Straight form Milwaukee, it's Boswell's Bestsellers for the Week Ending May 16, 2015, Featuring the Journal Sentinel Book Reviews.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Dream Lover, by Elizabeth Berg
2. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
3. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
4. A God in Ruins, by Kate Atkinson
5. Church of Marvels, by Leslie Parry
6. Pleasantville, by Attica Locke
7. The Green Road, by Anne Enright
8. My Struggle Volume 4, by Karl Ove Knausgaard
9. The Daylight Marriage, by Heidi Pitlor
10. The Book of Aron, by Jim Shepard (event Jun 18 at Boswell)

Though we are still basking in the glow of an absolutely lovely lunch with Elizabeth Berg (and yes, we're now #1 for The Dream Lover on Above the Treeline), It's time to move on, right? But not before noting that we even got one of George Sand's books, the story collection, What Flowers Say, into our top ten paperbacks. But there's lots of other interesting things going on this week, like a first week pop into the top ten for Jim Shepard's The Book of Aron, coming to Milwaukee on June 18, co-sponsored by the UWM Stahl Center for Jewish Studies, which Ron Charles called "a masterpiece" in the Washington Post. And Sharon's pick, Heidi Pitlor's The Daylight Marriage, which got a nice review by Nick Romeo on The Boston Globe, who praises its "taut suspense and subtle characterization." And look, there's Attica Locke's Pleasantville, her follow-up to the terrific Black Water Rising. Isabel Berwick in The Financial Times uses the adverb "brilliantly" to describe what Locke takes on. Read this review for context; you won't be disappointed.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Children of the Stone, by Sandy Tolan
2. Elsie De Wolfe's Paris, by Charlie Scheips
3. Hold Still, by Sally Mann
4. A Lucky Life Interrupted, by Tom Brokaw
5. The Wright Brothers, by David McCullough
6. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Condo
7. H is for Hawk, by Helen MacDonald
8. The Art of Forgery, by Noah Charney
9. Believer, by David Axelrod (signing at Marquette Jun 2, 1:15 pm following sold out talk)
10. It's a Long Story, by Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson's back! I thought he said it all in Roll Me Up and Smoke me Till I Die, but It's a Long Story is, per Nathan Whitlock in The Globe and Mail, "a piece of work that is soulful, goofy, profane, heartfelt, tossed off, a little sloppy around the edges and deeply idiosyncratic." The big pop for the week, though, was Sally Mann's Hold Still. Lots of advance holds on this one, and that was before her featured turn on Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Oh, and Tom Brokaw was featured on Fresh Air too for his memoir, A Lucky life Interrupted.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Almost Crimson, by Dasha Kelly
2. Rise from the River, by Kathie Giorgio
3. Shotgun Lovesongs, by Nickolas Butler
4. Euphoria, by Lily King
5. The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt
6. Far from the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy
7. The Illusion of Separateness, by Simon Van Booy
8. Colorless Tuskuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, by Haruki Murakami
9. What Flowers Say, by George Sand
10. Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng

After a strong hardcover run nationally, Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You pops into our top ten on its paperback run. Here's The New York Times review from Alexander Chee. And yes, Far From the Madding Crowd opened at the Downer Theater on Friday. It's playing at 4, 7, and 9:50. How can one not link to a review (the New Orleans Advocate) that calls it "masterpiece cinema" Amusingly enough, basic searches still bring up the 1968 version.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Emotional Life of Your Brain, by Richard J. Davidson
2. At the Table: by Elizabeth Crawford
3. Mindset, by Carol Dweck
4. Isaac's Storm, by Erik Larson
5. Escaping Into the Open, by Elizabeth Berg
6. How to Be Interesting, by Jessica Hagy
7. Growing in the Midwest, by Edward Lyon
8. Abominable Science, by Daniel Loxton
9. Strength for the Struggle, by Joseph Ellwanger
10. The Third Plate, by Dan Barber

Congratulations to The Third Plate's Dan Barber, who just received the James Beard award for food writing. Many books received honors, but cookbook of the year came from University of Texas Press, which published David Sterling's Yucatan. And of course our local food writer, Elizabeth Crawford, continues to sell at Boswell. Here's Nancy Stoh's story on At the Table in the Journal Sentinel.

