Boswell's Annotated Bestseller List for the Week Endin April 17, 2015, Plus the Journal Sentinel Reviews.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Adeline, by Norah Vincent
2. The Fishermen, by Chigozie Obioma
3. A Spool of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler
4. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
5. A Dangerous Place, by Jacqueline Winspear
6. World Gone By, by Dennis Lehane
7. Leaving Berlin, by Joseph Kanon
8. Trigger Warning, by Neil Gaiman
9. Lady from Zagreb, by Philip Kerr
10. Falling in Love, by Donna Leon

It's a suspense-heavy list this week with Hawkins, Winspear, Lehane, Kannon, Kerr, and Leon taking up more than half the spots. Though Lehane is known for his past mysteries, I wasn't sure if World Gone by qualified, but Ingram still classified it as mystery ahead of literary and historical on their website. From Janet Maslin on in The New York Times: "When The Given Day arrived in 2008, Dennis Lehane described his 704-page magnum opus as the beginning of a possible trilogy. That’s not exactly how things worked out. Instead of sequels, he wound up producing a very loosely linked trio, adding on Live by Night and now World Gone By. Each is written very differently: first, a research-filled epic; then a lean, classic Edgar-winning specimen of 1930s crime noir; and now a suspenseful but reflective accumulation of all the wisdom these books have offered."

Hardcover Nonfiction
1. Dealing with China, by Henry Paulson
2. Between You and Me, by Mary Norris
3. The Power of Being Yourself, by Joe Plumeri
4. Binoculars, by Philip DiMeo
5. The Road to Character, by David Brooks
6. Dead Wake, by Erik Larson
7. Edible Memory, by Jennifer A. Jordan (event at Boswell Friday, April 24, 7 pm)
8. In Defense of a Liberal Education, by Fareed Zakaria
9. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo
10. Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande
11. H is for Hawk, by Helen MacDonald
12. Lentil Underground, by Liz Carlisle (event at Urban Ecology Center, Thursday, April 23, 7 pm)

I'm not sure if The Road to Character, the new book by David Brooks, was published for the graduation table specifically, but it should be noted that someone scheduled it for a timely April 14 release. He profiles everyone from Bayard Rustin to Dorothy Day to Dwight Eisenhower and the writers George Eliot and Samuel Johnson, notable for being the subject of a biography by James Boswell (yes, that Boswell). Publishers Weekly's advance review said that "Brook's poignant and at times quite humorous commentary on the importance of humility and virtue makes for a vital, uplifting read." And in his All Things Considered interview with Audie Cornish, he noted that at the end of World War II, "I was really struck at this supreme moment of American triumph that they weren't beating their chests...They weren't super proud of themselves; they were deeply humble. And I found that so beautiful and so moving. And I thought there's really something to admire in that public culture."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Meet Me Halfway, by Jennifer Morales
2. Shotgun Lovesongs, by Nickolas Butler
3. Listen and Other Stories, by Liam Callanan
4. The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt
5. The Mechanical, by Ian Tregillis (Boswell Science Fiction book club selection, Monday, May 11, 7 pm)
6. Starfish, by Peter Watts (And this is the June selection)
7. Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel
8. Dry Bones in the Valley, by Tom Bouman
9. The Red Notebook, by Antoine Laurain
10. The Husband's Secret, by Liane Morarty

Every week I do a search on reviews for The Red Notebook, but the novel seems to be undeservedly snubbed by traditional reviewers and only bloggers seem to be taking notice. This one from From First Page to Last is pretty typical: "I was easily transported to the streets of Paris. In fact this story made me want to revisit it even more. Part of the romance of the story comes from the city itself, giving the story a wonderfully warm feel. Whilst short on words; there are approximately 200 pages, the story does not feel any less for it. It’s brevity in places was necessary and the flow of the novel felt just right. There is mystery, romance and friendship running throughout this book. It was a lovely little read and one I will probably revisit again." Why don't Americans use "whilst?" It's such a sweet word.

OK, the (UK) Telegraph did review it. Christian House wrote "In light of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Laurain’s gentle Paris, with its café crèmes and eccentric bibliophiles, could have seemed bogus. However, what emerged in the wake of those awful events was a shared investment in the city’s character and its culture, and Laurain’s book captures something of that communal spirit. Aided by Jane Aitken’s elegant translation, reading The Red Notebook is a little like finding a gem among the bric-a-brac in a local brocante." Americans, get on the ball!

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Milwaukee Mafia, by Gavin Schmitt
2. A General Theory of Love, by Thomas Lewis
3. The Emotional Life of Your Brain, by Richard Davidson
4. My Stroke of Insight, by Jill Bolte Taylor
5. Dying to be Me, Anita Moorjani
6. The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander
7. The Lady in Gold, by Anne Marie O'Connor
8. We Should All Be Feminists, by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie
9. America's Test Kitchen Complete Vegetarian Cookbook
10. Citizen, by Claudia Rankine

From the publisher: "The Lady in Gold, considered an unforgettable masterpiece, one of the twentieth century’s most recognizable paintings, made headlines all over the world when Ronald Lauder bought it for $135 million a century after Klimt, the most famous Austrian painter of his time, completed the society portrait. Anne-Marie O’Connor, writer for The Washington Post, formerly of the Los Angeles Times, tells the galvanizing story of the Lady in Gold, Adele Bloch-Bauer, a dazzling Viennese Jewish society figure; daughter of the head of one of the largest banks in the Hapsburg Empire, head of the Oriental Railway, whose Orient Express went from Berlin to Constantinople; wife of Ferdinand Bauer, sugar-beet baron." The Woman in Gold, starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds, is now playing at the Oriental and Avalon Theatres.

