Boswell Library Week! Graeme Simison at Shorewood, Jim Higgins at Whitefish Bay, Sara Paretsky at Golda Meir, Jennifer E Smith, Jeff Zentner, and Julie Buxbaum at Oak Creek, plus two store events--Mark Caro and Steve Dawson on Friday, and Christi Craig and Lisa Rivero and friends on Saturday.

Here's what Boswell has to say about book events this week.

Tuesday, May 9, 6:30 pm, at Shorewood Public Library, 3920 N Murray Ave:
Graeme Simsion, author of The Best of Adam Sharp.

Celebrate favorite Australian author with TimTams and Vegemite (not together).

Set against a vibrant Melbourne, Simsion’s new novel features an amateur musician and music trivia fanatic who gets a second chance at love with an old flame. Two decades ago, Adam Sharp's piano playing led him into a passionate relationship with Angelina Brown, an intelligent and strong-willed actress. They had a chance at something more but Adam didn't take it.

Now, on the cusp of turning fifty, Adam likes his life and loves his wife, Claire, but he often wonders how different life might be if he hadn’t let her walk away. Don’t miss this new novel from the bestselling author of The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect.

Graeme Simsion is a former IT consultant and the author of two nonfiction books on database design who decided, at the age of fifty, to turn his hand to fiction. His first novel, The Rosie Project, was published in 2013 and translation rights have been sold in over thirty-five languages.

Wednesday, May 10, 6:30 pm, at Whitefish Bay Public Library, 5420 N Marlborough Dr:
Jim Higgins, author of Wisconsin Literary Luminaries: From Laura Ingalls Wilder to Ayad Akhtar

Wisconsin Literary Luminaries offers succinct appreciations of ten writers associated with the Badger state, from the humble cabin in the woods where Laura Ingalls Wilder grew up, to contemporary playwright Ayad Akhtar's multicultural dramas. Explore how Aldo Leopold and Lorine Niedecker drew on their close observations of the natural world. Contrast the distinct novels that Jane Hamilton and Larry Watson set on Wisconsin apple orchards. Delve into Thornton Wilder's enduringly popular Our Town and the wild fiction of Milwaukee natives Ellen Raskin and Cordwainer Smith, who wrote like no one else.

Jim Higgins writes and edits stories about books, the performing arts, and other subjects for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He has reported for the Journal Sentinel and predecessor Milwaukee Sentinel since 1983. He is a graduate of Marquette University.

Thursday, May 11, 6:30 pm, at Oak Creek Public Library, 8040 S 6th St:
A YA Pizza Party with Jennifer E. Smith, author of Windfall, Jeff Zentner, author of Goodbye Days, and Julie Buxbaum, author of Tell Me Three Things.

With pizza from Pizza Man, now open in Oak Creek's Drexel Town Center.

About Windfall: Alice doesn't believe in luck--at least, not the good kind. But she does believe in love, and for some time now, she's been pining for her best friend, Teddy. On his eighteenth birthday--just when it seems they might be on the brink of something--she buys him a lottery ticket on a lark. To their astonishment, he wins $140 million, and in an instant, everything changes. Through it all, Teddy and Alice have leaned on each other. But now, as they negotiate the ripple effects of Teddy's newfound wealth, a gulf opens between them. And soon, the money starts to feel like more of a curse than a windfall.

About Goodbye Days: Carver Briggs never thought a simple text would cause a fatal crash, killing his three best friends, Mars, Eli, and Blake. But now Carver can't stop blaming himself for the accident and even worse, a powerful judge is pressuring the district attorney to open up a criminal investigation..

About Tell Me Three Things: Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that's what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. It's been barely two years since her mother's death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her step-monster, her pretentious teenage son, and to start at a new school where she knows no one.

Just when she's thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from an anonymous person, offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on this person for some much-needed help?

Jennifer E. Smith is the author of seven novels for young adults, including The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. She earned a master's degree in creative writing from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and her work has been translated into thirty-three languages.

Jeff Zentner is also the acclaimed author of The Serpent King, which received the William C. Morris YA Debut Award from YALSA.

Julie Buxbaum is the author of the critically acclaimed The Opposite of Love and After You, and her work has been translated into twenty-five languages. Tell Me Three Things is her first novel for young adults

Thursday, May 11, 7:00 pm, at UWM Golda Meir Library, Conference Center, 2311 E Hartford Ave:
Sara Paretsky, author of Fallout V18

The Friends of the UWM Golda Meir Library present Sara Paretsky, The New York Times bestselling author of nineteen previous novels, including the renowned V. I. Warshawski series. For more than three decades, Paretsky has entertained millions of readers with her acclaimed series starring investigator V. I. Warshawski. Warshawski’s new case will lead her from her native Chicago and into Kansas, on the trail of a vanished film student and a faded Hollywood star.

