Boswell annotated bestsellers, week ending April 15, 2017

Boswell is open 10 am to 5 pm on Easter Sunday.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
2. Earthly Remains V26, by Donna Leon
3. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
4. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
5. The Hearts of Men, by Nickolas Butler
6. The Women in the Castle, by Jessica Shattuck
7. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman
8. Difficult Women, by Roxane Gay
9. Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett
10. Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid

At book #26, you'd think Donna Leon's series would be showing its age. But Marilyn Stasio in The New York Times Book Review wrote: "When she’s writing about her beloved Venice, Donna Leon can do no wrong. And Earthy Remains, her new mystery featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti, is one of her best. It’s also one of her saddest, dealing as it does with the seemingly unstoppable polluting of the great lagoon. 'We’ve poisoned it all, killed it all,' mourns Davide Casati, the aged caretaker of the house on the island of Sant’Erasmo where Brunetti is taking a medical leave for job-induced stress."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Wealth Can't Wait, by David Osborn
2. Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance
3. Halleluhjah Anyway, by Anne Lamott
4. Moth Presents All These Wonders, edited by Catherine Burns
5. Dear Ijeawele, by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie
6. King Solomon's Table, by Joan Nathan
7. Convergernce, by Peter Watson
8. Prince Charles, by Sally Bedell Smith
9. The Great Unknown, by Marcus Du Sautoy
10. Waiting to Listen, by Andrew Forsthoefel

From Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times: "A wonderful new book, The Moth Presents: All These Wonders — which takes its title from a thrilling account by the NASA scientist Cathy Olkin of last-minute emergency repairs made to the New Horizons spacecraft as it traveled three billion miles to get a close-up of Pluto — gathers 45 stories from the last two decades. Some are heartbreakingly sad; some laugh-out-loud funny; some momentous and tragic; almost all of them resonant or surprising. They are stories that attest to the startling varieties and travails of human experience, and the shared threads of love, loss, fear and kindness that connect us."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Arrow: The Dark Archer, by John and Carole E. Barrowman
2. The Nest, by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney (signed copies available)
3. The Excellent Lombards, by Jane Hamilton
4. The Woman in Cabin 10, by Ruth Ware
5. The Improbability of Love, by Hannah Rothschild
6. The Little Red Chairs, by Edna O'Brien (In Store Lit Group 5/1)
7. Lilac Girls, by Martha Hall Kelly
8. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
9. The Light of Paris, by Eleanor Brown
10. Britt-Marie Was Here, by Fredrik Backman

It's book club presentation season! Saturday's talk with Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney boosted sales of a number of titles on our new book club flier, including The Excellent Lombards, The Woman in Cabin 10, and The Light of Paris. As Jane noted, now I don't have to worry about this until August (or maybe September). Of The Woman in Cabin 10, Variety recently reported that Hillary Seitz has been signed to do the movie adaptation for CBS Films. Of the book, Ginny Greene in the Star Tribune wrote: "Cabin 10 just may do to cruise vacations what Jaws did to ocean swimming. You’ll be afraid to go out on the water."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
2. Live and Let Live, by Evelyn M. Perry
3. The Pleasure of the Text, by Roland Barthes
4. Dark Money, by Jane Mayer
5. You Are a Badass, by Jen Sincero
6. Brick Through the Window, by Steven Nodine, Eric Beaumont, Clancy Carroll, David Luhrssen
7. Radical Hope, by Jonathan Lear
8. Secreenwise, by Devorah Heitner (event at USM 4/17)
9. White Trash, by Nancy Isenberg
10. How to Be Alive, by Colin Beavan

Jane Mayer's Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right continues to resonate with its paperback release. Here's Mayer talking to Jack Holmes at Esquire about Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court.

Tarik Moody, a Riverwest resident, takes to Evelyn M. Perry about Live and Let Live on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee.

Here's Devorah Heitner interviewed on Austin360's parenting blog. And don't forget about University School of Milwaukee's event with Devorah Heitner tomorrow. Register here.

Books for Kids:
1. Just Fly Away, by Andrew McCarthy
2. Green Pants, by Kenneth Kraegel
3. Bone Quill V2, by John and Carole E. Barrowman
4. The Book of Beasts V2, by John and Carole E. Barrowman
5. The Forgetting Spell V2, by Lauren Myracle
6. The Star Thief, by Lindsey Becker
7. The Conjuror V1, by John and Carole E. Barrowman
8. Night of the Twisters, by Ivy Ruck
9. Hollow Earth V1, by John and Carole E. Barrowman
10. Wishing Day V1, by Lauren Myracle
11. Wishing Day V1 (cloth), by Lauren Myracle
12. Song of Delphine, by Kenneth Kraegel
13. Oh, Ick, by Joy Masoff and Jessica Garrett
14. A Is for Activist, by Innosanto Nagara
15. Life on Mars, by Jon Agee

This week has a lot of event programming factored into our bestseller list. Lauren Myracle visited three schools but didn't have a public event so we didn't talk much about her series Wishing Day. In volume 1, Natasha gets three wishes after her 13th birthday. In the second book, The Forgetting Spell, sister Darya approaches her 13th birthday and her own three wishes. Publishers Weekly wrote: "Though there are more questions than answers by the novel's end (the book is first in a planned trilogy), Myracle leaves readers with the powerful idea that wishing is more about appreciating what one already has than about getting what one wants." And yes, we have signed copies.

Over at the Journal Sentinel, we've got a couple of bonus book reviews that expanded beyond the TapBooks page. Washington Post reporter Amy Goldstein's Janesville is covered by Jim Higgins. The story focuses on the GM plant closing and what happened to the people. Higgins observes that retraining is not always what one hopes: "She recounts determined middle-age parents doing their tech-school homework at night side by side with their school-age children — and landing jobs, after graduation, that pay $12 an hour. One of her book's saddest stories is of a factory worker, laid off after 13 years, who graduated at the top of her Blackhawk class in criminal justice studies and landed a job as a correctional officer at the Rock County Jail. But marital and other stresses and a bad decision lead her to take her own life. Like Matthew Desmond's Evicted, Goldstein's Janesville offers many reminders that many working Americans are only one or two bad breaks and decisions away from disaster." Amy Goldstein at Boswell on May 1, 7 pm, cosponsored by Community Advocates Public Policy Institute.

