A bunch of things I love about THIS TIME TOMORROW and Emma Straub - More about the book and our upcoming event below

1. You must have heard about This Time Tomorrow, right? It’s the fifth novel from Emma Straub and it different from, and yet not so much, from her previous novels. The fantastical elements make it a bit of departure, much like her first novel, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures, was historical fiction-adjacent.  I'm so excited that we're partnering on this delightful book's event with an even more delightful author.

The setup is that Alice Stern, stuck in a go-nowhere relationship and job, inadvertently discovers a way to time travel back to her past, and while she can change some things, there’s one part of her life that will not budge. The time travel gives it more of a escapist spin, but Straub has been positioned as sophisticated vacation reading before – the promotion package for The Vacationers came with a pail, beach towel, and glasses. I still might find that display photo somewhere! See below.

2. There’s no way around it. Time travel is hot! Look at Emily St John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility, still on the bestseller list. We see new time travel novels almost weekly – right now Jenny is touting the new YA from Rachel Lynn Solomon, See You Yesterday. She loves it!

More time travel trendiness. The Time Traveler’s Wife limited series is on HBO Max. Quantum Leap is also being revived. And it wasn’t long ago that we sold 100 copies of another Jenny favorite, Oona Out of Order. And can we just mention Time and Again, the famous time travel novel that was also set on the Upper West Side of New York, and on top of that, was written by Jack Finney, a Milwaukeean. There always seems to be somebody trying to make a film out of that novel. Wikipedia says the most recent effort was from Doug Liman.

Time travel is sort of thematically adjacent to multi-verse novels like The Midnight Library from Matt Haig. And dare I say it, it’s a great what-to-read-after-The-Midnight-Library selection. Alas, my best time travel-reading buddy, Tracy, has mostly moved to Florida, or I’d be telling her to read this book right now. Come to think of it, I will follow this blog with an email to her.

3. I love the setting of this book. I read a lot of New York-set novels. How can I not? Trade publishers, for the most part based in New York, love publishing them. And I’ve read a lot of Upper West Side novels too. In fact, I’ve been known to wander the Upper West Side while reading novels set there – I think there might be blog about Lisa Hallday’s Asymmetry where I talk about this.

I’ve been an Upper West Side afficionado since my teenage years, where I would take classes at Columbia (I’m not sure how I got into the program and I mostly got lost halfway through the course) and then would walk all the way down Broadway to the Village. And then my sister Merrill lived there for years. And then several of my close friends from college lived there, and I’d visit them while still living in Queens. I loved to go to movies at the Thalia. And of course my sister and brother-in-law when they were working at Marvin Gardens, that Upper West Side bistro where you never knew who you might spot.

In all my years, I never came across Pomander Walk, where Alice’s dad lives, and which is also the source for the novel’s magic. It’s a village of two-family homes along the alley between two streets. For one thing, New York has an alley? Lack of alleys is why New York sidewalks are piled up with garbage. I was sure Straub made it up. But she didn’t, it exists. How could I have missed this? I asked Merrill, and of course she knew about it. Apparently everyone knows about it – except me. Maybe you. But after this book, you’ll want to know someone who knows someone so you can get past the gate. I love this about the book!

4. Most reviewers have noted that at the heart of the story is about Alice’s relationship with her dad. And Straub has noted that she wrote this book during COVID, when her father was sick, much like in the novel. It’s the emotional center of the story, and turns the book into something that will stick with you after the summer escapism has turned to fall.

In a way, This Time Tomorrow is her father novel as a companion to All Adults Here, which is her mother novel. Not that these characters are her father and mother – they are novels. But All Adults Here was very much about a mother’s relationship with her kids, in spite of well, everything. I even proposed a mother-daughter event for the paperback. Of course it didn’t come together, but why did I even think I had a fighting chance? Simple.

Straub’s mom grew up in Milwaukee. Not just in Milwaukee, but blocks from Boswell! So did Straub’s dad – they met at school here. We’re actually only one of two stores on the Edelweiss inventory database that have copies of Susan Straub’s picture book, Fire Chief*. You can guess the other. I’m hoping to bring our copy of Fire Chief to our event with Straub at the Elm Grove Reads event at the Elm Grove Woman’s Club, sponsored by the Friends of the Elm Grove Library. Did I mention it’s in Elm Grove? It’s a ticket-with-book event that includes a donation back to the Friends. You’ll definitely want a copy of this book, and if you already bought it, you’ll want another to gift.

5. Boswell hosted Emma Straub once at Boswell, for her first novel, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures. We had a great event, not knowing that she’d break out with her next book. And also not knowing that she’d one day open an independent bookstore with her husband. Books Are Magic is one of those stores that is so much a part of their Brooklyn community. I got to see the space when it just opened, and it was beautiful then, and it’s even more beautiful now. And here's a shout out for Emma Straub's Brooklyn novel, Modern Lovers.  

Books Are Magic’s co-owner Michael Fusco-Straub brings an extra magic to the store with his graphic design. In addition to all of their store’s merch, I noticed he designed a tee shirt for our friends at Exile in Bookville, the new Chicago Loop bookstore that is not to be missed. In fact, you can also see Emma Straub at their store – she’s appearing at the building’s auditorium on May 27. More info here.