Accompanied by her dog, V.I. tracks her quarry through a university town, across fields where missile silos once flourished -- and into a past riven by long-simmering racial tensions, a past that holds the key to the crimes of the present. But as the mysteries stack up, so does the body count. And in this, her toughest case, not even V.I. is safe.

Don’t miss out on one of the greatest mystery writers of all time. Register here.

Sara Paretsky is The New York Times bestselling author of nineteen previous novels, including the iconic V.I. Warshawski series. She is one of only four living writers to receive both the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association in Great Britain.

Friday, May 12, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Steve Dawson and Mark Caro, co-authors of Take It to the Bridge: Unlocking the Great Songs Inside You.

We all have music inside us: melodies in our sentences, rhythms in our syllables, heartbeats, and steps. Whether we harbor professional aspirations or just a love of playing music, many of us enjoy the art of creation. Some do so with guitar or pen in hand, some while seated at a piano or electronic device, some while taking a stroll and whistling. There is no wrong way -- yet many of us struggle to tap into our abundant sources of inspiration. Now comes a book to remove the barriers between you and your creativity.

Take It to the Bridge offers a lively, instructive dialogue about the art of songwriting; helpful chord, key and song-form charts; and creative assignments designed to inspire anyone who ever has thought of adding songs to the world. It's a book about discovering your artistic voice and adding beauty and truth to the world.

Steve Dawson is a singer/songwriter/musician who leads the rock/folk band Dolly Varden and has taught songwriting and guitar at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music for more than a decade. He has been writing songs for more than 30 years.

Mark Caro, for more than 25 years, wrote about music, film, food, and other cultural topics for the Chicago Tribune, and he since has written for The New York Times and other publications. He is author of The Foie Gras Wars, which won the 2009 Great Lakes Book Award for general nonfiction and two prizes from the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Paris.

Saturday, May 13, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Christi Craig and Lisa Rivero, co-editors to Family Stories from the Attic

This event is cosponsored by Red Oak Writing.

Family Stories from the Attic is an anthology of essays, creative nonfiction, and poetry inspired by family letters, objects, and archives. Nearly two dozen contributors from the United States and Australia tell stories of immigration and migration, loss, discovery, secrets, questions, love, and the search for meaning and identity. Editors Christi Craig and Lisa Rivero bring together both experienced and new authors who will prompt writers and non-writers alike to think about their own family treasures and histories in new ways.

Additionally, appearing at the event, the following contributors: Kristine D. Adams, Aleta Chossek, Sally Cissna, Julia Gimbel, Myles Hopper, Nancy Martin, Patricia Ann McNair, Carolou Nelsen, Joanne Nelson, Pam Parker, Ramona M. Payne, Valerie Reynolds, Jessica Schnur, Meagan Schultz, Yvonne Stephens, and Kim Suhr.

Christi Craig works as a sign language interpreter by day and moonlights as a writer, teacher, and editor. Christi was an Assistant Editor at Compose Literary Journal and an Associate Editor for Noble/Gas Quarterly. Craig is also a volunteer instructor for the Creative Writing Class at a retirement center in Wauwatosa.

Lisa Rivero is a writer, book indexer, and the publisher of Hidden Timber Books in Milwaukee. Some of her publications include a food and wellness column, magazine and journal articles, and a blog at Psychology Today. Lisa has a master's degree in Literary Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Bestseller Stuff!: Boswell's annotated list for the week ending May 6, 2017

Here's what we're selling at Boswell.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Anything Is Possible, by Elizabeth Strout
2. Into the Water, by Paula Hawkins
3. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman
4. Beartown, by Fredrik Backman
5. Trajectory, by Richard Russo
6. Fallout, by Sara Paretsky
7. The Dinner Party, by Joshua Ferris
8. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
9. The Book of Joan, by Lidia Yuknavitch
10. Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult

So we have three collections of short stories on this week's top ten but George Saunders, after many collections, is ensconced with his first novel while Richard Russo (Trajectory) and Joshua Ferris (The Dinner Party) have previously placed in our top ten with novels, but here they are with story collections. Whatever Anything Is Possible is, one would say that Olive Kitteridge was the same thing. Russo and Strout both share a lot, including sometime Maine residence. In the Washington Post, Carole Burns asked Russo if he understands the Trump voter: "I do! I understand it completely. The discussion in the election was all about jobs. But it’s not just about jobs. It’s about work. It’s not just that their income has gone down. They see themselves as not being valued anymore. They don’t know what their place is in the fabric of society. "