You've seen My Two Elaines show up on our bestseller list for several months. Now Jim Higgins reviews Martin J. Schreiber's memoir of caring for his wife after her Alzheimer's diagnosis. Says Higgins: "Schreiber, a former Wisconsin governor, opened many eyes when he shared his caregiving story with Journal Sentinel reporter Mark Johnson in December 2015. My Two Elaines expands on the primary theme of that article: the corrosive effect of loneliness on the caregiver, which can lead to poorer health and quality of life for both spouses. Figuratively speaking, his book reminds other caregivers to put their own oxygen masks on first, so they can truly be present for their spouses."

And finally, a profile of Nay Tait Fraser's Mending the Earth in Milwaukee, which is available at Woodland Pattern and several area nature centers. It is both a memoir and a how-to guide to natural landscaping.

Mike Fischer reviews A Grace Paley Reader, a new collection of stories, essays and poetry, edited by Kevin Bowen and Nora Paley. Fischer notes: "In his marvelous introduction, fellow short-story master George Saunders describes Paley as 'one of the great writers of voice of the last century' because of her uncanny ability to channel “the dynamic energy of human thought” as experienced by her characters."

Carole E. Barrowman's Paging Through Mysteries offers three new suggestions:

--On The Good Byline, Jill Orr's story of a library assistant in a small town who is asked to write an obituary about her best friend: "Fresh and funny, romantic and sunny, Orr’s book checked three genre boxes for me: a smart cozy series, a Southern small town setting, and, my favorite, a newspaper mystery."

--"Lori Rader-Day’s psychological mystery, The Day I Died, has a pitch-perfect prologue and the rest of the novel never hits a false note. In her prologue, Rader-Day’s narrator, Anna Winger, describes the day she died, teasing just enough detail to keep the event echoing across the pages as Anna investigates a troubling disappearance of a boy and his mother from a small Indiana town." Note that Lori Rader-Day will be at MobCraft Brewery on Thursday, June 8 with David Krugler and Nick Petrie. Register here for the taproom tour at 7. The event follows at 7:45.


--Judith Flanders has a British series about a book editor, the latest of which is A Cast of Vultures. Barrowman notes that heroine Samantha Clair "is the kind of witty well-read woman I love to hang with...a cheeky observer of the world." The new book has Clair trying to figure out the death of her upstairs neighbor.

Secrets of the book club talks. Our new yellow book club flier is now available (plus if you're reading this before Saturday, we'll be giving at talk at Boswell with Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney on April 15, 2 pm.

It's a new season of book club picks. Jane and I spent hours hashing out what to add to our flier, which we use not just as a handout and display in the store, but as a guide for our presentations to area groups. We're launching the new list on Saturday, April 15, 2 pm, at Boswell for book club afternoon with Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest.

We last switched over our titles in January, but this is more of a major shift, with fully half the titles changing from our last handout. In addition, we have an insert of six titles coming out in June and July to keep an eye on. And because an insert only printed on one side looked naked, the back half has six upcoming events that are great tie ins for book clubs.

Apples and Oranges

I generally use the previous newsletter to lay out the new one, but at least in some cases, that meant moving around the titles that were staying to create new themes. Two books I had to include together were Ann Patchett's Commonwealth and Jane Hamilton's The Excellent Lombards, for several reasons.
--Each novel draws on the authors' own stories
--The authors are close friends and each was an early reader of the other's book
--The obvious fruit connection. I love the idea of matching jackets--I'm a big fan of the Patchett jacket, and can you imagine how great Hamilton's would have looked with apples? And in a boxed set, right?

Love Jane Hamilton? She'll be in conversation with Sheryl Sandberg at the Pabst on Monday, June 5, 7 pm. Sandberg's new book is Option B. Ticket link!

What to Read After Ove

It seemed like our flier was becoming one big Ove ouvre. But nothing got added to this season's list that I would put in that category, so we'd probably recommend Helen Simonson's The Summer Before the War and Phaedra Patrick's The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper. Fortunately, we have a "What to read after A Man Called Ove" table to satisfy your cravings.

World War II Mania

While I think every book club has read or will read Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See and Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale, (alas, our event with Hannah is sold out, but we'll have signed copies after the event) one could probably spend the whole year reading World War II historicals. Currently on our checklists:

--Lilac Girls, by Martha Hall Kelly (also on the national bestseller lists)
--Everyone Brave is Forgiven, by Chris Cleave
--They Were Like Family to Me, by Helen Maryles Shankman
--The Improbability of Love, by Hannah Rothschild

If you, like many book clubs, include hardcovers (we don't think it's fair to your members who buy physical books in bookstores, and why are you surprised?), Jessica Shattuck's The Women in the Castle is a clear addition, the latest of HarperCollins's books in the Lead Read program to break out.

What Do These Books Have in Common?

I was taken by the similarities between The Improbability of Love and Elizabeth McKenzie's The Portable Veblen. Both touch on how children must overcome the legacy of their parents, both have semi-supernatural elements (talking paintings and squirrels) and both touch on the excesses of capitalism. I think they would be interesting to read in succession like we did for our In Store Lit Group.

STEM Reading

Jumping off of The Portable Veblen, there are a number of titles that touch on the sciences.

Added onto our Hidden Figures recommendation is one new nonfiction book, Lab Girl, recently awarded a National Book Critics Circle Award, and one novel, Vinegar Girl.

A book club could do a whole year of science reading. Why not consider Lauren Redniss's Radiocative, her graphic biography about Marie and Pierre Curie?

Award winners

 Adding to its award basket, Matthew Desmond's Evicted just won the Pulitzer Prize. How cool is that?