We’ve also got a little piece of Michael Fusco-Straub. When Laura Lamont was published, Michael designed a series of movie posters that are featured in the book. We framed my favorite, Kissing Cousins, and it still hangs at Boswell, along with The Dogs of Parnassus, posters designed by Nick Berg for our events with Peter Heller and Chuck Klosterman, and at least one beautiful thank you note from Kevin Henkes. Next to frame, a James Baldwin poster from Keith Knight, who I drove around to schools and a public event, long before his hit streaming series Woke. My only problem? I’m running out of places to hang them!

6. If you’re wondering how good the book is, it’s got very enthusiastic reads from not just me at Boswell but also Jenny Chou. You can read her full review on the Boswell item page, but isn’t this enough?: “Trust me, you’re going to fall in love with Alice and the people who stumble in and out of her life over the course of this absolutely delightful book.”

But if you’re thinking we’re biased, I should also note that on Book Marks, This Time Tomorrow has six raves and three positive reviews – no mixed reviews, no pans. Randy Rosenthal in The Boston Globe writes, “Straub is wise enough to know that despite having ample time, it’s never enough ... Implicitly, then, Straub’s This Time Tomorrow is telling us there’s a more important lesson we actually need to learn, and that is how to let go. Live life well, and then let it go, our own and the lives of our loved ones - and that’s the best we can do.” In a way, this is the lesson of just about all of Matt Haig’s books – and of course is based on the concept of mindfulness. But it’s a lesson we have to keep relearning.

From Heller McAlpin's review on the NPR website: "You don't have to be a literary critic to catch Straub's many sources of inspiration. Alice, whose favorite clothing store is the now-defunct Alice Underground, falls through a sort of looking glass into her past. The subway bar she frequents is called Matryoshka, after Russian nesting dolls, which reflect the structure of this novel." The conclusion? This "entertaining charmer" is "a delightful summer read."

From Susan Dominus in The New York Times: "Even as it rifles through references, This Time Tomorrow insists on its own originality - just as Alice gets to go back and relive her own 16th birthday several ways, the novel experimentally cycles through a few forms of narrative, playing on reader expectations. When Alice is restored to the present (does it really matter how?), the novel momentarily indulges the reader in a self-consciously fairy-tale ending, complete with clothing porn — only to reject that story line altogether. That kind of happy ending will not do; Alice will try out various others before landing just as gently in a less obvious place."

From Ellen Akins in The Washington Post: "You should know, before you begin this journey, that This Time Tomorrow is a story about time travel. So prepare your suspension-of-disbelief mind muscles for the heavy lift. Or just settle in for the ride, confident that Emma Straub will conduct you to the welcoming place where fiction and wishful thinking align."

And from a conversation (not a review, but still!) with Mary Louise Kelly on All Things Considered: " I wrote this in 2020 when, of course, I couldn't go anywhere. I couldn't really walk down the street. I couldn't leave my house. And I couldn't abandon my small children or my current life. And all I wanted to do was this. All I wanted to do was have access to the places that I love the most, which are the, like - the, you know, diners and hot dog restaurants of my youth on the Upper West Side."

There is nothing more disconcerting than getting behind a book for an event and then finding that the reviews are coming in negative. That’s happened a few times this year. But it hasn’t happened for Straub so far, fingers crossed.

7. Allow me to give a shout out to Noah, Sarah, and Pat, three book-loving colleagues who are helping put this event together. Straub will be in conversation with Elm Grove Librarian Noah Weckwerth. We have done a book club talk together at the Elm Grove Public Library, and we would have done more since, had COVID not happened. He’s going to be a great conversation partner!

I'm also letting you know now that there may be a masking requirement for this one. We'll let folks who are attending know in advance.

8. Can’t attend? Boswell has pre-signed copies of This Time Tomorrow right now. And you can visit our time travel display for more ideas. Or just ask Jenny – she’s read a lot of them. And we should be able to get your copy personalized too. Contact Boswell for details.

9. Speaking of book recommendations, you're sure to get some great ones from Emma Straub. Hope to see you at Thursday's program, and if you can't attend, hope you get to read This Time Tomorrow.

*Which apparently was not enough to get it added to the ABA ecommerce database. A few other stores sold it at one time, but don't have it in stock now.

Photo credit - Emma Straub by Melanie Dunea

Books are Magic by to come!

Pomander Walk by Niklem

Six (no, seven!) events this week! Chloé Cooper Jones (virtual cohost), Dana Suskind (in-person cosponsorship at USM), Raffi Berg (virtual cosponsorship), Francisco Goldman (virtual cosponsorship), Amor Towles (in-person cosponsorship at Pabst Theater), Daniel James Brown (virtual multi-store), and Steve Almond (hybrid event)

Monday, May 16, 6:30 pm - virtual

Chloé Cooper Jones, author of Easy Beauty: A Memoir

in conversation with Sally Haldorson for a virtual event - click here to register! 

Boswell Book Company and Porchlight Book Company present an evening with journalist, professor, and Pulitzer Prize finalist Chloé Cooper Jones for a conversation about Easy Beauty, her groundbreaking memoir about disability, motherhood, and a journey to far-flung places in search of a new way of seeing and being seen. In conversation with Sally Haldorson, Managing Director of Porchlight Book Company, our cohost for this event.

Chloé Cooper Jones’s bold, revealing book is an account of moving through the world in a body that looks different than most. Jones learned early on to factor “pain calculations” into every situation. Born with a rare congenital condition called sacral agenesis which affects both her stature and gait, her pain is physical. But there is also the pain of being judged and pitied for her appearance, of being dismissed as "less than." Jones set off on a journey across the globe, reclaiming the spaces she’d been denied, and denied herself. With emotional depth, spiky intelligence, passion, and humor, Cooper Jones offers us that rare thing - a memoir that has the power to make you see the world and your place in it with new eyes.