Books for Kids:
1. Galactic Hot Dogs V1: Cosmoe's Wiener Getaway, by Max Brallier
2. Nightsiders V1 The Orphan Army, by Jonathan Maberry
3. Kate Walden Directs: Night of the Zombie Chickens V1, by Julie Mata
4. Kate Walden Directs: Bride of Slug Man v2, by Julie Mata
5. Pieces and Players, by Blue Balliett
6. Oh, the Places You'll Go, by Dr. Seuss
7. An Ember in the Ashes, by Sabaa Tahir
8. Home, by Carson Ellis
9. Rot and Ruin V1, by Jonathan Maberry
10. I am a Bunny, by Ole Risom with illustrations by Richard Scarr

It's almost the last of our school visits (Andy Rash and Elissa Brent Weissman should still have sales pops in the coming week) and we celebrate with no less than 7 of the top 10 being from authors who did events with Boswell. Max Brallier celebrated the release of his middle grade series Galactic Hot Dogs: Cosmoe's Wiener Getaway with mini dogs from Dr. Dawg at the North Shore Library. I wanted to serve something for Jonathan Maberry's The Nightsiders: The Orphan Army but what? Candy guts? It can be hard to do public events for first-timers, and while both Brallier and Maberry are seasoned authors, this was their first time targeting the 8-12 crowd. Come to think of it, we had a lot of first-time middle grade authors in school year 2014-2015. It appears to be the sweet spot for school tours.

Wow! Neal Stephenson is profiled by Jim Higgins in the Journal Sentinel for his new novel, Seveneves. We're hosting a ticketed event with Stephenson on Friday, June 5, 7 pm. $36 includes admission and the book. On the origin of the story: "Going way back, there's a subgenre of science-fiction books about the end of the world, people getting on an ark and going into space. I read some of those when I was a kid. On some level, I always thought it would be cool to write one of those. But I didn't really act on it until recently."

And here's Carole Barrowman's round up of her mystery picks for May.
--Ripped from the Pages, by Kate Carlisle, is "a charming story highlighting Brooklyn's passions as a book restorer and bibliophile"
--On the Wales-set Slated for Death, by Elizabeth Duncan: " this charming mystery is as tasty as a slice of Bara brith (a cake bread with raisins or currants)"
--Charlotte Chanter's The Well is "speculative, suspenseful and deliberately unsettling (think Margaret Atwood in style and tone)"
--The "completely unnerving and wickedly perverse" Luckiest Girl Alive from Jessica Knoll is "the book you insist all your friends read this summer."

Events Tuesday Through Monday--Dasha Kelly, Kathie Giorgio, Max Brallier at North Shore Library, Jonathan Maberry at West Allis Library, Leslie Parry, plus Jen Lancaster next Monday.

Yesterday I had two options--send out the email newsletter to 10,000 people or send out the event blog to, well, a lot fewer people. I went with option A, which means that today I'm following up with B. You can read the email newsletter here, though I should note that there are a few events that have suspiciously similar copy. That said, we do have very nice recs posted for Medicine Walk, Housebreaking, and The Book of Aron. 

Here are our event options for this week and into next!

Tuesday, May 12, 6:30 pm, at the North Shore Library, 6800 N. Port Washington Road:
Max Brallier, author of Galactic Hot Dogs: Cosmoe's Wiener Getaway.

A number of years ago, a feature appeared on a website called Funbrain entitled "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." It has proven quite successful. So while kids' authors don't always tour for their first book in a series (though surprisingly, many of them do), it can be an uphill battle, as kids are as brand concious as adults, and just saying that a story is really great or an author is fun is not enough to convince them.

Due to the web component, we're hoping many kids' area already aware of the series. So in addition to Max Brallier's school visit, we're also hosting an event at the North Shore Library tonight at 6:30 pm. We picked that location because it is down the block from Dr. Dawg, because of course we are serving hot dogs. I spoke to Dave, Dr. Dawg himself, who gave me some guidelines--close to 90% of kids want plain dogs with ketchup (not mustard). No Chicago style dogs for these pups.

And the book itself? Well our kids' buyer's daughter read Cosmoe's Wiener Getaway twice and gave it two thumbs up. And Kirkus Reviews says "This highly illustrated story has something for every demographic, offering robots, zombies, hot dogs, a princess, video games and wrestlers...The book is so frenetic that some readers will need caffeine to get through it, but in the end, that turns out to be an advantage: If a joke doesn't work, or if readers get bored, all they have to do is turn the page."

