frank Herbert
3. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
4. Weyward, by Emilia Hart
5. Twilight Falls, by Juneau Black (July 9 Boswell event)
6. These Burning Stars, by Bethany Jacobs
7. Horse, by Geraldine Brooks
8. I Have Some Questions for You, by Rebecca Makkai
9. Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett
10. In Ascension, by Martin MacInnes

These Burning Stars came out last October and recently received the Philip K Dick Award.  From Booklist: " The first in the Kindom trilogy is a space opera set a thousand years after the last humans on Earth boarded generational ships to find habitable planets...For fans of Everina Maxwell, Arkady Martine, and Becky Chambers."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Committed, by Suzanne Scanlon
2. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
3. Fentanyl Inc, by Ben Westhoff
4. Milwaukee in Stone and Clay, by Raymond Wiggers (Virtual May 10 event)
5. The Hundred Years War on Palestine, by Rashid Khalidi
6. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
7. Pathogenesis, by Jonathan Kennedy
8. Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond
9. Sweet Wild and Vicious, by Jim Higgins (Boswell May 9 event)
10. The Mechanic Shop Femme's Guide to Car Ownership, by Chaya M Milchtein

We had a very nice program with Suzanne Scanlon in conversation with Meg Kissinger for Committed: On Meaning and Madwoman, and it was only at the event that I learned that the author introduced two of our now-coupled customers to each other. Scanlon has a rave from Gianni Washington in The Chicago Review of Books: "This review can only ever be a vain attempt to enumerate all that is relatable and insightful within the covers of Scanlon’s Committed. Though it appears to follow the author’s winding stream of consciousness, the catalog of her thoughts is not disorganized. Every return to a particular subject is purposeful and revelatory."

Books for Kids:
1. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
2. Death's Door, by by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
3. Dog Man V12: The Scarlet Shredder, by Dav Pilkey
4. What the River Knows, by Isabel Ibanez
5. Bubbly Beautiful Kitty Corn, by Shannon Hale, illustrations by Leuyen Pham
6. Gertie the Darling Duck of World War II, by Shari Swanson, illustrations by Renée Graef
7. The Complete Chi's Sweet Home, by Konami Kanata
8. Big, by Vashti Harrison
9. The Truth About the Couch, by Adam Rubin, illustrations by Liniers
10. What Feelings Do When No One's Looking, by Tina Oziewicz, illustrations by Aleksandra Zajac

Another Independent Bookstore Day special hits the list. Bubbly Beautiful Kitty Corn (the link is to the regular edition) is part of a series by Shannon Hale and Leuyen Pham that I think started with Itty Bitty Kitty Corn. I love that the author page links to book purchases at The King's English. From the Booklist review of the new book: "Hale crafts an appealing new challenge for the duo to tackle, and Pham uses her trademark humor, memorable character expressions, and accomplished graphic-novel-style digital artwork (including terrific endpapers) to support and elevate the text. Fans of the series will be excited for an addition, but it also stands alone as a sweet friendship tail."