What's with the pre-publication events? Katherine May and Matthew Desmond

One change that a lot of our customers may have noticed over the last few months is that we have several pre-publication, open-to-the-public events. This is not to say that this didn't happen in the past, but for the most part, these kinds of programs would be by accident. In one case, a book's publication was delayed several times, and we finally came to the conclusion that we should just hold the program and take pre-orders. It worked, but we try not to make it a habit.

With the rise of virtual programs, pre-publication events have become more common. I think there are several reasons for this:

1) Publishers are already doing pre-publication virtual events for bookstores and media. They are already in the groove.

2) Website pre-orders are much more common than they used to be. Independent bookstores realized that our online competitors did a great job of soliciting these orders, and many bookstores have active pre-order campaigns. But it was COVID that really exploded the practice. And that means publishers aren't as worried about losing sales.

3) The virtual event itself is only the first part of the marketing plan. Especially if the event is a unique conversation, we're generally about to record the program and use the recording to solicit book sales. When the book comes out, we'll do another round of marketing for the book.

That's the case for our joint Porchlight Book Company program for Katherine May's Enchantment. Our conversation with Katherine May and Sally Haldorson was last Monday, but the book comes out on February 27 (or tomorrow, for those reading this blog in a timely fashion). Wintering was a phenomenon when it was released, and it's likely that Enchantment will follow suit. Booklist called May's latest, "Beautifully written and profoundly reasoned, this introspective search for meaning will appeal to readers seeking wholeness and community." Here's the link to watch the enchanting Enchantment conversation.

If you'll remember, our first virtual event (also with Porchlight) was for The Electricity of Every Living Thing, which was actually the paperback edition of May's first book, which was published by Melville House. The paperback came out after Wintering, which is still in hardcover, and is published by Riverhead.

This brings us to this week's virtual event with Matthew Desmond. The author of Evicted returns with Poverty, by America. Evicted was and is a phenomenon, having been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the subject of many community reads programs, and the bestselling book for Boswell the year it came out. We were lucky enough to host Desmond, who then returned to town several times speaking to nonprofit groups.

Matthew Desmond's new book enlarges the scope of Evicted to look at not just the unhoused, but the unfed, the unjobbed, and the unsupported. It's a little different in terms of structure, as it is not based on fieldwork - more thesis, less stories. And unlike Evicted, it has a detailed prescription for improvement. I mentioned the difference to one Evicted fan, and she said, "Doesn't matter. I'm reading it anyway."

Matthew Desmond is not coming to Milwaukee this time, at least that we know of. I won't be surprised if he's in town eventually. There are certainly a lot of people who'd love to see him. But for now, we're lucky to have this prepublication event as part of the Random House Spiritual Thought series, that looks at what faith groups can do to combat poverty. For this event, Demond is in conversation with Esau McCaulley, whose own book, How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South, will be published by Convergent (like Crown, Desmond's publisher, an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group of Penguin Random House) next September. We're not running the program, the way we do for so many virtual events, but we are the designated bookseller.

And when Poverty, by America comes out, we'll make sure you get a copy. As a bonus, we're getting 80 signed bookplates for the first folks who preorder either through us or from the Eventbrite ticketing site.

Here's a nice quote from the Time Magazine website: "[Poverty, by America] shows how wealthy and middle class Americans knowingly and unknowingly perpetuate a broken system that keeps poor people poor. It's not an easy problem to fix, but through in-depth research and original reporting, the acclaimed sociologist offers solutions that would help spread America's wealth and make everyone more prosperous."  

Register for the March 2 event here.

(Some) Boswell bestsellers for the week ending February 25, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending February 25, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. I Have Some Questions for You, by Rebecca Makkai
2. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
3. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
4. Victory City, by Salman Rushdie
5. How to Sell a Haunted House, by Grady Hendrix
6. Someone Else's Shoes, by Jojo Moyes
7. Trust, by Hernan Diaz
8. Really Good Actually, by Monica Heisey
9. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt
10. All This Could Be Different, by Sarah Thankam Mathews

Our big debut this week is Rebecca Makkai's I Have Some Questions for You, which follows up her prize-winning The Great Believers. Makkai is the featured speaker of the Milwaukee Public Library Literary Lunch on April 27. Tickets are going on sale in early March. According to Book Marks, this was also the best reviewed fiction book of last week, with nine raves and three positive reviews. And we're not talking review organs you've never heard of, but Tom Nolan in The Wall Street Journal, who called the book "enthralling," and Ron Charles in The Washington Post, who wrote: "All of this makes I Have Some Questions for You a kind of meta murder mystery that deconstructs its own tropes. Bodie’s voice, so nakedly candid and bravely confessional, is absolutely convincing. I felt as captivated as though someone were whispering this whole novel just to me. By the end, it’s not the brutality of Thalia’s case that’s so terrifying, it’s the commonness of it."