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
Tuesday, May 12, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Dasha Kelly, author of Almost Crimson. (Photo credit Catina Cole)

At Boswell, we've carried Dasha Kelly's poetry and worked with her on a writing program, and we're very excited to be hosting this event for her long-awaited novel, Almost Crimson.

This event is co-sponsored by the Milwaukee Public Library. A representative will be on hand to sign you up for, and issue you a library card on site. Doesn't your wallet seem a little empty without one?

Read Jim Higgins' review in the Journal Sentinel. It begins: "Dasha Kelly's novel Almost Crimson isn't set in New York, but it kept bringing to mind what Aretha Franklin sang about a rose in black and Spanish Harlem: 'It is a special one / It never sees the sun.'"

"For much of the story, both conditions apply, figuratively, to Crimson (CeCe) Weathers. CeCe grows up not only poor and black but also as the only child of a mother with depression so paralyzing that her little girl has to make sure the bills are paid and their underwear is washed."

From Kirkus Reviews: "Shifting between past and present, Kelly deftly weaves a narrative extending from Carla's college days during the civil rights movement through Cece's girlhood and present adulthood. But it's Cece's vibrant, personable voice that carries us through the novel. A multilayered exploration of the intricate nature of family ties in defining who we are-and how, ultimately, we can choose who we want to become."

Here's Jenni Herrick in The Shepherd Express: "Milwaukee author Dasha Kelly’s second novel Almost Crimson is a true work of art. It is a multi-layered story of hope and perseverance in the face of huge obstacles. Crimson (CeCe) is raised surrounded by inner-city single-parent poverty with a severely depressed mother. Forced to grow up too early, CeCe comes of age paying the family bills, caring for her mother and navigating life on her own. As she struggles with her own changing self of self, this brave protagonist shows a grim determination toward a better future."

Wednesday, May 13, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Kathie Giorgio, author of Rise from the River.

This event will benefit Milwaukee's Sojourner Family Peace Center, established in 1975 and dedicated to the mission of transforming lives impacted by domestic violence. More on the Journal Sentinel book page.

Young single mother Rainey Milbright's life has been shattered by a violent assault, witnessed by her young daughter Tish. With compassion and unflinching honesty, Giorgio chronicles the way a night of violence reverberates through Rainey's life, the life of her young daughter Tish, and this family's emotional journey to healing.

Writer Mary Grimm offers this praise: "Say that Kathie Giorgio's new novel, Rise from the River, is an assault on the senses, a torrent of feeling. Say that it is a manifesto for independent choices, a primer on women's issues taken to their extreme. That it is funny and awful and poignant and that you will be unable to put it down. It's all these things, but most of all it's about Rainey, to whom the unthinkable happens, and who then has to make one of a woman's most difficult choices..."

Several of you have come in, telling us of working with Kathie Giorgio at All Writers Workplace and Workshop in Waukesha. More about this program, which offers both online and on-site programs and classes, here.

Thursday, May 14, 6:30 pm, at at the West Allis Public Library, 7491 West National Avenue: Jonathan Maberry, author of many books for adults and teens, and his new middle grade book, The Nightsiders: The Orphan Army.

From Publishers Weekly: "In this opening installment of the Nightsiders series, Maberry mixes genres to admirable effect. Six years after the alien Swarm invaded Earth, the remaining free humans exist as nomadic refugees and rebels, scavenging to survive while plotting ways to fight back. Eleven-year-old Milo Silk belongs to one such group. Troubled by recurring dreams in which the so-called Witch of the World exhorts him to become the hero Earth needs, Milo is astounded to discover that creatures of myth and legend--werewolves, faeries, spirits of wood and stone--exist and are also fighting the Swarm. ..It's a strong start to what looks to be a highly entertaining story line."

While our school events really tried to focus on the new book, and thus were targeted towards 3rd through 6th graders (maybe 7th), for the public event, we're happy to get fans of any age who read all the different things Maberry writes--horror novels for adults, his various Marvel comic books (Punisher, Marvel Zombies, Captain America), the teen Rot and Ruin sf/horror series, the Joe Ledger mystery/thriller/horror hybrid series, the Pine Deep horror series, an upcoming mystery series for teens, and many, many nonfiction books. This guy knows a lot about everything creepy; read more here.