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Janesville, by Amy Goldstein
2. Fearless at Work, by Molly Fletcher
3. Beyond Infinity, by Eugenia Cheng
4. Option B, by Sheryl Sandberg
5. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
6. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan
7. Milwaukee: City of Neighborhoods, by John Gurda
8. In the Company of Women, by Grace Bonney
9. This Fight Is Our Fight, by Elizabeth Warren
10. Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is the new book from Neil DeGrasse Tyson, the Director of the Hayden Planetarium who has become one of the word's most beloved scientists. Carmine Gallo profiled the author in Forbes. While the tour is not coming to Milwaukee (cities on the tour include Kansas City, Omaha, and Nashville), Tyson regularly does shows at the Riverside Theater. He'll be at the Chicago Theatre on May 16, but it looks like that event is sold out.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
2. Father's Day, by Simon Van Booy (in store lit group 7/10)
3. Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
4. Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett
5. Our Man in Havana, by Graham Greene
6. My Name Is Lucy Barton, by Elizabeth Strout
7. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
8. The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George
9. The Little Red Chairs, by Edna O'Brien
10. Lilac Girls, by Martha Hall Kelly

It seems we've been talking up Homegoing's paperback release for months, so it's nice to see a good sales pop on the title, though much of it was due to it being our June In-store Lit Group selection, for a sans-Daniel meeting on June 5 at Boswell. Among its many fans is Roxane Gay, who said "It is hard to overstate how much I LOVE this book." Vintage/Anchor's online reading group guide includes a family tree. If you got to see Isabelle Wilkerson at the Wauwatosa Public Library Foundation luncheon last week, you'll be interested to hear her take--here's her review in The New York Times Book Review.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
2. Direct Action, by L.A. Kauffman
3. How to Bake Pi, by Eugenia Cheng
4. Ocean of Insight, by Heather Lyn Mann
5. Borchert Field, by Bob Buege
6. Live and Let Live, by Evelyn M. Perry
7. White Trash, by Nancy Isenberg
8. Strong Is the New Pretty, by Kate T. Parker
9. Grace in Aging, by Kathleen Dowling Singh
10. You Are a Badass, by Jen Sincero

There's nothing like being in the middle of spring event season. Every list has memories. A highlight from last Sunday was Eugeneia Cheng's talk for Beyond Infinity, which also spurred sales for How to Bake Pi. In fact, we sold out of backlist, and I brought in more of her earlier book than I usually do for events. I would so love to help bring Cheng back for a math concert (yes, she does these!) with perhaps a school visit too. Since this would be after the book publication period, the ball's now in your court. Do you work with a group that would love to invest in a visit? Contact me and I can give you details. Here's Cheng on Chicago Tonight, in conversation with Eddie Arruza.

Books for Kids:
1. Outlaws of Time: The Legend of Sam Miracle V1 (paperback), by N.D. Wilson
2. Outlaws of Time: The Song of Glory and Ghost V2, by N.D. Wilson
3. Rulers of the Playground, by Joseph Kuefler
4. The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors, by Joseph Kuefler
5. Beyond the Pond, by Joseph Kuefler
6. Outlaws of Time: The Legend of Sam Miracle (hardcover), by N.D. Wilson
7. The Good for Nothing Button, by CheriSe Mericle Harper, with illustrations by Mo Willems
8. The Someday Birds, by Sally J. Pla
9. Posted, by John David Anderson
10. The Thank You Book, by Mo Willems

It's one of those weeks where every book in the top ten is tied into school visits. Let's talk a little about N.D. Wilson's Outlaws of Time series, partly because signed copies are still available. Wilson, also known as Captain Awesome Sauce, tells a little about his style on his website: "Not everything I write is for children, but all of it is childish. I love the dark flavor of Flannery O’Connor and the supra-realism of Borges, though I can’t help but try to add the laughter of G. K. Chesterton. P. G. Wodehouse and C. S. Lewis have been with me my entire life, and always will be. J. R. R. Tolkien cannot be imitated." Here's the Publishers Weekly review of The Legend of Sam Miracle.

Over at the Journal Sentinel TapBooks page, Jim Higgins profiles Sara Paretsky, the famed creator of detective V.I Warshawski. Her latest book is Fallout, and she will be at teh UWM Golda Meir Library on May 11. Here's the Higgins take: "Paretsky's tale of a big-city private investigator who turns a small town inside out put me in mind of Dashiell Hammett's classic Red Harvest. But here's a key difference: Hammett's Continental Op deliberately sets out to tear the burg apart. Warshawski's destabilizing magic is just the byproduct of the convoluted thread she keeps yanking — and of her passion for the underdog. Along the way, many locals make a point of telling her she's an outsider who knows nothing about them. But Vic has a good nose for when they're hiding something from her." Registration required using this link: bit.ly/2nk8giv

And then there's Mike Fisher's Journal Sentinel review: "Men Without Women, a new collection of seven stories by Haruki Murakami, could best be summed up by the title of the second one: 'Yesterday.' As one might expect from an author whose breakout novel is named Norwegian Wood, this story’s title refers to the aching Beatles song pining for a receding past. Or, in this new collection, a time before these stories’ male protagonists lost the women they’d most loved." Fischer notes that in these "wise stories," "the past in such stories can become a catalyst for transformation" and should come with "an acceptance of loss."