We'll have the live ticket link on our upcoming events page.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Great Escape, by Saket Soni
2. It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, by Bernie Sanders
3. The Climate Book, by Greta Thunberg
4. Young Forver, by Mark Hyman
5. The Light We Carry, by Michelle Obama
6. Beaverland, by Leila Philip
7. B.F.F., by Christie Tate (Register for March 10 in-person event here)
8. The Half Known Life, by Pico Iyer
9. Wintering, by Katherine May (Enchantment comes out on Tuesday!)
10. Iron and Blood, by Peter H Wilson

Bernie Sanders, with the help of Madisonian John Nichols, offers in It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, per the publisher, "a blueprint for addressing and changing the growing income and wealth inequalities in America." Zoe Williams in The Guardian writes "...his book is easily as frustrating and depressing as it is galvanising and uplifting; reading one story or statistic after another, about growing inequality, child poverty, financial insecurity – 77% of Americans are now anxious about their financial situation – one’s very lack of surprise reinforces a sense of hopelessness."

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Adventure Zone V5: The Eleventh Hour, by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Justin McElroy, with illustrations by Carey Pietsch
2. Daisy Jones and the Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
3. The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller
4. Night of the Living Rez, by Morgan Talty
5. The Paris Apartment, by Lucy Foley
6. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, by Shehan Karunatilaka
7. The Maid, by Nita Prose
8. The Thursday Night Murder Club, by Richard Osman
9. The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich
10. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, by Sangu Mandanna

When I'm writing up titles, our inventory database includes the lead writer but no featured cowriters or illustrators. I would update our info on The Eleventh Hour, the latest Adventure Zone entry, but I simply don't have enough room. Per the publisher: "Based on the blockbuster podcast where the McElroy brothers and their dad play a tabletop RPG, and illustrated by cartooning powerhouse Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: The Eleventh Hour is a thrilling new chapter in this #1 New York Times bestselling series." About this entry, though you'd hardly start here: "The Bureau of Balance has located yet another Grand Relic, and this time it’s...time? A small mining town called Refuge has been locked away behind an arcane bubble, and somewhere inside it the Temporal Chalice is causing unknown mayhem."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan (The March 7 event is at capacity)
2. Brewtown Tales, by John Gurda
3. The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
4. All About Love, by bell hooks
5. Dancing with History, by George Lakey (Register for February 27 in-person event here)

Yes, we're at capacity on Dan Egan's Schlitz Audubon Nature Center program for The Devil's Element. Needless to say, interest has been reawakened in Egan's previous book, The Death and life of the Great Lakes. In just two months of 2023, we've sold more than half of what we old of the book in all of 2022. We're hoping to be able to announce another program soon.

Books for Kids:
1. The Assignment, by Liza Weimer
2. City of the Dead V4: City Spies, by James Ponti
3. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef
4. Legendborn V1, by Tracy Deonn
5. The Very Hungry Caterpillar's Easter Egg Hunt, by Eric Carle (Register for Very Hungry Caterpillar visit on March 8 here)

This week's list includes older bulk orders and combining that with not a great weather situation, several of this week's bestseller lists are abbreviated. One series that popped well this week with a new release is James Ponti's City of the Dead, volume four in City of Spies series. He's visited Milwaukee for school visits for a past entry, and it looks like he'll be back for the newest. I don't think there will be a public event, but we'll let you know if that's changed. Of the series, People Magazine's reviewer called it "Ingeniously plotted, and a grin-inducing delight." I should also note that Ponti is an Edgar Award winner!

Boswell bestsellers, week ending February 18, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending February 18, 2023

Hardcover Fiction
1. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
2. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
3. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
4. Babel, by RF Kuang
5. Big Swiss, by Jen Beagin
6. Victory City, by Salman Rushdie
7. How to Sell a Haunted House, by Grady Hendrix
8. House of Eve, by Sadeqa Johnson
9. Lapvona, by Ottessa Moshfegh
10. Someone Else's Shoes, by Jojo Moyes

New this week if The House of Eve, by Sadeqa Johnson, the Reese Witherspoon Hello Sunshine book club pick. We've started featuring four of the book club picks in our book club case - Reese, Oprah, Jenna, and GMA, which doesn't have a person's first name attached. Carole V Bell reviewed The House of Eve in The Washington Post: "Johnson’s talents are in full bloom in this layered story with two distinctive and compelling young Black women at the center — both ambitious and talented strivers, who face a minefield of challenges in pursuit of their dreams."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. How to Lead Your Family Business, by Julie Charlestein
2. The Climate Book, by Greta Thunberg
3. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
4. A Waiter in Paris, by Edward Chisholm
5. A Random Walk Down Wall Street 50th Anniversary Edition, by Burton G Malkiel
6. Feels Like Home, by Linda Ronstadt
7. The Wise Hours, by Miriam Darlington
8. Rest Is Resistance, by Tricia Hersey
9. The Lives We Actually Have, by Kate Bowler
10. What's for Dessert, by Claire Saffitz

Greta Thunberg's The Climate Book: The Facts and the Solutions, was postponed from its original publication and is finally out now. This is a pretty common occurrence. From the publisher: "In The Climate Book, Greta Thunberg has gathered the wisdom of over one hundred experts - geophysicists, oceanographers and meteorologists; engineers, economists and mathematicians; historians, philosophers and indigenous leaders - to equip us all with the knowledge we need to combat climate disaster." From BookMarks, two raves, four positives, and a mixed from The Guardian. The starred Kirkus called it "brilliant and alarming."