Books for Kids:
1. The Boy in the Black Suit, by Jason Reynolds
2. When I Was the Greatest, by Jason Reynolds
3. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madelein L'Engle
4. The Tapper Twins Go to War with Each Other, by Geoff Rodkey
5. Ms. Rapscott's Girls, by Elise Primavera
6. A World Without Princes, by Soman Chainani (event today, Sunday, April 19, 3 pm)
7. Stick and Stone, by Beth Ferry, illustrations by Tom Lichtenheld
8. Home, by Carson Ellis
9. The Penderwicks in the Spring, by Jeanne Birdsall
10. Genuine Sweet, by Faith Harkey
11. The Trap, by Steve Arntson
10. On the Wing, by David Ellitott

I was chatting with Joe, one of the our favorite teachers (his author school visits are stupendous!) about new middle grade books. Of course my thoughts turned to The Trap, by Steve Arntson, and of course course Joe had already read it. He really liked it but became fixated on whether the Texas Rangers existed in 1963, when the book took place. We discussed how there really isn't a fact checker for novels; it's up to the author, the agent, the acquiring editor, and the copy editor to catch gaffes. I know how that feels, as while we try to proofread our event calendars and email newsletter, the blog is written without a net, with only Sharon to email me later with corrections. So one point for Joe; the Washington Senators moved to Texas and became The Rangers in 1971.

From the starred Publishers Weekly review: "Henry’s introspective, self-effacing narration brims with evocative details and descriptions...unspooling a haunting and suspenseful story that will resonate with science-fiction fans as well as anyone who has needed to find the courage to ask a date to the big dance."

Over in the Journal Sentinel, critic Mike Fischer reviews God Help the Child, a contemporary novel that, per the publisher, explores "the way the sufferings of childhood can shape, and misshape, the life of the adult." Fischer is generally a fan of Toni Morrison, but was disappointed with the latest. But there are plenty of raves too, such as Bernardine Evaristo at the (UK) Guardian and Steve Gigerich in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Oh for the days before the internet, when publishers could hide a weak review from an author.

From reviewer Sarah C. Lange, an assessment of the latest from Ann Packer. "Many readers will remember Ann Packer's bestselling first novel, The Dive From Clausen's Pier, in which a young woman must choose between pursuing her dreams or standing by her injured fiancé. That book took place in part in Madison, where Packer once lived as a creative writing fellow. In her third novel, The Children's Crusade, she covers similar emotional territory but takes a different, more ambitious approach: weaving back and forth in time and offering first-person accounts from several characters in between the third-person narrative."

In other news, Matt Cook is named Milwaukee's newest Poet Laureate and Tess Gerritsen is coming to Milwaukee for a sold-out lunch, but an open to the public signing on April 25.

Ostensibly This Post is a Book Club Wrap-Up of "Dept. of Speculation" but it Wanders Off a Bit to Talk About Reading During and After College.

While there are many undergraduates who continue to read non-course books aggressively through their schooling, I was one of those people who slacked off during my college years. While I didn't start keeping track of my reading until graduating, I pretty much remember what I did make it through: Tales of the City, The Hotel New Hampshire, Is There No Place on Earth For Me? (a book that was oddly sent to our college radio station for review and later went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. In an aside to our rep, that would have made a great pick for the St. George's Day promotion that we're doing right now. Details to come in another blog, well, maybe.)

That said, my reading took off full speed once I moved to New York and started my job in publishing. Even with the required reading of the books I was touring, I had a commute that was between one and two hours each way my first year, depending on whether I was traveling during rush hour and how much luck I had with bus and train connections. That left a lot of time for reading. Generally I got a seat on the bus, and for the train ride, I was young and wiry and could read standing up, somehow grasping a pole or strap and still being able to concentrate on whatever book came my way. And I didn't have to check my status updates.

So that, combined with majors in math and Russian which didn't leave much room for the traditional fiction canon, is why my first introduction to modernism was with Renata Adler's Speedboat, which was recommended to me by one of my coworkers. I had picked up the Popular Library edition, back when even the most intense literary fiction would be reprinted in mass market editions, as if they really needed to be featured on the racks of newsstands, variety stores, and supermarkets to find their true market.

The reason I bring this up is that having just read and discussed Jenny Offill's Dept. of Speculation, my research led to several critics referencing Renata Adler in their reviews and profiles. Of course this fragmentary stream-of-consciousness voice is older that Adler's work. You can certainly look back to Virginia Woolf, and one of our attendees David, mentioned that he was reminded of one of his favorite books, Elizabeth Smart's By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept.

