What's Selling in Books and Non-Books? John Irving and Recycled Coin Purses.

Here are our latest hardcover fiction bestsellers:

1. The Gathering Storm, by Robert Jordan
2. Last Night in Twisted River, by John Irving
3. Wild Things (fur-covered version), by Dave Eggers
4. Half-Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls
5. A Gate at the Stairs, by Lorrie Moore
6. The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown
7. The Help, by Katherine Stockett
8. Chronic City, by Jonathan Lethem
9. Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger
10. The Children’s Book, by A. S. Byatt

And in sidelines (or what we call nonbook on the inside), we've finally got a few things selling besides our wooden robots, which we still have, but just a warning, the distributor ran out of stock. We've got more on backorder, but who knows when they'll arrive? If you were putting off your purchase till closer to the holidays, I might reconsider.

1. Recycled coin purses--we're currently out of Super Robot Mom but we've still got Robot Team, Birds, Bees, Flower Stamp, and Travel Girl. After we sold so many of our initial order, I went back for a bunch more. If you're obsessed with Super Robot Mom, we still offer her as a water bottle, journal, and greeting card. She's like your mom, only with more circuits!

2. Resin birds--the stars of our bird table, despite the enthusiasm for our tweeting bird alarm clock. Once again, we went back for more and I'm thrilled to say they were in stock. Part of the appeal is that like the purses ($4.50), the birds are a nice price ($3.95).

Finally Fixed--Now Your Feedburner Blog Subscription will Come the Same Day it is Posted

Well, so much for those blog emails coming from me to you at 4 in the morning from Feedburner. I discovered the problem several months ago, but couldn't figure out how to dissect the web site, even after doing a number of searches.

Well, after getting a query from our friend Paul Salsini (author of The Cielo and Sparrow's Revenge, both of which you can find at Boswell Book Company). Why did my post about the Tosca preview come...after the preview. Yeeks.

I tried again, changing my search language, and hit gold. How to change your Feedburner send time:

1. Click on your Feedburner blog in question

2. Select "publicize"

3. Select "email subscriptions"

4. Then "delivery options"

5. And change it to whatever two hour period you want. I think 3-5 AM was the default--I certainly didn't select that.

Since I usually post in the morning, the new send time is somewhere between 11 AM and 1 PM. This should resolve all problems regarding reading yesterday's news.

Ehrenreich Tonight--Event Moved to Alphonsa Hall

The good news is that we will likely sell substantially more copies of Barbara Ehrenreich's Bright-Sided than venues in larger cities than Milwaukee tonight (11/4/09), when Ehrenreich appears at Alverno College. That's something to be proud of.

The bad news is that advance ticket sales are not good enough for us to fill the Pitman Theater. We're going to move the event to Alphonsa Hall.

The good new is that Alphonsa Hall is simply on the other side of the Parking lot from the theater. If you're coming from 39th street, it's west of the lot, instead of north. We'll have a bookseller stationed at the Pitman, and another in the lot, directing folks.

Unlike past Schwartz events, Ehrenreich's not going to presign copies. She really likes her time talking to readers, and we are at the manageable size where she can sign after the event.

More good news--you can buy your ticket at the door.

I don't have anymore bad news. I really liked the book and I'm excited to hear her talk.

What's the Brand? Author or Title...

Since I've been reading my friend Joel's column, Warady's Riffs, Raves and Rants on Marketing with some regularity, I feel like I've ingested enough information to notice the difference in branding between the new books SuperFreakonomics and What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures.

Why has Gladwell never written a book called After the Tipping Point? I'd even debate that Outliers was in fact an extension of Blink. Both are success-making books of sort; a prime lesson from the former was that while first impressions from laypeople can't necessarily be trusted, first impressions from experts more often can. The latter also implies that practice, practice, practice is often behind the lucky breaks that fall into successful people's laps.

But despite that connection, the books were never tied together. Why? Because Gladwell is the brand. That's why they can now publish unrelated columns with little worry of failure.

Levitt and Dubner are seemingly not there. Otherwise, I think the title of their new book might have been less derivative. Not that I don't want to read it--and others too, it's the #1 book on the New York Times bestseller list.

My next quandary--where would I have put them had HarperCollins offered me an event? I thought I might have a shot, since Levitt lives in Chicago. I even had a connection with the Milwaukee-area Business Journal. I'm actually on my way to sell books for a partnership event with them and the Milwaukee Public Library for Jeffrey Krames' new book The Unforced Error. I can only imagine the crowd if it were for SuperFreakonomics.

Another little detail--it took me several minutes of searching to determine how to spell the book's title. One word or two? Caps? Was the spacing stylistic or the lack of it part of the word coining? Because Morrow almost always wrote the book's title in caps, it was only on the fifth ocurrence of the title that I saw that the F was capitalized. I believe I've been spelling it wrong previously. All is now correct in the world of SuperFreakonomics, and it will now give me great joy to spot misspellings, such as I already do for Rachael Ray and Stephenie Meyer, both of which have e issues in their names that are often not caught in proofreading.