Kate Tuttle called Easy Beauty "gorgeous" and "vividly alive" in The New York Times.  And from Emily Dzuiban in Booklist: "A profound, impressive, and wiser-than-wise contemplation of the way Jones is viewed by others, her own collusion in those views, and whether any of this can be shifted. She shares her ultimate answer - yes - in superlative writing, rendering complex emotion and unparalleled insight in skillfully precise language."

Chloé Cooper Jones was a finalist for a 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing, and her work has appeared in publications including GQ, VICE, and New York magazine. Her writing has been selected for both The Best American Travel Writing and The Best American Sports Writing.

Tuesday, May 17, 12 pm - virtual cosponsorship

Raffi Berg, author of Red Sea Spies: The True Story of Mossad’s Fake Diving Resort.

Register here for this event, hosted by the Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.

Berg tells the complete, never-before-heard, gripping tale of a top-secret and often hazardous operation based at a luxury resort that saw the secret evacuation of thousands of Ethiopian Jews who had been languishing in refugee camps, and the spiriting of them to Israel

Kirkus Reviews writes: "Berg's account of the operation - remarkable due to its duration, execution, and success - reads like a spy novel." And Publishers Weekly called Red Sea Spies "outstanding" and "well-researched."

Also on Tuesday, May 17, 7 pm

Dana Suskind, author of Parent Nation: Unlocking Every Child's Potential, Fulfilling Society's Promise
in-person at University School of Milwaukee, 2100 W Fairy Chasm Road

Registration is required to attend this event – click here to sign up. Click here to visit the USM website for more information about their Community Speaker Series.

REDgen and USM present an evening featuring Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medical Center Dana Suskind for a conversation about her book, Parent Nation. Suskind, an early childhood development specialist, changes the way we think about the practical importance of the parent-child bond.

Weaving together neuroscience, strategies for parents and policy prescriptions with powerful stories of adversity and hope, Suskind offers a revelatory new look at early childhood and the often-unrecognized essentials for optimal brain development that parents are in the best position to deliver. From Angela Duckworth, author of Grit: "A manifesto, and a handbook, for what we as individuals and as a society are morally called to do for all kids to thrive. Required reading for anyone who has ever loved a child."

Suskind talked to Contemporary Pediatrics about her new book: "Understanding the complexities of what is needed to safeguard the promise of every child’s promise is my life’s work. And while most parents want the same thing - to help their children get off to the best possible start, so that they may grow into happy, healthy adults, the real world gets in the way. We erect barriers in the path of far too many mothers and fathers - from mundane issues like irregular work hours that complicate childcare to profound structural problems like the systemic racism that holds back sizable portions of our population. These barriers limit the time and energy parents can devote to the brain development of their children. And I see the consequences in my clinic, in my research studies, and in the world around me."

Dana Suskind is Founder and Co-Director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health, Director of the Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program, and Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at the University of Chicago. Suskind is author of Thirty Million Words: Building a Child’s Brain. She is a member of the American Academic of Pediatrics and a Fellow for the Council on Early Childhood and an advisor to Hillary Clinton’s Too Small to Fail initiative.

Wednesday, May 18, 7 pm - virtual

Francisco Goldman, author of Monkey Boy
in conversation with Rachel Buff for a virtual event - so click here and reserve your spot now. Monkey Boy is now available in paperback right here. We are also still stocking the novel in hardcover (click here), Ask for your signed bookplate.

The UWM Stahl Center for Jewish Studies, UWM’s Culture and Communities, and Boswell Book Company present a virtual event featuring author Francisco Goldman for the paperback publication of his novel Monkey Boy. And late-breaking news - Monkey Boy was just named a Pulitzer Prize finalist!

In Monkey Boy, readers meet Francisco Goldberg, a middle-aged writer grappling with the challenges of family and love, legacies of violence and war, and growing up as the son of immigrants - a Guatemalan Catholic mother and a Russian Jewish father - in a predominantly white, working-class Boston suburb. Told in an irresistibly funny, tender, and passionate voice, this extraordinary portrait of family explores the pressures of living between worlds. Auto-fictional in the spirit of early Philip Roth and Saul Bellow, Monkey Boy is an expansive and deeply insightful story of living outside the dominant culture in a conservative 1950s America.

James Wood wrote at length about Monkey Boy in The New Yorker, just one of its rave reviews. He sees it in the tradition of autofiction that harkens back to Saul Bellow and Marcel Proust, and connects the dots to Goldman's first novel, The Long Night of White Chickens, which received the PEN/Faulkner Prize. From the essay: "The density of the memory, the playing over present and past, the essayistic space made for an ongoing political dimension, along with an insistent optimism - all these are characteristic of the novel as a whole, and of Goldman’s feel for a kind of narrative phrasing that allows an ideally sauntering and shifting perspective."

Francisco Goldman has published four previous novels and two books of nonfiction. The Long Night ofWhite Chickens was awarded the American Academy’s Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction. The Interior Circuit was named by The Los Angeles Times one of 10 best books of the year. Say Her Name won the Prix Femina étranger.

Also on Wednesday, May 18, 8 pm
Amor Towles, author of The Lincoln Highway

in-person at Pabst Theater - Tickets start at $29.50, available now on the Pabst Theater Group website – ticket does not include a book. Click right here to buy your tickets today!

Pabst Theater presents an evening featuring Amor Towles, the bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America. More reasons to attend this in-person event on Friday's blog.