Finally, in the print edition, Sarah Gish profiles Javaka Steptoe's Radiant Child. You might recognize this review from the Kansas City Star because I linked to it last week when I was highlighting children's book bestsellers.

Event alert: Amy Goldstein on Janesville, Educator Night with John David Anderson (and Boswell and HarperCollins recs, Elephant and Piggie costume tour, Heather Lyn Mann, Drew Daywalt at Wauwatosa Library, L.A. Kauffman at First Unitarian Society, two nights of the Best of the Undergraduate Writers, Sally J. Pla at Schlitz Audubon, and preview for Graeme Simsion at Shorewood Public Library. Alas, Elizabeth Strout is sold out.

Here's what's going on at Boswell this week. Don't forget that you can hold a copy of any of our upcoming books through our website. No registering or credit cards are necessary. Some ticketed events have hold or personalization restrictions.

Monday, May 1, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Amy Goldstein, author of Janesville: An American Story.

This event is cosponsored by Community Advocates Public Policy Institute.

Pulitzer Prize winner and Washington Post reporter delivers an intimate account of the fallout from the closing of a General Motors assembly plant in Janesville and a larger story of the hollowing of the American middle class.

Amy Goldstein has spent years immersed in Janesville where the nation's oldest operating General Motors plant shut down in the midst of the Great Recession, two days before Christmas of 2008. Now, with intelligence, sympathy, and insight into what connects and divides people in an era of economic upheaval, she makes one of America's biggest political issues human. Her reporting takes the reader deep into the lives of autoworkers, educators, and job re-trainers to show why it's so hard in the twenty-first century to recreate a healthy, prosperous working class.

Amy Goldstein has been a staff writer for thirty years at The Washington Post, where much of her work has focused on social policy. Among her awards, she shared the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. She has been a fellow at Harvard University at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Janesville: An American Story is her first book.

Tuesday, May 2, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Educator’s Night with John David Anderson, author of Posted, Sidekicked, The Dungeoneers, and Miss Bixby's Last Day.

We're excited to host our first Educator’s Night of 2017, focusing on great picture books, early readers, and middle grade titles. We'll have recommendations from booksellers Todd Wellman and Barbara Katz, as well as Jennifer Sheridan, our HarperCollins sales rep. Expect a lot of swag for your classroom or library.

Our special guest is John David Anderson, beloved author of Ms. Bixby's Last Day and Sidekicked, and his latest novel Posted, the story of what happens in Branton Middle School when cell phones are banned and kids start leaving sticky notes for each other.

John David Anderson is one of those authors who resonates both with educators and kids alike. Our school outreach coordinator, Todd Wellman, is a huge fan, having read seven of his novels. Booklist’s starred review called Posted “a rewarding novel (that) should resonate with many readers” while Publishers Weekly wrote that “Anderson captures the tumultuous joys and pains of middle school with honesty, creating characters with whom readers will find common ground and insight. Words have lingering and persistent power, Anderson makes clear, but so does standing up for others and making one's voice heard.”

While this event is free, we ask that you register.

Wednesday May 3:
Two Costume Storytime Events with Gerald and Piggie, of Elephant and Piggie Like Reading:The Good for Nothing Button:
--Event #1 Venue: Wednesday, May 3, 4:00 pm, at Cudahy Family Library, 3500 Library Dr
--Event #2 Venue: Wednesday, May 3, 6:30 pm, at Shorewood Public Library, 3920 N Murray Ave.

Please note, there is no author in attendance at these costume storytimes, but it’s a great photo opportunity. Remember to bring your smart phone or camera!

More about The Good for Nothing Button: Yellow Bird has a button. It does . . . nothing! It is a good for nothing button. Red Bird and Blue Bird are excited to try the button. But when they press it, they discover that the button makes them happy. Happy is something! A flabbergasted Yellow Bird insists the button does nothing. But it sure does seem to be making him mad. Mad is something!

The hilarious debate that follows takes readers on an emotional roller coaster that pokes at the power of imaginative play. Each library event will feature a reading of The Good for Nothing Button and a book or two from the Elephant and Piggie series.

Wednesday, May 3, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Heather Lyn Mann, author of Ocean of Insight: A Sailor’s Voyage from Despair to Hope.

Heather Lyn Mann was a battle weary environmental advocate in Madison, Wisconsin, struggling over what to do about climate change when she and her husband decided to explore the Atlantic on a small sloop. This memoir of six years living afloat is a chronological unfolding of disasters and discoveries life threatening storms, the boredom of isolation, societies on the brink of extinction, sinking ships, colorful Caribbean characters, near collisions, a pirate scare, and more. Throughout, the ocean becomes Mann’s teacher, transforming her with uncompromising lessons on how to harmonize with natural order, the exact moments and ways to let in fearlessness, resilience, happiness, impermanence, balance, compassion, skillful action, and beginner’s mind.