A Different Kind of Book Club Posting for "Half of a Yellow Sun"...Before it Happens

So tonight we're reading Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It's an hour or so before we meet. Will I get one person like I did the first couple of months, or will this intrigue many and we'll get 12, our high point for Netherland?

The answer is likely somewhere in between. While we did cause a sales pop (we sold 20 copies this year of the book, compared to 4 for the Downer Avenue Schwartz last year), I fear that several regulars either had other engagements or didn't read the book.

It's a good book club book, right? If you get bored of talking about whether you liked the book, why the sisters had to be twins, were they different enough to make them fraternal in the end, did enough major characters die for a war story, and would the story have worked better if there was a major Hausa or Yoruba character (just about everyone of importance is Igbo or Caucasian)? Well, there is Mohammed, but what does it say about the story when his last appearance is in a letter, worrying about his polo game? Anyway, when the story is done, you can talk about the history. Or maybe, because the story is intertwined with history, you move back and forth.

I suspect most of my attendees (save two) would have been pro Biagran independence. But there's no question that Adichie's story does call attention to the Igbo excesses during the first coup, and the lack of enthusiasm for the Biafran leader by many of the characters.

So share my worry! I'm reading a bunch of reviews. Where's my insight? What's the legacy of the war in Nigeria today? What tribe were the folks in Little Bee?

December's worry--The Hakawati, on Monday, December 7th, 7 PM.

January's panic--The Post-Birthday World, by Lionel Shriver, Monday, January 4th, 7 PM. My sister Merrill will be so happy.

February's fear--Elmer Gantry, by Sinclair Lewis, Monday, February 1st. We're tieing in to the Florentine Opera performance.

Rep Night #3--Plus a Last-Minute Reminder on a Few Events

The Next Chapter folk came to Boswell Book Company for our third round of presentations from sales reps.

First up was Anne Hellman from Macmillan; she sells adult and kids books from St. Martin's, FSG, Holt and a number of other lines.

--Anne was thrilled that Mennonite in a Little Black had taken off--the publisher was out of stock and she couldn't bring a sample. It's the story of a woman who returns home to her close-knit family after a personal crisis. It's funny but not mean funny.

--Another book that Anne spoke very highly of was Michael Sandel's new Justice: What's the Right thing to do? Sandel is a renowned professor at Harvard, and we were all fascinated by this primer on ethics. To me, it sounded like what econometrics (oops, I meant economics, econometrics is a different book) is to Freakonomics, ethics is to Justice. I wasn't that thrilled with the jacket, however.

--I had a customer come in asking for memoirs, and I said, "Funny or not?" Because most of our funny ones are in humor. One addition to that might be You Can't Drink All Day if You Don't Start in the Morning, by Celia Riverbank.

--A teen book that had some buzz (caffeinated?) was The Espressologist, by Krstina Springer. A young barrista realizes you can tell a lot about folks through their coffee drink. And so a modern take on Austen's Emma is perked.

--Everybody's looking for the next Hunger Games and Anne's contribution is the YA Gril in the Arena, by Lisa Haines. It's about a world addicted to violence, and yes, it's the beginning of a series. Good reads on this.

--The Death of Bunny Munro, by Nick Cave, appears to be a hip updated Death of a Salesman. Dave at Next Chapter spoke of it highly.

In the middle spot was Tim Mooney, who represents the kids' lines of Random House, including the newly acquired Tricycle Press from Ten Speed.

--Libba Bray's Going Bovine is about a boy with Mad Cow disease who comes into contact (maybe) with a helpful angel. It's a comedy.

--In Kate Lauren's, Fallen, Luce is sent to a terrible boarding school in Georgia where she meets the mysterious Daniel, a young man with a secret. It's in the Twilight School, maybe even more chaste?

--David Diaz illustrates a new edition of the classic song Let There be Peace on Earth, at one time the anthem for Unicef. The illustrations cover the globe, and Diaz was awarded a Caldecot for previous work.

--The cautionary tale of The Book that Eats People makes particular effort to steer clear of the gory details inside, particularly if your hands have peanut butter on them. Lemony Snicket-esque?

--And Random House's contribution to Hunger Games lit is The Maze Runner, the first novel in a trilogy about a boy who wakes up plunked into a giant maze and at the center of a survivalist society. We've got to put this on our dystopian table, junior edition.

Last was John Hastie, who represents half of the Random House trade lines (Bantam, Clarkson Potter, a whole bunch of others). Books he talked about included:

--The Last Resort, by Douglas Rogers. This is the story of a family trying to hang onto their land under the increasingly corrupt Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. Funny and terrifying--they are hoping to build the Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight audience. As I'm currently reading Half of a Yellow Sun and pass our cool African candle display everyday, I found this of particular interest.

--The Book of Basketball, by Bill Sammons (no, that's Simmons--thanks, Adam!) This is an everything NBA book--history, debate, invterviews, commentary. Several booksellers chimed in that Sammons is a great writer, and Jason told me that back when I picked the gift guide titles for Schwartz, this would have been one of my key sports books. I would have been very excited!