The New York Times Book Review calls The Lincoln Highway: "Wise and wildly entertaining...permeated with light, wit, youth." In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His parents deceased and the family farm foreclosed on, Emmett's intends to head for California with his little brother to start over. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction - to the City of New York.

Amor Towles graduated from Yale and received an MA from Stanford University. His new novel, The Lincoln Highway, debuted at number one on The New York Times bestseller list, and was a Today Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2021.

Friday, May 20, 7 pm - virtual

Daniel James Brown, author of Facing the Mountain: An Inspiring Story of Japanese American Patriots in World War II 
in conversation with Tom Ikeda for a virtual event - click right here to register now.

Available in paperback here, or in hardcover here. Either way, be sure to ask for your signed bookplate!

Boswell Book Company, in partnership with Anderson’s Bookshops and Left Bank Books, presents a virtual event with Daniel James Brown, author of the nonfiction phenomenon The Boys in the Boat, for an evening about his latest, Facing the Mountain, a gripping World War II saga of patriotism and courage that tells the story of the special Japanese American Army unit that overcame brutal odds in Europe. In conversation with Tom Ikeda, former executive director of Densho.

They came from across the continent and Hawaii. Their parents taught them to embrace both their Japanese heritage and the ways of America. They faced bigotry, yet they believed in their bright futures as American citizens. But within days of Pearl Harbor, the FBI was ransacking their houses and locking up their fathers. And within months many would themselves be living behind barbed wire. Facing the Mountain is an unforgettable chronicle of war-time America and the battlefields of Europe. Based on extensive interviews with the families of the protagonists as well as deep archival research, it portrays the kaleidoscopic journey of four Japanese-American families and their sons, who volunteered for 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were deployed to France, Germany, and Italy, where they were asked to do the near impossible.

From NPR: "Facing the Mountain is more than just the story of a group of young men whose valor helped save a country that spurned them, it’s a fascinating, expertly written look at selfless heroes who emerged from one of the darkest periods of American history - soldiers the likes of which this country may never see again."

Daniel James Brown is the author of The Boys in the Boat, The Indifferent Stars Above, and Under aFlaming Sky. Tom Ikeda is the former executive director of Densho, a Seattle-based non-profit dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing Japanese American history and promoting social justice and equity.

Monday, May 23, 6:30 pm - in person

Steve Almond, author of All the Secrets of the World
in conversation with Mary Louise Schumacher, in-person at Boswell Book Company - click here to register for either in-person or virtual! 

Boswell presents an evening with novelist, short story writer, and essayist Steve Almond, author of books such as Candyfreak and The Evil B.B. Chow, for an evening featuring his new novel, All the Secrets of the World. For this event, Almond will be in conversation with independent journalist, critic, and filmmaker (you may also know her from her stint as arts critic at the Journal Sentinel)  Mary Louise Schumacher, who studied under Almond. How great is that?

It's 1981 in Sacramento, and thirteen-year-old Lorena Saenz has just been paired with Jenny Stallworth for the science fair by a teacher hoping to unite two girls from starkly different worlds. Lorena begins to spend time at the Stallworth residence and finds herself seduced, not just by Jenny but her parents: Rosemary, her glamorous, needy mother, and Marcus, a scorpiologist who recognizes Lorena’s passion for learning and her confused desires. When Lorena’s troubled older brother, Tony, picks her up at the Stallworth mansion late one night, he and Marcus exchange tense words - an encounter that draws the Saenz family into the dark heart of America’s criminal justice system. To uncover the truth, Lorena must embark on an unforgiving odyssey into the desert and through the gates of a religious cult in Mexico. As she stalks a fate guided by forces beyond her reckoning, shocking secrets explode into view.

One of LitHub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2022, Almond’s novel is winning raves. Here's Zack Ruskin in The San Francisco Chronicle: "As a veteran of the nonfiction scene, it’s perhaps no surprise that a writer who once published a best-selling book about being obsessed with candy (Candyfreak) would populate his first full-length foray into fiction with a cast of characters that includes an elusive scorpion biologist, a well-mustachioed detective and first lady Nancy Reagan’s personal astrologer. Known to some for his work as a co-host on the 'Dear Sugars' podcast, Almond manages to channel the empathy intrinsic to that long-running advice program into the characters that make this novel a breathtaking success."

Steve Almond is author of eleven books of fiction and nonfiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His essays and reviews have been published in venues ranging from The New York Times Magazine to Ploughshares to Poets & Writers, and his short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, and Best American Mysteries. 

One last note about All the Secrets of the World. It's published by Zando Press, one of two high-profile publishing programs that were started by talented editors who were formerly at Penguin Random House - the other is the revived Spiegel + Grau. Molly Stern, formerly of Viking and Crown (where she edited the Obamas), has taken her model with Sarah Jessica Parker curating a publishing list (duplicated at Zando) and expanded it to Gillian Flynn, John Legend, and Lena Waithe. More about Zando here.

Boswell asks, What's sellin', Melvin?