In Offill's novel, her second following Last Things, a narrator is documenting her life through a series of what appear to be fragments from a journal. Everyday observations alternate with more personal autobiographical details such as the relationship with her husband, a former Midwesterner moonlights as a DJ, and the birth and early years of your daughter. The narrator herself has written a novel that has gotten some acclaim, but she's gotten stuck on writing her second novel.

What many of us found most interesting about Offill's novel is that despite is fragmentary, stream-of-consciousness style, the story was quite readable. If you've read books in this style, you find that you often have to reread passages several times to make sense of them, dominated as they are by language. Yes, Dept. of Speculation is plot-driven modernism.

Because I was helping with an event going on in the back of the store (Middle Grade Mania, if you must know), Boswellian Carly Lenz helped me out with facilitating the conversation. Cleverly, we had chosen a title that I knew Carly had loved.

Here's her rec from the hardcover edition: "Offill portrays the nuanced realities of marriage and human relations in a series of vignettes, the majority told in the first-person voice of the unnamed female protagonist. Similar to Valeria Luiselli's Faces in the Crowd, the fragmented narration allows the reader to experience changes in the protagonist's psyche, changes in the relationship she has with her husband, and changes in perspective: the story flows between the woman's stream of consciousness and a more distanced, macro telling of events. Charged with bits of humor, dialogue, and emotional insight, Dept. of Speculation offers a beautifully written account of love on both its good and bad days."

For the most part, the book club liked it. Muted enthusiasm, I'd say, with most folks being a little tentative about starting it but finding they liked it more than they expected. One attendee said it was like reading it was like someone's diary, with the reader putting it together like a puzzle. The book's shortness works well with the fragmentation; one reader thought it might have fallen apart if it had been longer.

Other interesting points:
--It reminded one reader of a piece of lace, intricately constructed, with plenty of holes
--Our Elizabeth Smart fan wasn't sure he liked some of the repetition
--Another reader questioned whether this was really structured prose or blank verse. That might account for the repetition. Knowing how difficult it is to publish poetry, I wonder what the author's original intention was.
--What about those bedbugs? Metaphor for the marital bed, perhaps?

So while I do not like when the crowd swings too dramatically one way or another, I thought this was a pretty middle-of-the-pack assessment. Enthusiasm, but muted. So I was fascinated to speak to two attendees who couldn't make the meeting, which should be noted, was on the night of the Wisconsin-Duke game. One attendee loved it and the other hated it. That would have made for a very different evening.

This is a great book club selection for a month when attendees are feeling stressed, as just about everyone was able to read Dept. of Speculation within two hours. Coming up Boswell is hosting Matthew Thomas, author of We are Not Ourselves, on Monday, June 8, 7 pm, and while I really wanted to get this into our in-store lit group rotation, there was not enough time between paperback release (June 2) and event. Jane and I will have the book on our next flier, suggesting it is a great book if you have a summer or winter break.

Up next, we tackle Phil Klay's Redeployment on Monday, May 4, 7 pm. And on Monday, June 1, 7 pm, we read Euphoria, by Lily King.

And thanks for your help, Carly!

Authors at Large: Museums, Game Shows, Draw Alongs, Panels.

1. Here's Cristina Henríquez at the Lynden for the paperback of The Book of Unknown Americans. A very nice evening! The addition of attendees from the Hispanic Professionals book club gave us a new audience. The Lynden has just announced upcoming events with Jenny Blum on Wednesday, August 12 and P.K. Duffy on Wednesday, September 16. More info on their website.

2. Coming soon! The Lizzie Skurnick word game. If you have played around with Skurnick's new book, That Should Be a Word: A Language Lover's Guide to Choregasms, Povertunity, Brattling, and 250 Other Much-Needed Terms for the Modern World, you can see that you can't browse the book without turning it into a quiz, asking innocent bystanders, "what would you call a person who is a fierce proponent of natural pregnancies?*" So it wasn't surprising that our event with Skurnick did turn into a game. Not that we're claiming obvious superiority in all things wordy, but Mel, our fielded bookseller, did come in first.

3. Our easel is getting quite a workout of late. When Carson Ellis visited Boswell for her recent book Home, she brought along the mysterious twins Evelyn and Eleanor. While Ms. Ellis read from the book, the twins drew their own images of home. As for the first two books listed on the blog, we've got signed first editions of Home. I'm still convinced this book is going to win something.

Up close, here is what the twins drew...very mysterious!

4. We inherited several folding tables and truth be told, the 8 footer gets a lot of use, particularly as it's light enough to move easily. On the other hand, this 12 foot table is heavy metal (much like the music that was playing at a coffee shop this week, for the barrista's enjoyment) and gets moved out only occasionally. But when you have a five person event like Middle Grade Mania last week, it comes in quite handy. Of course it wound up being scheduled on the the championship game of March Madness, but despite this, it was fairly well attended. This was also practice for a teacher appreciation night, which we're hoping to start doing once each spring and fall. Thank you to Greg Trine, Marcia Wells, Faith Harkey, Steve Arntson, and Stacy DeKeyser for participating.

What's Selling at Boswell for the Week Ending April 11, 2015?

What's been selling at Boswell this week?