I wondered whether we would keep Paul Beatty's The Sellout on our list, but being that the In-Store Lit Group had a very positive reaction to the book, we decided to keep it going another season.

What's the In Store Lit Group Reading?

Our May 1 selection is The Little Red Chairs, by Edna O'Brien. I've never read her and being that this newest book has gotten some of the best reviews of her career (and she's 85!), I felt intellectually bereft.

One new novel that I'm very excited to suggest to book clubs is Homegoing, the first novel  from Yaa Gyasi that won the John Leonard Prize. I won't be at our program on June 5, as I'll be working our Sheryl Sandberg event at the Pabst Theater. So I used this opportunity to put in a title I'd already read. Plus Sharon, who likely will be working that evening, did read it and liked it as much as I did. Homegoing is on sale in paperback May 2.

New Staff Favorites

Two staff favorites had good hardcover sales and so we decided to aim for the stars with a book cluib pitch. I haven't read either, but they are certainly on my "hope to read soon" list.

--Spill Simmer Falter Wither, by Sara Baume. We had a great event for her in hardcover, and Anne turned out to be a huge fan. It works great as an Irish book and as a dog book, and a number of people have compared the book to a grown-up version of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

--Father's Day, by Simon Van Booy. Van Booy's newest is up to three reads in store, and it's a total embarrassment that I am not one of those reads. It's never too late, right? It's inspired by Van Booy's own life (of sorts), in that it is about a young girl who is taken in by her uncle, so in a way it plays upon Van Booy's life a young widower. He's now remarried, by the way, and her family story inspired The Illusion of Separateness. On sale April 25.

Also added is The Light of Paris, by Eleanor Brown because...we always have to have at least one recommendation set in Paris.

Our June/July picks. Think of them as late adds for spring or an early preview for our fall.
--Another Brooklyn, by Jacqueline Woodson (on sale May 30)
--As Good As Gone, by Larry Watson (pub date June 13)
--Hero of the Empire, by Candice Millard (on sale May 30)
--Miss Jane, by Brad Watson (pub date July 11)
--News of the World, by Paulette Jiles
--They May Not Mean To, But They Do, by Cathleen Schine

We also have a list of events that have reading group suggestions attached.

All, this, plus Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, the author of The Nest. Pick up your pastel yellow book club flier at Boswell, and why not attend our presentation on Saturday, April 15, 2 pm? We have been told it's very entertaining.

Event Alert: Andrew McCarthy, Kenneth Kraegel with Fox and Branch, Lindsey Becker, Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, Devorah Heitner

Don't forget, #1: We close at 6 pm tonight to the general public, due to the Andrew McCarthy event described below.

Don't forget, #2: Tickets were announced today for our event with Sheryl Sandberg, co-author of Option B, in conversation with Jane Hamilton, Monday, June 5, 7 pm, at the Pabst Theater. Visit their website for more details.

Monday, April 10, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
A ticketed event with Andrew McCarthy, author of Just Fly Away.

Andrew McCarthy has worn many hats. He's beloved for his starring film roles in Pretty in Pink, Mannequin, and Less than Zero. He appeared on Broadway in the Tony-Award-winning production of Side Man. He's directed series such as Orange Is the New Black and The Blacklist. And his work as a travel writer and Editor at Large for National Geographic led to his bestselling memoir, The Longest Way Home, and the editor slot for Best American Travel Writing 2015.

Now his first novel, Just Fly Away, is being published in April, and we're thrilled to be hosting a ticketed talk and signing for this powerful young-adult novel on Monday, April 10, 7 pm. It starts when fifteen-year-old Lucy Willows discovers that her father has a child from a brief affair, an eight-year-old boy named Thomas who lives in her own suburban New Jersey town. She begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her family and her life. Lucy can't believe her father betrayed the whole family, or that her mother forgave him, or that her sister isn't rocked by the news the way Lucy is. Worse, Lucy's father's secret is now her own, one that isolates her from her friends, family, and even her boyfriend, Simon, the one person she expected would truly understand. When Lucy escapes to Maine, the home of her mysteriously estranged grandfather, she finally begins to get to the bottom of her family's secrets and lies.

Tickets are $19 and include admission to the event and a copy of Just Fly Away. On the night of the event only, a $12 Boswell gift card is available in lieu of the book. That said, you must take the book option to get in the signing line.

Thursday, April 13, 4:00 pm, at Boswell:
A Green Pants Dance Party with Kenneth Kraegel, author of Green Pants featuring musical guests Fox and Branch

Jameson only ever wears green pants. When he wears green pants, he can do anything. But if he wants to be in his cousin's wedding, he's going to have to wear a tuxedo, and that means black pants. It's an impossible decision: Jameson would love nothing more than to be in his cousin's wedding, but how can he not wear green pants? Will Jameson turn down this big honor, or will he find a way to make everyone happy, including himself?

About the Author: Kenneth Kraegel is the author-illustrator of the picture books The Song of Delphine and King Arthur's Very Great Grandson, which was a New York Times Notable Book and a Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year.

Dave Fox and Will Branch strive to create a communal atmosphere of fun and high spirits wherever they play. A Fox and Branch show is as much a celebration of being together as it is a musical performance. Based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the nationally known duo has toured the Midwest, the East Coast and the South. They are the winners of four Parent’s Choice recommended awards.

Friday, April 14, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Lindsey Becker, author of The Star Thief.

The constellations come to life in this imaginative fantasy adventure debut from UWM alum and Indie Introduced author Lindsey Becker.

Honorine's life as a maid at the Vidalia mansion is rather dull, dusting treasures from faraway places and daydreaming in front of maps of the world. But everything changes when she catches two brutish sailors ransacking Lord Vidalia's study, and then follows a mysterious girl with wings out into the night.

Suddenly, Honorine is whisked into the middle of a battle between the crew of a spectacular steamship and a band of mythical constellations. The stars in the sky have come to life to defend themselves against those who want to harness their powers. Much to her surprise, Honorine is the crux of it all, the center of an epic clash between magic and science, the old ways and the new. But can this spirited young girl bring both sides of a larger-than-life fight together before they unleash an evil power even older than the stars?