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending May 14, 2022

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt (signed copies available)
2. Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St John Mandel
3. Siren Queen, by Nghi Vo (signed copies available)
4. Search, by Michelle Huneven
5. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
6. Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close
7. When Women Were Dragons, by Kelly Barnhill
8. The Book of Night, by Holly Black
9. Overboard V22, by Sara Paretsky
10. Trust, by Hernan Diaz

I think I have previously noted that Jennifer Jackson edited two books that are still in our top 10 - Sea of Tranquility and Marrying the Ketchups. But I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that another editor has a double showing - Lee Boudreaux edited both Lessons in Chemistry from Bonnie Garmus and When Women Were Dragons, by Kelly Barnhill. Barnhill's adult novel comes just a few months after she visited Boswell for her most recent kids title, The Ogress and the Orphans. From Booklist: "On April 25, 1955, 642,987 women transformed spontaneously into dragons - only for the world to turn its back and try to forget it ever happened...In this fantastical satire by acclaimed fantasy author Barnhill...,Alex Green tries to grow up in a world oppressed by a heavy, carefully enforced silence, a world in which young girls are raised amidst tightly wound limitations and underestimation."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Nature's Best Hope, by Douglas W Tallamy
2. Magic Season, by Wade Rouse (signed copies available)
3. The Geography of Wisconsin, by John A Cross
4. Gangsters Vs. Nazis, by Michael Benson
5. The Midwest Survival Guide, by Charlie Berens
6. How the Word Is Passed, by Clint Smith
7. The Wisconsin Supper Clubs Story, by Ron Faiola
8. Atlas of the Heart, by Brené Brown
9. Don't Trust Your Gut, by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
10. Every Good Boy Does Fine, by Jeremy Denk

From two professors of Geography at UW-Oshkosh comes The Geography of Wisconsin, noted by Jim Higgins in the Journal Sentinel as "An engaging introduction to the physical features of this state. Authors John A. Cross and Kazimierz J. Zaniewski, both emeritus professors of geography at UW-Oshkosh, also devote considerable attention to the human geography of Wisconsin, including settlement patterns and economic activity.” Chapters include geology and landforms, natural hazards, settlement-fur trading ad mining, and cultural landscapes and demographics. We ran out our first week but we're hoping to get more in soon.

We just got word that How the Word Is Passed is not coming out in paperback until 2023.  

Paperback Fiction:
1. Book Lovers, by Emily Henry
2. The Glass Hotel, by Emily St John Mandel
3. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
4. Shady Hollow, by Juneau Black
5. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
6. Leonard and Hungry Paul, by Rónán Hession
7. Once There Were Wolves, by Charlotte McConaghy
8. The Guide, by Peter Heller
9. The Music of Bees, by Eileen Garvin
10. In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, by Ashley Winstead

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife is a reprint of a 2021 thriller that came out in paperback in April. It's set at a class reunion where an unsolved murder fractured the class, with one alum committed to solving the murder. From the Booklist review: "(Ashley)Winstead paints Jessica as an ambitious striver who's been consistently overlooked and a woman unable to fully remember a night she can't forget. Packed with intrigue, scandal, and enough twists and turns to match Donna Tartt's The Secret History, this is a solid psychological-thriller debut."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, by Jason Schreier
2. Gianis, by Mirin Fader
3. Trauma Stewardship, by Laura Van Dernoot Lipsky
4. The Splendid and the Vile, by Erik Larson
5. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, by George Saunders
6. Pocket Guide to the Constitution, edited by Andrew Arnold
7. Critical Race Theory, edited by Kimberle Crenshaw et al
8. Midwest Native Plant Primer, by Alan Brenhagen
9. Rand McNally Road Atlas 2023
10. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

George Saunders's writing guide, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life, also came out in paperback in April and also finally reached our paperback bestseller list in May. Such is how a trained engineer came to be one of the giants in the field - by studying Chekhov, Gogol, Tolstoy, and Turgenev. From Tessa Hadley in The Guardian: "I love the warmth with which he writes about this teaching, and agree wholeheartedly that there’s not much on earth as good, if you’re that way inclined, as an afternoon spent discussing sublime fiction with a class of eagerly intelligent apprentice writers, saturated in the story and greedy for insight and understanding (everyone saturated and greedy, the teacher along with the rest)."

Books for Kids:
1. The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza, by Mac Barnett, illustrations by Shawn Harris (Register for free event on May 26)
2. The Circus of Stolen Dreams, by Lorelei Savaryn
3. Q and U Call It Quits, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Jorge Martin
4. The Edge of In Between, by Lorelei Savaryn
5. Heartstopper V1, by Alice Oseman
6. Heartstopper V4, by Alice Oseman
7. Heartstopper V2 by Alice Oseman
8. Heartstopper V3, by Alice Oseman
9. A Place for Pluto, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Melanie Demmer
10. I Kissed Shara Wheeler, by Casey McQuiston

The #6 show on Netflix last week is Heartstopper, which was inspired by the graphic novel series that dominates this week's top 10. The series was named best books of the year by the New York and Chicago Public Library systems. A review in the Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books gives a little backstory: "Readers familiar with Oseman's Solitaire (BCCB 5/15) will recognize these formerly minor characters and take comfort in knowing a happy end awaits them, while those who know the online version will appreciate seeing it get the mainstream publisher treatment."

More tomorrow!

Five reasons why you want to see Amor Towles at the Pabst Theater on May 18, 2022

Five reasons why you want to see Amor Towles at the Pabst Theater on May 18

1. Because you loved The Lincoln Highway so much! Maybe as much as A Gentleman in Moscow. In fact, many of you have told me that you loved it even more than A Gentleman in Moscow.

2. Because Towles’s Powerpoint/talk is one of the best you’ll see. I remember when we hosted Mr. Towles for our 10th anniversary event at the Turner Hall Ballroom. People couldn’t stop talking about it. In fact, three years later, people are still talking about it!