Her suspenseful, sometimes hilarious, and always heartwarming journey of body and mind, shaped by ancient Buddhist teachings, entertains as it charts reality’s depths and danger zones so arm chair adventurers, spiritual seekers, and the climate concerned can navigate tumultuous waters and arrive together on the shore of planetary well-being.

Heather Lyn Mann is a Spiritual Ecologist and practitioner of Buddhism, sailing, and mindful advocacy. Mann founded and led the not-for-profit Center for Resilient Cities, an organization mobilizing inner city residents to restore natural beauty and function in damaged neighborhood landscapes. She also co-edits Touching the Earth: A Newsletter of Earth Holding Actions in the Plum Village Tradition.

Thursday, May 4, 4:00 pm, at Wauwatosa Public Library, 7635 W North Ave:
Drew Daywalt, author of The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors.

You’ve played the game. Now read the legend of the three great warriors who started it all. New from Drew Daywalt, the bestselling author of The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home, comes a laugh-out-loud funny picture book about the legend of the classic childhood game Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Please note the following signing restrictions: To enter the signing line, you must purchase a copy of The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors from either Boswell or Wauwatosa’s Little Read Book. There will be no inscriptions or flash photography, but Mr. Daywalt will personalize.

Thursday, May 4, 7:00 pm, at First Unitarian Society, 1342 N Astor St:
L. A. Kauffman, author of Direct Actions: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism.

As Americans take to the streets in record numbers to have their voices heard, L.A. Kauffman's timely, trenchant history of protest offers unique insights into how past movements have won victories in times of crisis and backlash and how they can be most effective today.

Direct Action is 25 years in the making, tracing the evolution of disruptive protest since the Sixties to tell a larger story about the reshaping of America. Kauffman, a longtime grassroots organizer, examines how movements from ACT UP to Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter have used disruptive tactics to catalyze change despite long odds.

Waukesha-raised L.A. Kauffman has spent more than 30 years as an organizer, strategist, journalist, and observer or protest movements. Her writings on grassroots activism and social movement history have been published in The Nation, Mother Jones, n+1, and many other outlets.

Alas, sales for the ticketed luncheon for Elizabeth Strout on Friday, May 5, cosponsored by the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library, have ended. We'll have signed copies of Anything Is Possible at Boswell after the event.



Best of the Undergraduate Writers:

--Event #1: Friday, May 5, 7:00 pm at Boswell
--Event #2: Saturday, May 6, 7:00 pm at Boswell.

Since 2009 it has been a tradition to host the Best of the Undergraduate Writers from Milwaukee area colleges and universities. Now please join us in our 8th evening of the bookstore debuts of area undergraduates.

On Friday: --Marquette University: Paige Robinson, Brian Higgins, and Anna Miller
--University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: Morgan Finley, Matthew Wamser, Peter McCracken, and Christopher Kactro

On Saturday: --Cardinal Stritch University: Kate Babbitt and Caroline Sommer
--Carroll University: Linda Braus and Jack Sherman
--Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design: Claire Desfor and Lynnzie Palomaki
--Mount Mary University: Samantha Snedeker and Suzanne Skalmoski.

Saturday, May 6, 1:00 pm, at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, 1111 E Brown Deer Rd:
Sally Pla, author of The Someday Birds.

Boswell is cosponsoring this special Schlitz Audubon Raptor Saturday, featuring Sally J. Pla, author The Someday Birds, a heartfelt coming-of-age debut novel about Charlie whose father gets injured in Afghanistan and his struggles to adapt to a world he doesn’t understand.

When arriving, attendees will be greeted by the Center’s Great Horned Owl, Bald Eagle, and Red-tailed Hawk – birds that make appearances in the book. Followed by Pla’s talk at 1:30 pm and a nature walk concluding the event. This event is free with membership or admission, $8 for adults and $5 for children. Boswell will have books for sale as well.

Sally J. Pla graduated from Colgate University and has a Masters in English from Penn State. The Someday Birds is her first novel and is a Junior Library Guild Selection for 2017. Here's a handy Schlitz Audubon event link.

Tuesday, May 9, 6:30 pm, at Shorewood Public Library, 3920 N Murray Ave:
Graeme Simsion, author of The Best of Adam Sharp.

Set against a vibrant Melbourne, Simsion’s new novel features an amateur musician and music trivia fanatic who gets a second chance at love with an old flame. Two decades ago, Adam Sharp's piano playing led him into a passionate relationship with Angelina Brown, an intelligent and strong-willed actress. They had a chance at something more but Adam didn't take it. Now, on the cusp of turning fifty, Adam likes his life and loves his wife, Claire, but he often wonders how different life might be if he hadn’t let her walk away.

Graeme Simsion is a former IT consultant and the author of two nonfiction books on database design who decided, at the age of fifty, to turn his hand to fiction. The result was The Rosie Project, an international bestseller.