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Swimmers, by Julie Otsuka
2. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, by Shehan Karunatilaka (We're now #12 on Edelweiss)
3. Heart Bones, by Colleen Hoover
4. Daisy Jones and the Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
5. A Marvellous Light, by Freya Marske
6. Dead Silence, by SA Barnes
7. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, by Megan Banen
8. Olga Dies Dreaming, by Xochitl Gonzalez
9. Bookworm, by Robin Yeatman
10. The Maid, by Nita Prose

Rachel C. and Oli are both crazy for Freya Marske's new series, which starts with A Marvellous Light and continues with A Restless Truth. Our Romance Book Club read Marske's first and plans to read the second when it goes into paperback. #3 is A Power Unbound, and let's just say we're hoping to put together a virtual event in conjunction with that release. On BookMarks, A Marvellous Light has six raves plus a positive and a mixed (from Locus), from trade and specialty reviewers. Library Journal writes: "Marske’s debut is a delightful blend of Edwardian fantasy and romance, with enough twists and questions to have readers clamoring for the next in the planned series." This is a Tordotcom book, but I wonder if the series will move to the new Bramble imprint.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Brewtown Tales, by John Gurda
2. We Don't Know Ourselves, by Fintan O'Toole
3. Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
4. How the Word is Passed, by Clint Smith
5. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
6. Happening, by Annie Ernaux
7. These Precious Days, by An Patchett
8. Tools, by Phil Stutz and Barry Michaels
9. A Short History of Queer Women, by Kirsty Loehr
10. Hit Girls, by Jen B Larson

The UWM Festival of Films in French is playing this week and the opening film was L’événement, based on the Nobel Prize winner's Happening, her 2001 memoir. More on the film at the UWM website. The rest of the schedule is here. From Emily Eakin's 2001 New York Times review: "Ernaux's books are unsparing in detail, pitiless in tone. In contrast to those of so many of her confession-minded peers, her shock tactics feel principled, driven less by narcissism or the need for self-justification than by some loftier impulse: a desire to capture the past as it was, undistorted by faulty memories, moral judgments or decorative literary flourishes."

Books for Kids:
1. Just Harriet, by Elana K Arnold
2. Harriet Spies, by Elana K Arnold
3. Every Day's a Holiday, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Husna Aghinya
4. A Place for Pluto, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Melanie Demmer
5. A Boy Called Bat, by Elana K Arnold
6. Moving to Mars, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Erin Taylor
7. Eric Loves Animals, by Eric Carle (Register for Very Hungry Caterpillar costume visit on March 8 here)
8. How Do You Live, by Genzaburo Yoshino
9. Three Questions, by Jon J Muth
10. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse, illustrations by Renée Graef

Just out this week is Eric Loves Animals (Just Like You). From the publisher: "Explore the animal kingdom through the eyes of Eric Carle with this alphabetized treasury of animal illustrations, featuring beloved classic characters as well as exclusive, never-before-seen art...This impressive collection of art has been crafted with those young fans in mind, as an alphabetical offering of creatures in all shapes and sizes, with peek-through holes, gatefolds, and other surprises to discover. Fan-favorites, like the famous Hungry Caterpillar and Grouchy Ladybug, sit alongside never-before-seen hippos, ostriches, and jellyfish. With 172 pages of sketches, drawings, paintings, sculptures, and collages to pore over, and narrated in Eric's own words about animals, nature, and art, children and children-at-heart are sure to lose themselves in the rich visual world of Eric Carle's animal oeuvre."

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending February 11, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending February 11, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Victory City, by Salman Rushdie
2. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
3. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
4. Big Swiss, by Jen Beagin
5. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
6. Don't Fear the Reaper, by Stephen Graham Jones
7. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt
8. How to Sell a Haunted House, by Grady Hendrix
9. Liberation Day, by George Saunders
10. Exiles, by Jane Harper

Our top debut is the latest from Salman Rushdie. Per the publisher, Victory City is "a big, wonderful, epic novel that follows the life of a legendary woman: Pampa Kampana, a poet/goddess who created an empire from the mud and wrote an epic account of the 3 centuries of her life. Styled as the translation of a texts like the Ramayana and Mahabharata." BookMarks gave it 13 raves, 4 positives, one mixed, and one pan. I should note that I've never heard of the pan review, from Drift Magazine. 

