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Boswell Book Company

2559 North Downer Avenue at Webster Place

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211

(414) 332-1181, www.facebook.com/boswellbooks

Our Hours: Monday-Saturday, 10 am to 9 pm, Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm

and we're always open at boswellbooks.com!

Boswell Book Company Newsletter               December 1, 2014, day 2069


Happy December to all the book lovers!  It's the season when our selection is at its fullest. Jason and Amie have spent months stocking the store with interesting books for both adults and kids, and Jen, under Jason's tutelage, has been finding some great bargains. We've still got a nice assortment of boxed gift cards and what we've been told is the nicest assortment of ornaments in town.

As always, each Boswellian has some great book ideas. For Jane, it's definitely the year of Penelope Fitzgerald. The new biography, from Hermione Lee, is called Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life, and it was recently reviewed in the front page of The New York Times Book Review. Jane says the book is absolutely fascinating; Fitzgerald didn't have her first book published until her fifties, which led her to remark that she was, per Schiff "an old writer who has never been a young one." Per Schiff, "she is also a distinctly English writer, because, she explained, the Englishman considers 'life not important enough to be tragic and too serious to be comic.'" Want a novel instead? Jane recommends Offshore, which won the Booker Prize.

If you're wondering what the literary novel of the year is, the awards are starting to roll in. The National Book Award went to veteran Phil Klay for his Iraq stories, Redeployment, while the Man Booker was awarded to Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North, which chronicles the Australian prisoners-of-war in Japan during World War II. The Dylan Thomas Prize, which just this year raised its age cap to 39 from 29, went to Man Booker shortlister Joshua Ferris, author of To Rise Again at a Decent Hour.

I am a big fan of Ferris's novel too, and it shows my dilemma of reading books that are not exactly obvious recommendations; all the books I seem to like this year either have crazily intricate plots, like Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven, or pretty much no plot at all, like Ferris. My favorite novel of the year might well be Miriam Toews' All My Puny Sorrows, which is not the most obvious hand-sell. In addition to not much of a plot,  it's about a woman struggling with her sister's severe depression, several years after their father committed suicide. It's also the most honest and funny book I've read this year, and many reviewers have felt the same way, such as Curtis Sittenfeld in The New York Times Book Review.

Want more recommendations? Our holiday print newsletter should be showing up in the mailboxes of folks who regularly shop using the Boswell Benefits program. We'll also have copies available at Boswell, and hope to have it posted on our website soon.
Meet the Grinch, Tuesday, December 2, 4 pm, at Boswell.

As part of the "Grow Your Heart Three Sizes" holiday campaign, the Grinch himself will be making a visit to Boswell from 4-5 pm on Tuesday, December 2. We'll have some activities for kids, plus you can take a picture with the Grinch. 
A Tour of Danish Food Traditions with Carol "Orange" Schroeder, Wednesday, December 3, 7 pm.
 

Danish cuisine has been in the gastronomic spotlight since Noma was voted the best restaurant in the world for three years running. Noma is part of the New Nordic Cuisine movement, making use of fresh local ingredients to create variations on traditional food and drink. This new book provides tips on how and what to order in Denmark as well as a culinary history of the country and an introduction to its quickly growing local foods trend.

 

Please join us for an exciting event with Carol "Orange" Schroeder, proprietor of Madison-based Orange Tree Imports and co-author of Eat Smart in Denmark, a new guide connecting menus and markets to geography, history, and regional pride. Orange will be joined by Joan Peterson of Eat Smart Guides and Ginkgo Press. It's all happening on Wednesday, December 3, and yes, we'll be serving kringle from O&C Bakery. 

Scott Stoner at Boswell, Thursday, December 4, 7 pm.
 

Minister, psychotherapist, local author, and founding Director of the Samaritan Family Wellness Center, Rev. Dr. Scott Stoner, will join us at Boswell Book Company to discuss his new book Your Living Compass, which engages readers in a 10-week, self-guided wellness retreat, with daily ten-minute readings, plus small, meaningful action steps designed to improve readers' lives, relationships, and work.  