Hardcover Fiction:

1. Watch Me Go, by Mark Wisniewski
2. The Harder They Come, by T.C. Boyle
3. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
4. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
5. Falling in Love, by Donna Leon
6. The Whites, by Richard Price, writing at Harry Brandt
7. The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro
8. The World Before Us, by Aislinn Hunter
9. Shotgun Lovesongs, by Nickolas Butler
10. A Year With Rilke, by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated and edited by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows (yes, I know this sort of lands between fiction and nonfiction)

Being that I have been remiss on writing up new releases of late, and I mostly pay attention to touring authors when it comes to paying attention to advance releases, so it's nice to see when a book like The World Before Us, by Ainslinn Hunter has a nice early pop on our bestseller list. It has a nice advance quote from Emily St. John Mandel: ""A complex, subtle, and utterly haunting meditation on memory, history, and mortality. This book is magnificent." An archivist in London whose museum is about to close researches the disappearance of a girl over a hundred years ago in the same woods where some years ago, a girl she was babysitting also disappears. I know it's not a mystery but the setup has a Tana Frenchishness, doesn't it?

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. They are All My Family, by John Riordan
2. Listen to Your Mother, edited by Ann Imig (Alverno event Sunday, April 26, 3 pm)
3. Between You and Me, by Mary Norris (event today at Boswell, April 12, 3 pm)
4. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo
5. Dead Wake, by Erik Larosn
6. Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande
7. H is for Hawk, by Helen MacDonald
8. The Shakespeare Book, from DK Publishing
9. In Defense of a Liberal Education, by Fareed Zakaria
10. The Age of Selfishness, by Darryl Cunningham

Spring publishing is often tied to a few of the gift giving moments of the season and while Listen to Your Mother, the collection that comes from a series of staged readings that are happening around the country, including Milwaukee's on April 26, would never be published any time but in April (for Mother's Day), a book like Fareed Zakaria's In Defense of a Liberal Education is best scheduled in that time between college acceptance announcements and graduation. Boswellian Jane has been a big fan of the book. Here's his column reprinted in the Dallas Morning News on our obsession with STEM education and why many economies that fair even poorer than we do perform even better.

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henríquez
2. Shotgun Lovesongs, by Nickolas Butler (Shorewood Public Library event, Thursday, April 16, 7 pm)
3. The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt
4. Redeployment, by Phil Klay
5. Euphoria, by Lily King
6. Listen and Other Stories, by Liam Callanan
7. Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel
8. Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks
9. The Red Notebook, by Antoine Laurain
10. Meet Me Halfway, by Jennifer Morales (event on Friday, April 17, 7 pm, at Boswell)

After many delays, Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch is now out in paperback. While I feel remorse for not having read it, I still don't think it's going to be on our In-store Lit Group reading schedule. Of course a ton of book clubs have already picked it, but for those that wait for paperback, it's a great selection for September, if the group doesn't meet over the summer. We are reading two of the other books on the list, Redeployment on May 4 and Euphoria on June 1, both at 7 pm. No need to register, just show up having read the books.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Mad Men and Politics, co-edited by Lilly J. Goren
2. Milwaukee Braves, by William Povletich
3. That Should be a Word, by Lizzie Skurnick
4. Green Bay Packers, by William Povletich
5. Peterson Field Guide to Birds Eastern and Central
6. How to be a Heroine, by Samantha Ellis
7. Art Before Breakfast, by Danny Gregory
8. The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown
9. The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
10. What the Dog Knows, by Cat Warren

Creativity continues to sell at Boswell. The newest hit is Art Before Breakfast: A Zillion Ways to be More Creative No Matter How Busy You Are, by Danny Gregory. The author of several books on art and creativity, he's a former creative director in advertising. More on this blog. I'm sad that what with so many wonderful options, a New Yorker can't come up with a local store to link to for sales, in addition to the A word.

Books for Kids:
1. The Trap, by Steve Arntson
2. Genuine Sweet, by Faith Harkey
3. Mystery in Mayan Mexico, by Marcia Wells
4. Willy Maykit in Space, by Greg Trine
5. Wild About Wisconsin Birds, by Adele Porter
6. Home, by Carson Ellis
7. In Mary's Garden, by Tina and Carson Kugler
8. One Witch at a Time, by Stacy DeKeyser
9. The Penderwicks in Spring, by Jeanne Birdsall
10. Rhoda's Rock Hunt, by Molly Beth Griffin with illustrations by Jennifer Bell

I of course would love to linger on any of the seven books from recent events (and I will on a post next week, when I have a photo roundup) but my eye is drawn to Rhoda's Rock Hunt, a picture book with a rec from Boswellian Mel Morrow and further recommendation from Friend of Boswell Kelly, who said that she and her daughter Ella are huge fans. From Mel: "This is the charming tale of Rhoda—amateur geologist and avid rock hound—on her first field camp! Rhoda finds SO many lovely rocks—and quickly learns that difficult lesson that rocks jocks pay a heavy price when they insist on brining EVERY rock home with them!"

