Sunday, October 1, 2017

Boswell bestsellers for the week ending September 30, 2017

Here's our bestsellers for the week ending September 30, 2017.

1. Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee
2. Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng
3. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
4. A Column of Fire, by Ken Follett
5. The Golden House, by Salman Rushdie
6. My Absolute Darling, by Gabriel Tallent
7. The Ninth Hour, by Alice McDermott
8. Complete Stories, by Kurt Vonnegut
9. Sleeping Beauties, by Stephen King and Owen King (next week's #1 guaranteed)
10. Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult

Katherine Brooks in HuffPost reports on Kurt Vonnegut's Complete Stories: "Arriving a decade after the prolific writer’s death, the historic survey of Vonnegut’s work brings his affecting cultural criticism ― and empathetic storytelling ― back into the spotlight. Having lived through the politics of World War II and the ensuing Cold War, the contentious U.S. interventions in the late 20th century, the rise in xenophobia and religious intolerance following 9/11, and an alarming surge in climate change denial throughout, Vonnegut’s writing explodes with disquieting warnings and lessons that continue to ring true for contemporary readers."

Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Vanishing America, by Ben Sasse
2. The Forgotten Man, by Amity Shlaes
3. American Spirit, by David McCullough
4. From Here to Security, by Robert Reynolds
5. Darth Vader and Son, by Jeffrey Brown
6. What Happened, by Hillary Rodham Clinton
7. Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah
8. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
9. The World Broke in Two, by Bill Goldstein
10. Alone, by Michael Korda

Glenn C. Altschuler reviews Alone: Britain, Churchill, and Dunkirk: Defeat Into Victory in the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune: "Michael Korda, former editor in chief of Simon and Schuster and the author of more than a dozen books, was seven years old in 1940, living in England with his family. In Alone, he combines military history and memoir in a compelling account of the beginning of World War II, the fall of France and the 'miracle' of Dunkirk."

Paperback Fiction:
1. In Grace's Time, by Kathie Giorgio
2. Karolina's Twins, by Ronald Balson (event at Chai Point on Tuesday, October 24, 3 pm)
3. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
4. Milk and Honey, by Rupi Kaur
5. Free Food for Millionaires, by Min Jin Lee
6. Lilac Girls, by Martha Hall Kelly
7. Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann
8. Swing Time, by Zadie Smith (book club discussion December 4, 7 pm)
9. Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
10. Once We Were Brothers, by Ronald H. Balson

Milk and Honey's long run on the national bestseller lists is likely to have company when Rupi Kaur's newest collection The Sun and Her Flowers on October 3. Of the new book, the publisher writes "Divided into five chapters and illustrated by Kaur, The Sun and Her Flowers is a journey of wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming. A celebration of love in all its forms."

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse, by John Nichols
2. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
3. Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren
4. The Zen of Slime, by Prim Pattanaporn
5. How to Fight, by Thich Nhat Hanh
6. The Devil Finds Work, by James Baldwin
7. Lonely Planet Spanish Phrasebook
8. The Politics of Resentment, by Katherine J. Cramer
9. Brick Through the Window, by Steven Nodine, Eric Beaumont, Clancy Carroll, and David Luhrssen
10. Star Wars Super Graphic, by Tim Leong

The newest book in Thich Nhat Hanh's how-to repackaging is How to Fight. From the publisher: "This time Nhat Hanh brings his signature clarity, compassion, and humor to the ways we act out in anger, frustration, despair, and delusion. In brief meditations accompanied by whimsical sumi-ink drawings." The illustrations are from Jason DeAntonis.

Books for Kids:
1. Lucy and Andy Neanderthal V1, by Jeffrey Brown
2. Lucy and Andy Neanderthal: Stone Cold Age V2, by Jeffrey Brown
3. The Stars Beneath Our Feet, by David Barclay Moore
4. The Explorer, by Katherine Rundell
5. Rooftoppers, by Katherine Rundell
6. Wolf Wilder, by Katherine Rundell
7. A Creepy Pair of Underwear, by Aaron Reynolds, with illustrations by Peter Brown
8. Ghost V1 (paperback), from Jason Reynolds
9. Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, by Katherine Rundell
10. Patina V2, by Jason Reynolds

Until the bestseller lists are reported, most Boswell followers don't know who is in Milwaukee doing school events if there's no public event. Showing up on this list is Aaron Reynolds, whose A Creepy Pair of Underwear is a follow up to the Caldecott Honor title Creepy Carrots!

And then there's Jeffrey Brown, whose Darth Vader and Son humor book led to a series of Star Wars books for kids and adults was in Milwaukee for the Lucy and Andy Neanderthal: Stone Cold Age. He talked about the series with Matt Staggs on Unbound Worlds: "Ever since I was a kid playing with dinosaurs, I’ve been interested in pre-history – and after growing up with The Flintstones, I was really excited to sit down and watch shows like the BBC Walking With Dinosaurs and Walking With Caveman. I started to think that there should be a fun caveman story for kids that was still grounded in the actual research, especially now when there are so many new discoveries being made. I knew I needed a break from Star Wars at some point, and so this seemed like the right project to do something different with."

In the Journal Sentinel TapBooks section, Mike Fischer reviews Jennifer Egan's Manhattan Beach: "For all the metafictional games being played in The Keep and the Pulitzer-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad, even these novels display Jennifer Egan's gifts as an old-fashioned storyteller who pays attention to character while spinning page-turning yarns. Hence it's no surprise to see this relentless shape-shifter - each o fwhose four preceding novels tried something new - to go old school in Manhattan Beach, featuring the sort of smart but constricted Victorian heroine one finds when reading George Eliot."

One print review was Barbara Vancheri's take on Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies, by Ann Hornaday. Hornaday spoke one of the keynote talks at the Milwaukee Film Festival earlier today. From the review that was originally in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "...Hornaday expertly shoares why some films seem magnificent or mediocre, why details matter (a horse's heartbeat in Secretariat, the electrifying walk through the Copacabana in Goodfellas, the workaday routine opening United 93) and why directors with 'chops' can seize the day and magical movie moment."

And from USA Today, James Endrst reviews Bluebird Bluebird, the new mystery from Attica Locke. He writes: "A rich sense of place and relentless feeling of dread permeate Attica Locke's heartbreakingly resonant new novel about race and justice in America. The setting in Bluebird, Bluebird is East Texas, a place with which the author is more than familiar, tracing her family roots through the red dirt, on both sides, to slavery."

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