Friday, May 15, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Leslie Parry, author of Church of Marvels. (photo credit Adam Farabee)

Chicago writer Leslie Parry has already gotten a lot of great buzz for her first novel, Church of Marvels, but I want to particularly congratulate her on being one of the Indies Introduce titles for spring 2015. You may have seen our display at the front of Boswell, highlighting books for both kids and adults. These are all debut works,with a panel of booksellers plowing through many, many books to find ones they can all stand behind.

Here's the official Indie Next recommendation, from fellow bookseller Cathy Langer at The Tattered Cover: "In this page-turner of a debut very little is what it first appears to be. Set in Coney Island and Manhattan at the end of the 19th century, Church of Marvels is populated with carnival folk and others living on the edge of society with either much to hide or much to discover. The characters are richly drawn and their circumstances exceptionally intriguing as they seek and find the complicated truths of their lives in the dark underbelly of New York."

Here's more about the program. Another author who was picked for spring who is coming on June 10 is Emma Hooper, author of Etta and Otto and Russell and James.

Steve Nathans-Kelly's review in Paste magazine starts out by saying that to really capture city life in late 19th, early 20th century America, you need to "make the city feel real", capturing the squalor, but do it your own way. He continues: “Backhanded compliment though it may seem, that’s precisely what Leslie Parry has accomplished in Church of Marvels, a mesmerizing new novel of 1895 New York, situated squarely in the city’s rankest, dankest back alleys, flophouses, brothels, prison cells and opium dens. From the book’s opening pages, which concern a crew of night-soilers harvesting the feces from tenement privies for delivery to a riverside fertilizer factory, the novel reeks of authenticity. The only way to come up for air is to close the book, made increasingly difficult by Parry’s eye-popping prose as the story digs in."

Monday, May 18, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Jen Lancaster, author of I Regret Nothing: A Memoir.

This event features a headstart to one of the items on Jen Lancaster's bucket list, an introduction to self-defense by a very special guest: local martial artist, personal trainer, and founder of Anthro EX, Paul Boyajian.

So for this event, our first with Jen Lancaster, we were given a challenge by the publisher. Come up with an event that ties in to an item on Jen's bucket list. I asked around to my project Jen team (that's a fancy way of saying Sharon, Phoebe, and Carly, who were working with me that day) and we decided that the self-defense intro would be the most interesting thing to put together. So after checking in with Mel, who knew a lot more about self defense than I first imagined, she connected us with Paul Boyajian.

With over 30 years of martial arts experience, personal trainer and founder of Anthro EX Corrective Exercise Functional Training Programs Paul Boyajian is skilled in Tae Kwon Do, Thai Boxing, Savate, Jeet Kune Do, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He is an American Council on Exercise certified personal trainer and fitness nutritionist and a National Academy of Sports Medicine certified Corrective Exercise Specialist, and has taught and trained clients of all ages locally for many years in various disciplines, including a popular class on self-defense for women. Here's his profile on Sage Arts Unlimited.

Boswellian Sharon Nagel says that I Regret Nothing shows the author in top form. She writes: "For many years I have been a fan of Jen Lancaster and her hilarious memoirs. Her latest does not disappoint. Coming to terms with the fact that she is of a certain age, Jen decides to complete as many items as possible on her bucket list, that compilation we all have of experiences we want to have before we die. A few of the items on Jen's list are: starting a business, traveling alone to Italy, and learning a new language. She tackles these goals with her usual enthusiasm and the support, mostly, of her husband, Fletch, and the dogs, Hambone and Loki. You might even be inspired to start your own bucket list.

And of course Jen Lancaster is the bestselling author of ten previous books, including Bitter is the New Black. She has appeared on a whole mess of shows, and resides in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband and their ever-expanding menagerie of ill-behaved pets.

I know that she's only a car ride away, but it would really suck if our events did not measure up to her sold-out ticketed events in other cities. If you fans in Boston couldn't get into Lancaster's event, I should note that is nonstop service on Southwest. Heck, make a week of it.