From Sam Sacks in The Wall Street Journal (a rave): "We don’t yet know whether Victory City was finished before he was nearly killed by a knife-wielding fanatic in August or whether he completed it after the attack. But the novel’s levity and friendliness seem profound in either case. Amidst horrific violence he has brought forth a work of cheerful fabulism that puts far more emphasis on 'magic' than 'realism' - a warm space in which we might imagine a better world than our own."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Come Up for Air, by Nick Sonnenberg
2. Reading for Our Lives, by Maya Payne Smart
3. The Wise Hours, by Miriam Darlington
4. A Waiter in Paris, by Edward Chisholm (Register for February 16 virtual event here)
5. Steeped in Stories, by Mitali Perkins
6. Master Slave Husband Wife, by Ilyon Woo
7. Dinners with Ruth, by Nina Totenberg
8 I'm Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy
9. What's for Dessert, by Claire Saffitz
10. Fresh Midwest, by Maren Ellingboe King

From the publisher, on Master Slave Husband Wife: "Winner of the prestigious Work in Progress Whiting Award, this is the remarkable story of William and Ellen Craft, an enslaved husband and wife, who successfully escaped slavery in Georgia by passing as a sickly white man (Ellen) and 'his' slave (William,) traveling openly by rail and steamship until they reached the North - a story unparalleled in the history of American slavery." Three raves, three positives, including W Caleb McDaniel in The New York Times, which called it "a suspenseful, sensitively rendered account of their four-day journey to the North, interspersed with flashbacks to their earlier lives."

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, by Shehan Karunatilaka
2. Sorrow and Bliss, by Meg Mason (Info about our Lit Group meeting times here)
3. Night of the Living Rez, by Morgan Talty
4. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
5. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
6. Under the Whispering Door, by TJ Klune
7. Stolen, by Ann-Hélen Laestdius, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles
8. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, by Megan Bannen
9. The Overstory, by Richard Powers
10. Foundryside, by Robert Jackson Bennett

Stolen won the Adlibris Prize for Best Fiction Novel, hitting #1 on bestseller lists. From the publisher: "This spellbinding Swedish novel follows a young Sámi woman as she struggles to defend her reindeer herd and indigenous culture amidst xenophobia, climate change, and a devious hunter whose targeted kills are considered mere theft in the eyes of the law." From Fredrick Backman: "Stolen is an extraordinary novel. A coming-of-age-story you'll get lost in, about youth and heritage and the never-ending struggle to be allowed to exist. Although set in the coldest and most northern part of Scandinavia, I'm convinced it’s a universal story to be loved everywhere in the world." Film soon to be on Netflix.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, edited by Nicholas Carnes and Lilly J Goren
2. Brewtown Tales, by John Gurda
3. How to Be an Indian in the 21st Century, by Louis V Clark
4. Rebel Poet, by Louis V Clark
5. Milwaukee Jazz, by Joey Grihalva
6. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
7. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
8. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan (Register for March 7 Schlitz Audubon event here)
9. All About Love, by bell hooks
10. We Don't Know Ourselves, by Fintan O'Toole

We Don't Know Ourselves was named one of the ten best books of the year by The New York Times for 2022 and that led to a shortage of copies during the holiday season. The publisher moved up the paperback to this week, and that led to a spot in our top ten. On BookMarks, it received 17 raves, four positives, a mixed, and yes, one pan, this time from The Baffler, which at least I've heard of - we even carry it! From Claire Messud in Harpers (one of the raves): "We Don’t Know Ourselves...may appear a daunting doorstopper of a book, but it is leavened by the brilliance of O’Toole’s insights and wit, and by the story of his own life, which he expertly intertwines into a larger historical narrative."

Books for Kids:
1. This Is a School, by John Schu, illustrations by Veronica Miller Jamison
2. The World's Loneliest Elephant, by Ralph Fletcher, illustrations by Naoko Stoop
3. Magical Black Tears, by Decoteau Irby, illustrations by Dominique Duval-Diop
4. I Don't Care, by Julie Fogliano, illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal
5. What Feelings Do When No One's Looking, by Tina Oziewicz, ilulstrations by Aleksandra Zajac
6. Peekaboo Love, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
7. Peekaboo Sun, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
8. Peekaboo Farm, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela P Arrhenius
9. Fry Bread, by Kevin Maillard, illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal 

10. The Assignment, by Liza Weimer

Just about every book this week in this category placed in our top 10 due to the Wisconsin State Reading Association. Attending were John Schu, Ralph Fletcher, Decoteau Irby, Juana Martinez-Neal, and Liza Weimer. But it turns out that the other books on this list - What Feelings Do When No One's Looking and the Peekaboo books, were the bestsellers of titles we featured at the show. The World's Loneliest Elephant: Based on the True Story of Kaavan and His Rescue has great reviews from the trades, with Kirkus calling it "sad, sublime, and surely something special."