Lindsey Becker writes middle grade fiction with ghosts, monsters, mythical beasts, and daring children who love adventure and magic. The Star Thief is her first novel.

Saturday, April 15, 2:00 pm, at Boswell:
Book Club Afternoon with Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest featuring recommendations from Jane Glaser and Daniel Goldin

Join us for an afternoon delight featuring book club recommendations from Boswell’s Jane Glaser and Daniel Goldin and a talk from Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, the bestselling author of The Nest. A breakout debut novel in 2016, The Nest offers a warm, funny, and acutely perceptive novel about four adults siblings and the fate of their shared inheritance that has shaped their choices and lives.

Every family has its problems. But even among the most troubled, the Plumb family stands out as spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking point on an unseasonably cold afternoon in New York City as Melody, Beatrice, and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab. Months earlier, an inebriated Leo got behind the wheel of a car with a nineteen-year-old waitress as his passenger. The ensuing accident has endangered the Plumbs' joint trust fund, "The Nest," which they are months away from finally receiving. Meant by their deceased father to be a modest mid-life supplement, the Plumb siblings have watched The Nest's value soar along with the stock market and have been counting on the money to solve a number of self-inflicted problems.

A story about the power of family, the possibilities of friendship, the ways we depend upon one another and the ways we let one another down. In this tender, entertaining, and deftly written debut, Sweeney brings a remarkable cast of characters to life to illuminate what money does to relationships, what happens to our ambitions over the course of time, and the fraught yet unbreakable ties we share with those we love.

Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney's first novel, The Nest, is The New York Times bestseller which has been translated into more than 25 languages and optioned for film with Sweeney writing the adaptation.

Monday, April 17, 6:30 pm, at University School Milwaukee, 2100 E Fairy Chasm Rd, River Hills:
Devorah Heitner, author of Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World.

Many parents feel that their kids are addicted, detached, or distracted because of their digital devices. Media expert Devorah Heitner, however, believes that technology offers huge potential to our children—if parents help them. Screenwise offers a realistic and optimistic perspective on how to thoughtfully guide kids in the digital age. Using the foundation of their own values and experiences, parents and educators can learn about the digital world to help set kids up for a lifetime of success in a world fueled by technology.

Screenwise is a guide to understanding more about what it is like for children to grow up with technology, and to recognizing the special challenges—and advantages—that contemporary kids and teens experience thanks to this level of connection. In it, Heitner presents practical parenting hacks: quick ideas that you can implement today that will help you understand and relate to your digital native. The book will empower parents to recognize that the wisdom that they have gained throughout their lives is a relevant and urgently needed supplement to their kid’s digital savvy, and help them develop skills for managing the new challenges of parenting.

This is part of USM’s speaker series. This event will be held in Mellowes Hall at the Upper School. Registration is requested.

Devorah Heitner, PhD is the founder and director of Raising Digital Natives, a resource for parents and schools seeking advice on how to help children thrive in a world of digital connectedness.

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending April 8, 2017, plus Journal Sentinel book links

Here's what's been selling at Boswell. We're mystery heavy this week in fiction.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
2. Earthy Remains, by Donna Leon
3. In This Grave Hour, by Jacqeline Winspear
4. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
5. The Women in the Castle, by Jessica Shattuck
6. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman
7. The Idiot, by Elif Batuman
8. Everything You Want Me to Be, by Mindy Mejia
9. Prussian Blue, by Philip Kerr
10. American War, by Omar El-Akkad

Elif Batuman has another good week on the bestseller list with The Idiot. It's the story of a disengaged first-generation Turkish immigrant at Harvard in the 1990s who starts a complicated email relationship with a Hungarian graduate student. Elaine Margolin at The Washington Post found it "quirky" and a bit "rambling" while Constance Grady in Vox called it "chilly" and "playful" and notes that the story is about semiotics. But whatever people think, it's the debut that everyone is writing about - she's a New Yorker writer, so that makes sense. For I think the best explanation of why you might love this book, try Mike Fischer's review in the Journal Sentinel.

And we should note that if you were waiting for A Gentleman in Moscow to come out in paperback this fall, or even summer (as was once planned), you should readjust. Due to continuing demand, Amor Towles's beloved novel has been pushed back. And I should note that word of mouth really is amazing on this book - we get so many customers coming back to talk about it.

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Truth About Your Future, by Ric Edelman
2. The Kim Kardashian Principle, by Jeetendr Sehdev
3. Hallelujah Anyway, by Anne Lamott
4. Wisconsin Sentencing in the Tough-on-Crime Era, by Michael O'Hear
5. Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari
6. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan
7. The Book of Joy, by the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Carlton Abrams
8. The Education of Will, by Patricia McConnell
9. When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi
10. Dear Ijeawele, by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie

Chimananda Ngozi Idichie has another bestseller in her second short work of nonfiction, Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. Zoe Greenberg in The New York Times calls this "a 63-page blueprint for achieving that reality. Written as a letter to a friend, the book offers a set of guidelines for how to raise a feminist daughter." The profile goes onto note her literary superstardom: "She took the stage in front of a sold-out crowd at Cooper Union, and there was 'this kind of unanimous scream,' said Robin Desser, a Knopf editor who has worked with Ms. Adichie for 12 years. 'I really have never seen anything like this,” Ms. Desser said. “And I’ve published people who are really popular.'"