--Sweeping Up Glass, by Carolyn Wall. This is a book that had a small print from Poisoned Pen Press, but was quickly snapped up by Bantam for reprint. The book was an Indie Next pick for hardcover, but by the time it hit the list, books were no longer available. John's notes were "Dorothy Allison and Donna Tartt, and just a touch of Harper Lee." Sharon was in the middle of reading it (or so I noticed at a recent break) and seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit.

--Larousse Gastronomique has had a major redesign. We had very regular sales for years. The book looks quite spectacular now but will our customers bite on the $90 price point?

--And John still championed Await Your Reply. Between the two stores, we must have seven or eight reads. We've had some sales (and mostly very good feedback from customers). It's one that didn't take off on impact, so it makes a great hand-sell. Expect me to yap about it to you when you come in.

--One book that John loved last year in hardcover has really been selling quite well in paperback. It's Hannah Tinti's The Good Thief, an American Dickensian tale of a one-handed orphan and his "benefactor."

***

Big events this week!

Tuesday, November 3rd is Patricia Polacco, author of January's Sparrow and many other books. That's at 7 PM in the bookstore.

On Tuesday morning, Jeffrey Krames is appearing at the Central Library Business/Media room. The event starts at 7:30 AM. It's past the deadline for registering, but maybe there are still spots left.

Meet the Author: Jeffrey Krames
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
7:30 AM - 8:30 AM

Presented by Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library. Sponsored by The Business Journal.
Author of “The Unforced Error: Why Some Managers Get Promoted While Others Get Eliminated,” “Inside Drucker’s Brain” and more.As former publisher of a major business book company, Krames has personally edited and published more than 275 business books, including many award-winning, best-selling titles that include such business luminaries as Jack Welch, Michael Ovitz, Ross Perot, Bill Gates and more.

Location: Business/Media room, second floor of the Central Library. Coffee, juice and rolls will be served. Boswell Book Company will be there to sell books. Admission is $10. Please contact John Menzel for reservations at 414-908-0557 or jmenzel@bizjournals.com by October 28th.

On November 4th, see you at Alverno College for Barbara Ehrenreich. Read the Journal Sentinel's Q&A with her in Sunday's paper.

Downer Theatre = Movies = I Go to my First Since We've Opened

After hearing so much about the Coen Brothers movie "A Serious Man", I decided it was time to live my dream and see a movie without crossing the street, my first since we've opened. It's said to be their most autobiographal movie. You read movie reviews, so you already know that it's about a Jewish family in the suburbs of 1960's Minneapolis.

>I can't say I liked it or I didn't; my review would be "I have questions." Feel free to discuss it with me on your next visit. For those who loved it, the screenplay is available.

Speaking of movies, I have a love-hate relationship with the fabulous McSweeney's covers. I loved the three-part jacket for Michael Chabon's Maps and Legends. I also enjoyed the book itself, but I couldn't get as many folks to invest in a special book-as-object piece as I hoped. Our sale wasn't exactly shabby; the Downer Avenue Schwartz, we sold 27 copies.

Now we've got Dave Egger's novel The Wild Things, an adaptation of Maurice Sendak's picture book that (oy, let's hope I get this correct) closely follows the new movie, or maybe it was the basis for the movie, I'm just a blogger so I'm not bothering to do my research.

You want the facts correct? Read and support your local newspaper.

Anyway, we have both editions of the book, classic ($19.95) or fur-covered ($28.00). We've heard that not every account got the latter. It's pretty spiffy so if you can't find one, you can always check with us. See phone number at the top of this post.

Note that unlike most of our jackets, this is from a cropped photograph. Couldn't find a jacket of hairy edition that included the title and author sticker.

Haven't seen the movie. Read the amazing reviews. I guess the box office numbers were disappointing, but maybe that was for the latest "Saw" movie.

The Psychology of Parking on Downer Avenue

I've been thinking a lot about the construction on Downer Avenue and how it affects traffic. Here are the things I've learned already about most folks when they park instinctually:

1. They wait till they get to the store, and look for a place to park.

2. They prefer being on the main block, even if that means a meter.

3. They are not thrilled with the construction, even though it is almost over.

Here's my advice:

1. In the evening, think south and east, not north and west, unless you want to use the parking garage across the street.

2. In the daytime, west if fine, because the spaces are limited to 2-3 hour parking, to limit students at UWM.

3. Parking checkers are vigilant in Downer Avenue neighbhorhood. If it says don't park in a spot, don't. If it says 2 hour limit, don't stay for 3.

To the right is our new brick design in front of the store. Unlike the last, which were 1/3 width pavers that popped up easily, these are full size bricks that should last a long time.

***

Speaking the Downer area, Peter McCarthy was in, dropping off more copies of North Point Historic Districts. The book is a must-have for anyone who lives in the area or likes visiting.