This event is cosponsored with the Shorewood Public Library and will feature mate-friendly Australian treats and music.

Yes, that includes Vegemite.

Boswell annotated bestsellers for the week ending April 29, 2017, plus the Journal Sentinel book review links

On this week's list, I'm flipping paperback and hardcover because we had a particularly good run with trade paperback fiction this week, and not solely because of Kristin Hannah (although definitely partly because of Kristin Hannah). I am going to be doing some catchup blog posts this week and as a result, the dating will be a bit off.

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah (signed copies available)
2. Firefly Lane, by Kristin Hannah
3. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
4. Winter Garden, by Kristin Hannah
5. Home Front, by Kristin Hannah
6. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman
7. LaRose, by Louise Erdrich
8. Lilac Girls, by Martha Hall Kelly
9. The Secret History of Las Vegas, by Chris Abani
10. My Name Is Lucy Barton, by Elizabeth Strout
11. Night Road, by Kristin Hannah
12. Fly Away, by Kristin Hannah
13. True Colors, by Kristin Hannah
14. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
15. Eligible, by Curtis Sittenfeld
16. Sweetbitter, by Stephanie Danler
17. Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer (sf book club Mon 5/8, 7 pm)
18. The Little Red Chairs, by Edna O'Brien (in store lit group Mon 5/1, 7 pm*)
19. Spill Simmer Falter Wither, by Sara Baume
20. The Excellent Lombards, by Jane Hamilton

In addition to the backlist associated with Kristin Hannah's event for The Nightingale (signed copies available) and Chris Abani, we had a nice pop in paperback sales from a talk at the Woman's Club of Wisconsin on Friday and a good amount of sales off our tie-in table, including for Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, now showing on Hulu.

*We may vacate the store for the book club talk for Edna O'Brien's The Little Red Chairs if the crowd for Amy Goldstein's Janesville talk gets too large. It well could be.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
2. My Bookstore, edited by Ronald Rice
3. You Are a Badass, by Jen Sincero
4. The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman
5. The Face, by Chris Abani
6. What Makes a City Great, by Alexander Garvin
7. On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder
8. Rising Strong, by Brene Brown
9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
10. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

My Bookstore's paperback release did have a nice pop from Independent Bookstore Day. I suggest folks use the book as a travel guide and get the author or bookseller (or both!) to sign their respective chapters. Two more tie ins on the list with The Zookeepers Wife and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. And finally, another Independent Bookstore Day event led to a pop in sales for Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. Scholastic's Robin Hoffman did a storytime on Saturday, in memory of a beloved children's book writer.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah
2. Anything Is Possible, by Elizabeth Strout (ticket sales ended on April 28 for this event)
3. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
4. Beartown, by Fredrick Backman
5. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
6. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
7. Golden Prey, by John Sandford
8. Waking Gods, by Sylvain Neuvel
9. The Book of Joan, by Lydia Yuknavitch (this Sunday's front page of the NYTBR)
10. Miss You, by Kate Eberlen

Fredrick Backman's fourth novel (not including his novella), the hockey-themed Beartown, is released this week to a nice sales pop. Here's a really great review from Terri Schlichenmeyer in The Daily Oklahoman: "Indeed, Backman's exciting lead-up to the game is only a fraction of this story, which gives readers time to cultivate a good feel for who the characters are and how they jigsaw together in this small town in the woods. Knowing them and the baggage that keeps them in Beartown will keep you breathless as the fallout rains down, and as you race toward the Perfect-with-a-Capital-P ending of this book." The USA Today review from Eliot Schrefer is also enthusiastic.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. You Are a Badass at Making Money, by Jen Sincero
2. How to be Married, by Jo Piazza
3. Option B, by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant (Pabst tickets for 6/5 event here)
4. Janesville, by Amy Goldstein (event tonight 5/1, 7 pm, at Boswell)
5. Identity Unknown, by Donna Seaman
6. Milwaukee: City of Neighborhoods, by John Gurda
7. Six Seasons, by Joshua McFadden
8. This Fight Is Our Fight, by Elizabeth Warren
9. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan
10. Becoming Ms. Burton, by Susan Burton

From Publishers Weekly on Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, the new book by Portland, Oregon chef Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg: "No surprise that McFadden, a farmer and a chef at some of the country’s most innovative restaurants, would bring a clever spin to vegetables. He’s the man who made the kale salad famous, and this cookbook is filled with recipes that deserve to be as popular." Looking for more cookbook recommendations. Here's a nice roundup in Bon Appétit.