Boswell bestsellers, week ending February 4, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending February 4, 2023

I've been told that this coming Tuesday is a bigger on-sale week for new titles. Let's hope it makes for a more exciting bestseller list next week.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
2. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
3. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
4. All This Could Be Different, by Sarah Thankam Matthews
5. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, by Benjamin Stevenson
6. How to Sell a Haunted House, by Grady Hendrix
7. The World and All That It Holds, by Aleksandar Hemon
8. Foster, by Claire Keegan
9. Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
10. Age of Vice, by Deepti Kapoor

This is the best week yet for Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, a cheeky Australian murder mystery that's been compared to Knives Out. No LitHub Book Marks for this one, but there are reviews, not just PW (liked it) and Kirkus (not so much) but The Guardian (eh) and Laurie Hertzel at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where honestly, it's hard to tell what the reviewer thought. 3.95 stars on Goodreads, which is pretty good. It's on display at Boswell as a February Indie Next title. So it's either that title or good word of mouth.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. 8 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go, by Jay Shetty
2. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
3. The Indigenous Continent, by Pekka Hamalainen
4. Spare, by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
5. A Waiter in Paris, by Edward Chisholm (Register for Feb 16 virtual event here)
6. The Light We Carry, by Michelle Obama
7. Half-Baked Harvest Every Day, by Tieghan Gerard
8. Atomic Habits, by James Clear
9. The Dawn of Everything, by David Graeber and David Wengrow
10. Against the World, by Tara Zahra

Why is February 7 the big laydown for February instead of January 31? I feel like it used to be otherwise. One book that did come out last week is 8 Rules of Love by Jay Shetty. We had and then didn't have a virtual event for Shetty's last release. Deepak Chopra's a fan, as is the Publishers Weekly reviewer, who writes "Shetty combines spiritual wisdom and down-to-earth guidance in a surprisingly seamless way, making for lessons that have real staying power."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Behind the Scenes at the Museum, by Kate Atkinson
2. Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
3. A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J. Maas
4. Legends and Lattes, by Travis Baldree
5. The Maid, by Nita Prose
6. Sorry Bro, by Taleen Voskuni
7. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
8. It Ends with Us, by Colleen Hoover
9. A Marvellous Light, by Freya Marske
10. Under the Whispering Door, by TJ Klune

I love that we have Sorry, Bro, a queer Armenian romance in our top ten. Great reviews from all the trades, including a starred Booklist: "In between expertly enhancing the book's slowly simmering romance between its two captivating protagonists with plenty of quippy banter, Voskuni conjures up a marvelously memorable cast of supporting characters and crafts a fascinating plot enriched with insights into Armenian culture and history. With this radiantly ravishing debut, Voskuni beautifully illustrates the courage it can take to be your own true self and risk everything for love."

Shorts!
--Rachel and Oli are crazy about Freya Marske and we're hoping to have a virtual program for A Marvellous Light and its sequels
--Jen just read the new TJ Klune, In the Lives of Puppets, and says it has top-five-of-the-year potential

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Good Country, by Jon K. Lauck
2. Brewtown Tales, by John Gurda
3. Empire of Pain, by Patrick Radden Keefe
4. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
5. How the Word Is Passed, by Clint Smith
6. Come as You Are, by Emily Nagoski
7. Giannis, by Mirin Fader
8. Say Nothing, by Padrick Radden Keefe
9. The Good Life Method, by Meghan Sullivan and (former Boswellian) Paul Blaschko
10. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond (virtual event March 2 - registration coming soon!)

Hey, I've read five books on this list! I just went back and finished Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden Keefe's history of the Sackler family and their involvement in the opioid crisis, having bought the book when I went to see the author at Bookstall in Winnetka. I already got one other person to read the book. Our sales are good but could be better - working on it! The Netflix series Painkiller is based on The New Yorker article from the author that led to the book.

Books for Kids:
1. Every Day's a Holiday, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Husna Aghniya
2. A Place for Pluto, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Melanie Demmer
3. Moving to Mars, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Erin Taylor
4. The Assignment, by Liza Wiemer
5. Wings of Fire V1: The Dragonet Prophecy, by Tui T. Sutherland
6. Magic Tree House V1: Dinosaurs Before Dark graphic novel, by Mary Pope Osborne and Jenny Laird, illustrations by Kelly and Nichole Matthews
7. Last Hours V3: Chain of Thorns, by Cassandra Clare
8. Cat Kid Comic Club V4: Collaborations, by Dav Pilkey
9. Bird and Squirrel on the Run V1, by James Burks
10. Mr. Wolf's Class, by Aron Nels Steinke

I'm not going to lie - these are mostly student and school orders. One book, however, that is a bonafide, one-sale-at-a-time besteller is Cassandra Clare's latest, Chain of Thorns, the third and concluding volume of the Last Hours cycle. Publisher note: "All copies in the first printing only will include a full-color reverse jacket, 10 black and white interior illustrations, and a short story, and will say "Collector's First Edition" on the front cover. As with previous books in this series, this special content will not be available for future printings, so readers should preorder to guarantee their copy!" You don't usually see trade reviews on subsequent volumes of series, but Kirkus called this "Fiendishly romantic from start to (eventual) finish."