From the Journal Sentinel, Jim Higgins profiles Nickolas Butler, in town this Thursday for Shorewood Reads, where the celebration of Shotgun Lovesongs includes the main book talk on Thursday, April 16, 7 pm at the Shorewood Library, and also discussions at Camp Bar and Colectivo, a concert, a craft talk, and a visit to Shorewood High School. In it, he talks about the book's Justin Vernon-like character, the circumstances that led he and his wife to public assistance, and his forthcoming collection of stories, Beneath the Bonfire.

Separately, Higgins profiles other upcoming authors with Wisconsin ties:
--Jennifer Morales for her story collection Meet Me Halfway, appearing Friday, April 17. 7 pm
--Andrea Lochen for her second novel, Imaginary Things, Monday, April 20, 7 pm
--Jennifer Jordan for Edible Memory, her history of heirloom foods, on Friday, April 24, 7 pm
--Benjamin Percy, for his newest novel, The Dead Lands, Wednesday, April 29, 7 pm

And finally, a review of The Turner House, from Angela Flournoy. Journal Sentinel critic Mike Fischer writes that "Detroit looms large in this novel, as a hulking version of the Turner homestead that poses the same question confronting the Turners themselves: For all our past failures and disappointments, can we be more than the ruins we all eventually resemble? Can we escape the haints that would pull us backward into a darker past? Do we, against the evidence, still dare to hope?" The book, about a large African American family in 2008, has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist, plus advance praise from Daniel Alarcon, Elizabeth McCracken, and T.C. Boyle, who calls The Turner House "an expansive and ambitious novel that descends through the generations of one family's history to achieve real poignancy and power."

Boswell's Not-So-Annotated Bestseller List for Week Ending April 4, 2015...Plus Journal Sentinel Reviews.

Happy Easter and 2nd day of Passover. I'm assuming that if you're reading this, you're not busy with religious observance, so I should note that Boswell is open 10 am to 5 pm today. Here is the schedule for films at the Downer Theatre:
--Danny Collins is playing at 11:45 am, 2:15 pm, 4:45 pm, 7:30 pm, and 9:50 pm
--Gett: The Trial of Viviane Ansalem is playing at 11:30 am, 2 pm, 4:30 pm, 7 pm, and 9:30 pm

Hardcover Fiction:
1. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
2. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
3. The Harder they Come, by T.C. Boyle
4. A Reunion of Ghosts, by Judith Claire Mitchell (signed copies available)
5. A Dangerous Place, by Jacqueline Winspear
6. The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro
7. A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara
8. At the Water's Edge, by Sara Gruen
9. Patriot Threat, by Steve Berry (Skype event at Capitol Library on Tuesday, May 5, 6 pm)
10. Mrs. Grant and Madame Julie, by Jennifer Chiaverini (signed copies available)

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Dead Wake, by Erik Larson (signed copies available)
2. Between You and Me, by Mary Norris (event Sunday April 12, 3 pm)
3. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo
4. Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Little Golden Book, by Diane Muldrow
5. Being Mortal, Atul Gawande
6. H is for Hawk, by Helen MacDonald
7. In Defense of a Liberal Education, by Fareed Zakaria
8. Pabst Farms, by John C. Eastberg
9. Pioneer Girl, annotated edition, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
10. There is Simply Too Much to Think About, by Saul Bellow

Paperback Fiction:
1. Listen and Other Stories, by Liam Callanan
2. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
3. Shotgun Lovesongs, by Nickolas Butler (event Thursday, April 16, 7 pm, Shorewood Library)
4. Ruby, by Cynthia Bond
5. The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion
6. The President's Hat, by Antoine Laurain
7. Meet Me Halfway: Milwaukee Stories, by Jennifer Morales (event Friday, April 17, 7 pm, Boswell)
8. Redeployment, by Phil Klay
9. Dept. of Speculation, by Jenny Offill
10. The Illusion of Separateness, by Simon Van Booy

I have never before said I have read the entire top ten of a bestseller list category but by May 4, I'll be able to say I got to 9 of the 10. I'm just about at 8 now, being almost finished with Dept. of Speculation, which we're reading for in-store lit group on Monday, April 6, and on May 4, we'll be reading Redeployment. I've just decided on June's selection, which is Lily King's Euphoria.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown
2. Milwaukee Mafia, by Gavin Schmitt
3. Birds of Wisconsin Field Guide, by Stan Tekiela
4. The Internet of Things, by Samuel Greengard
5. How to Walk, by Thich Nhat Hanh
6. The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, by America's Test Kitchen
7. Mad Men and Politics, co-edited by Lilly J. Goren (event Thursday, April 9, 7 pm, Boswell)
8. Zealot, by Reza Aslan
9. The Man Who Planted Trees, by Jim Robbins
10. Bad Feminist, by Roxane Gay

Board Books and Picture Books for Kids:
1. In Mary's Garden, by Tina and Carson Kugler
2. Oh the Places You'll Go, by Dr. Suess
3. The Imaginary, by A.F. Harrold
4. Little Chick Finger Puppet Book, by Klaartje Van Der Put
5. If You Plant a Seed, by Kadir Nelson
6. Home, by Carson Ellis (signed copies available)
7. Ms. Rapscott's Girls, by Elise Primavera
8. Ten Easter Eggs, by Vijaya Bodach
9. The Golden Egg Book, by Margaret Wise Brown
10. Easter Egg, by Jan Brett

By this list alone, someone coming across our bestsellers would know it was the week before Easter.