 

Living Compass is a church-based faith and wellness program designed for individuals and small groups. Deeply spiritual and exceedingly practical, Your Living Compass joins the national Living Compass network, which includes a website, workshop series, wellness resources (including a free Living Well with Living Compass app), social media, and a new multi-million-dollar wellness center located in the offices of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago.

What's Happening on Downer Avenue?

Don't forget that Historic Downer Avenue hosts Festive Friday on December 5, 5-8 pm. It's a low-key celebration this year, featuring lighted Christmas trees and refreshments.
The highlight is the dog costume contest, held in front of Cafe Hollander at 7 pm.

In other Downer news, Bel Air Cantina has taken over the Via Downer space and has proven to be a big hit. Paperwork has moved upstairs from Sendiks. Lynn still offers fine custom stationery and invitations, along with greeting cards and wrap. The new address is 2639 N. Downer Avenue, Suite 3; the phone remains (414) 963-0555. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm. 

And since we're talking about local here, this is a good place to thank Sharon and Jannis for helping put together our Small Business Saturday/Indies First contingent of author/guest booksellers. 
Fundraiser Events: Shop for Shir Hadash, St. Robert School, and Maryland Avenue Montessori School.

This year we have three shopping events. With each one, four hours are set aside where a percentage of your designated purchases goes back to the sponsoring organization, in lieu of Boswell Benefits, and we should note here that the donation is double what you'd earn in Benefits. We should also note that gift card purchases do not qualify, but paying with a gift card does qualify the purchase.

Here are the three shopping days:
--Sunday, December 7, 2-6 pm: Shir Hadash, featuring readings from Lauren Fox and Anne Basting at 3 pm.
--Saturday, December 13, 10 am-2 pm: St. Robert School Bobcats, featuring student readings at 11 am.
--Sunday, December 14, 4-8 pm: Maryland Avenue Montessori pajama party.

The organizations will also be staffing our gift wrap table, and several will also be offering a fundraising item for purchase. If you are attending, don't forget to let your bookseller know to designate the purchases to the participating organization. And if your organization is interested in participating in 2015's shopping night program, contact Daniel.  And this is a good place to thank Jane and Carly for coordinating our volunteer giftwrappers.  
Kate Funk at Boswell, Tuesday, December 9, 7 pm.
 

What do you get when you combine a BFA in photography from MIAD and an unimpressed black cat? A Super-Amazing, 100% Awesome time!! Meet us at Boswell for a hilarious night with local author Kate Funk, author of The Best Cat Book Ever, featuring her kitty sidekick, AC, dressed as a unicorn, a garden gnome, a ninja, the Abominable Snowman, and many more. You don't want to miss this talk and signing, complete with full-color slides of AC loving his costumed life!

 

Move over Grumpy Cat-here comes the most super-amazing, 100% awesome, BEST cat book...ever! Do you like cats? Do you really, really like cats? Do you like cats who look like they are seriously pissed off? Do you like cats who are seriously pissed off and dressed in hilarious costumes? Are you impressed by this photographer's ability to get her cat to pose as such things as an abominable snowman, Medusa, a jazzercise instructor, and a dinosaur? If you answered "yes" to these questions-you're in luck, because this book has all of those things, and more! Our purr-ific event is Tuesday, December 9, 7 pm. 

Ludmilla Bollow at North Shore Library, Wednesday, December 10, 6:30 pm.
 

Please join us at the North Shore Library, located at 6800 N. Port Washington Road in Glendale, for an evening event suffused with Christmas spirit! Award-winning playwright, novelist, and local author, Ludmilla Bollow, will be discussing and signing copies of her touching new memoir, Lulu's Christmas Story: A True Story of Faith and Hope During the Great Depression, in which she recounts the year before her family's toughest Christmas.

 

The Story begins in small-town Wisconsin. In the trying times of the Great Depression, Lulu can't wait for Christmas to come around. Her anticipation transforms into anxiety when her father loses his job, doubts about Santa surface, and the Shirley Temple doll of her dreams seems ever out of reach. Her mother reveals her own brutal Christmas experiences as an orphan, adding even more worries to the already troubling mix. But Lulu's deep faith and vibrant hope keep her looking forward to each new day and believing tirelessly in the glorious gift of Christmas. Will Lulu triumph? Find out on Wednesday, December 10, at the North Shore Library, at the special start time of 6:30 pm. 