Boswell bestsellers, week ending January 28, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending January 28, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt
2. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse, by Charlie Mackesy (3 editions)
3. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
4. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
5. The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy
6. How to Sell a Haunted House, by Grady Hendrix
7. The Shards, by Bret Easton Ellis
8. Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett
9. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
10. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, by Benjamin Stevensonn

It turns out there are weeks in publishing where pretty much nothing that makes a dent in our bestseller lists are released. It's the second week in our top ten for Bret Easton Ellis's The Shards, which got five raves, seven positives, five mixed, and three pans on Lit Hub.  From Sam Byers in The Guardian: "Others before Ellis have attempted to retool the serial narrative for the internet age. Nothing has felt quite as thrilling as Ellis’s year-long, hour-by-hour performance of The Shards" (on his podcast.)

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
2. Rough Sleepers, by Tracy Kidder
3. Your Table Is Ready, by Michael Cecchi Azzolina
4. South to America, by Imani Perry
5. Path Lit by Lightning, by David Maraniss
6. Life on Delay, by John Hedrickson
7. The Good Life, by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz
8. Unraveling, by Peggy Orenstein
9. What's for Dessert?, by Claire Saffitz
10. Spare, by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex

It's the second week out for Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O'Connell's Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People. Much like Tracy Kidder followed Paul Farmer in Mountains Beyond Mountains, the new book looks at O'Connell's work as a doctor with homeless people in Boston. From Alex Kotlowitz: "I’m in awe of this book. I’m in awe of Jim O’Connell. What a compellingly beautiful, inspiring read."

Paperback Fiction:
1. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, by Shehan Karunatilaka
2. Pandora, by Susan Chapman Stokes
3. Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
4. Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
5. Nothing to Hide, by Elizabeth George
6. The Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo
7. The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon
8. A Court of Wings and Ruin, by Sarah J. Maas
9. In the Woods, by Tana French
10. The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman

From the publisher on paperback original Pandora, breaking into our top 10 on its second week of publication: "A rich historical novel steeped in mystery set in Georgian London where the discovery of a mysterious ancient Greek vase sets in motion conspiracies, revelations, and romance." There's a nice roundup for the book in The Washington Post, but I never know whether the author of these in-shorts reads each title. It was a (UK) Sunday Times number one bestseller.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. The Invention of Nature, by Andrea Wulf
2. All About Love, by bell hooks
3. The Good Country, by Jon K. Lauck (see below)
4. Brewtown Tales, by John Gurda
5. The Bright Ages, by Matthew Gabriele and David M Perry
6. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
7. Rough Magic, by Jonathan Gillard Daly
8. Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest, by Teresa Marrone
9. Walking Milwaukee, by Royal Brevvaxling and Molly Snyder
10. Tacky, by Rax King

We're pretty quiet for in-person programming in the first half of February but Jon K. Lauck is doing a Midwestern tour for The Good Country, his history of the Midwest. Bill Glauber profiled Lauck in the Journal Sentinel, and will be the conversation partner for his Wednesday, February 1, 6:30 pm event. Don't forget to register at jonlauckmke.eventbrite.com  

Books for Kids:
1. Finding Mighty, by Sheela Chari
2. One Came Home, by Amy Timberlake
3. White Smoke, by Tiffany D. Jackson
4. Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee, by Barbara Joosse and Renée Graef
5. The Stolen Heir, by Holly Black
6. They Both Die at the End, by Adam Silvera
7. Peekaboo Love, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela Arrhenius
8. Peekaboo Apple, by Camilla Reid, illustrations by Ingela Arrhenius
9. Spaced Out, by Stuart Gibbs
10. Waste of Space, by Stuart Gibbs

Sometimes its hard to distinguish the series from former YA authors (Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo are listed above) and current YA authors like Holly Black, who nonetheless have a very strong audience from adult readers. It seems that a good portion of Boswell has read and enjoyed Holly Black's latest, The Stolen Heir, and only have a year to wait before #2 comes out, The Prisoner's Throne. I can't quote traditional reviews, even from PW, Library Journal, Kirkus, or Booklist - probably because they didn't offer advance copies. Jenny found the rec card from Oli Schmitz: " This delightfully dark adventure in Faerie is a story with a bite ...and some truly satisfying twists."

As of this week, the Monday upcoming event post will now be on The Boswellians blog. 

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending January 21, 2023

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending January 21, 2023

Hardcover Fiction:
1. How to Sell a Haunted House, by Grady Hendrix
2. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
3. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
4. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
5. All This Could be Different, by Sarah Thankam Mathews
6. Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett
7. Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan
8. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, by Benjamin Stevenson
9. Vintage Contemporaries, by Dan Kois (watch the video here)
10. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse, by Charlie Mackesy

This week's top debut is Boswell favorite Grady Hendrix's How to Sell a Haunted House. Or so I thought - we don't have an official rec from a bookseller yet. But at Book Marks, there are five raves and two positive reviews, including this from Danielle Trussoni in The New York Times: "Grady Hendrix’s horror novels are a gateway drug to the genre, bridging the warm and cozy...with the harder stuff."

I should also give a shout out to Emily Wilde's Encyclopaeida of Faeries, the new novel from Heather Fawcett that my colleague Jenny is already proclaiming to be one of her favorite books of 2023. And it's only January!  

