There are Still Plenty of Buy Buttons Around for Hachette Titles--A New Book Roundup.

So what do you think is behind the "stock issues" that Amazon is having with Hachette titles? At least when they were fighting with Macmillan, they were up front and said we're simply taking off the buy button, right? They are probably trying to increase the fees and the marketing allowance percentage that they get for the books. Or maybe they are demanding that the Hachette supply more free ebooks for Amazon Prime. I guess this is what happens when shareholders are disappointed in your numbers.

Or maybe there's more investment costs than they thought to set up the drone delivery program.

But maybe publishers aren't really getting that much for this privilege. After all, it is said that Amazon isn't the greatest for browsing. So if I know, that for example, I want a paperback edition of Cuckoo's Calling, will I read something else because it's not available or will I find one of the other 7000 sites that can supply the book to me? I used to think this was the case, but it sounds like a lot of folks out there are so emotionally connected to Prime that they might not use another outlet.

Honestly, I have no clue. Needless to say, we bookstores are just sitting back, trying to stay out of the fray. Though now that Amazon is featuring free warehouse tours, what happens when an attendee spots a book on the tour that they were just told was not available?

In lieu of these developments, it seemed appropriate to do a roundup of new and noteworthy titles from Hachette Book Group.

When I see a major American History title in spring, I assume it's for a Father's Day display. American Spring: Lexington, Concord, and the Road to Revolution is by Walter Borneman, author of several previous works of nonfiction, including The Admirals. This is classic stuff with several less known details added--Revere's ride (including another that took place in 1774), Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill. Here's David Shribman talking about the book in The Boston Globe. I apologize for any sexism in that assumption?

Another question? Will Jeff Bezos make the review disappear in The Washington Post? Have I just given him a great idea?

Robin Roberts has certainly seen* her share of drama? She came out as a lesbian, faced a battle with cancer, and now this. Can't Amazon at least give America's most beloved newswoman (well, I think so anyway) a break? Her memoir Everybody's Got Someting, written with Veronica Chambers. On NPR's Weekend edition, it was noted "In it, she describes her 'somethings' — her breast cancer and a rare blood disorder, which required a bone marrow transplant. Roberts shared her treatment and recovery with her Good Morning America audience. 'As my mother would say: 'Make your mess your message,' Roberts says."

The Blessings, by Elise Juska, is a novel of a sprawling Irish-American Philadelphia family with a nice quote from J. Courtney Sullivan: "A family so real in their sorrow, joy and complexity that they could be yours or mine...bursting with wise observations about the nature of love and belonging." Stewart O'Nan compares the book to Elizabeth Berg and Alice McDermott. I should definitely show this to a few of my booksellers who might have passed this by.

Why is it so easy to manipulate publisher supply but so difficult to edit obviously malicious or false user reviews?

From the Twelve division comes Randi Davenport's The End of Always, a story set in turn--of-the-century small-town Wisconsin (Waukesha in 1907, to be precise). A young woman is determined to not follow in her mother and grandmother's footsteps and marry a violent man, but alas, the older fellow keeping an eye on her might be trouble. Apparently the story is inspired by actual events, Kirkus Reviews called this a "gritty yet hopeful story." I don't know if Davenport has Wisconsin connections; her official bio doesn't mention any, but sometimes they are just hidden away, in fear of being too regional.

I'd like to give a shout out to a book from the Mulholland imprint, and Austin Grossman's paperback edition of You seems just the ticket. I've still got Mel Morrow's rec from hardcover. "Take a step behind the curtain and meet the Great and Powerful Video Game Designer! See what a wizard does in his free time! Go on a date with the most powerful woman in the multiverse! Bike across town in the sunshine, fantasizing about your latest Commodore 64 coding triumph! YOU get to be the hero, designer, and the spectator in his fun new novel by video game designer Austin. This is a fun, insightful read that takes on the importance of video games in our lives and culture, and the outcome of the quest for the ULTIMATE GAME."

I'm being silly of course, but I do have one question to ponder that seems to make sense. When will an activist investor or two start trying to unlock the value in Amazon? Parts of the company could be incredibly profitable, instead of throwing off those laggard returns that we've seen for the last twenty years.

*corrected! 

Headliners Recommending Books is a Beautiful Thing.

It's not unusual for me to say that one of our featured authors did a good presentation. It's perhaps slightly more rare that a presentation is so good that one of our customers sends flowers to us, just for helping bring him to town. But that's what happened after our recent event with Austin Kleon, who came in conjunction with the publication Show Your Work!: Ten Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered. Thanks, Lora!


