Sunday, June 16, 2024

Boswell bestsellers, week ending June 15, 2024

Boswell bestsellers, week ending June 15, 2024

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Women, by Kristin Hannah
2. The Comfort of Ghosts V18, by Jacqueline Winspear
3. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
4. James, by Percival Everett
5. Funny Story, by Emily Henry
6. Table for Two, by Amor Towles
7. Running Close to the Wind, by Alexandra Rowland
8. I Cheerfully Refuse, by Leif Enger
9. Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
10. Horror Movie, by Paul Tremblay

Running Close to the Wind is a stand-alone queer pirate fantasy from Alexandra Rowland, author of A Taste of Gold and Iron. From the starred Booklist review: "Rowland's latest standalone journey into their Chantiverse is a delightful romp."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, by Amy Tan (signed copies)
2. The T in LGBT+, by Jamie Raines (signed copies)
3. The Power Foods Diet, by Neal Barnard (signed copies)
4. The Demon of Unrest, by Erik Larson
5. Safe and Sound, by Mercury Stardust (signed copies)
6. The Great River, by Boyce Upholt
7. The Dane Country Farmers Market Cookbook, by Terese Allen
8. While You Were Out, by Meg Kissinger
9. The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt
10. The Little Frog's Guide to Self Care, by Maybell Eequay

The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi has great reviews from The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and this from Bob Timmons in the Star Tribune: "In his deeply researched book The Great River, Boyce Upholt makes clear that a true accounting of the mighty river has all of the elements of a frontier novel: violence, death, greed, resilience and big dreams."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Not in Love, by Ali Hazelwood
2. A Question of Time, by Kathleen Dale
3. The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan
4. Dune, by Frank Herbert
5. The Tatami Galaxy, by Tomihiko Morimi
6. The Postcard, by Anne Berest
7. The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
8. This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar
9. Dune Messiah V2, by Frank Herbert
10. The Prior of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon

Ali Hazelwood comes back down to Earth after her paranormal foray (though another is coming). Kirkus reviews Not in Love: "Two people (Rue and Eli) meet for a hookup before discovering they're on opposite sides of a hostile business takeover...Hazelwood shows every indication of continually outdoing herself with this latest romance, her lush, evocative prose making Rue and Eli's shared scenes dynamic and engrossing."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. It Didn't Start Out That Way, by Judy Bridges
2. The Mechanic Shop Femme's Guide to Car Ownership, by Chaya M Milchtein
3. A Philosophy of Walking, by Frédéric Gros
4. Grief Is a Sneaky Bitch, by Lisa Keefauver (Boswell July 29 event)
5. What an Owl Knows, by Jennifer Ackerman
6. World Travel, by Anthony Bourdain
7. The Hundred Year's War on Palestine, by Rashid Khalidi
8. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
9. Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman
10. Murdle V1, by GT Karber

I obviously wasn't paying attention to pub dates, because my first assumption was that World Travel: An Irreverant Guide was an older title, but it was actually a reprint of the 2021 hardcover, and based on paperback reprints often being 65% (or more) of the hardcover price, a drop from $45 to $22 is a big deal! The original release had three raves and three positives on BookMarks, including this from Zack Ruskin at the San Francisco Chronicle, who called it a "refreshingly unique travel guide that thoughtfully fleshes out Bourdain’s desired intentions with supplementary essays from his peers and loved ones."

Books for Kids:
1. Dog Man V12: The Scarlet Shredder, by Dav Pilkey
2. The Lightning Thief V1, by Rick Riodran
3. This Is Not My Lunchbox, by Jennifer Dupuis, illustrations by Carol Schwartz
4. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
5. They Call Me No Sam, by Drew Daywalt, illustrations by Mike Lowery
6. Northwind, by Gary Paulsen
7 The One and Only Family V4, by Katherine Applegate
8. The Twelfth Knight, by Alexene Farol Follmuth
9. Log Life, by Amy Hevron
10. Hustle Bustle Bugs, by Catherine Bailey

They Call Me No Sam, Drew Daywalt's heavily illustrated chapter book (by Mike Lowery) is told from the perspective of a pub, who will do whatever it takes to protect the naked-monkey things in his life. The book is a staff rec from Jen ("Had me laughing out loud') and also has a starred Booklist: " Strewn with line drawings featuring a tubby but ferocious pooch wreaking havoc, deliberate or otherwise, this howlingly funny tale propels its doggy narrator through challenges ranging from explosions and dognapping to actually making friends with cats on the way to a well-earned name change: 'Good boy, Sam.'"

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