3. But if you’ve been to the Towles event at Turner Hall, be aware that this is not the same talk! It’s about The Lincoln Highway, but everything you loved about the Gentleman talk will be in this one. But to be clear, you haven’t seen it. Plus at the Pabst Theater, you get assigned seats!

4. Because Amor Towles will sign your book. So many authors post-COVID are skipping a signing line,. So you’re probably thinking that if you attend this event, you won’t be able to get your book signed. But you will! The talk is followed by a signing. A real one! With personalization and everything!

5. Because you can bring your book from home.. Of course, Boswell will be there to sell you one if you want. 

I will see you there. Please say hi! Here is the ticket link.

Spotlight on Remarkably Bright Creatures! - New Virtual Event is Monday, July 11, 7 pm

And now, a few enthusiastic words about the debut novel from Shelby Van Pelt. We had a great in-person event for Van Pelt in June, but we were unable to broadcast it. The great news is that we're now going to host Van Pelt virtually as part of our Readings from Oconomowaukee series. She will be in conversation with Lisa Baudoin and me.

Last week at our event for Mirror Lake, one of the Juneau Blacks (Jocelyn Cole) noted that she was really excited about the book Remarkably Bright Creatures, as one of the narrators of the story is an octopus. And I mentioned how great it was to hear that, as the author of Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, was visiting us the following week. This is the kind of enthusiasm we’ve seen for this debut novel, which was just named the May selection of the Today Show Read with Jenna Book Club. The book was edited by Helen Astma - I love this line in the acknowledgements: “Helen, you have a knack for pruning out the weak parts and letting the narrative shine.”

So interesting – Michelle Huneven was just talking about what it was like to work with her editor Virginia Smith Younce – Huneven had previously worked with great line editors, but Younce was particularly adept at visualizing the whole book and really helped improved the narrative. So for those critics who say that editors are merely acquisition machines, I would say that in many cases, authors say otherwise. 

The plot is simple – three narrators. Tova is a 70-something janitor at the local aquarium, widowed but still supported by her social group the Knit Wits, though numbers have dwindled. Also telling the story is Cameron, who lives with his Aunt Jeanne, and alas, has once again lost a job, which doesn’t keep him in good stead with his girlfriend. Nagging at him is what happened to his mom and dad. He’s got ideas about who his dad is, and that becomes his quest.

In a lot of ways, the book reminds me of Eileen Garvin’s The Music of Bees, a hit for us in 2021 and an even bigger success for our friends at Next Chapter, not just because of its thematic links, but because of the Pacific Northwest setting (though it’s partly in Northern California) and a connection with nature. And going back a little further, I’m thinking about The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein, which was also centered in Washington State and also was from an animal perspective, though I guess we’re more used to dog tales than those of cephalopods.

If you really want a nonfiction recommendation that ties into Remarkably Bright Creatures, you must consider The Soul of an Octopus, by Sy Montgomery. Van Pelt thanks Montgomery in those same acknowledgments, noting that Soul is “engrossing, heartwarming, and frequently hilarious.” If you like Montgomery’s books, I am happy to report that a new one has just released, The Hawk's Way: Encounters with Fierce Beauty. I should see if Montgomery would want to do a virtual event with Schlitz Audubon after our event with Jack E Davis for The Bald Eagle. (Register here) Schlitz Audubon hosts both eagles and hawks!

Say you wanted to commune with an octopus. Where would you go in Milwaukee? It turns out that the Milwaukee Zoo is the home to more than one Giant Pacific Octopus. The most recent addition is Chalupa. More here. 

I would like to once again return to Search because I am still coming off the high of that day of events – you can watch one of our event recordings here – and also because, like Huneven’s Search and Jamesland before it, Remarkably Bright Creatures is a straight on example of my favorite kind of book genre, what I call lost souls/found family. Now sometimes these kinds of books are derided as corny, as Alexis Burning notes in her wonderful Washington Post review. But I guess I now know that when confronted with this criticism, I have a strong comeback – pish, posh!

I read and loved Remarkably Bright Creatures several months ago, but don’t worry, I will read it again by Friday, when I will be talking to Shelby Van Pelt. Due to bookseller enthusiasm, Van Pelt is visiting a few other places outside her Chicago environs, including Arcadia in Spring Green, Edmunds Bookshop in Washington State and An Unlikely Story in Massachusetts. If you’re south of us, you can also check our her May 12 event at Lake Forest Bookshop. The current list of events is here. And yes, we’ll be broadcasting ours, so you don’t have to be in Milwaukee to enjoy the interview. I should note that we might have someone here taking photos of the event for an upcoming piece somewhere, so we'd love a nice crowd!

By the way, that's another nice connection between Shady Hollow and Remarkably Bright Creatures - a good puppet tie-in.
 

Register for our virtual Readings from Oconomowaukee event at shelbyvanpeltmke.eventbrite.com.