Show Your Work! is the next step of his previous book, Steal Like an Artist. For those who are not naturally comfortable promoting, he suggests becoming part of a "scenius." He cautions against vampires and spammers. And he gives some pointers in dealing with criticism.

One major change from Kleon's last appearance is that he's gone low tech. While he used a Powerpoint for his last book, this time he's chosen to got with a pad, well, at least if he isn't able to set up a smart pad. One day, one day! Writing on the pad gave the event a real sense of intimacy.

One great thing I loved about the talk was that he spent time browsing the store and came up with five recommendations. Here are the books that he chose:

And the Pursuit of Happiness, by Maira Kalman
Why Read Moby Dick?, by Nathaniel Philbrick
Seven Days in the Art World, by Sarah Thornton
Decoded, by Jay Z
What it is, by Lynda Barry

Kleon said he's had particular difficulty finding Decoded in stores. Good thing that Terrail has it on his staff rec list. I suggested that a store would love to know in advance that an author will be recommending books. We've not only stocked the books in the past, but even made recommendation bookmarks.

***

Once again, we were invited to sell books at the Ozaukee Family Services breakfast, at Shully's in Thienesville.  Just about every nonprofit has an annual fundraising meal. While most have speakers, Ozaukee Family Services features Barbara Rinella, a Chicago-area performer who inhabits the lives of famous women, inspired by biographies, memoirs, and even historical novels.  Last year she was Cleopatra, while this year she channeled Queen Elizabeth II, inspired by Sally Bedell Smith's Elizabeth the Queen.

Now Rinella doesn't just make a few recs, she had a whole table full. We had two six foot display tables, and at least half the display space, maybe more, was taken up with books on her list. Last time I guess the program must have gone long, because the advice at the end was to check out the list, but this time, Rinella passionately talked about a dozen titles. Good thing we had almost all of them, but we didn't think to bring in more than a couple of each, based on last year.

One book that we had previously not been carrying which we'll now be stocking is The Traitor's Wife, a novel by Allison Pataki. It's the story of Benedict Arnold's wife, Peggy Shippen Arnold, and tells the story of her role in the plot to deliver West Point to the British. It's said to be deliciously sordid!

I was particularly impressed with the way she took on Nickolas Butler's Shotgun Lovesongs. I think if they sent her on tour as Queen Elizabeth, talking that book up, it could become a huge bestseller, bigger than when Ronald Reagan made The Hunt for Red October. I also immediately wanted to give her a copy of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, as she told me she hadn't yet read  it. I know she'd love it! As it was, I brought a few copies anyway and sold both of them.

Here are Barbara Rinella's recommendations for 2014.

New and Noteworthy Books from Michael Cunningham, Ruth Reichl, Peter Heller, Sebastian Barry and First-Timer Laline Paull

The piles of books I need to read are huge. The piles I want to read are even taller. But sometimes, as I'm writing up these Tuesday lists, I have a temptation to drop everything and impulsively jump into something completely different. That's the way I feel about Michael Cunningham's The Snow Queen  (FSG), a contemporary novel of two New York brothers searching for transcendence in different ways.  Charles McNulty in the Los Angeles Times has a sort of criticism that made me want to read the book more, so I quote it here: "This is an odd work, engaging in parts and shot through with stunning lyricism, yet testing in the problematic personalities it brings together. The resolution Cunningham bestows is not unlike that otherworldly light in Central Park — subject to interpretation and dependent to an unusual degree on a character's capacity to hold on to hope." I'm intrigued!

If you want oddly beautiful, I guess you need not look further than Laline Paull's first novel, The Bees (Ecco), which in the spirit of Watership Down, is about a hive. The protagonist is a sanitation worker, Flora 717, the lowest caste in the hive. I return to the Los Angeles Times, where David Ulin clarifies the situation: "The decision to start with the emergence of her protagonist is a smart one, because Flora has to decipher the landscape, as do we. With her as proxy, we learn the makeup of the beehive, its caste system — the Sage, or priestesses, are at the top, and factions such as Thistle (guards), Teasel (nursemaids) and Foragers (hunter/gatherers) all fill highly regimented roles." Publishers Weekly called it dystopia meets the Discovery Channel. Reviewers will probably review this book just for all the fun they can have--the book should have a lot of buzz.