Paperback Fiction:
1. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
2. Bertrand Court, by Michelle Brafman
3. The Little Red Chairs, by Edna O'Brien (In Store Lit Group 5/1, 7 pm)
4. Milk and Honey, by Rupi Kaur
5. The Excellent Lombards, by Jane Hamilton
6. The Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett
7. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
8. The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George
9. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
10. The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Boswellian Jane tells me that her latest Literary Journeys program at the Whitefish Bay Library sold out within the week. It's been building in popularity but Ernest Hemingway (hence the bestseller appearance for The Sun Also Rises) put it over the edge. It's been a big week for paperback releases, with the three year wait for All the Light We Cannot See finally over. We're also pleased to see Jane Hamilton's The Excellent Lombards place the first week out, helped by a big recommendation from Jim Higgins at his event for Wisconsin Literary Luminaries, our #1 nonfiction book this week. Look for a big event involving Hamilton to be announced later this week by our email newsletter.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Wisconsin Literary Luminaries, by Jim Higgins (event at Whitefish Bay Library Wed 5/10, 6:30 pm)
2. Borchert Field, by Bob Buege (event at Books and Company in Oconomowoc Thu 5/11, 7 pm)
3. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
4. Brick Through the Window, by Steven Nodine, Eric Beaumont, Clancy Carroll, David Luhrssen
5. Requiem for the American Dream, by Noam Chomsky
6. My Two Elaines, by Martin Schreiber
7. Live and Let Live, by Evelyn Perry
8. The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman (playing at the Downer Theater, see offer below)
9. On Reading, Writing, and Living with Books, edited by Pushkin Press
10. KL, by Nikolaus Wachsmann

The Zookeeper's Wife, based on Diane Ackerman's book, has been playing at the Downer Theater for a week. Katie Walsh in the Chicago Tribune wrote: "The Holocaust film has become a genre unto itself, and sadly, there are more than enough stories from that era to continue the trend. Against ever-shifting, polarized political landscapes, the lessons gleaned from the horrors of this very recent past are never not relevant. But too often, many of these biopics fall prey to well-trod norms and conventions. In Niki Caro's The Zookeeper's Wife, the backdrop of a Warsaw zoo offers a new angle, and features a show-stopping performance from Jessica Chastain as the real-life Antonina Zabinski, but it otherwise follows a familiar path."

The studio sent us totes and pens celebrating the release. Show us your ticket receipt and get a tote or pen or both, while supplies last.

Books for Kids:
1. Jake the Fake Keeps It Real, by Craig Robinson and Adam Mansbach, with illustrations by Keith Knight
2. Bently and Egg, by William Joyce
3. Oh Ick, by Joy Masoff and Jessica Garrett
4. Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo, by William Joyce
5. A Day with Wilbur Robinson, by William Joyce
6. The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors, by Drew Daywalt, with illustrations by Adam Rex (Drew Daywalt at Wauwatosa Public Library, Thu May 4, 4 pm)
7. Spy School, by Stuart Gibbs
8. A Is for Activist, by Innosanto Nagara
9. Forge V2, by Laurie Halse Anderson
10. Beyond the Pond, by Joseph Kuefler (event at Boswell Fri Apr 21, 4 pm, with Miss Cupcake dirt cupcakes for attending kids)

We had a busy week with school visits, with three of our authors crisscrossing the metro area. Two other authors, Drew Daywalt and Joseph Kuefler, will be visiting area schools in the weeks to come. Kuefler is touring for Rulers of the Playground, hence the dirt cupcakes from Miss Cupcake. The pop in sales was for his previous work, Beyond the Pond. Daywalt's The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors just came out--he'd normally be coming this week, but we had to adjust for family spring break. The new book has the same playful spirit of The Day the Crayons Quit and its spinoffs. Our third picture book writer (like Kuefler, also an illustrator) is Kenneth Kraegel for Green Pants. He'll be at Boswell this Thursday, also at 4 pm, with Fox and Branch opening. It's a Green Pants dance party.

As we were moving displays, we realized it was time for our graduation table display and the alarm for publishers also went off as here come the graduation books. Turning speeches into books has been a big trend for a long time and Jim Higgins at the Journal Sentinel reviews the newest high-profile speech as book, John Waters's. He's a fan: "Make Trouble, adapted from his speech to the Rhode Island School of Design class of 2015, is a commencement address I consumed with joy, will likely read again and would be happy to give to young people — especially brooding, complicated young people. (Yes, you.) Its pleasures are enhanced by playful typography and droll, sketchy illustrations by Eric Hanson, including several delightful ones of Waters, a pencil-thin man with a pencil-thin mustache."

It's rare to see a Penguin Classic getting first-class review attention but Mike Fisher encourages people to rediscover one this week's TapBooks page: "'God help Kenya, my love.' So says Warĩĩnga, heroine of Kenyan novelist Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o’s Devil on the Cross, a classic indictment of neocolonialism and corruption in Kenya. First published in Gĩkũyũ in 1980 and then in English in 1982, it’s being republished this week as the latest addition to the Penguin African Writers Series." Whoever was chatting with me this week looking for novels about colonialism after reading Monique Roffey's The White Woman on the Green Bicycle, I hope you're reading this.

And finally, originally publisherd in the Star Tribune is a roundup of young adult novels from Trisha Collopy. Featured are:
--The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
--The Exo Project, by Andrew DeYoung
--Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story, by Caren Stelson
--Just a Girl, by Carrie Mesrobian

DeYoung could have appeared at UW-Madison's Nelson Institute Earth Day conference that features a number of dystopian writers, including Emily St. John Mandel.

A day with cartoonist Keith Knight, the illustrator behind "Jake the Fake Keeps it Real"

Jake is a kid who gets into Music and Art Academy by playing the piano. There's only one problem. It turns out it's the only song he knows.

His sister Lisa is so talented she can make butteflies and candy fly out of her saxophone when she plays it. It turns out that Keith Knight confirms this is true. If you haven't seen this happen, it means that the saxophonist in question isn't as good as Lisa. Even if it's Kenny G.

Jake the Fake Keeps it Real is a new book written by Craig Robinson and Adam Mansbach, based on Robinson's childhood. Did you know he was a musician before he broke out as a comedian and actor in The Office and Hot Tub Time Machine? The illustrator is Keith Knight, whose work is inspired by Charles M. Schulz, Bill "Calvin and Hobbes" Watterson, and Chuck Jones. So you can imagine that when Crown Books for Your Readers asked if we wanted to host Mr. Knight for a day of school visits, I jumped at the chance and offered to do the school visits myself.