Boswell Bestseller Blast Off: What Wowed Our Customers for the Week Ending May 9, 2015

Hardcover Fiction:
1. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr (Pulitzer pop!)
2. A God in Ruins, by Kate Atkinson
3. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
4. God Help the Child, by Toni Morrison
5. Beneath the Bonfire, by Nickolas Butler
6. We Are Not Ourselves, by Matthew Thomas (event at Boswell Mon 6/8)
7. The Dream LoveR, by Elizabeth Berg (MPL lunch is Thu 6/4, see below)
8. The Fall, by John Lescroart
9. Falling in Love, by Donna Leon
10. The Fifth Gospel, by Ian Caldwell

Tickets sales have closed for the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library Literary Lunch on Thursday, Mary 14 with Elizabeth Berg. That said, you can still get a copy of The Dream Lover signed. Ask your friendly bookseller. Many of the novels of George Sand (Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, Baroness Dudevant) are only available in academic and contract-published editions, if at all, but we've got two available for purchase. Indiana is probably her best known novel and What Flowers Say is a collection of her stories.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The China Mirage, by James Bradley
2. The Power Playbook, by La La Anthony
3. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo
4. The Wright Brothers, by David McCullough
5. Dead Wake, by Erik Larson
6. The Road to Character, by David Brooks
7. Missoula, by Jon Krakauer
8. On the Move, by Oliver Sacks 9. Listen to Your Mother, edited by Ann Imig
10. Between You and Me, by Mary Norris

By coming in right before Mother's Day, David McCullough does triple duty by being a great gift for moms, dads, and grads. The Wright Brothers is getting a lot of review attention, including this piece from Reeve Lindbergh (Charles's daughter) in The Washington Post. She writes: "The detailed glimpses of the Wright family revealed in the first pages of David McCullough’s superb new book, The Wright Brothers, give more personal information than most of us can claim to know about aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright." The Associated Press's Hillel Italie (reprinted in the Journal Sentinel) offers a profile. And here's a piece from the (I think it was originally Bridgeport) Connecticut Post where they report that McCullough dismisses Gustave Whitehead's claim that he flew before the Wrights.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Into the Realm of Time, by Scott Douglas Prill
2. The Red Notebook, by Antoine Laurain
3. The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt
4. Listen and Other Stories, by Liam Callanan
5. The Doors You Mark are Your Own, by Okla Elliott and Raul Clement
6. The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd
7. Euphoria, by Lily King
8. Meet Me Halfway, by Jennifer Morales (event Sat 6/6 2 pm at Washington Park Library)
9. The Husband's Secret, by Liane Moriarty
10. Shotgun Lovesongs, by Nickolas Butler

When a book sells in hardcover for a really long time, one wonders whether it will have life in paperback. Usually the movie release is the thing that's needed for that next pop, and while there will be a film version most likely (the rights were acquired by Oprah's Harpo Films, Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings is not one of those books where they were forced to release the paperback because the film was imminent, and really, it's only about 15 months past the hardcover release. We've gotten so used to these 6-8 months paperback cycles that when something takes a year, it feels like a delay.

We had several nice launches this week, including Silvia Acevedo's for God Awful Loser and Scott Douglas Prill for Into the Realm of Time. Congratulations to both authors.

 Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore
2. Dotcom Secrets, by Russell Brunson
3. The Boys on the Boat, by Daniel James Brown
4. Flags of Our Fathers, by James Bradley
5. How to Be a Heroine, by Samantha Ellis
6. At the Table, by Elizabeth Crawford
7. Enchanted Forest, by Johanna Basford
8. Milwaukee Mafia, by Gavin Schmitt (event at MPL Central Mon 7/13)
9. The Lady in Gold, by Anne Marie O'Connor
10. Glitter and Glue, by Kelly Corrigan

For the last three years, we've been invited to the Ozaukee Family Services breakfast fundraiser, featuring Barbara Rinella, and it's a great chance for us to chat about books with the attendees, both before and after the talk (plus Rinella makes a lot of book recommendations too). This year we asked Boswellian Jane Glaser to get involved, and of course she saw a lot of old friends from Schwartz and Next Chapter. How to be a Heroine was of course a huge hit for her, and I had fun helping folks discover The Red Notebook. One book she suggested bringing was Kelly Corrigan's Glitter and Glue.