Peter Heller moves in a different direction with The Painter (Knopf), a novel about an artist trying to outrun his past. Hannah's read some of it and has been very enthusiastic. This interview with Heller in Publishers Weekly gives you a handle on what Heller was trying to do. Kirkus Reviews liked The Painter quite a bit, and gave it a starred review: "Heller's writing is sure-footed and rip-roaring, star-bright and laced with dark yearning, coalescing in an ever-escalating, ravishing, grandly engrossing and satisfying tale of righteousness and revenge, artistic fervor and moral ambiguity." I like that the art director kept the feel of The Dog Star on a very different kind of book.

We had a great time with Peter Heller for his last book, which allows me to transition to Sebastian Barry, another author at the top of his game who came to Boswell for his last novel. This time he's back with a World War II novel called The Temporary Gentleman, about an Irishman commisioned temporary to the British army. He tells his tale from 1957 Ghana, a life of extraordinary events, but the one thing he can't let go of his tempestuous, heartbreaking (I'm quoting the publisher on these fine adjectives) marriage. Claire Kilroy raves about the book in the (UK) Guardian: "It takes a writer of the stature and delicacy of Barry to recognise that you could dedicate your entire working life to the endeavour and still expect the resultant novel to be hopelessly partisan and partial. Yet in the act of sifting through versions, of setting down words, you might excavate some facet of the human heart that casts light on what it means to be alive. It is Barry's steadfast devotion to this process that makes him an artist of the highest order."

One author we've not yet hosted at Boswell is Ruth Reichl, though we did back at Schwartz. I was reminded that Reichl was once the feted guest at the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library Literary Lunch, which once again is this Thursday, this time with Shauna Singh Baldwin. But I am distracted! Reichl's first novel is about the New York food world. Delicious! is the novel and also the Gourmet-like magazine that Billie Breslin is hired to work at, which like Gourmet, abruptly shuts down, with Breslin kept on to run the customer inquiry line...and then she finds a secret room in the mansion-like headquarters. Kim Ode at the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune notes that "Reichl manages to make these “side dishes” essential to her story in a way that turns a romance mystery into a satisfying repast."

Delicious! is also the Pennie Pick at Costco, and I know it seems funny that I am mentioning it here, as Costco sells things for way less than we can, but you know I like retail. I'm fascinated by how the Pennie's Pick is announced, and  thought this selection was interesting, as Pennie rarely does hardcovers or first novels out of the box, and she often waits until the book gathers some momentum. You get so little time on the Costco floor to make an impact; if they pick a book too early and the buzz isn't yet deafening, it might mean a whole mess of books going back to the publisher. Let's hope Reichl is in fact a household-enough name with their customers. I'm sure there's a periodic urge to make a book work, and there's a lot of competition for the honor. Did the Indies really get The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry onto the NYT bestseller list or will Barnes and Noble or Amazon or Target take credit a year from now? Everybody's fighting for bragging rights, I guess.

Monday Event Post--Garrison Keillor Tonight, Austin Kleon Tomorrow, Plus Michael Hall at the Shorewood Public Library, Eva Augustin Rumpf, Mary "Peetie" Bassom, Steven Galloway, Bill Hillman, Storytime with Jannis, and Next Week's Preview of Joseph Ellwanger.

Monday, May 5, 7 pm, at the UWM Union, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd:
Garrison Keillor, author of The Keillor Reader.

Boswell Book Company and the UWM Bookstore are proud to present the multitalented master storyteller, Garrison Keillor, for a ticketed event at the UWM Union Ballroom, co-sponsored by Wisconsin Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Radio. Best known as the founder and host of A Prairie
Home Companion, Keillor will present and discuss his latest book, The Keillor Reader, a collection of his many, varied pursuits in the spirit of The Viking Portable Library.

This event is co-sponsored by 89.7 WUWM, Milwaukee Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Radio. A Prairie Home Companion is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2014.

Here's the CBS This Morning interview with Garrison Keillor that aired a few days ago. "My favorite moment is 5 o'clock Central Time on a Saturday, and all of the work is now done. ... And the piano plays, and I sing the theme song, 'Hear that old piano from down the avenue.' And you've got two hours and you're free."

Will-call tickets are available at Brown Paper Tickets through 2 pm today. After that, we will be selling walk-up tickets at the door.

Tuesday, May 6, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Austin Kleon, author of Show Your Work and Steal Like an Artist.
Co-sponsored by The Milwaukee Business Journal and 800-ceo-read.

The New York Times bestselling author of Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon, shares the secrets to success with his latest, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered, which Publishers Weekly calls “sassy and spot-on.” Written as a response to the most frequently asked question from his Steal Like an Artist tour, Show Your Work! is an accessible, inspiring book that will motivate you to use the digital community as your platform for networking, workshopping, and getting published.