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Spare, by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
2. The Creative ACT, by Rick Rubin
3. A Waiter in Paris, by Edward Chisholm (Register for Feb 16 virtual event here)
4. What If 2, by Randall Munroe
5. Dinner in One, by Melissa Clark
6. South to America, by Imani Perry
7. I'm Glad My Mom Died, by Jenette McCurdy
8. Wintering, by Katherine May (Register for Feb 21 virtual event here)
9. The Philosophy of Modern Song, by Bob Dylan
10. Birds and Us, by Tim Birkhead (watch the video here)

I find it odd that I watched a cable feature on Rick Rubin without understanding that it was tied to a new book, The Creative ACT: A Way of Being. From the publisher: "From the legendary music producer, a master at helping people connect with the wellsprings of their creativity, comes a beautifully crafted book many years in the making that offers that same deep wisdom to all of us." Rubin has worked with the Beastie Boys, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Adele, Lana Del Rey, Johnny Cash, and more. Dave Shiflett in The Wall Street Journal notes that Rubin "offers an interesting alternative to internet bickering and similar modern maladies: creating art. While he isn’t pitching The Creative Act as a guidebook for national rejuvenation, his relentlessly positive message may help readers shed a few blood-pressure points and possibly suspend plans to jump off the nearest cliff."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Ms. Demeanor, by Elinor Lipman (watch the video here)
2. Daisy Jones and the Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
3. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr
5. The Maid, by Nita Prose
6. Beautiful World, Where Are You?, by Sally Rooney
7. All's Well, by Mona Awad
8. The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
9. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, by Sangu Mandanna
10. Death at Greenway, by Lori Rader Day

It's been out since last August in paperback, but I don't think we've highlighted Mona Awad's All's Well, a favorite of our buyer Jason ("I loved every minute of this crazy, amazing novel - Mona Awad is madly creative and inventive.") Only one pan on Book Marks, from Publishers Weekly, the new bad boy of advance reviewing (replacing Kirkus). Booklist offered a rave: "A brilliant noir comedy about art and illness... Awad’s characters are deliciously over the top and impossible to forget, as is the author’s gift for morbid humor. The real magic of this novel lies in Awad’s ability to draw the Shakespearean irony out of contemporary tragedy ... Endlessly thought-provoking and not to be missed."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Brewtown Tales, by John Gurda
2. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan (register for March 7 in-person event - space limited!)
3. The Bright Ages, by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry
4. All About Love, by bell hooks
5. Adolescents and Their Social Media Narratives, by Jill Walsh

Off the new paperback table comes The Bright Ages: A New History of the Middle Ages, by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry. From Slate: "The beauty and levity that Perry and Gabriele have captured in this book are what I think will help it to become a standard text for general audiences for years to come….The Bright Ages is a rare thing - a nuanced historical work that almost anyone can enjoy reading.” Plus The Boston Globe called The Bright Ages "Incandescent and ultimately intoxicating." We have a bookseller who likes medieval history - I'd be surprised we don't have a rec on this, but as I've mentioned before, it's hard for us to get a hold of advance copies of serious nonfiction.

Books for Kids:
1. The Astronaut Who Painted the Moon, by Dean Robbins, illustrated by Sean Rubin
2. Every Day's a Holiday, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Husna Aghniya
3. Moving to Mars, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Erin Taylor
4. A Place for Pluto, by Stef Wade, illustrations by Melanie Demmer
5. Bat and the End of Everything V3, by Elana K Arnold (Register for Feb 14 in person event here!)

It's school visit season! That's all I have to say about that.

Bubbling under is yet another book it the Peekaboo series from Camilla Reid and Ingela P. Arrhenius. Peekaboo Apple is focused on nature, and comes complete with the slider mechanism and the last-page mirror.

Three upcoming events: Elinor Lipman for Ms. Demeanor at Boswell, Tim Birkhead for Birds and Us (virtual), and Dan Kois for Vintage Contemporaries (virtual)

Three events this week - two virtual and one in person!

Elinor Lipman, author of Ms. Demeanor
in conversation with Daniel Goldin and Nancy Quinn at Boswell
Tuesday, January 17, 6:30 pm - click here to register. 

Boswell is happy to welcome Elinor Lipman back to the store for a conversation about her new novel, Ms. Demeanor, which is a delicious and witty romantic comedy about love under house arrest - for fans of Sophie Kinsella, Maria Semple, and Linda Holmes. In conversation with Daniel Goldin of Boswell Book Company and former Schwartz bookseller Nancy Quinn.

When attorney Jan is caught by a nosy neighbor having sex on the roof of her apartment building, she’s sentenced to a 6-month house arrest in her apartment. She's bored and lonely until a doorman lets slip that Jane isn't the only resident wearing an ankle monitor. Soon, she strikes up a friendship with a white-collar felon neighbor. Can her house arrest have a silver lining? Can two wrongs make a right?

