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."