Ellen Fagg Weist writes in the Salt Lake City Tribune: "Kleon is mostly self-trained as an illustrator, yet it’s the simplicity of his graphics that draws attention to his straightforward proclamations about creativity and digital publishing. He considers his work picture books for adults, but says they aren’t just for creative types. The ideas can be used by anybody doing work they want to get noticed. Imagine a plumber, he says, opening an Instagram account and posting how-tos about how to fix a faucet or other skills."

This year’s opening keynote speaker at SXSW Interactive Festival in 2014, Austin Kleon’s work has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, PBS NewsHour, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He speaks frequently about creativity in the digital age for organizations such as Pixar, Google, SXSW, TEDx, and The Economist.

Thursday, May 8, 4 pm, at the Shorewood Public Library, 3920 North Murray Ave. 53211:
Michael Hall, author of It's an Orange Aardvark.

Michael Hall is the creator of the nationally best-selling picture book My Heart Is Like a Zoo, as well as the acclaimed Perfect Square and Cat Tale.

Meet author and illustrator Michael Hall at the Shorewood Public Library to talk about and sign copies of his latest picture book, It’s an Orange Aardvark!, which will delight audiences from 4 to 10. School Library Journal notes that Hall's got “an illustration style reminiscent of Lois Ehlert's and storytelling style similar to Eric Carle's" while Kirkus Reviews praises It's an Orange Aardvark as "suspenseful and entertaining; all-around great fun." The event will be accompanied by an session of crafting with Miss Heide.

Here's the trailer for It's an Orange Aardvark.

Thursday, May 8, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Eva Augustin Rumpf, author of In Liberty's Name.

Eva Augustin Rumpf is a former newspaper reporter and university journalism instructor. She is author of the memoir Reclamation: Memories from a New Orleans Girlhood and the satiric novel Prot U. Her newest novel, In Liberty's Name, is inspired by the story of her French ancestors and the thousands of other French émigrés who survived two bloody revolutions and played a major role in reviving Creole culture in New Orleans in the early 19th century.

“From the chaotic streets of Paris during the French Revolution to the turbulent plantations in what would become Haiti, and then on to adventures in Cuba and New Orleans, In Liberty’s Name is a sweeping story of adventure, passion, intrigue and heartbreak. With rich historical details, indelible characters and a gripping narrative, Eva Augustin Rumpf has given us a compelling look at some of the most riveting events in history.” —Paul Salsini, author of A Tuscan Trilogy

"This fascinating story leaves us in admiration of human resilience in the face of crushing adversity, whether two hundred years ago or in the political upheavals of the twenty-first century." --Gabrielle Verdier, Professor emerita of French, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

Friday, May 9, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Mary Basson, author of Saving Kandinsky.

Just in time to get you excited for the Milwaukee Art Museum’s summer retrospective exhibition of Wassily Kandinsky, local author Mary Basson will read from and sign copies of her latest novel, Saving Kandinsky, a tale of romantic collaboration and courage in the face of personal and historical crisis.

As they paint together on the Bavarian mountainside, young Gabriele (Ella) Münter falls in love with her married teacher, Wassily Kandinsky. While their illicit love faces the disapproval of early 20th century European society, the two artists forge a partnership that will offer the world its first taste of Abstract Expressionism. Along with Alexei Jawlensky, Franz Marc, and other members of the Blue Rider, Münter and Kandinsky give birth to something truly new in art. Yet the delights of that heady time together are not to last, certainly not past the time of the Nazi purge of “Degenerate Art.” That period will test Ella’s mettle as well as her dedication to art and to love.

Mary “Peetie” Basson serves as a Docent at the Milwaukee Art Museum that houses the largest collection of paintings by Gabriele Münter in North America. For 39 years she taught Upper School English and served as an administrator at the University School of Milwaukee.

Saturday, May 10, 2 pm, at Boswell:
Steven Galloway, author of The Confabulist and The Cellist of Sarajevo.

Following the wild success of The Cellist of Sarajevo, we welcome award-winning author Steven Galloway to Boswell to present his much-anticipated new novel, The Confabulist. Concerning legendary Wisconsin escape artist Harry Houdini, The Confabulist is a tale of magic and memory, truth and illusion, and the ways that love, hope, and grief can—for better or worse—alter what we perceive and believe.