Books for Kids:
1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
2. I Am a Bunny, by Ole Rison and Richard Scarry
3. Radiant Child, by Javaka Steptoe
4. The Day the Crayons Quit, by Drew Daywalt, with illustrations by Oliver Jeffers (event 5/4, 4 pm, at the Wauwatosa Library)
5. The Inquisitors Tale, by Adam Gidwitz
6. Song of Glory and Ghost, by N.D. Wilson
7. Miss Elliott's School for the Magically Minded, by Sage Blackwood
8. Wonder, by R.J. Palacio
9. The Girl who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill
10. Triangle, by Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Jon Klassen

If you haven't yet bought Javaka Steptoe's Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, here's some more prodding. This Publishers Weekly article from Shannon Maughan talks about what it was like to win the Caldecott Medal. And here's a profile in the Kansas City Star, tied into Mr. Steptoe's recent visit to LitfestKC last weekend.

Over at the Journal Sentinel, Book Editor Jim Higgins reviews Imagine Wanting Only This, a graphic memoir from Green Bay native Kristen Radtke about copiing with her grief after the death of a beloved uncle. Higgins writes: "Her book has attracted national attention, and for good reasons. She's both a strong writer and an adept, fluid artist. She has a word lover's eye for found text on jars, postcards, documents, websites, hand-lettering them into her art. Unexpectedly, she also incorporates a few photographs into her panels."

The TapBooks section also has a review from Mike Fischer, Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart, by Scott Anderson. He writes: "For all the stories we read about the Middle East, comparatively few of them discuss the actual combatants, civilians and refugees as people, making it all the easier to dehumanize them...Focusing on six individuals, Anderson aims to use their stories in making sense of the larger story promised by his subtitle." The story was originally in The New York Times Magazine last August.

And finally, reprinted fromt he Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is a review of Joyce Carol Oates's newest, A Book of American Martyrs, reviewed by Marylynne Pitz. Not afraid to take on big issues, Oates "examines the pro-choice and anti-abortion movements through the experiences of the Dunphy and Voorhees families. After writing it, Oates said she realized the story had two martyrs: 'Though ideologically I am not identified with Luther Dunphy, I respected his integrity and wanted to give him as much space as needed to represent his position.'"

Boswell's annotated bestsellers for the week ending April 22, 2017

Here's a week in review at Boswell, via book sales.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
2. Earthy Remains, by Donna Leon
3. The Fix, by David Baldacci
4. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
5. Fallout, by Sara Paretsky (event 5/11 at Golda Meir Library, please register)
6. The Perfect Stranger, by Megan Miranda
7. One Perfect Lie, by Lisa Scottoline
8. City of Friends, by Joanna Trollope
9. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
10. The Women in the Castle, by Amor Towles

I wish I were a buyer so I'd know the backstory on why City of Friends, the latest Joanna Trollope is being imported by IPG instead of being published by an American House. I did find this story on the Macmillan site discussing Trollope's UK move from Transworld (a Bertelsman company) to Pan Macmillan, but why didn't one of the American subsidiaries take her on? It's not for us to know. Meanwhile, enjoy this video profile of Trollope and the new book, which is about a woman who loses her job and falls back on her old friends to see her through.


Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. This Fight Is Our Fight, by Elizabeth Warren
2. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
3. Janesville, by Amy Goldstein (event at Boswell Mon 5/1, 7 pm, with Community Advocates)
4. Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?, by Alyssa Mastromonaco
5. Shattered, by Jonathan Allen
6. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan
7. American Spirit, by David McCullough
8. Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari
9. Prince Charles, by Sally Bedell Smith
10. The Gatekeepers, by Charles Whipple

It's nice when everything comes together, isn't it? David Grann's new book, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, arrived in stores just as the film adaptation of The Lost City of Z opened at the Downer Theater down the block. Of the new book, Boswellian Tim McCarthy wrote: "Reading this book was like watching a train wreck - I couldn't have been at once more horrified and also transfixed." Laurie Hertz in the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote: "It is superbly done — meticulously researched, well-written — but it is hard to be entertained by a story of such unmitigated evil." Of the film, you can read Richard Brody's review/profile in The New Yorker.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Pleasantville, by Attica Locke
2. Death Goes Overboard, by David S. Pederson
3. Black Water Rising, by Attica Locke
4. The Cutting Season, by Attica Locke
5. Death Comes Darkly, by David S. Pederson
6. Half a Reason to Die, by Chip Duncan
7. LaRose, by Louise Erdrich
8. Our Man in Havana, by Graham Greene
9. Cold Pastoral, by Rebecca Dunham
10. All the Missing Girls, by Megan Miranda