From Cathleen Schine: ""Elinor Lipman, she of the lightest touch and quickest wit, has written a novel to delight even the weariest, wariest soul of our times. Art, food, real estate - New York City rises enthusiastically to embrace the reader. And the characters rise to embrace each other. Lockdowns morph into charming English villages, and love, as it must, wins out. An enchantment I, for one, really needed."

Schine has her own novel with COVID inspirations coming out in March called Künstlers in Paradise. It's good, says Daniel.

And here’s Daniel’s take on Ms. Demeanor: "When is a COVID novel not a COVID novel? When it’s about a lawyer under house arrest for having sex on a private rooftop, only to be spotted by a snoopy neighbor. Yes, it’s all the claustrophobia and sourdough starter with none of the public health panic - probably best for a romantic comedy. I love that Lipman has taken the classic English drawing room novel and morphed it onto the modern Manhattanite. I laughed out loud while I was reading Ms. Demeanor and sighed when it was over."

Elinor Lipman has been to Milwaukee for every novel since 1995's Isabel's Bed, but this this the first time she'll be in conversation with longtime Schwartz bookseller and current Schlitz Audubon Director of Marketing and Visitor Experience Nancy Quinn. If you follow Nancy on social media, you already know that her passion for books and literature is infectious.

Elinor Lipman is the award-winning author of eleven novels, including The View from Penthouse B and The Inn at Lake Devine, as well as the essay collection I Can’t Complain and humorous poetry book Tweet Land of Liberty: Irreverent Rhymes from the Political Circus.

Tim Birkhead, author of Birds and Us: A 12,000-Year History from Cave Art to Conservation
a virtual event
Wednesday, January 18, 2 pm - click here to register. 

Boswell Book Company and Schlitz Audubon Nature Center present a virtual program featuring preeminent ornithologist Tim Birkhead, author of Birds and Us, a book that examines the changing relationship between humans and birds, from the earliest depictions in cave art to the threat of extinction now and in the near future.

Since the dawn of human history, birds have stirred our imagination, inspiring and challenging our ideas about science, faith, art, and philosophy. We have worshipped birds as gods, hunted them for sustenance, adorned ourselves with their feathers, studied their wings to engineer flight, and, more recently, attempted to protect them. In Birds and Us, Birkhead takes us on a dazzling epic journey through our mutual history with birds, from the ibises mummified and deified by Ancient Egyptians to the Renaissance fascination with woodpecker anatomy, and from the Victorian obsession with egg collecting to today’s fight to save endangered species and restore their habitats.

Birds and Us has earned starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, which says, "This is a must-read for nature lovers," and from Kirkus Reviews, which says, "From acorn woodpeckers to zebra finches, Birkhead examines bird habitat, behavior, cultural meaning, and physiology in species around the world… A fascinating, authoritative avian history."

Tim Birkhead is an award-winning author and one of the world’s leading bird biologists. He is author of The Wonderful Mr. Willughby: The First True Ornithologist, The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg, and Bird Sense: What It’s Like to Be a Bird, as well as coauthor of Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and professor emeritus of zoology at the University of Sheffield.

Dan Kois, author of Vintage Contemporaries
in conversation with Jami Attenberg for a virtual event
Thursday, January 19, 6 pm - click here to register. 

Boswell joins forces with Flyleaf Books of Chapel Hill, NC, to present a virtual event with Slate editor and podcaster Dan Kois, who will chat about his long-awaited first novel, Vintage Contemporaries. In conversation with Jami Attenberg, author of books such as I Came All This Way to Meet You.

Click here to order from Boswell. Alternatively, click here to order from Flyleaf Books.

Kois’s book is a stunning coming-of-age novel set in New York City, about the power of leaning into the moment, the joys of unexpected life-altering relationships, and learning to forgive ourselves when we inevitably mess everything up. A sharp yet reflective story of a young woman coming into herself and struggling to find her place, Vintage Contemporaries is a novel about art, parenthood, loyalty, and fighting for a cause - the times we do the right thing, and the times we fail - set in New York City on both sides of the millennium.

Here’s early praise from Rumaan Alam, New York Times bestselling author of Leave
the World Behind: "Vintage Contemporaries is about being young and becoming less young, exploring friendship (sometimes magical, sometimes messy), parenthood (ditto), and how to reconcile youthful ambition and ideals with real life. It’s a warm and big-hearted coming of age story that made me wistful for my own twenties, set in a vividly rendered and long-vanished New York City."

And here's Daniel Goldin's angle on Vintage Contemporaries: "The first thing local readers need to know is that this author and Slate editor was once a bookseller in Milwaukee - that semi-familiar minor character’s name is not an accident - it’s a shout out to his former

store manager. And for a Downer Avenue reference, at one point, lunch on a family trip back home is at the legendary Coffee Trader.”

Dan Kois is a writer, editor, and podcaster at Slate, where he’s been nominated for two National Magazine Awards. He is author of How to Be a Family and co-author of The World Only Spins Forward, was a Stonewall Honor book. Jami Attenberg is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books of fiction, including The Middlesteins and All This Could Be Yours.