Into the extraordinary life and sudden death of Harry Houdini, The Confabulist weaves the story of Martin Strauss, an ordinary man whose fate seems forever tied to that of the legendary magician. With a cast of memorable characters—from the Romanov family, to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Spiritualists, to the heads of the Secret Service and Scotland Yard—Galloway’s vivid and expansive narrative is a page-turning read that gives the reader a front-row view of the role of magic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and of the underestimated power of illusion (and delusion) in our own memories and accounts of ourselves. As the story unfolds, we’re challenged to decipher for ourselves what is real and what is a conjuring, and the novel becomes a moving magic trick of its own.

Here is Mike Fischer's review of The Confabulist in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. More about the book in the Vancouver Sun and Toronto Star.

Steven Galloway lives in British Columbia and teaches creative writing at the University of British Columbia.

Go out for dinner or something and come back for...

Saturday, May 10, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Bill Hillman, author of The Old Neighborhood.

Boswell Book Company is proud to announce the arrival of Union Construction Laborer, Chicago Golden Glove Champion, one-time gang affiliate, and award-winning Chicago author, Bill Hillmann, who will set aside his gloves to introduce his debut novel, The Old Neighborhood, for a reading and signing. A fascinating person who has rubbed elbows and thrown punches with people from shadowed to well-lit corners of the globe, you don’t want to miss your chance to meet this supremely gifted storyteller!

The Old Neighborhood is the story of a bright and sensitive teen named Joe Walsh who is the youngest member of a big, mixed-race Chicago family. After Joe witnesses his heroin-addicted oldest brother commit a brutal gangland murder, his friends and loved ones systematically drag him deeper into a deep pit of violence that reaches a bloody impasse when his elder sister begins dating a rival gang member. The Old Neighborhood is a sociological exploration of urban life and a tale which explores the great white flight from urban centers in America before the turn of the century, while simultaneously unveiling surprising insights into the origins of modern street gangs. Boswellian Mel says: “Reminiscent of Claude Brown’s Manchild in the Promised Land, Bill Hillmann’s singular voice captures the pain and confusion of adolescence with stunning accuracy while rendering the cacophony of Chicago’s city streets into soul-stirring poetry.”

“A raucous but soulful account of growing up on the mean streets of Chicago, and the choices kids are forced to make on a daily basis. This cool, incendiary rites of passage novel is the real deal.” —Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting

Sunday, May 11, 11 am, at Boswell:
April showers bring May Story Time! This month,Jannis will read Tap Tap Boom Boom by Elizabeth Bluemle and a few more stories on the themes of rain showers and thunderstorms. Perfect for ages 18 months and up, pop in and start your Mother’s Day off right with Story Time!

Monday, May 12, 7 pm, at Boswell:
Joseph Ellwanger, author of Strength for the Struggle: Insights from the Civil Rights Movement and Urban Ministry.

Strength for the Struggle: Insights from the Civil Rights Movement and Urban Ministry is a collection of stories, and lessons learned, from the three congregations Joseph Ellwanger served in a pastoral capacity over the past 55 years and from his involvement in the Civil Rights movement in Birmingham and Selma, Alabama, in the 1960's and in the peace and justice movement in Milwaukee 1967 to the present.

Joseph Ellwanger was pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, a small African American congregation in Birmingham, Alabama, from 1958 to 1967. He served as pastor of Cross Lutheran, on the near north side of Milwaukee, 1967-2001. And he has served in assisting pastoral capacities at Hephatha Lutheran, also on the near north side of Milwaukee, since 2002. He worked as an organizer with WISDOM, a network of congregation-based justice organizations in Wisconsin, from 2002 to 2012.

Sunday Event Post: After Three Christopher Moore Events, We Can Definitively Say Which Backlist Book Sells Best, Plus Past and Upcoming Events, Journal Sentinel Book Coverage, and The Sadness of a Split Cover Review on The NYTBR.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Serpent of Venice, by Christopher Moore
2. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin
3. The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt
4. Lamb (special edition), by Christopher Moore
5. Shotgun Lovesongs, by Nickolas Butler

Note to anyone who ever hosts Christopher Moore. The bestselling backlist title is always the hardcover edition of Lamb. This time we actually didn't sell out, which is nice. No hardcover fiction pops this week, though I should note that our #6 bestseller is Eva Augustin Rumpf's In Liberty's Name, a historical novel about Haiti, and one of three local launches scheduled over the next ten days. Eva Rumpf will be appearing on Thursday, May 8, 7 pm.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. An Invitation to Chateau du Grand-Luce, by Timothy Corrigan
2. David and Goliath, by Malcolm Gladwell
3. Congratulations By the Way, by George Saunders
4. Struck by Genius, by Jason Padgett
5. How Jesus Became God, by Bart Ehrman

Jason Padgett stopped by to sign copies of Struck by Genius: How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel on his way to an event in Madison. Padgett is the first documented instance of acquired savant syndrome with mathematical synesthesia. Since a violent mugging some years ago, In Padgett's head, water pours from the faucet in crystalline patterns, numbers call to mind distinct geometric shapes, and intricate fractal patterns emerge from the movement of tree branches, revealing the intrinsic mathematical designs hidden in the objects around us.