Books for Kids:
1. Pieces and Players, by Blue Balliett
2. Chasing Vermeer, by Blue Balliett
3. God Awful Loser, by Silvia Acevedo
4. Geronimo Stilton #1: The Lost Treasure of Emerald Eye, from Scholastic
5. Pete the Cat and the Bad Banana, by James Dean
6. If You Were a Dog, by Jamie A. Swenson, with illustrations by Chris Raschka
7. The Adventures of Beekle, by Dan Santat
8. Wringer, by Jerry Spinelli
9. I Love Dogs, by Sue Stainton, with illustrations by Bob Staake
10. Saint Anything, by Sarah Dessen

Happy National Children's Book Week, with 40% of the bestseller list being titles that were featured in our programming. Jamie Swenson's books involve a lot of sounds (onomatopoeia, which I probably would not have spelled correctly without some sort of dictionary) with her previous book using the noises of a truck and a thunderstorm. For her newest book, If You Were a Dog, she was inspired by a boy who came into her library (she's a librarian!) and woofed at her. A very nice woman explained to her that on this day, her grandson was a dog. At storytime, said dog convinced other kids that they were also animals. I have completely paraphrased this story and apologize for any details i got wrong. We've already used If You were a Dog at storytime, and boy, is it great to read aloud!

In the  Journal Sentinel Jim Higgins reviews Dasha Kelly's Almost Crimson. He writes: "While Almost Crimson is not a YA book per se, the scenes of CeCe's childhood, coping with her mother's condition, with social workers and with school conflicts, are so compelling I would want to put this novel in the hands of teens like CeCe with a depressed parent. Portions of the novel about her adult life deal, tastefully and with humor, with her virginity and what she might do about that, so parents, librarians and teachers will want to consider that. I would have been fine with either of my teens reading Almost Crimson. Our event with Dasha Kelly is Tuesday, May 12, 7 pm, at Boswell.

Also reviewed by Jim Higgins is The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The Mostly True Story of the First Computer. He's a fan: "Sydney Padua's The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage has so many things going for it, I could go on and on, the way that Ada Lovelace did in her famous footnotes. But for the sake of readers in a hurry, here's the takeaway: It will make you laugh, and it will make you smarter." As Higgins notes, it grew out of a webcomic.

More Events at Boswell This Week: Okla Elliott Tonight, James Bradley at the Milwaukee Public Library Wednesday, Scott Douglas Prill on Saturday at 4, Plus a Skype Event with Steve Berry (Also Tonight

It's another busy week for us. Yesterday I posted our four events for National Children's Book Week, but it turns out there were several other events that did not ft in the NCBW parameters, mostly because they were for adults. I had to admit to attendees at our in-store lit group discussion last night for Redeployment that I hadn't finished the book; I thought I'd have time on returning from the conference I went to in California, but since then, it's been go, go, go.

Tuesday, May 5, 7 pm (that's tonight), we're hosting Okla Elliott, who has ostensibly translated, with the help of Raul Clement, the esteemed Russian science fiction writer Aleksandr Vadim and his masterwork, The Doors You Mark are Your Own, the first volume of the Joshua City Trilogy. From the publisher, here is the setup: "Joshua City is one of seven city-states in a post-apocalyptic world where water is scarce and technology is at mid-twentieth-century Soviet levels. As the novel opens, the Baikal Sea has been poisoned, causing a major outbreak of a flesh-eating disease called nekrosis. Against this backdrop of political corruption, violence and oppression, a struggle for control of Joshua City ensues, and a revolutionary group called The Underground emerges."

The story is annotated by Elliott and Clement, the translators, but the truth is that Elliott and Clement actually the book; Vadim is a fictional creation, just to add another layer to this story. Elliott is a distinquished fellow at the University of Illinois. Opening for him will be several local writers: David Bowen, Loretta Mccormick, and the always popular Molly Boutell.

At 6 pm (note time) on Tuesday, May 5 (yes, that's also tonight), The Capitol branch of The Milwaukee Public Library presents a Skype event with Steve Berry, the thriller writer whose most recent book is The Patriot Threat. We are testing selling books at these events; we should also have signed bookplates for folks who purchase a copy. The Capitol Library is located at 3969 N. 74th Street, at Capitol Drive, of course.

