Hello!
We are loving the sunshine and the warmer days. The birds are in full song and the frogs are out croaking the promises of summer. This week Daniel (Boswell Book Company) and I are in conversation with Abi Daré, author of The Girl with the Louding Voice. She will be joining us from London! Abi Daré has giving us the unforgettable character of Adunni, a young Nigerian girl with such curiosity, open heartedness, and determination. Through Adunni we see how compassion for others can change lives, what a privilege it is to be able to ask 'why', and how each us can make a difference. It is a remarkable novel that reminds me a bit of Little Bee by Chris Cleave.
One of the silver linings from this challenging year has been the Readings from Oconomowaukee series. The conversations have been delightful and have allowed us to reach across the country and over oceans for events that would not have occurred otherwise. I am grateful for Daniel's generosity, vision, and partnership. He is one of a kind. We are all lucky to have him in our bookish community!
Have you pre-ordered your signed and personalized copy of Amy Reichert's new novel, The Kindred Spirits Supper Club?!!! Do so now and receive 10% off! Order here. Supper clubs, The Dells, Old Fashioneds, and a healthy dose of romance. Bring on the binge reading! Amy will be signing books before here virtual launch event on April 19 with Books & Company & Boswell Book Company. It will be a true Wisconsin extravaganza from the comfort of your home. Mix up your favorite Old Fashioned and join us for a laughter filled celebration.
Last April we had to cancel our Unicorn Day Party. It was a big disappointment. This year we can't have an in person celebration (100+ unicorn lovers in our store is still not yet possible), but we are hosting a special ticketed virtual Unicorn Day on April 9 with a take away bag full of craft supplies, books, and other treats. Tickets will go on sale at Noon on Tuesday, March 23 on our website.
I know everyone is anxious to have in person events. We don't know exactly when that will be. Until then, we will continue to find fun and innovative ways to bring events to you.
Cheers and Happy Reading!
Lisa with Katrina, Ken, Chloe, Genavieve, Kristen, Elisabeth, Beth, Joseph, Maureen, Jewell, Toni, Lynn, and Judy
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Current Store Hours
Monday - Friday 9:00 - 6:00 Saturday- Sunday 9:00 - 5:00
Masks required. Limit of 10 customers
Curbside pick up, local delivery, and shipping available.
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ABI DARÉ
in conversation with
Daniel Goldin and Lisa Baudoin
Thursday, March 25th
2:00 p.m.
via Zoom
Join us for our March installment of Readings From Oconomowaukee! This month, Boswell Books' Daniel Goldin and Books & Company's Lisa Baudoin will be in conversation with Abi Daré, author of The Girl with the Louding Voice for the paperback release.
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AMY E. REICHERT
in Conversation with
Daniel Goldin & Lisa Baudoin
Monday, April 19
7:00 p.m.
Via ZOOM
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Join us for a lovely evening for our April Readings from Oconomowaukee! Local favorite Wisconsinite Amy Reichert will be in conversation with Boswell Books' Daniel Goldin and Books & Company's Lisa Baudoin for Reichert's newest novel, The Kindred Spirits Supper Club!
on sale 4/20/21
Jobless and forced home to Wisconsin, journalist Sabrina Monroe can tolerate reunions with frenemies and kisses from old boyfriends, but not the literal ghosts that greet her in this heartwarming tale of the power of love and connection from acclaimed author Amy E. Reichert.
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KATHERINE HEINY
in conversation with
Daniel Goldin & Lisa Baudoin
Thursday, May 6th
7:00 p.m.
via Zoom
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Join us for the May Readings From Oconomowaukee featuring Boswell Books' Daniel Goldin and Books & Company's Lisa Baudoin in conversation with Katherine Heiny for her new novel Early Morning Riser- A wise, bighearted, boundlessly joyful novel of love, disaster, and unconventional family.
(on sale 4/13/21)
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Wednesday, March 24th
1:00 p.m.
ZOOM MEETING
by Alan Hlad
Wednesday, April 28th
1:00 p.m.
ZOOM MEETING
by Laura Morelli
Registration coming soon
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Wednesday, March 17th
6:30 p.m.
ZOOM MEETING
by Ruta Sepetys
Wednesday, April 21st
6:30 p.m.
ZOOM MEETING
by Maureen Johnson
Registration coming soon.
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Tuesday, March 23rd
6:00 p.m.
ZOOM MEETING
by Raymond Fleishmann
Tuesday, April 27th
6:00 p.m.
ZOOM MEETING
by Teresa Dovalpage
Registration coming soon
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Sunday, March 28th
3:00 p.m.
ZOOM MEETING
by Joe McGinniss
by Jerry Allen Potter
Sunday May, 30th
3:00 p.m.
ZOOM MEETING
by Miles Harvey
Registration coming soon.
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BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS - hardcover |
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FICTION
New in Hardcover!