Paperback Fiction:
1. Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn
2. The Interestings, by Meg Wolitzer
3. The Selector of Souls, by Shauna Singh Baldwin (ticketed event at Wisconsin Club 5/8)
4. The Circle, by Dave Eggers
5. The Woman Upstairs, by Claire Messud

The upcoming film forces the Gone Girl release, which I assume is #1 everywhere. It's also nice to see a strong post-event pop on The Interestings. I'm sure that's in part due to signed copies, though paperbacks don't usually have that signed-copy pull that hardcovers do. It also could be from the strong word of mouth about the event, leading to some more book club selections. After various Christopher Moore backlist titles and Shauna Baldwin's other novel comes national bestseller The Orphan Train and local favorite Burial Rites.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Show Your Work, by Austin Kleon (event at Boswell 5/6)
2. Studying Wisconsin, by Martha Bergland and Paul Hayes (event at MPL Monday 6/9, 6 pm)
3. Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo
4. The Book of Deadly Animals, by Gordon Grice
5. The Hidden History of Milwaukee, by Bobby Tanzilo (event at Boswell 5/21)

We've got lots of upcoming event books on this list, including Bobby Tanzilo's hidden history of Milwaukee (known as The Hidden History Milwaukee), which wound up shipping a little earlier than we expected. Between that and Martha Bergland and Paul Hayes talk on Increase Lapham on June 9 (for Studying Wisconsin), you can be thought of by your set as the local history expert.

Books for Kids:
1. When I Was the Greatest, by Jason Reynolds
2. Hollow Earth, by John Barrowman and Carole E. Barrowman
3. The Gospel of Winter, by Brendan Kiely
4. Noggin, by John Corey Whaley
5. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

The Gentlemen of The Gentleman's tour dominated this week's list. The public event was great, and I heard our school event was perhaps even better. If you'd like Jannis to add you to our school event opportunity distribution, please let us know. We even sold some copies of Jason Reynolds' other book, My Name is Jason Too. But the book whose appearance on the list really warms my heart showed up further down--we brought in copies of the UK edition of Brandon Sanderson's The Complete Alcatraz as the Scholastic editions are no longer in print, but they missed our event by one day. I've decided to keep the faith and hold onto them, and we sold several this week.

The featured review in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this week is the much-loved (at least by me) Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant, from Roz Chast. Jim Higgins writes that the book is "both gut wrenching and laugh-alound funny. I want to recommend it to everyone I know who has elderly parents or might have them someday." I completely agree!

As an aside, I'm excited to add that another must-read on the subject, Knocking on Heaven's Door, has just been signed up for an event for the paperback edition. Katy Butler is coming to Boswell on Tuesday, June 17, 2 pm (note the time). Yes, a weekday afternoon event might seem unusual, but we wanted to do anything we could to get an added-on event from the Chicago appearance. More to come soon.

Speaking of daytime events, we're excited to be hosting on Saturday, May 10, 2 pm, Steven Galloway, author  of The Cellist of Sarajevo and The Confabulist, his new novel about Houdini. Mike Fischer reviews The Confabulist in the Journal Sentinel this week. He notes that "the best of those confabulations pay glorious, inspiring testament ot he ineffable magic in all of us." Folks who liked Ragtime will probably want to check out the book or perhaps attend Galloway's talk and reading on the tenth.

Also in the Journal Sentinel*, Hillel Itale profiles Leslie Jamison, whose The Empathy Exams has earned critical praise, and was our recent #1 nonfiction paperback bestseller. She has achieved scucess "not through dystopian fiction or visions of the afterlife, but through a collection of poetic, painfully searching essays about violence, sex, illness, self-esteem, and self-expression."

And finally, Connie Ogle reviews Elizabeth McCracken's Thunderstruck, which she calls "as swift and true as a prizefighters blows, and often they feel just as powerful, emotionally speaking." This review originally appeared in The Miami Herald.

