So last Thursday I visited amazing Boswell Books in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (“Milwaukee” is one of few tricky names I seem to get instinctively right: I just start typing, and everything makes sense. As compared to Albuq.. etc). It was a glorious, dangerous evening.

Boswell Books is located on 2559 N Downer Ave, Milwaukee; a charming bookshop on a charming street. I think this bookshop has sold more of my books than any other bookshop in the country. They even have a Team Broken Wheel. Bookseller Jen Steele was its first member, and she then recommended/forced the other people at the bookshop to read it, and it spread from there, until they had sold an incredible 145 copies of my book.

Tragically, they combined my even with “Book Club Night”: they put together a guide for book club with interesting books of different genre that might make for good discussions in a book club, and they began the night by presenting some ten of their favourites. Daniel and Jane were amazing, and somehow managed to talk passionately about their ten favourites or so while still keeping it under 30 minutes.

I’m in so much trouble, I thought, as I sat and listened to them talk about great books. I wanted to read them all, but somehow I managed not to buy all of them that night. Their recommendations included The Residence (want to read), Between You and Me (want to read), Girl Waits With Gun (have read, great book), A Re-Union of Ghosts (want to read), At the Waters Edge (want to read), A Spool of Blue Thread (want to read), The Turner House (want to read), The Little Paris Bookshop (great book), Kitchens of The Great Midwest (want to read).

Daniel seemed like something of a writer’s saint. He discussed difficult second books, and mentioned one author who’s second book hadn’t sold as well as the first: “Because it’s not selling, he thought it not as good, so I keep forwarding comments from readers who have loved it.”

A lot of Swedes living in Milwaukee had also mananged to find their way here, so I got to speak some Swedish!

Through some amazing miracle of self discipline I managed to only buy two books: Everybody’s Fool by Richard Russo, and House of Thieves by Charles Belfoure