Aside: in our office hangs a poster of the Chuck Jones exhibition at the Circle Gallery in New York. It was given to me when I worked at Warner Books in New York and has followed me to every job. While I can't say I have every cartoon memorized, I have been a huge cartoon and animation fan for much of my life. Knight noticed this when he was at the store, but probably didn't know it was mine. Now he knows!

Knight's day began at Morning Blend on TMJ4. You can watch his interview here.


Knight visited two schools. If you are an educator and want to know more about our authors-in-schools programs, contact Todd.

In between schools, Mr. Knight spotted a Little Free Library. He placed his book there for borrowing.

Knight then spoke to Mitch Teich at Lake Effect. We'll post that interview when it airs.

And then Knight did a public event at Boswell, cosponsored by 4Core. They did a great job at getting out kids, and we also had a number of adults who followed Knight's work as a cartoonist, having created three strips - the Knight Life, (th)ink, and the K Chronicles. He has was named a 2015 History Maker by the NAACP. Read his bio here.

Why have signed copies of Jake the Fake at Boswell.

Happy eighth anniversary of soft opening, two days later. We get a present (cupcakes) and I get a present (an old shopping bag)

It was eight years ago, this past Monday that Boswell had our soft opening. We're going to be celebrating our 8th birthday (or anniversary, whatever you prefer), on Saturday, April 29, 7 pm, when I'll be in conversation with Liam Callanan, who wrote the Boswell essay in My Bookstore, which is coming out in paperback later this month. The new edition will have several new bookstore profiles.

April 29 is also Independent Bookstore Day.

And it's also the minus one year anniversary of the release of Liam Callanan's Paris By the Book. How exciting is that? We'll do a very, very early preview, of course. Just a tiny one, as I don't want to give everything about the new book away.

One of our favorite Friends of Boswell gave us two presents, one for booksellers (cupcakes) and one for me. And what do you think it was? It was a paper shopping bag from Polsky's of Akron, a store I visited after they went out of business but before it was redeveloped. One particularly great thing about Polsky's was that it was build on a hill, so you could enter on the first floor on one side of the building and could take the escalator up to an upper floor and exit out of the other side of the building. Yes, I got to visit the downtown Akron O'Neil's before it closed.

The store was run by the Polsky Brothers, even after it was sold to Hahn (later Allied) Stores. More from the Akron Beacon Journal.

I always look to the Department Store Museum website for old photos.

And yes, there is a bookstore in the building, a Barnes and Noble college store run for The University of Akron.

Officially this is not a shopping bag but a "flex box" made by Equitable Bag, which dominated the shopping bag trade and was based in Queens, near where my grandmother lived when I was young. Had I known better, I would have asked to tour the factory?

And the next day our new plastic bags came in. I chose a darkish turquoise which seems to be one of the "it" colors for the book industry. Look at the selection of books we have (all author events, no less) that look nice with the new bag, all available for purchase on the Boswell website. Maybe "Readers" doesn't have enough green to be in this photo, but I included it anyway.

Here are the books:
--Don't Let My Baby Do Rodeo, by Boris Fishman

--Good Grief, by Theresa Caputo

--Books for Living, by Will Schwalbe

--The Nest, by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney (coming Saturday, April 15, 2 pm, at Boswell for our book club day presentation)

--Jake the Fake Keeps It Real, by Craig Robinson and Adam Mansbach, illustrated and autographed by Keith Knight

--The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, by Katarina Bivald (and on that one, we've run out of signed copies as she came last May).

As a bonus the Polsky's and Boswell bags look very nice together. 

Event Alert: artist Keith Knight, baseball expert Bob Buege, Jim Higgins on Wisconsin writers, and don't forget about Andrew McCarthy

Here's what's going on at Boswell this week.

Tuesday, April 4, 4:30 pm, at Boswell:
Keith Knight, illustrator of Jake the Fake Keeps It Real

This event is cosponsored by 4Core. Here's a little more about their mission: "In an age where strong African-American men and boys appear to be diminishing, the 4Core are committed to putting a positive image of African-American boys in the forefront as they plant seeds in their own community, raising revenue to support increasing the cultural representation across the arts, while growing their impact and legacy."

From one of the funniest and most highly regarded cartoonists in America, and the creator of three popular comic strips: the Knight Life, (th)ink, and the K Chronicles, now comes graphic novel, Jake the Fake Keeps It Real written by actor/comedian Craig Robinson and popular author, Adam Mansbach, sure to be a delight fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

For the past two decades this multi-award-winning artist illustrator has brought the funny back to the funny pages with his uniquely personal style. Read this Publishers Weekly profile about how Mansbach and Knight came together: "He and Knight share a friendship that began with a chance encounter more than a decade ago, when they were both living in the San Francisco area (Knight has since moved to North Carolina). 'Adam and I were both invited to make presentations to a college class,' Knight recalled. 'I loved what he was presenting, and he loved what I was presenting, and we discovered that we had a lot in common. We’re both originally from Boston and love the Red Sox, we’re both hip-hop fans, and we were both rappers in different bands. We’d hang out quite a lot. He had recently written Angry Black White Boy, which I loved, and I always hoped to work with him – and was waiting for that time.'"

Keith Knight is a rapper, social activist, father, and educator. He’s also one of the most highly regarded cartoonists in America, and the creator of three popular comic strips: the Knight Life, (th)ink, and the K Chronicles. Knight is the recipient of the Eisner Award and the NAACP History Maker award. His art has appeared in various publications worldwide, including The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Ebony Magazine.

Wednesday, April 5, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Bob Buege, author of Borchert Field: Stories from Milwaukee’s Legendary Ballpark.

Anyone lucky enough to live on Milwaukee’s near north side between 1888 and 1952 could experience the world without ever leaving the neighborhood. Nestled between North Seventh and Eighth Streets and West Chambers and Burleigh, Borchert Field was Milwaukee’s major sports venue for 64 years. In this rickety wooden stadium (originally called Athletic Park), Wisconsin residents had a close-up view of sports history in the making, along with rodeos, thrill shows, and even the multiple eruptions of Mount Vesuvius.