You may think that our entire store has become a mystery specialty store from our fiction bestsellers, but I should note that Half a Reason to Die from Chip Duncan is actually a collection of short stories inspired by his travels and Cold Pastoral is a collection of poems inspired by environmental disasters. Both could be great mystery titles, could they not? For the latter, I can see the dead body laying in the field. But at the top was our Saturday duo of Attica Locke in the day and local David S. Pederson at night. At her Delta Memorial Endowment Fund Luncheon that featured Pleasantville (signed paperbacks available), she hinted at the subject of her next book coming in September, Bluebird, Bluebird, a new series about a Texas Ranger. And next year's DMEF speaker is already set, Natalie Baszile, the author of Queen Sugar.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Your First Year, by Todd Whitaker
2. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
3. Screenwise, by Devorah Heitner
4. Find a Way, by Diana Nyad
5. Wisconsin Literary Luminaries, by Jim Higgins (event WFB Library, Wed 5/10, 6:30 pm)
6. White Trash, by Nancy Isenberg
7. My Bookstore, edtied by Ronald Rice (event at Boswell, Sat 4/29, 7 pm with Liam Callanan and me)
8. Dark Money, by Jane Meyer
9. American Heiress, by Jeffrey Toobin
10. On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder

Here's more about My Bookstore. The new edition keeps all the essays of stores that have closed (like the much-missed Next Chapter in Mequon), but also includes new essays about:
--Full Circle Bookstore, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
--Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, New York
--R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut
--Munro's in Victoria, British Columia
--Writer's Block Bookstore in Winter Park, Florida (Orlando)
--Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kansas (Kansas City)
--Charis Books and More in Atlanta, Georgia
--Moe's Books in Berkeley, California

We'll celebrate our eighth anniversary, including a little toast.

Books for Kids:
1. Hello?, by Liza Wimer
2. Maybe a Fox, by Kathi Appelt and Alison McGhee
3. Rulers of the Playground, by Joseph Kuefler
4. Outlaws of Time #1: The Legend of Sam Miracle, by N.D. Wilson
5. Dragons Love Tacos, by Adam Rubin, with illustrations by Daniel Salmieri
6. Pax, by Sara Pennypacker, with illustrations by Jon Klassen
7. Almost Everything Book, by Julie Morstad
8. Jack and the Geniuses, by Bill Nye
9. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, by Mem Fox, with illustrations by Helen Oxenbury
10. Baby Animals, from Workman

Here's a little more about the Outlaws of Time series from N.D. Wilson, who recently came to Milwaukee to visit area schools. Of volume one, now in paperback, The Legend of Sam Miracle, the Publisher calls this "Back to the Future meets Holes" and goes on to describe it as: "a fantasy-adventure trilogy about a misfit twelve-year-old with a dangerous destiny to fulfill, a mystical time walker who is sent to protect him, and a maniacal villain with a deadly vendetta that began two hundred years ago in the heart of the Old West." Booklist wrote: "Wilson's novels are always a treat, and this first in a series is no exception, as it introduces a wide world of incredible magic." Expect to see more N.D. Wilson on next week's list, including the sequel, The Song of Glory and Ghost. We also have some signed copies.

From Journal Sentinel book editor Jim Higgins comes his take on Elizabeth Strout's Anything Is Possible, which goes on sale this Tuesday. Tickets for the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library Literary Lunch (which include a book) are close to being sold out and this review should close out sales. Higgins writes: "Characters mentioned briefly in Lucy Barton" such as Mississippi Mary Mumford, come to the forefront in this new book, set largely in the fictional Illinois town of Amgash and neighboring communities. Neither novel nor linked story collection strikes me as adequate terms to describe this book's ingenious structure, in which characters reappear in each other's stories. In a few cases, we experience remarkable encounters from different points of view in different stories."

Last chance to register! Well, almost.

Also in the Journal Sentinel TapBooks section, Erin Kogler reviews Min Kym's Gone: A Girl, a Violin, a Life Unstrung, which she notes may remind Milwaukeeans of Frank Almond's loss of his Stradivarius in 2014, only with quite a different ending. In the book, "Kym offers a rare glimpse into the life of the soloist in the orchestra world as she excels in her field, from finding the right teachers to working with conductors, orchestras and orchestra leaders." Also note that Kogler's other gig is Director of Communications for the Milwaukee Symphony. Talk about a great match of reviewer and subject!

Two additional reviews are in the print edition. John Reinan's review of The One Cent Magenta, originally published in the Star Tribune, is the story of a stamp that sold for nearly 9.5 million dollars lays it out: "New York Times reporter James Barron takes the reader into Stamp World, an exclusive and eccentric land whose inhabitants vie for prestige with a fierce and somewhat musty gentility that has largely managed to withstand the onslaught of new, vulgar money." Sarah Laskow's notes in The New York Times Book Review that this quest is more about a search for rare treasures than an indication that stamp collecting still holds allure. Alas, it ain't what it was when I was in grade school and a good third of us had collections.

And originally published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is Courtney Linder's review of the breakout novel from Kayla Rae Whitaker. Linder writes (and I include some bonus words that didn't make it into the print review): "The Animators is a quick read, with delightful language and quirky characters that are difficult to forget long after finishing the last few pages. It fills a literary gap, which has been waiting for a tale of millennial female friendship and love without tacky genre borders or stereotypes."