Photo credit: Shelby Van Pelt by Karen Forsythe

Boswell bestsellers, week ending May 7, 2022

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Search, by Michelle Huneven (signed copies available)
2. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt (Register for May 13 event here - in-person and virtual)
3. Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel
4. The Good Left Undone, by Adriana Trigiani (New date to come)
5. The Book of Night, by Holly Black
6. The Candy House, by Jennifer Egan
7. Marrying the Ketchups, by Jennifer Close
8. Danger on the Atlantic, by Erica Ruth Neubauer
9. Trust, by Hernan Diaz (front page NYT Book Review)
10. Eyes of the Void V2, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Our top non-event debut is Holly Black's The Book of Night. Boswellian Jenny Chou is a fan: "If you, like me, are waiting not-so-patiently for Leigh Bardugo to write the sequel to her adult novel, The Ninth House, here’s something to keep you busy in the meantime. Holly Black’s first foray into writing for grown-ups is an urban fantasy with a stunning mix of magic, horror, heists, and the perfect amount of impossible romance." Leigh Bardugo herself writes: "Dark, strange, thick with mystery and twists - a story so believable in its magic, you'll be keeping one eye on your shadow as you turn the pages."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Hero of Two Worlds, by Mike Duncan
2. This Will Not Pass, by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns
3. Magic Season, by Wade Rouse (Register for May 10 in-person event here)
4. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
5. Atlas of the Heart, by Brené Brown
6. Gangsters Vs. Nazis, by Michael Benson (Register for May 9 virtual event here)
7. Half-Baked Harvest Every Day, by Tieghan Gerard
8. The 1619 Project, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times
9. Architects of an American Landscape, by Hugh Howard (Register for June 15 virtual event here)
10. Easy Beauty, by Chloe Cooper-Jones (Register for May 16 virtual event here)

Top debut this week is This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future from New York Times correspondent Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, a take on the 2020 election, that to my observation, had a somewhat bigger reception than our buyer reception. Advance blurbs come from George Stephanopoulos, Walter Isaacson, and Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, who writes, "What an account of these extraordinary times. Martin and Burns deliver reporting from deep inside both parties with fresh facts and new details on nearly every page about a political system pushed to the brink." Here is the authors of Trevor Noah's The Daily Show.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Book Lovers, by Emily Henry
2. Shady Hollow V1, by Juneau Black
3. Mirror Lake V3, by Juneau Black
4. Cold Clay V2, by Juneau Black
5. The Paris Library, by Janet Skeslien Charles
6. Ordinary People, by Judith Guest (not a bulk order - on a high school reading list!
7. The House of Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell
8. Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
9. The Plot, by Jean Hanff Korelitz
10. The Dictionary of Lost Words, by Pip Williams (current Hello Sunshine pick)

Not much competition this week for Emily Henry, whose third novel, Book Lovers, dominates paperback fiction. From our resident Romantista Rachel Copeland: "I really appreciate this book not only for the steamy romance and the meta-commentary on romance novel tropes, but also the representation of people who are not warm and cuddly. There's someone out there for everyone!" Oh, and Taylor Jenkins-Reid also liked it: "Book Lovers is a rom-com lover’s dream of a book. It is razor-sharp and modern, featuring a fierce heroine who does not apologize for her ambition and heartfelt discussions of grief.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Thrivers, by Michele Borba
2. The Storm Before the Storm, by Mike Duncan
3. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
4. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
5. The Midwest Gardener's Handbook, by Melinda Myers
6. Nudge: The Final Edition, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
7. More Mediterranean, by America's Test Kitchen
8. America Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of Wisconsin, by Charles Hagner
9. A Man Walks into a Barn, by Chad Oldfather
10. Best Lake Hikes Wisconsin, by Steve Johnson

One of my regrets of this spring is that there are so many local authors with great books out there that we haven't been able to host, due to the lack of slots and the extra time that it takes to stage events in the COVID era. Shorewoodian Chad Oldfather's new memoir is A Man Walks Into a Barn: Navigating Fatherhood in the Flawed and Fascinating World of Horses, which per the publisher, is a smart, funny memoir exploring the evolution of a man and his relationship with his daughters as they grow up in the grips of the equestrian life." From The Wall Street Journal: "A Man Walks Into a Barn is his witty, often wistful take on parenting, pedagogy, and life lessons learned while navigating the insular and expensive world of horses and ‘horse people.’”

Books for Kids:
1. Remarkably Ruby, by Terri Libenson
2. Zia Erases the World, by Bree Barton
3. Invisible Emmie, by Terri Libenson
4. Just Jaime, by Terri Libenson
5. Truly Tyler, by Terri Libenson
6. Positively Izzy, by Terri Libenson
7. Wonder, by RJ Palacio
8. Superman: Dawnbreaker, by Matt de la Peña
9. Mexican Whiteboy, by Matt de la Peña
10. I Kissed Shara Wheeler, by Casey McQuiston

This week was our fist truly packed children's author day of schools (for Remarkably Ruby - signed copies available), because not only were we at Whitefish Bay and Glen Hills Middle Schools, we did an evening event at Greenfield Public Library. Not unusually for a graphic novel or especially graphic novel lite (Wimpy Kid style) author/illustrator, Libenson came from the world of newspaper comic strips. I don't think The Pajama Diaries appeared in the Journal Sentinel, but it generated three books. Her current books are not exactly a series but more like a kids version of Tana French - a minor character in one book becomes the hero of a later title. And despite the titles, the focus is generally on two kids - one story is told graphic novel style while the other is Wimpy Kid style - text with lots of illustration.

Fascinating facts from The Geography of Wisconsin - revealed in Jim Higgins's Journal Sentinel review.