The New York Times Book Review features three books, James Madison: A Life Reconsidered, by Lynne Cheney, John Quincy Adams: American Visionary, from Fred Kaplan, and Louisa Catherine: The Other Mrs. Adams, by Marget M. Heffron. As a bookseller, we're not a fan of the split review, but alas, we're also not the editors of the book section.

*I'm linking to the Star Tribune, and will switch to JSonline when that link is up.

Why I Don't Do Event Recap Posts: An Event Recap Post.

For one thing, all the photos look the same. There's the picture of the author speaking at the podium. Here's one of Christopher Moore for The Serpent of Venice. Dare I say signed copies available?

This one's Gabrielle Zevin. The pictures are blurrier when I use my cell phone and slightly less blurry when I periodically find my camera. Then I promptly lose it again. This is not that uncommon for booksellers and apparently is a discarded chapter of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.

Then there's the crowd scene. Really all that does is show that the event was crowded. You usually can't even make out the author. This is one from our Gentleman's Tour--John Corey Whaley, Jason Reynolds, and Brendan Kiely. Yes, we have signed copies of their books too--Noggin, When I Was the Greatest, and The Gospel of Winter, respectively.

I suppose that one proves to the publicist that there really were 50 people and not 5. Of course they could also ask the author. Here's proof that we really had 72 people for Meg Wolitzer. You should all be kicking yourself because she was amazing. I can think of another 100 people that would have been blown away by her talk and reading. But we did beat several other similarly sized and even larger cities in terms of turnout, and that's part of the game if you want to keep getting authors.

It turns out there are four components to a good event: 1) Attendance 2) Sales 3) Media coverage 4) Author Experience. Of course the fifth one is customer experience. That won't determine if you get the next booking, but if you fail that, you won't get the attendance next time, so you won't get the booking after that. 

I could probably Photoshop different authors into the photo and you'd never notice. Of course there are sometimes variations. Here's one of Edward Kelsey Moore playing the cello.

And here's a variation on the crowd scene. It's Theatre Gigante dramatizing chapter one of The Serpent of Venice. It's my only shot that didn't come out blurry. Or the one that came out least blurry. Theatre Gigante's Midsummer in Midwinter opens May 9 at Kenilworth Studio 508.

Oh, and here's another kind of shot I usually don't get, me or other booksellers with the author. We should probably do that more often. I'm sure several of my booksellers are secretly kicking themselves that we didn't get a group shop with the Gentlemen. I had promised someone we'd get Gabrielle Zevin and myself in front of our anniversary widow, but then it turned out everyone left. So I guess it turned out to be selfie time.

I am apparently not fluent in selfie, but we did get one shot where you can actually see the sign between us and we are both looking happy, having come to the conclusion of another nice event at Boswell.

New Displays for Austin Kleon and the Nebulas, Plus a Revamped One for Christopher Moore.

1. Congrats to William Kent Krueger, winner of the Edgar Award for Ordinary Grace. With that award given out, Krueger moves off the dismantled Edgar nominee table and into our awards case. That leave room for the Nebular Award nominees. The ceremony for that begins May 15. Here are the nominees: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, by Karen Joy Fowler; The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman; Fire with Fire, by Charles E. Gannon; Hild, by Nicola Griffith; Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie; The Red: First Light, by Linda Nagata; A Stranger in Olondria, by Sofia Samatar; The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecke.

We are so honored to have hosted Krueger for the hardcover tour of Ordinary Grace, and we're hoping that Karen Joy Fowler wins the Nebula, as she did the PEN/Faulkner, so we can say we hosted the winner of that award as well.

2. We rebooted our Christopher Moore display to show off our signed copies of The Serpent of Venice, along with some Shakespearean bounty. The sign accidentally got printed on red paper, and I decided that in this case, it worked.

We had a great time with Moore yesterday. In the heat of the moment, I banned Neil Gaiman from the bookstore. Sorry, Neil! There are plenty of other great stores to visit in the United States.  It's just that I feel so bad that all these great writers like Moore and Terry Pratchett have to live in the shadow of Gaiman. It's just not fair.

I'm assuming that this is not a secret that Moore is currently working on a sequel to A Dirty Job.

3. We've been working hard on our event for Austin Kleon event for Show Your Work next Tuesday, May 6. Mel's been contacting schools and arts groups and even restaurants, at the suggestion of Workman. We decided to have a special creativity display to get a little more attention for the title.

This was one bookseller's first time doing this sort of outreach, and I think she worried that it might seem like telemarketing. She was pleasantly surprised by how many people were excited to hear about the event, which proves the old adage, it ain't spam if you actually actually want it. Kleon's an amazing speaker who can really change the lives of his audience. Plus the event is free. This book is perfect for all kinds of artists of any age, and it also makes a solid graduation day gift.