Middle Grade and Young Adult Books
1. The Thickety: A Path Begins V1, by J.A. White
2. The Thickety: The Whispering Treets V2, by J.A. White
3. Genuine Sweet, by Faith Harkey (event Monday, April 6 with four other authors and pizza, 6:30 pm, at Boswell)
4. Rad American Women A-Z, by Kate Schatz
5. The Arrival, by Shaun Tan
6. Allegiant, by Veronica Roth
7. Lost Track of Time, by Paige Britt
8. I'll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson
9. The Boy in the Black Suit, by Jason Reynolds (event Monday April 13, 6:30 pm, East Library)
10. When I was the Greatest, by Jason Reynolds

In the Journal Sentinel, Elfrieda Abbe reviews Orhan's Inheritance, by Aline Ohanesian, the story of a Turkish man who goes to a Los Angeles retirement home to find out why his grandfather willed his childhood home to an Armenian woman that the family doesn't even know. Abee writes: "Much has been covered up in Aline Ohanesian's impressive debut novel,Orhan's Inheritance. She scrapes away the dusty layers with the skill of an archaeologist on a dig to reveal family secrets and shames set against a backdrop of historical atrocities."

Another novel that mines Turkish history, The Architect's Apprentice, by Elif Shahak, and is reviewed by Erin Kogler. Her take: "Set in 16th-century Istanbul and based on the career of Mimar Sinan, the chief architect of the Ottoman Empire during the time of sultans Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II and Murad III, Shafak's tale moves swiftly from scene to scene telling the stories of bloody ascents to the throne, Ottoman conquests and defeats, civil unrest and the building of some of the greatest monuments in Turkish history...The Architect's Apprentice has an enormous cast of characters including sultans and sultanas, concubines, chief advisers, teachers, animal tamers, apprentices, laborers, soldiers and gypsies, and spans multiple decades of Turkish history."

Finally there is a profile of Stewart O'Nan by Patricia Sheridan, who was at Boswell last month for West of Sunset. If you're intrigued by their breakfast conversation, I think we still have some signed copies left. If you read the piece online, you also find out where Stewart O'Nan's true baseball allegiance lies, with the Boston Red Sox or Pittsburgh Pirates.

Alas, as I am one of the booksellers working today, I don't have time to do further annotations before we open at 10. Perhaps I'll fill in a bit later. Perhaps not. Meanwhile, if you don't subscribe to our email newsletter, it went out late yesterday. It wasn't the best day for it to go (it was supposed to go out Thursday), but the best laid plans...

Event Post Week of March 30--It's Holiday Time. Judith Claire Mitchell this Wednesday, April 1, 7 pm, and Next Monday, April 6 is Middle Grade Mania, at 6:30 pm.

We've got just one event this week, and one preview for next week.

Wednesday, April 1, 7 pm; Judith Claire Mitchell, author of A Reunion of Ghosts.

Mitchell's novel, ten years in the making, went on sale last Tuesday, and in its first week out, had a substantial pop on our bestseller list. Here's Boswellian Jen Steele's recommendation, which also gives a little background about the book: ""The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children to the 3rd and 4th generations." These are the words that the Alter sisters live by. It has become their motto and this conviction becomes part of the reason they have chosen to die at their own hands on December 31st, 1999. Lady, Vee and Delph Alter have written a suicide note together, which is more than a "goodbye, world" note; it's also a family history. You see, the Alter sisters are descendants of Lenz Otto Alter and Iris Emanuel Alter. Lenz was a chemist and the creator of the poison gas that was first used in WWI. Iris was the first woman to earn a PhD in chemistry and the first in the family to commit suicide. A Reunion of Ghosts is a captivating chronicle of a family and the weight of consequences, which grows heavier with time."

Jeanne Kolker in The Wisconsin State Journal offered this take: “A Reunion of Ghosts is dark, yes. But Mitchell carries readers along for the ride on prose so thoughtful and nuanced that one can forgive the morbid subject matter. Mitchell, whose previous book The Last Day of the War (2004) was set during World War I, crafts a narrative that looks boldly at the legacy of the man who invented the chemical process that would be the precursor to Zyklon B, the gas used in Nazi concentration camps." Read more about the book, including a profile of Mitchell, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on their website.

Margaret Quamme in The Columbus Dispatch, is another fan. She notes that "Mitchell’s plot, which twists in unexpected but believable ways and opens up just when it seems as if it can only close in, is thoroughly satisfying, but it’s the tone of her novel — that ability to savor joy and sorrow at the same time — that makes it remarkable."

Here's the trailer for A Reunion of Ghosts



Monday, April 6, 6:30 pm: Middle Grade Mania!

Calling all Middle Grade Maniacs!! We’re throwing a pizza party in your honor! After an introduction by Boswellian Phoebe, we’ll hear from a panel of five excellent middle-grade authors, who will talk about their books (signing copies, of course!), after we toast our favorite teachers (with shopping passes!) and indulge in pizza. Fun for ages 8 and up, you won’t want to miss this fun event. Here's a roundup of tonight's authors.