 

Ren�e Rosen at Boswell, Thursday, December 11, 7 pm.
 

On the night of the Great Chicago Fire, 17-year-old Delia Spencer watches as the flames rise and consume her beloved hometown. While she couldn't imagine how much her life and the world around her would change, she would be equally shocked to find that the agent of change was the man she met that same night, Marshall Field.  

 

Leading the way in rebuilding after the fire, Marshall Field's success grew out of his famous instinct to "give the lady what she wants," and it was a charm and intensity that won Delia's heart. The only problem? Both were married. What the Lady Wants chronicles their thirty-year affair.  What the Lady Wants, the new novel by Ren�e Rosen, is classic historical fiction, filled with lots of detail, and a large dollop of juicy society gossip.  

 

Ren�e Rosen is the author of two previous novels, Dollface and Every Crooked Pot. Her talk will include a Marshall Field's slide presentation. Come by and see our store window, featuring classic Marshall Field's shopping bags and other memorabilia and don't forget about our talk/reading on Thursday, December 11, 7 pm.

Mark Slouka on Friday, December 12, 7 pm, at Boswell.
 

The year is 1968. The world is changing, and teenage Jon Mosher is determined to change with it. Racked by guilt over his older brother's childhood death and stuck in the dead-end town of Brewster, he turns his rage into victories running track. Meanwhile, Ray Cappicciano, a rebel as gifted with his fists as Jon is with his feet, is trying to take care of his baby brother while staying out of the way of his abusive, ex-cop father. When Jon and Ray form a tight friendship, they find in each other everything they lack at home, but it's not until Ray falls in love with beautiful, headstrong Karen Dorsey that the three friends begin to dream of breaking away from Brewster for good.   

  

Mark Slouka's novel, Brewster, won raves from folks like Ron Charles in The Washington Post, who observes that "Slouka's real triumph here is capturing the amber of grief, the way love and time have crystallized these memories into something just as gorgeous as it is devastating." It's "a masterpiece of winter sorrow, a tale of loss delivered in the carefully restrained voice of a man beyond tears." Read the whole review here.

Brewster received an Alex Award by the American Library Association, naming it as one of the ten best teen-friendly adult novels of 2013. Here's the complete list. Why not read the book with your own son or daughter? You're both welcome to Slouka's talk/reading on Friday, December 12, 7 pm, at Boswell.
John Eastberg on Pabst Farms, Tuesday, December 30, 7 pm, at Boswell.
 
Although the Pabst name is world-famous for its ties to the brewing industry, Fred Pabst Jr. balanced his duty to the family brewery with his love of land and livestock. In 1906, he began purchasing large parcels of land near Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, to create one of the most important model farms in the United States. Employing the latest advances in American and European agricultural theory, he organized a sustainable farming operation that provided all that was necessary for his self-sufficient farm.

Now in the book Pabst Farms: The History of a Model Farm, John C. Eastberg chronicles the Pabst family legacy. Eastberg has served as the Pabst Mansion historian since 1993, and is also the author of The Captain Frederick Pabst Mansion and last year's Layton's Legacy: A Historic American Art Collection, 1888-2013. Join us Tuesday, December 30, 7 pm.
Don't Forget Our Holiday Hours.

Sunday, December 14: 10 am to 8 pm
Sunday, December 21: 10 am to 8 pm
Monday, December 22: 9 am to 9 pm
Tuesday, December 23: 9 am to 9 pm
Wednesday, December 24: 9 am to 5 pm
Thursday, December 25: closed
Wednesday, December 31: 10 am to 5 pm
Thursday, January 1: 10 am to 5 pm. Yes, we're open! 
While we always close with a thank you (and an apology in advance for any typos, at this time of year, it should be even more clear that we wouldn't have a bookstore without you. Here's hoping that your Christmas season, whatever holiday you celebrate, is filled with joy.

A toast to you, in our new Boswell pint glass, of course,
 
Daniel Goldin with Amie, Anne, Barb, Carly, Conrad, Greg, Jason, Jane, Jannis, Jen, Josh, Mel, Pam, Phoebe, Scott, Sharon, Terrail, and Todd