Here's the setup from the publisher. "Cotton Malone, once a member of an elite intelligence division within the Justice Department known as the Magellan Billet, is now retired and owns an old bookshop in Denmark. But when his former-boss, Stephanie Nelle, asks him to track a rogue North Korean who may have acquired some top secret Treasury Department files—the kind that could bring the United States to its knees—Malone is vaulted into a harrowing twenty-four hour chase that begins on the canals in Venice and ends in the remote highlands of Croatia." Just a reminder--Steve Berry is appearing by Skype; he won't be physically at this event.

Wednesday, May 6, 7 pm offers another Milwaukee Public Library event, this time at the Loos Room at Central, 733 North Eighth Street. We're presenting James Bradley, acclaimed author of Flyboys and Flags of Our Fathers, whose newest book is The China Mirage: The Hidden History of the American Disaster in Asia.

Library Journal explained it best: "Has a fundamental misunderstanding of China led America to make serious foreign policy mistakes in Asia? Bradley traces the history of U.S.-China relations from the early 19th century to the 1970s, with a special focus on the World War II era.,,Bradley argues that a better understanding of China could have helped America to avoid war with Japan in 1941 and subsequent wars in Korea and Vietnam."

Steve Inskeep spoke to James Bradley on NPR's Morning Edition.

After a number of kid-themed events, we are hosting a launch event for local writer Scott Douglas Prill and his new novel, Into the Realm of Time, set in ancient Rome. By day, he is an environmental consultant for a major law firm, but by night, he has been crafting a Roman epic of love, power, greed, valor, and sacrifice! This event is Saturday, May 9, 4 pm (note time).

It is 372 AD and the Roman Empire is on the cusp of its great decline. The fierce Roman General Marcus Augustus Valerias contemplates his future. Though at the peak of his success and power, through victories against both external and internal enemies of Rome, the General is weary of the brutality of continual war and yearns for a different life away from his legions and battlefields.

At the same time, Claire, the widowed queen of a kingdom in Britannia, risks everything to protect her children from a bloodthirsty usurper. A priest, named Joseph, tries to hide his dark past as he pursues salvation in the Christian faith. Flavius, a Roman officer who has deserted his legion, seeks redemption for the cruel actions he has inflicted on behalf of a corrupt tyrant. All the while, two Hun brothers, Uldric and Rao, are ruled by their ambitions to ruthlessly establish and expand a Hun empire. The story of these intertwined destinies in this turbulent period leads to an epic battle.

Next Monday, May 11, 7 pm, at Boswell, we'll be hosting Sandy Tolan, whose new book continues writing about the Israeli-Palistinean conflict he first wrote about in The Lemon Tree. In Children of the Stone: The Power of Music in a Hard Land, he chronicles Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan, a young boy pictured in 1987 throwing stones at Israeli soldiers from his refugee camp, who became a music student and then founded a music school.

The starred Booklist review offers this praise :"This is an engrossing and powerful story, moving skillfully amid the failure of the never-ending battles and peace talks between Israel and Palestine and the determination of one brave young man to change his world."

Don't forget that we still have three more kids' book events celebrating National Children's Book Week. Visit yesterday's blog for more info.

Events for National Children's Book Week: Blue Balliett, Sandy Brehl, Julie Mata, Emily Demuth, Silvia Acevedo, Jamie Swenson, Kashmira Sheth, and Janet Halfmann. Don't Worry, There are Only Four Events.

Monday, May 4, 6:30 pm, at the Whitefish Bay Library:
Blue Balliett, author of Pieces and Players

In Pieces and Players, thirteen extremely valuable pieces of art have been stolen from one of the most secretive museums in the world. A Vermeer has vanished. A Manet is missing. And nobody has any idea where they and the other eleven artworks might be…or who might have stolen them. Calder, Petra, and Tommy are no strangers to heists and puzzles. Now they’ve been matched with two new sleuths: Zoomy, a very small boy with very thick glasses, and Early, a girl who treasures words…and has a word or two to say about the missing treasure.

The kids have been drawn in by the very mysterious Mrs. Sharpe, who may be playing her own kind of game with the clues. And it’s not just Mrs. Sharpe who’s acting suspiciously—there’s a ghost who mingles with the guards in the museum, a cat who acts like a spy, and bystanders in black jackets who keep popping up. With Pieces and Players, you have all the ingredients for a fantastic mystery sure to delight readers 8 and up!