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by Karin Tidbeck
The Gardens are a fantastical place: time doesn't pass for the lords and ladies and every day is the same full of feasts, violent games, and brutal consequences for child servants who grow up. Thistle, a servant, and Dora, a one of a kind outcast, are each others' only comfort. When they escape the Gardens, they are thrust into the crossroads of the multiverse and are taken in by the Memory Theater, a troupe that shows us how important sharing memories are to our personal stories. Bookseller Katrina highly recommends this fantasy and says "This dark and dreamy fairy tale is Tidbeck's best work yet- I absolutely devoured it and am longing for more. This is a perfect read for fans of Christina Henry."
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by Lauren Willig
A scholarship girl from Brooklyn, Kate Moran thought she found a place among Smith’s Mayflower descendants, only to have her illusions dashed the summer after graduation.
Charismatic alumna Betsy Rutherford delivers a rousing speech at the Smith College Club in April of 1917, looking for volunteers to help French civilians decimated by the German war machine. Kate reluctantly agrees to join the new Smith College Relief Unit. Bookseller Lynn says it's "A riveting account from WWI and a group of graduates from Smith College who travel to France to aid villagers whose lives have been shattered by the German army. Based on archival records and letters written by these women who overcame unimaginable struggles to do what they set out to do."
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by Imbolo Mbue
This novel, set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, tells of a people living in fear amid environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company. Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of cleanup and financial reparations to the villagers are made and ignored. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight back. Their struggle will last for decades and come at a steep price. Told from the perspective of a generation of children and the family of a girl named Thula who grows up to become a revolutionary comes a sweeping, wrenching story about a young woman’s willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people’s freedom.
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NONFICTION
New in Hardcover!
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by Olivia Campbell
In the early 1800's, women were dying in large numbers from treatable diseases because they avoided receiving medical care. Examinations performed by male doctors were often demeaning and even painful. In addition, women faced stigma from illness--a diagnosis could greatly limit their ability to find husbands, jobs or be received in polite society. Motivated by personal loss and frustration over inadequate medical care, Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Sophia Jex-Blake fought for a woman's place in the male-dominated medical field.
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by Michelle Nijhuis
In the late nineteenth century, as humans came to realize that our rapidly industrializing and globalizing societies were driving other animal species to extinction, a movement to protect and conserve them was born. In Beloved Beasts, acclaimed science journalist Michelle Nijhuis traces the movement’s history: from early battles to save charismatic species such as the American bison and bald eagle to today’s global effort to defend life on a larger scale.
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by Isabel Allende
“When I say that I was a feminist in kindergarten, I am not exaggerating,” begins Isabel Allende. As a child, she watched her mother, abandoned by her husband, provide for her three small children without “resources or voice.” Isabel became a fierce and defiant little girl, determined to fight for the life her mother couldn’t have. As a young woman coming of age in the late 1960's, she rode the second wave of feminism. She has seen what the movement has accomplished in the course of her lifetime. So what feeds the soul of feminists—and all women—today?
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BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS - paperback |
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FICTION
Now in Paperback!
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by Afia Atakora
A sweeping story that brings the world of the South before and after the Civil War vividly to life. Spanning eras and generations, it tells of the lives of three unforgettable women: Miss May Belle, a wise healing woman; her precocious and observant daughter Rue, who is reluctant to follow in her mother's footsteps as a midwife; and their master's daughter Varina. This was one of Bookseller Ken's favorite novels when it was in hardcover. He says "One of the best novels I read in 2020. Beautiful prose and memorable characters. A mesmerizing look at slavery and freedom."
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by Quan Barry
In the town of Danvers, Massachusetts, home of the original 1692 witch trials, the 1989 Danvers Falcons will do anything to make it to the state finals, even if it means tapping into some devilishly dark powers. Bookseller Genavieve says "This book is everything! The 80's, female relationships, group mentality, witchcraft, sex, love, coming-of-age, Emilio Esteves, telepathy, bad girls and, eventually, sanity. It's hard to put into words but once you read it you'll know--and be compelled to hand it to your friends to read too!"
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by Veronique Tadjo
Bookseller Katrina says "This short book packs a gut punch of emotion. Terrifyingly relevant to today's times, there is so much to be learned from this story. Told from different perspectives of those affected by Ebola in West Africa, this is a fully formed look at human nature during a crisis, good and bad. From the doctors and nurses, the patients, the volunteer gravediggers to the ancient Baobob tree and even the virus itself- Tadjo writes in a way reminiscent of African folktales to tell us the brutal truth of how diseases can unravel us."
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NONFICTION
Now in Paperback!
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by Matthew Goodman
The unlikeliest of champions, the 1949–50 City College Beavers were extraordinary by every measure. New York’s City College was a tuition-free, merit-based college in Harlem known far more for its intellectual achievements and political radicalism than its athletic prowess. At a time when the National Basketball Association was still segregated—every single member of the Beavers was either Jewish or African American. But during that remarkable season, this unheralded group of city kids would stun the basketball world by becoming the only team in history to win the NIT and NCAA tournaments in the same year.