Seattle musician Steven Arntson, author of The Wikkeling, presents his latest novel, The Trap, in which science fiction, kidnapping, and first crushes combine for a thrilling fantasy that’s Gary Schmidt meets Madeleine L’Engle.

From its starred review in Kirkus: " This riveting science-fiction mystery is much more than an exciting read. The subtle world may be dangerous, but Henry and his friends find that the real world poses its own challenges. Together, they grapple with racism, poverty and alcoholism, all while nursing their first crushes and dealing with the angst of the upcoming fall formal. Arntson folds all of these elements into his narrative without compromising pacing or characterization one bit."

Savvy meets Three Times Lucky in Faith Harkey’s debut novel, a small-town Georgia tale of twelve-year-old Genuine Sweet, a hardworking but poor (and hungry!) “wish fetcher” who can grant anyone’s wishes but her own.

Kirkus Reviews writes: "Through it all, Genuine learns about forgiveness, responsibility and empowering others while remaining true to the humble, spunky girl at her core. A folksy first-person narration combined with a thought-provoking storyline makes this a good pick for solo enjoyment or book club discussion."

Eddie Red Undercover: Mystery in Mayan Mexico is the fun and fast-paced second installment of the Edgar-nominated series by Marcia Wells in which Eddie Red and his best friend Jonah must once again rely on Eddie’s drawing skills and photographic memory to uncover clues to catch a crook when Eddie’s father is falsely accused of a crime.

From Gesse Stark-Smith in School Library Journal: " All three kids are realistic and likable, and although the plot twists may strain some reader's suspension of disbelief, they're fast paced enough to keep those who crave adventure turning pages. Refreshingly, this book features an African American protagonist. Purchase for libraries where the first book or other plot-driven mystery series are popular--and be prepared to add future installments."

Adventures of Jo Schmo series and Melvin Beederman, Superhero series, Greg Trine, debuts the first book in his hilarious new series, Willie Maykit in Space, in which our stalwart hero, Willie Maykit, is stranded during a class trip to outer space, where his wits tested against the monsters of Planet Ed.

From Kirkus Reviews:"Readers new to chapter books and who like to laugh often will most likely find Willy’s story peppered with just enough silly humor (monster poop!) to keep the pages turning."

Magic beans quickly lead to danger in One Witch at a Time, the new standalone companion to The Brixen Witch by Jump the Cracks author—and our special guest for Middle Grade Mania!—Stacy DeKeyser.

From Kirkus: "...the characters are awfully likable, and this tale is set so believably in a traditional Alpine world that it's easy to go along with the make-believe. A satisfying, stand-alone sequel that will certainly send readers back to read The Brixen Witch."

We'll have pizza from Ian's, giveaways, and a $5 coupon off of $25 or more purchase for each educator at the program. This coupon is for personal use, not on school charges, and works on already discounted titles, and in conjunction with Boswell Benefits coupons.

Good thing Kirkus reviews so many kids' books!

I should also note that we're open 10 am to 5 pm on Easter Sunday.

Annotated Boswell Bestsellers for Week Ending March 28, 2015, Plus Journal Sentinel Book News,

Hardcover Fiction:
1. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
2. The Whites, by Richard Price, writing as Harry Brandt
3. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
4. A Reunion of Ghosts, by Judith Claire Mitchell (event is Wed. April 1)
5. Leaving Berlin, by Joseph Kanon
6. The Bone Clocks, by David Mitchell
7. Epitaph, by Mary Doria Russell
8. The Stranger, by Harlan Coben
9. A Dangerous Place, by Jacqueline Winspear
10. Hausfrau, by Jill Alexander Essbaum

Harlan Coben is one of those exceptions that prove the rule, a series author who found greater commercial success in stand-alones. The Stranger features a classic everyman who is confronted by a stranger with a secret involving his wife, that she faked her pregnancy. When he tells his wife, she disappears, and Price finds out that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Coben talked to Mark Rubinstein about the book for The Huffington Post.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Dead Wake, by Erik Larson
2. Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande
3. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo
4. Good Stock, by Sanford D'Amato
5. The Cooking School Cookbook, by America's Test Kitchen
6. The Cook's Illustrated Meat Book, by America's Test Kitchen
7. The Bar Book, by Jeffrey Morganthaler
8. H is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald
9. Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book, by Diane Muldrow
10. Pioneer Girl, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The annotated Pioneer Girl leaps to #2 on The New York Times bestseller. A lot of media graciously waited until the book was back in stock at retailers. Here's an essay from April Bernard in The New York Review of Books about the project. From her essay: "I learned that there has long been a full-blown Wilder industry, with branches to be found at the South Dakota Historical Society, something called the Pioneer Girl Project (producers of this volume), the Little House Heritage Trust, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historical Home and Museum in Missouri, the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, South Dakota, and the university presses of, among others, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. Some interesting questions of historical accuracy and interpretation do arise in this volume—chiefly, for me, to what extent Wilder’s daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, edited and rewrote her mother’s prose (not nearly as much as others have speculated, is my conclusion)."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Listen and Other Stories, by Liam Callanan
2. What Burns Away, by Melissa Falcon Field
3. The Red Notebook, by Antoine Laurain
4. Shotgun Lovesongs, by Nickolas Butler
5. The Accident, by Chris Pavone
6. Mr. Palomar, by Italo Calvino
7. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin
8. The Land of Decoration, by Grace McCleen
9. Euphoria, by Lily King
10. Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn

I could just recap a whole bunch of events and be done with it, but we can't not mention Liam Callanan's lovely launch for Listen and Other Stories. In addition to a full house (as Mel mentioned in her blog, one of the largest of these sorts of launches that we've done), we offered to host the after party as well, which we've only done once before. Another store told us that they close their store for all sorts of parties, and that anyone who is anyone is now planning a birthday there. I am guessing that said store closes before 9, but for the right setup, we might be amenable, especially on a Saturday.