Blue Balliett is the award-winning author of the bestselling art mystery novels Chasing Vermeer, The Wright 3, The Calder Game, The Danger Box, and Hold Fast. The Whitefish Bay Library is located at 5420 N. Marlborough Drive, just south of Silver Spring Drive.

Thursday, May 7, 6:30 pm, at Boswell:
A Middle Grade Panel with Julie Mata, plus Sandy Brehl, and Emily Demuth Ishida

This event is co-sponsored by MKE Teacher SPAce.

Boswell Book Company invites you to join us in celebrating National Children’s Book Week, the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country (established in 1919), with a distinguished panel of middle grade authors! Joining us for five-minute discussions of their books, followed by a Q&A and signing are Julie Mata, Sandy Brehl, and Emily Demuth

After her huge success with her first feature-length movie, seventh-grader Kate Walden is eager to start on her next film, a sci-fi romance called Bride of Slug Man in the latest in the Kate Walden Directs series by Juile Mata, a hilarious story about friendship and two rival filmmakers that tweens will adore.

Odin’s Promise is local author Sandy Brehl’s debut historical novel and the tale of the first year of German occupation of Norway as seen through the eyes of eleven-year-old Mari, who is supported and protected by her faithful elkhound, Odin.

Hattie’s War, co-authored by Emily Demuth, is a middle-grade historical novel about a girl, Hattie Bigelow, who lives in Milwaukee near the end of the Civil War and is far more interested in the emerging sport of base ball than in sewing circles and other women’s efforts to support the Union cause.

Friday, May 8, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Silvia Acevedo, who launches her debut young adult novel God Awful Loser

Cupid, the son of the God of War has it all, and the smooth-talking, jet-setting master knows it. The once chubby cherub now has adoring fans, a shiny red limousine, and a mansion nearly, almost, not quite big enough to hold his enormous and ever-growing ego. But everything changes for the sloppy, ill-aiming love god when a meddling stranger challenges him for his crown. Not even the advice of his war-mongering father, Mars, and embarrassingly underdressed mother, Venus, can save Cupid from the skids.

Facing enraged immortals, epic battles against hell’s most vile creatures, and the dread of becoming mortal himself, Cupid teams up with an unlikely band of misfit fallen angels in the hopes of saving himself, the Olympic kingdom, and humans the world over. But can such an inept team of losers finally win when it counts? Funny, rude, and planted smack in modern times, God Awful Loser is a new chapter on the ancient gods’ bad — and hugely entertaining — choices, that will entertain readers 12 and up!

Local journalist Silvia Acevedo with her husband, fantasy illustrator Jeff Miracola, are the founders of Three Points Publishing, a Wisconsin-based imprint dedicated to producing books and art instruction videos. God Awful Loser is Acevedo's first book.

Saturday, May 9, 2 pm, at Boswell:
National Children’s Book Week Picture Book Panel with Janet Halfmann, plus Kashmira Sheth, and Jamie A. Swenson

This event is co-sponsored by MKE Teacher SPAce.

We cap off our celebration of National Children’s Book Week with a panel of picture book authors! Joining us for five-minute discussions of their books, followed by a Q&A and signing are Janet Halfmann, Jamie Swenson, and Kashmira Sheth.

Award-winning local author, Janet Halfmann, presents her latest gorgeous picture book, Animal Teachers, which explores the world’s outdoor “classrooms” and the kinds of lessons baby animals learn in them, showcasing—in an entertaining combination of science and storytelling—the teacher-student dynamic between young and adult animals as they are taught crucial skills needed to handle daily challenges.

In Kashmira Sheth’s latest picture book, Sona and the Wedding Game, Sona’s big sister is getting married and she’s been given the job of stealing the groom’s shoes, no small feat for a girl who has never attended a wedding before and is unfamiliar with this Indian tradition—as well as many of the other magical experiences that will occur before and during the special event.

Wisconsin author Jamie A. Swenson, writer of Boom! Boom! Boom!, returns with playful interactive picture book perfect for reading aloud, If You Were a Dog, which uses spare, rhythmic, onomatopoeic text to draw in readers of all ages into the animal kingdom.

Tomorrow we'll have a list of our events for adult books this week.