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by Robert Kolker
Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins--aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony--and they worked hard to play their parts. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the ten Galvin boys, one after another, were diagnosed as schizophrenic. How could all this happen to one family?
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by Rebecca Solnit
Rebecca Solnit describes her formation as a writer and as a feminist in 1980s San Francisco, in an atmosphere of gender violence on the street and throughout society and the exclusion of women from cultural arenas. She tells of being poor, hopeful, and adrift in the city that became her great teacher, and of the small apartment that, when she was nineteen, became the home in which she transformed herself. Beyond being a memoir, Solnit's book is also a passionate argument: that women are not just impacted by personal experience, but by membership in a society where violence against women pervades.
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BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS - kids/teen |
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by Brad Meltzer & Dan Santat
Sunday quit, just like that. She said she was tired of being a day. And so the other days of the week had no choice but to advertise: "WANTED: A NEW DAY. Must be relaxing, tranquil, and replenishing. Serious inquires only." Soon lots of hopefuls arrived with their crazy suggestions. Things quickly got out of hand until one more candidate showed up: a little girl with a thank-you gift for Sunday. The girl suggested simply a nice day--a day to be kind. And her gratitude made a calendar's worth of difference to Sunday, who decided she didn't need to quit after all.
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by Nadia Hussain
From the winner of The Great British Baking Show and star of Nadiya's Time to Eat comes a heartfelt story to help give children and parents the tools they need to talk about worries and anxiety. A touching story about a little boy whose worry monster follows him everywhere he goes. It's there when he gets dressed, when he wants to play with his toys, and even when his friends come over to visit. How can he escape his worries? Having struggled with anxiety for as long as she can remember, Nadiya Hussain has written this heartfelt story to ensure that no child suffers in silence—no matter what shape their worry monster may take.
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by Jory John
Jeff the bear has definitely forgotten something. He ate his breakfast, he watered his plant, he combed his fur…what could it be? Why does he feel so oddly off? So he asks his friend Anders the rabbit what could possibly be wrong. It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that he's wearing underwear…over his fur...could it? This is another read-out-loud, laugh-out-loud picture book from bestselling and beloved author Jory John, about that horrible nagging feeling that it just might not be your day—but you know you have a friend to support you no matter what.
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by Dav Pilkey
Dog Man and Petey face their biggest challenges yet in the tenth Dog Man book from worldwide bestselling author and illustrator Dav Pilkey. Dog Man is down on his luck, Petey confronts his not so purr-fect past, and Grampa is up to no good. The world is spinning out of control as new villains spill into town. Everything seems dark and full of despair. But hope is not lost. Can the incredible power of love save the day?
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by Holly Goldberg Sloan
It's been almost a year since Sila's mother traveled halfway around the world to Turkey, hoping to secure the immigration paperwork that would allow her to return to her family in the United States. When Sila accompanies her father (who is a mechanic) outside their Oregon town to fix a truck, things change. There, behind an enormous stone wall, she meets a grandfatherly man who only months before won the state lottery. Their new alliance leads to the rescue of a circus elephant named Veda, and then to a friendship with an unusual boy named Mateo, proving that comfort and hope come in the most unlikely of places.
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by Tui T. Sutherland
Find out what happens next in this exciting saga!
Snowfall didn't expect to be queen of the IceWings at such a young age, but now that she is, she's going to be the best queen ever. All she has to do is keep her tribe within IceWing territory, where it's safe -- while keeping every other tribe out, where they belong.
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by Holly Jackson
The highly anticipated sequel to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder! More dark secrets are exposed in this addictive, true-crime fueled mystery. Pip is not a detective anymore. With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her. But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the sixth-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh.
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by Lindsay Smith
World War II is raging, and five teens are looking to make a mark. Daniel and Rebeka seek revenge against the Nazis who slaughtered their family; Simone is determined to fight back against the oppressors who ruined her life and corrupted her girlfriend; Phillip aims to prove that he's better than his worst mistakes; and Liam is searching for a way to control the portal to the shadow world he's uncovered, and the monsters that live within it--before the Nazi regime can do the same. When the five meet, and begrudgingly team up, in the forests of Germany, none of them knows what their future might hold.
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by Melanie Crowder
Mazie has always longed to be on Broadway. But growing up in her small Nebraska town, that always seemed like an impossible dream. So when an opportunity presents itself to spend six weeks auditioning, Mazie jumps at the chance, leaving behind everything--and everyone--she's ever known. New York City is a shock to the senses: thrilling, but lonely. Auditions are brutal. Mazie's homesick and she misses the boyfriend whose heart she broke when she left. Nothing is as she expected. Mazie is the story of a girl caught between two lives--and two loves--as she navigates who she is, what matters most, and the cost of following her dream.
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