The corollary to that adage is that it really is spam if we don't want it and there's no effort involved on the part of the center. So please stop robocalling us for credit card processing and other services.

This week another bookseller had a robocaller named "Melissa" who sounded so authentic that he passed the call on to me. It didn't take more than 15 seconds for me to figure out it was automated, but that's partly because I usually take a deep breath before answering the phone; silence really seems to trip up machines.

Roz Chast's First Graphic Memoir is "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant," Out Next Tuesday.

I guess Roz Chast isn’t to everyone’s taste, because if she were, there would be an animated series based on her work that ran for over twenty years. In some ways, that’s for the best, because I haven’t seen a good “Life in Hell” cartoon for who knows how long, but I can still depend on opening The New Yorker and enjoying a Chastian respite. I also think my Roz Chast mugs would have sold out sooner (yes, we have some) and also someone would still be publishing the cartoon volumes I collected in my twenties. Oh, well, cartoon collections are just one of those genres that don’t seem to sell as well in book form as they used to. Ask Andrews McMeel.

But graphic novels and nonfiction? They seem to work just fine, in fact, have crowded out their shorter paneled cousins. And that is why I am thrilled that Roz Chast has taken to the long form in her new memoir, Can’t We Talk About Something Pleasant? (Bloomsbury, May 6) That said, it’s not the most superhero friendly plot in the universe, despite its inevitability. It’s about Chast’s parents, and specifically, their slow decline in their nineties, but that slow decline reaches back to their young adulthood, their parenting of Roz in their eighties, her jumping ship to Connecticut and not visiting them for a good decade, ad just about everything in between.

Roz Chast’s parents were the children of European Jewish immigrants. Each of them spent their entire careers in the New York school system. If my mom didn’t work for her mother, she definitely worked for someone just like her, as my own mother started late, after seeing so many of her friends comfortable in their teaching careers, and as a result, she bounced from school to school, and found a niche in special ed, not necessarily because it was where she best fit, but because it was where there were jobs. I will say no more of that. This isn’t about my life, after all.

Ms. Chast has the ability to see the absurdity in all of us, but most of the time, that lens is turned outwards. I saw my family, as well as myself, in the hoarding, in the ability to criticize someone else’s habits while oblivious to one’s own, and in that strange feeling that your parent has become closer to the caregiver than she is to you. Chast’s parents had what can only be called a codependent relationship, with little outside contact with friends, especially after they retired. They lived in a relatively nondescript apartment in a nondescript part of Brooklyn. And then they had to leave and learn how to be social with other folks, and it wasn’t easy for a mother who was always right and a father who never stopped talking about random trivia, and that’s before he started drifting into dementia.

Chast’s ability to combine the absurd with the truth and touch a nerve, and combine that with some free floating anxiety, is unparalleled, and her illustrations have always paired perfectly with her thoughts. I was particularly taken with Roz’s conversation with her mom about getting a space heater.

It’s all illustrations, with a few notable exceptions, such as the tour of her parents abandoned apartment after they decamped for Connecticut. That said, if you could photograph a Roz Chast story, these photos are what they’d look like. You even get to see the inevitable crazy closet (!) where Mom took her first fall. Oh, and a few family photos.

I was drawn to her mom’s 97th birthday party on April 3, 2009, most notably as I have been to these sorts of parties, and my mother tells me about a few she attends each year (or sometimes doesn’t attend). Plus also it was an auspicious day for Boswell, the first day we were opened for business.

In the end, Chast watches her frustrations fall away after her parents pass, particularly her father, with whom she believed she shared a similar temperament. Dealing with her mom was more difficult, which was why this book reminded me a bit of Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoirs, Fun Home and Are You My Mother. It’s funny how in the conscious ways we become very different from our parents, and in subconscious ways we grow to be just like them. And however Chast was like her mom and dad, the one thing she tried to do was crack her mother’s mantra, “I’m not your friend, I’m your mother.” It’s something that a lot of folks her age have dealt with from their childhood. I guess we’ll see how the next generation of kids raises their kids; will they follow the lead of their parents or snap back to the ways of their grandparents?

In the end, there are two things I came away with from reading Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? First of all, I came away with a greater understanding of Chast. But second of all, I came away with a greater understanding of myself. That's heady stuff for a book of cartoons, and I wouldn't expect anything less.

New York Times article from Sarah Lyall.