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending April 30, 2022

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending April 30, 2022 - Independent Bookstore Day edition

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Marrying the Ketchups, by Jennifer Close (just a few signed copies left!)
2. The Good Left Undone, by Adriana Trigiani
3. Search, by Michelle Huneven (Register for May 4 events - 2 pm at Books & Co or 6:30 Boswell/broadcast)
4. The Cartographers, by Peng Shepherd
5. Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St John Mandel
6. City on Fire, by Don Winslow
7. Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr
8. French Braid, by Anne Tyler
9. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
10. The World of Pondside, by Mary Helen Stefaniak

Rhode Island continues to be inspiration for contemporary fiction. On the heels of Ocean State comes Don Winslow's City on Fire, which per the publisher, is the start of a new epic crime trilogy about warring Irish and Italian crime families in 1980s and 1990s Providence. From Richard Lipez in The Washington Post: "The gangland history is fascinating and seems to be based loosely on the rise and fall of the real-life Patriarca family. But it’s Winslow’s ways with character, as well as his fluid narrative and highly visual scene-setting, that suggest this novel, the first in a planned trilogy, could well end up in the American-mob canon along with the works of Puzo, Scorsese and Chase."

Another interesting detail - City on Fire was postponed during one of the earlier COVID waves so that Winslow could tour. 

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. In Praise of Good Bookstores, by Jeff Deutsch
2. Atlas of the Heart, by Brené Brown
3. Bittersweet, by Susan Cain
4. The Midwest Survival Guide, by Charlie Berens
5. Half-Baked Harvest Every Day, by Tieghan Gerard
6. Unmasked, by Paul Holes
7. Gangsters Vs Nazis, by Michael Benson (Register for May 9 event here - virtual)
8. It Could Happen Here, by Jonathan Greenblatt (Register for May 11 event here - virtual)
9. The 1619 Project, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times
10. The Dawn of Everything, by David Graeber and David Wengrow

With multiple weeks on our (and also the national) bestseller list, I thought I would find lots of stories about Tieghen Gerard and Half-Baked Harvest Every Day, but it took a bit of scrolling to find this write up from Caitlin Brody in Glamour: "When COVID-19 hit, Gerard was in Los Angeles, smack dab in the middle of the book tour for her second cookbook, Super Simple. She headed back home to the mountains of Colorado, where she was raised with her seven siblings. But instead of hitting pause as the world shut down, Gerard went full steam ahead, guns blazing...Those recipes turned into Gerard’s newest cookbook, Half Baked Harvest Every Day, filled with 120 comforting, wholesome recipes."

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Coyotes of Carthage, by Steven Wright
2. The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune
3. Verity, by Colleen Hoover
4. Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn
5. It Ends with Us, by Colleen Hoover
6. Mary Jane, by Jessica Anya Blau
7. Shady Hollow, by Juneau Black (Register for May 6 event here - in person)
8. The Five Wounds, by Kirstin Valdez Quade
9. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
10. Go Hex Yourself, by Jessica Clare

Colleen Hoover just scored her fifth simultaneous title on The New York Times paperback fiction bestseller list. We're not there yet, but we do have two titles in our top ten, with Verity at #3, which could be (I am lazy) her highest ranking here to date. Verity's distribution was taken over by Grand Central Publishing in fall 2021, and was available since 2018. They are doing a special hardcover edition in September. A writer is tasked with finishing another injured writers series by the author's husband, only to find a secret memoir that reveals untold secrets. There are BookTok phenomena and then there is Colleen Hoover - the CoHo and the CoHorts!

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Life in Short, by Dasha Kelly Hamilton
2. A New History of Modern Computing, by Thomas Haigh and Paul Ceruzzi
3. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
4. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
5. Broken Horses, by Brandi Carlile
6. The Splendid and the Vile, by Erik Larson
7 A Swim in the Pond in the Rain, by George Saunders
8. An Atlas of Extinct Countries, by Gideon Defoe
9. The Reign of Wolf 21, by Rick McIntyre
10. Slouching Towards Bethlehem, by Joan Didion

The continued appearance of The Cartographers in our top 10 does not just speak to readers interest in speculative literary crossover thrillers with a touch of romance, but to our customers' unflagging interest in books about maps. The latest bestseller is An Atlas of Extinct Counties from Gideon Defoe, author of the The Pirates(!) series, which Pantheon hoped would be a thing but never took off stateside, at least with the Schwartz stores. I can still remember my rep's enthusiasm for the books. From Foreword Reviews: "Both educational and entertaining, An Atlas of Extinct Countries is an irreverent look at the history of defunct nations and the larger-than-life personalities behind them."

Books for Kids:
1. Zia Erases the World, by Bree Barton
2. Room to Dream, by Kelly Yang
3. Allergic, by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter
4. Nana Loves You More, by Jimmy Fallon, illustrations by Miguel Ordóñez
5. Cat Kid Comic Club on Purpose V3, by Dav Pilkey
6. Firekeeper's Daughter, by Angeline Boulley
7. Josephine Against the Sea, by Shakirah Bourne
8. Starfish, by Lisa Fipps
9. Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality V5, Roshani Chokshi
10. Playing the Cards You're Dealt, by Varian Johnson

Zia Erases the World is brand new, and it's got a nice blurb from Katherine Applegate: "Luminous, empowering, and full of heart-healing truths, this is a novel that belongs on every shelf." It's the enthusiasm of Boswellian Jenny Chou that drove it to #1 this week, with a great virtual school visit. Jenny offers up Zia Angelis's situation in her staff rec: "When her difficult and unhappy grandmother, who is sliding into dementia, moves in with Zia and her single mom, she brings along an old family dictionary with an odd accessory - an eraser shaped like an evil eye. Imagine you could erase everything that scared you from the world by erasing the word from the dictionary! That’s just what Zia learns to do, and the results are both hilarious and heartbreaking."

Over at the Journal Sentinel Jim Higgins profiles Mario "The Poet" Willis, Milwaukee's new poet laureate.