Callanan discussed his new collection with Mitch Teich on Lake Effect. He noted: "I still feel like short stories are really concerned with a moment; the moment in particular when everything changes for a character. After that moment, nothing is the same as it was for the character at the core of it." Listen (of course) to the whole interview on WUWM's website.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Unlikely Heroes, by Jennifer S. Holland
2. Unlikely Friendships, by Jennifer S. Holland
3. Isaac's Storm, by Erik Larson
4. The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown
5. The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson
6. In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson
7. We Should All be Feminists, by Chmananda Ngozi Adichie
8. Milwaukee Mafia, by Gavin Schmitt
9. Fresh Off the Boat, by Eddie Huang
10. How to Walk, by Thich Nhat Hanh

Finally an appearance by Fresh Off the Boat, the memoir that inspired the new hit comedy series on ABC. But don't expect the heartwarming riffs of the series from the source material. Brian Hen of The Korea Times writes: "Where Huang’s memoir is raw and gritty, the show is funny and heart warming. Both are entirely different products at their core and are aimed at different audiences. When he lost most of his creative control to ABC it was honestly for the best. Maybe not in his eyes, but for many Asian Americans who have struggled to find a positive voice in American pop culture, it felt like a step in the right direction." And the good news is the show will help more people discover the memoir.

Books for Kids:
1. In Mary's Garden, by Tina and Carson Kugler
2. Home, by Carson Ellis
3. The Dog and the Piglet, by Jennifer S. Holland
4. Echo, by Pam Munoz Ryan
5. The Monkey and the Dove, by Jennifer S. Holland
6. The Penderwicks in the Spring, by Jeanne Birdsall
7. The Book with No Pictures, by B.J. Novak
8. The Island of Dr. Libris, by Chris Grabenstein
9. The Leopard and the Cow, by Jennifer S. Holland
10. Llama Llama Easter Egg, by Anna Dewdney

There are certain kinds of books that are classified as books or not, depending on whether Amie or I buy them. For the most part, The New York Times excludes them from bestseller reports but I think Bookscan does not. The problem is that when you buy sticker books (or even board books) from a vendor like Melissa and Doug or House of Marbles, a lot of folks use the item number, instead of the EAN number, and so Bookscan can't really tabulate the purchases. Whenever we can, we use the latter, but I still removed an Easter sticker book from our printed list today, clearing the way for a still Easter-themed Llama Llama Easter Egg.

Over at the Journal Sentinel, Jon M. Gilbertson reviews Billie Holliday: The Musician and the Myth, from Jon Szwed. He writes: "When an artist's life is eventful, the most responsible biographer can accidentally or deliberately neglect the art, and the life of jazz singer Billie Holiday was incredibly eventful in the 44 years between her 1915 birth into crushing Baltimore poverty and her 1959 death in a Harlem hospital bed."

Editor Chris Foran reviews four baseball books for younger readers, including Remember My Name: My Story From First Pitch to Game Changer, by Mo'ne Davis with Hilary Beard. The book may be recommended for readers 8-12 but a lot of adults are excited about Mo'ne's story, including at least one host on Wisconsin Public Radio. Other books in Foran's column are Growing Up Pedro: How the Martinez Brothers Made It from the Dominican Republic All the Way to the Major Leagues, by Matt Tavares, Amazing Aaron to Zero Zippers, by Matt Nadel, a young baseball blogger, and Pinstripe Pride: The Inside Story of the New York Yankees, by Marty Appel.

Foran has kept busy! He's also got his annual roundup of baseball books for older folks (older than 10, anyway).
--Handy Andy: The Andy Pafko Story, by Joe Niese (can't order at the moment, alas)
--Billy Martin: Flawed Genius, by Bill Pennington
--Out at Home: The True Story of Glenn Burke, Baseball's First Openly Gay Player, by Glenn Burke with Erik Sherman
--Gil Hodges: A Hall of Fame Life, by Mort Zachter (and this one's textbook priced, so we're not able to sell it at what they consider list)

Wednesday's Journal Sentinel food section (Fresh) had similar foodie roundups. Here's their roundup of 11 foodie books for kids and foodie fiction selections too.

Plus Mark Johnson reports on the possible end for the Dictionary of American Regional English project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For over 50 years, they have been compiling words from over 1000 communities across the country. The last printed volume (Z) came out in 2012, but with so many changes, digital updates were always in progress. But cuts to state budgets mean, well, read the article.