Penguin Group USA Librarian's Den

New York Times Bestseller highlights- Busy Week!

On the hardcover fiction list, The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam) is #6 in its second week; The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn Books/ Putnam) is #7 in its 31st week; and A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris (Ace) is #15 in its fourth week.

Too Big to... Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin (Viking) is #6 on the hardcover nonfiction list in its second week.

On the mass market fiction list, Heat Lightning by John Sandford (Berkley) is #11 in its fourth week; while Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley) is #14 in its tenth week.

On the paperback nonfiction list, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) is #2 in its 144th week; The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (Penguin) is #17 in its 111th week; The Reason for God by Timothy Keller (Riverhead) is #19 in its twelfth week; and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (Penguin) is #20 in its 27th week.Read More

Fifteen Books from Penguin Group (USA) Are Amazon's Editors Picks for 2009
Penguin Group (USA) books are prominently featured on Amazon's annual list of Editors Picks for 2009, securing fifteen titles on the Top 100. In addition to the Editors Picks, Amazon also ranked the Top 100 Customer Favorites (according to custo...mer orders through October); twelve books from Penguin Group (USA) were included on this list.
#11 The Gamble by Thomas Rick (The Penguin Press)

#14 This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathon Tropper (Dutton)

#19 The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn/Putnam)

#24 Both Ways Is The Only Way I Like It by Maile Meloy (Riverhead)

#28 Born Round by Frank Bruni (The Penguin Press)

#39 The Defector by Daniel Silva (Putnam)

#40 The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vasquez (Riverhead)

#43 Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed (The Penguin Press)

#52 The Magician by Lev Grossman (Viking)

#63 Everything Matters by Ron Currie (Viking)

#71 Green Metropolis by David Owen (Riverhead)

#74 Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby (Riverhead)

#86 Rapt by Winifred Gallagher (The Penguin Press)

#90 D-Day by Antony Beevor (Viking)

#94 Inherent Vice by Thoman Pynchon (The Penguin Press)

#97 Imperial by William T. Vollmann (Viking) http://Read More

Review of the Day, November 9, 2009
Library Journal LOVES the Surrendered by Chang Rae Lee, due out in March 2010

June Singer is a middle-aged Korean woman living in the United States and dying of cancer, but before she dies, she wants to accomplish two things: find her son, who is drifting around Italy, and make a redem...ptive pilgrimage to the Chapel of Bones. She enlists the unwilling help of Hector, her son's father, whom she hasn't seen since the 1950s, when she was a child in a Korean orphanage and Hector was an ex-soldier working as the handyman. Throughout June and Hector's painful journey, we learn about the Tanners, the couple who ran the orphanage; Sylvie Tanner's childhood as a daughter of missionaries who were slain in front of her; the possessive love that June and Hector had for Sylvie; and the resulting calamity that has haunted them their whole lives. VERDICT This is a completely engrossing story of great complexity and tragedy. Lee's (Aloft ) ability to describe his characters' sufferings, both physical and mental, is extraordinarily vivid; one is left in awe of the human soul's ability to survive the most horrific experiences.-Joy Humphrey, Pepperdine Univ. Law Lib., Malibu, CARead More

Review of the Day, November 3, 2009
Seven Penguin Group (USA) Titles Nominated for Books for a Better Life Awards Seven titles from Penguin Group (USA) are among the finalists for the 14th Annual Books for a Better Life Awards, given by the New York City chapter of the National MS Society.
The nominees are:
The Curse o...f the Good Girl by Rachel Simmons (The Penguin Press) in the Childcare/Parenting category

Shop Class As Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford (The Penguin Press) in the First Book category

Not Becoming My Mother by Ruth Reichl (The Penguin Press) in the Inspirational Memoir category

Your Money Ratios by Charles Farrell, J.D., LL.M (Avery Books) in the Personal Finance category

Play by Stuart Brown, M.D. with Christopher Vaughan (Avery Books) in the Psychology category

The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow (Gotham Books) in the Relationships category
The Little Book on Meaning by Laura Berman Fortgang (Tarcher / Penguin) in the Spiritual category
The awards recognize authors of self-improvement books who impacted the second half of the 20th century more than any other genre. Five finalists are chosen from more than 500 entries for each of ten categories. The winners will be honored on Monday, February 22, 2010 at a gala ceremony at The Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City.Read More

Review of the Day, November 2, 2009
Penguin Press’ Christopher Benfey Wins 2009 Phi Beta Kappa Gauss Award Christopher Benfey’s A Summer of Hummingbirds (The Penguin Press) has been chosen for the 2009 Phi Beta Kappa Gauss Award. The Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards are given each year to outstanding scholarly books published... in the United States. The Christian Gauss Award is offered for books in the field of literary scholarship or criticism. The prize was established by the Phi Beta Kappa Senate in 1950 to honor the late Christian Gauss, the distinguished Princeton University scholar, teacher and dean who also served as President of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. To be eligible, a literary biography must have a predominantly critical emphasis.Read More

Review of the Day, October 30, 2009 Penguin Author Randa Jarrar Named One of Beirut39’s “39 under 40”
Randa Jarrar, author of A Map of Home (Penguin), has been named one of ‘Beirut39’ Project’s “39 under 40,” it was announced at the Frankfurt Book Fair last week. Beirut39 is a Hay Festival project which aims to select a...nd celebrate 39 of the most interesting Arab writers under the age of 40 as a part of the Beirut World Capital festivities 2009/10. Beirut39 follows on from the extremely successful Bogotá39, which the Hay Festival launched in Bogotá in 2007 and which identified many of the outstanding upcoming Latin American talents, including Riverhead’s Junot Díaz and Juan Gabriel Vásquez.
Beirut39 will celebrate the best 39 Arab writers under 40 in Beirut in a festival to be held April 15-18th of next year. An anthology featuring the authors' work will be published simultaneously in English and Arabic by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing.Read More

Review of the Day, October 29, 2009
Dutton's Harlan Coben Named Favorite Crime Genre Author at the 2009 Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards
Dutton’s Harlan Coben was named this week as Britain's ITV3 viewers' favorite crime genre author as part of the 2009 Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards, sponsored in conjunction with the... Crime Writers Association. Coben was chosen out of a pool of five authors by viewers who voted via a six-week long online poll. The awards, which were held this past Wednesday in London, are the longest established literary awards in the UK, and are internationally recognised as a mark of excellence and achievement.Read More

Review of the Day- October 27, 2009
Penguin Press’ Karl Jacoby Wins Albert J. Beveridge Book Award
Penguin Press author Karl Jacoby has been selected by the American Historical Association as the winner of this year’s Albert J. Beveridge Book Award for his book, Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of... History. The Beveridge Award honors U.S. Senator Albert J. Beveridge (Indiana, 1899 - 1911), a longtime member of the Association and an active supporter of history as both a lawyer and a senator. It is given annually for the best book in English on the history of the United States, Latin America, or Canada from 1492 to the present.
Jacoby will be honored at the American History Association’s annual conference on January 8th in San Diego.Read More