In Borchert Field, baseball historian Bob Buege introduces the famous and fascinating athletes who dazzled audiences in Milwaukee’s venerable ballpark. All the legendary baseball figures—the Great Bambino, Satchel Paige, Ty Cobb, Joltin’ Joe, Jackie Robinson, the Say Hey Kid— that played there. Olympic heroes Jim Thorpe, Babe Didrikson, and Jesse Owens displayed their amazing talents in Borchert. Borchert Field is long gone, but every page of this book takes readers back to the sights, sounds, and spectacle of its heyday.

Bob Buege is the author of The Milwaukee Braves: A Baseball Eulogy and Eddie Mathews and the National Pastime. He is president of the Milwaukee Braves Historical Association, director of the Wisconsin Old Time Ballplayers Association, and a member of the Society for American Baseball Research.

Thursday, April 6, 7:00 pm, at Boswell
Jim Higgins, author of Wisconsin Literary Luminaries: From Laura Ingalls Wilder to Ayad Akhtar.

Wisconsin Literary Luminaries offers succinct appreciations of ten writers associated with the Badger state, from the humble cabin in the woods where Laura Ingalls Wilder grew up, to contemporary playwright Ayad Akhtar's multicultural dramas. Explore how Aldo Leopold and Lorine Niedecker drew on their close observations of the natural world. Contrast the distinct novels that Jane Hamilton and Larry Watson set on Wisconsin apple orchards. Delve into Thornton Wilder's enduringly popular Our Town and the wild fiction of Milwaukee natives Ellen Raskin and Cordwainer Smith, who wrote like no one else.


Jim Higgins is the arts and books editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where he has reported since 1983. Higgins was part of the Journal Sentinel writing team that won the Association of Food Journalists 2004 award for special projects for a series on obesity. He is also a two-time winner of the Sentinel staff-voted award for humor writing.

Read an excerpt of Wisconsin Literary Luminaries in the Journal Sentinel, focusing on Ellen Raskin, author of the 1979 Newbery Award winning novel, The Westing Game. 

And next week: Monday, April 10, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
A ticketed event with Andrew McCarthy, author of Just Fly Away

Andrew McCarthy has worn many hats. He's beloved for his starring film roles in Pretty in Pink, Mannequin, and Less than Zero. He appeared on Broadway in the Tony-Award-winning production of Side Man. He's directed series such as Orange Is the New Black and The Blacklist. And his work as a travel writer and Editor at Large for National Geographic led to his bestselling memoir, The Longest Way Home, and the editor slot for Best American Travel Writing 2015.

From his interview with Kevin Smokler in Salon: "I started doing a version of this book probably eight or nine years ago, an adult novel about a guy who had a child out of wedlock from a one-night affair and how that secret affected his marriage. Then I struggled a few years and put it aside to write that other travel book that you’d mentioned, all the while directing, too. Then at a certain point when I came back to the novel . . . I was actually sitting on a plane to go to Los Angeles and I thought of it suddenly from the girl’s point of view as 'my dad’s an asshole, he’s got this other kid across town.' So suddenly I was writing what I knew instantly was sort of a YA book. I found that very liberating. I was suddenly telling a story that I wanted to tell all the while without knowing this was the story I wanted to tell till I start telling it.

Tickets are $19 and include admission to the event and a copy of Just Fly Away. Visit Brown Paper Tickets now.

What's selling at Boswell? Jessica Shattuck, Sara Baume, Ruud Gullitt all have nice sales pops, as does one book whose event had to be postponed.

Here's what sold at Boswell last week.

Hardcover Fiction:
1. All Grown Up, by Jami Attenberg
2. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
3. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
4. The Women in the Castle, by Jessica Shattuck
5. Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult
6. Difficult Women, by Roxane Gay
7. News of the World, by Paulette Jiles
8. A Piece of the World, by Christina Baker Kline
9. The Hearts of Men, by Nickolas Butler
10. The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, by Jennifer Ryan

The Women in the Castle is the #1 Indie Next Pick for April, and it has gotten a nice sales pop out of the gate. Riding a surge of World War II historical fiction (note our #1 paperback bestseller, and imminent paperback releases of mega-selling All the Light We Cannot See and The Nightingale), Shattuck's women are the widows whose husband's paid the price for their plot against Hitler. From her interview with Scott Simon on NPR's Morning Edition: "I loved to look at the old photo albums with my grandmother, and at some point we came across some pictures of my grandfather in Nazi uniform, and suddenly I had a whole different sense of what they had been a part of. I knew they had led these kind of agricultural youth programs, but seeing that he was wearing a Nazi uniform while leading the programs really drove home the point that their 'ordinary German' experience was that of Nazis."

Harcover Nonfiction:
1. The Truth About Your Future, by Ric Edelman
2. Marching into Darkness, by Waitman Wade Beorn
3. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan
4. Identity Unknown, by Donna Seaman (event postponed to 4/27, 7 pm, at Boswell)
5. Good Grief, by Theresa Caputo
6. Dinner, by Melissa Clark
7. The Making of Milwaukee, by John Gurda
8. Listen, Liberal, by Thomas Frank
9. Milwaukee: City of Neighborhoods, by John Gurda
10. Richard Nixon, by John A. Farrell

Yes, Donna Seaman's event for Identity Unknown had to be postponed due to illness, but fortunately we had a great slot for her in Thursday, April 27, as the event with Heather Ann Thompson at Turner Hall (for Blood in the Water) had to be postponed to Monday, November 6, 7 pm, due to a conflict. In the meantime, if you hadn't been considering this event, why not read more about the book in Elaine Margolin's Washington Post review: "Female creators rise in all their splendor and defiance in Donna Seaman’s wonderful new book that chronicles the lives of seven American artists. These women, one of whom died only in 2007, have already been mostly forgotten by the art world, which Seaman sees as inexcusable and here does her best to correct. She claims her book, Identity Unknown, is not a work of art criticism or a feminist manifesto but her own exploration of the forces that propelled these women to create while facing obstacles their male counterparts didn’t have to consider."

