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This week, I'm very excited to introduce my book, Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don't Float: Classic Lit Signs on to Facebook. It's just as it sounds-a giant mash-up of classic literature and social networking. Everyone is here: Jane Austen and Kurt Vonnegut, Fitzgerald and Hemingway, Dante and the Brontës and George Orwell and Edgar Allan Poe, all representing their finest work: from Beowulf to Lolita, The Odyssey to Ulysses. And just as we all do in social media, they update their statuses, post awkward photos, make strange comments, play time-sucking games and take an inordinate amount of quizzes. (Though, being "classic," what they do is a whole lot more interesting.)

But why let me do all of the explaining? Here's an abridged version of the book's introduction, where Shakespeare himself lays out the rules of this "network," while inviting these classics into his "Admirable, Righteous, Singular and Incomparable Booke Club Group."

TO MY MOST NOBLE, HONORABLE, PRAISEWORTHY AND ATTRACTIVE PURCHASERS. I MEAN BRETHEREN. HERIN SHALL WE RESIDE A SPELL AMONG THE COMPANY OF SUCH GREAT MINDS AS TO

» Craig Johnson discusses the latest book in the "Walt Longmire" Western mystery series, The Dark Horse, as well as his experiences with fans of the series and his job as a mystery writer.

» Read more about The Dark Horse

Craig Johnson, The Dark Horse, Podcast

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President Obama Spotted Reading Penguin Group (USA) Books

The Daily Beast recently pulled together a compilation list of every book that President Barack Obama, “Reader in Chief,” has been spotted with since May 2008. The list included two Penguin Group (USA) titles:

• Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet by Jeffrey D. Sachs (The Penguin Press/Penguin). Read about it in this New York Times article.
• Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll (The Penguin Press/Penguin). Read about it in this New York Times article.

To view the complete list of books, click here.
 

Avery Author Pam Allyn Spreads the Love of Reading in Kenya

In What to Read When, Avery author and award-winning educator Pam Allyn (pictured) offers an eye-opening guide to how parents can best inspire children through reading together. Providing essential advice that ranges from choosing appropriate titles to reading aloud effectively, What to Read When ultimately celebrates the power of reading aloud with children.

Over the summer, Allyn traveled to Kenya, where she was able to share her powerful message as part of LitWorld, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to ending child illiteracy. This past July, LitWorld hosted one of its Teacher Training Institutes in the Kibera region of Nairobi, where Allyn and 74 other teachers led individualized training sessions for local teachers. Despite the harsh conditions of the slum, in an email Allyn described not only the resourcefulness and determination of its local teachers, but also the children’s eagerness to learn. One young girl even waited for her because she wanted to re-read Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat. Over the course of eight intense days, in the workshops she and her colleagues encouraged teachers to share their stories, try new methods of reading and writing, and eventually lead their own lessons.

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Riverhead Author James McBride Named Finalist for 2009 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction 

Earlier this week, James McBride, Riverhead author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Color of Water and Miracle at St. Anna, was announced as a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for fiction for his latest novel, Song Yet Sung. A haunting story of a runaway slave and a determined slave-catcher in pre-Civil War Maryland, Song Yet Sung explores the moral choices faced by both blacks and whites and the meaning of freedom.

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize honors writers whose work uses the power of literature to foster peace, social justice, and global understanding. Launched in 2006, it has already established itself as one of the world’s most prestigious literary honors, and is the only literary peace prize awarded in the United States. As an offshoot of the Dayton Peace Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize awards a $10,000 cash prize each year to one fiction and one nonfiction author whose work advances peace as a solution to conflict, and leads readers to a better understanding of other cultures, peoples, religions, and political points of view.

McBride is one of six fiction finalists who will be reviewed by a panel of prominent writers, including Gerald Early, Cullen Murphy, Gordon Lish, and Katherine Vaz. A winner and runner-up in fiction and nonfiction will be announced on September 22nd.

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Viking/ Penguin’s Elizabeth Gilbert To Publish a New Memoir With Viking

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, will have a new memoir out from Viking in January 2010. Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage begins where Eat, Pray, Love ended—just after Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who’d been living in Indonesia when they met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. (Both were survivors of divorces.) But providence intervened one day in the form of the U.S. government, which—after unexpectedly detaining Felipe at an American border crossing—gave the couple a choice: they could either get married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again.

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Sarah Schmelling is our guest blogger during the week of August 24th. If you have any questions for Sarah Schmelling , add a comment to any of her posts. Here is some more information about Ophelia Joined The Group Maidens Who Don't Float: Classic Lit Signs On To Facebook:

When humorist Sarah Schmelling transformed Hamlet into a Facebook news feed on McSweeney's, it launched the next big humor trend-Facebook lit. In this world, the king "pokes" the queen, Hamlet becomes a fan of daggers, and Ophelia renounces her interest in moody princes. Now, what began as an internet phenomenon is a book. Ophelia Joined The Group Maidens Who Don't Float: Classic Lit Signs on to Facebook is a clever spoof of the most-trafficked social networking website and a playful game of literary who's who. The book brings more than fifty authors and stories from classic literature back to life and online, and it is sure to have book lovers and Facebook addicts alike twittering with joy.

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Berkley’s Bengal’s Heart by Lora Leigh Debuts at #1 on the New York Times Mass Market Fiction Bestseller List, as Berkley/ NAL Continues to Dominate This List

Powerhouse romance author Lora Leigh’s latest release from Berkley, Bengal’s Heart, hit shelves early this month, garnering much praise and landing in the #1 slot on the New York Times mass market fiction bestseller list its first week on sale. This marks the first time Leigh has debuted at #1. This latest installment in her popular Breeds series also landed the #1 spot on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list in its first week, as well as the #22 position on the USA Today bestseller list. All are personal records for Leigh. Bengal’s Heart remains on the New York Times mass market fiction list for the second week, this week at #17.

Berkley/ NAL continues to dominate the New York Times mass market list in 2009. For the week of August 30th, eleven of the 20 slots are occupied by Berkley/ NAL titles – 55% of the list! Ace's Charlaine Harris holds seven slots on the list this week: Dead Until Dark at #3 in its 38th week; From Dead to Worse at #5 in its nineteenth week; Club Dead at #8 in 24th week; Living Dead in Dallas at #10 in its 32nd week; Dead to the World at #11 in its eighteenth week; Dead as a Doornail at #13 in its eleventh week and Definitely Dead at #15 in its eleventh week. In addition, Storm of Visions by Christina Dodd (Signet) is #16 in its second week; Bengal’s Heart by Lora Leigh (Berkley) is #17 in its second week; Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva (Signet) is #18 in its seventh week; and Promises in Death by J.D. Robb (Berkley) is #19 in its third week.