Paperback Fiction:
1. Everyone Brave Is Forgiven, by Chris Cleave
2. Don't Let My Baby Do Rodeo, by Boris Fishman
3. Transfer, by Naomi Shihab Nye
4. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
5. Spill Simmer Falter Wither, by Sara Baume
6. A Climate of Fear V9, by Fred Vargas
7. Saga V7, by Brian K. Vaughan
8. Milk and Honey, by Rupi Kaur
9. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman
10. In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez (In Store Lit Group 4/3, 7 pm)

One of our event highlights of 2015 was being able to host Sara Baume, author of the beautiful Spill Summer Falter Wither, which is now out in paperback and which The Atlantic called "an unsettling literary surprise." The story of 50-something Ray and his dog, living on the Irish coast, has been compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Amy Weiss-Meyer continues: "With British critics swooning too, you might well think it’s time for an American backlash—but the book, now out in the U.S., is indeed an unsettling literary surprise of the best sort. This first novel’s voice is singular in its humility and imaginative range...Baume’s prose makes sure we look and listen. Her book insists we take notice."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Live and Let Live, by Evelyn M. Perry
2. Maybe Next Year, by Greg Pearson
3. Listen, Liberal, by Thomas Frank
4. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
5. It Chooses You, by Miranda July
6. On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder
7. Brick Through the Window, by Steven Nodine, Eric Beaumont, Clancy Carroll, and David Luhrssen
8. Secondhand Time, by Svetland Alexievich
9. Borchert Field, by Bob Buege (event 4/5, 7 pm, at Boswell)
10. How to Watch Soccer, by Ruud Gullit

Ruud Gullitt's bio shows why he was the person to write How to Watch Soccer, which had a nice pop off our front tables in its second week of sale. From the publisher: "He was the captain of the Netherlands team that won the 1988 European Football Championship and played in the 1990 World Cup. He was named -European Footballer of the Year- in 1987 and -World Soccer Player of the Year- in 1987 and 1989. After he retired from the field, he managed the LA Galaxy and several other teams around the world. He currently works as a broadcaster, regularly covering soccer matches on TV in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, the Netherlands, and across the Middle East." Please note we normally use publisher copy without quotes, but since I copied it verbatim, I thought it better to include them. And here's the Kirkus Reviews review.

Books for Kids:
1. Hidden Figures Young Readers Edition, by Margot Lee Shetterly
2. Famous, by Naomi Shihab Nye
3. Penguins, by Penny Arlon
4. Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson
5. Out of My Mind, by Sharon M. Draper
6. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate DiCamillo
7. Life in Motion, by Misty Copeland
8. Pizza the Size of the Sun, by Jack Prelutsky
9. Pax, by Sara Pennypacker with illustrations by Jon Klassen
10. The Warden's Daughter, by Jerry Spinelli

Our list this week is heavily driven by school orders this week. One recently published pick is Jerry Spinelli's The Warden's Daughter, which came out in early 2017. Holly Goldberg Sloan wrote about the book in The New York Times Book Review: "But how can you profoundly miss a parent you never knew? And if you’re looking everywhere for someone to be the mother you never had, will the world present an endless series of heartbreaking disappointments? Set mainly in 1959, in a small Pennsylvania town, this latest novel by Jerry Spinelli, the author of many books for young readers including the Newbery Medal-winning Maniac Magee, explores these questions and many others with the flair of a master storyteller.

Speaking of Newbery Medal winners, over at the Journal Sentinel, the big news is an excerpt from Jim Higgins's new book, Wisconsin Literary Luminaries and the Sunday Tap section features an excerpt about Ellen Raskin, the Wisconsin cover designer who went on to write the Newbery medal winning The Westing Game. Did you know that Gillian Flynn has said she reads this book once a year? Read the excerpt now, and don't forget to come to our event with Mr. Higgins on Thursday, April 6, 7 pm. And yes, our copies arrived on Friday.

What do you know? Misty Copeland, who had a book on the kids bestseller list, also is featured in the reviews, with a piece on Ballerina Body: Dancing and Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger, and More Graceful You. This essay from Moira Macdonald, originally published in the Seattle Times, observes: "In addition to practical advice about food and fitness, Ballerina Body goes deeper, in a chapter devoted to mentoring — obviously something deeply personal for Copeland (who, to this day, is still involved with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America). 'We’re human beings, not robots — we have days when we’re down and we need that support from people we trust and respect,' she said."

Also on the TapBooks page is local Mike Fischer's take on No One Cares about Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America, from Ron Powers. While setting off the story with the comment "And really, end of the day, who the hell wants to read about schizophrenia anyway? Not me," Fischer notes "Powers actually cares a great deal, for reasons spelled out on his first page. Kevin, the younger of his two children, hanged himself in 2005, just before turning 21. His brother Dean, two years and eight months older, experienced a psychotic break on Christmas Day 2012; the following summer, he tried to drown himself. Schizophrenia drove both boys to the brink." Our reviewer liked the book best when Powers focused on the personal.

And reprinted in the Journal Sentinel from the Los Angeles Times is a profile ow Margaret Atwood by Margaret Wappler, on the release of Angel Catbird Volume 2: To Castle Catula. Wappler offers this on the new book: "Illustrated by artist Johnnie Christmas and colorist Tamra Bonvillain, Angel Catbird is a fantasia firmly rooted in Atwood’s playful side, though not without its bleak undertones. Volume 2 follows the same cast of shape-shifting characters, including Strig Feleedus, a genetic engineer hybridized with his pet cat and a preying owl in a chemical spill-cum-car accident. He’s battling his villainous lab boss, a rat-human hell-bent on wiping out all other species, especially the cat-humans whom Angel Catbird aligns with, mostly to spend time with sexy fellow scientist Cate Leone."