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The New York Times Bestseller Highlights for the Week of November 22nd 

Penguin Group (USA) has ten debuts on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of November 22nd: Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb (Putnam) is #3 on the hardcover fiction list; The Audacity to Win by David Plouffe (Viking) is #6 on the hardcover nonfiction list; and Knit Two by Kate Jacobs (Berkley) hits at #20 on the trade paperback fiction list. On the mass market fiction list, Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh (Berkley) is #8; Me and My Shadow by Katie MacAlister (Signet) is #9; Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction by David Michaels (Berkley) is #13; and Bookplate Special by Lorna Barrett (Berkley) is #20. Why We Suck by Denis Leary (Plume) hits at #17 on the trade paperback nonfiction list; while Million-Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica (Philomel) is #4 on the children’s chapter books list; and The Omnivore’s Dilemma for Kids by Michael Pollan (Dial) is #8 on the children’s paperback books list.

Here are more New York Times bestseller highlights:

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Patricia Cornwell, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sue Grafton, John Sandford, Jan Karon, Kathryn Stockett, Jan Brett and Mike Lupica Are Among the Bestselling and Critically-Acclaimed Authors Sharing the Books that Top Their Personal Holiday "Wish Lists"

New York, New York, November 16, 2009... Penguin Group (USA) has launched the second annual "What to Give & What to Get," an opportunity for readers to find out what books are on their favorite writers' holiday gift lists this year—both to give and to receive. Over forty beloved Penguin Group (USA) authors have shared the books that rank at the top of their lists for the 2009 gift-giving season, ranging from classic to current, fiction to nonfiction, adult to children's, and from any publisher, to help spread the word that books make the perfect gift.

The "What to Give & What to Get" program includes many anecdotes from authors who have shared the books that have personal meaning to them and their loved ones: Elizabeth Gilbert comments that she is planning a "19th-century literature bender" in 2010, with books by George Eliot and Anthony Trollope topping her wish-list. Patricia Cornwell plans to give Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick, the book that inspired her visit to Graceland, and thinks Mike Lupica's Million Dollar Throw "would be a great gift for a young person." Sue Grafton will be giving Malcolm Gladwell's Blink and The Outliers. Sue Monk Kidd would like to receive The Help by Kathryn Stockett—who in turn wants to give David Benioff's City of Thieves. Jan Karon will give Brenda Ueland's If You Want to Write to the aspiring writers on her gift-list. Jan Brett plans to give Born to Run by Christopher McDougall to family members that share her love for long-distance running. Geraldine Brooks will be sharing Jerry Pinkney's The Lion and the Mouse with the young children on her list. Robert Crais will channel his "foodie" side and Southern background by giving My New Orleans by John Besh to his friends and loved ones. Mike Lupica hopes to get Spooner by Pete Dexter, who, in his opinion, "is always worth the wait."

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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 customer orders through October); twelve books from Penguin Group (USA) were included on this list.

The Penguin Group (USA) titles among the Top 100 Amazon Editors Picks are:

• #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 Magicians 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)

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Penguin Young Readers Group Lands a Record-Breaking Eleven Titles on The New York Times Bestseller Lists

Penguin Young Readers Group scores eleven titles on the New York Times bestseller lists, a record-breaking performance, for the week of November 15th. For the previous two weeks, the Group dominated the New York Times children's bestseller lists, landing ten titles each week, and has managed to top its own record this week. Congratulations to all involved in this impressive accomplishment.

For the week of November 15th, on the children’s picture books list, Skippyjon Jones, Lost in Spice by Judy Schachner (Dutton) is #6 in its seventh week; Otis, written and illustrated by Loren Long (Philomel) is #8 in its sixth week; Strega Nona’s Harvest, written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola (Putnam), is #9 in its seventh week; and Miss Smith and the Haunted Library by Michael Garland (Dutton) is #10 in its third week. On the children’s chapter books list, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (Razorbill) is #6 in its 52nd week; Fire by Kristin Cashore (Dial) is #7 in its fourth week; and Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus (Dutton) is #9 in its fourth week. On the children's paperback books list, Three Cups of Tea: Young Readers Edition by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Puffin) is #2 in its 41st week; and Impossible by Nancy Werlin (Speak) is #10 in its fifth week. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (Razorbill) is #10 on the children’s series list in its fifteenth week. In addition, DK’s Lego Star Wars by Simon Beecroft (DK) is #2 on the picture books list in its fourth week.

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The French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, who introduced a structuralist and universalist approach to the study of anthropology has died, a month before he would have turned 101.

Levi-Strauss was born in 1908 in Belgium and grew up in France, in a French-Jewish family long involved in the arts. He began field work and teaching in the 1930s, primarily in Brazil. He was a visiting professor at the New School in New York in the 1940s and then returned to Paris, where he received his doctorate.

In 1955, Levi-Strauss published what many see as his most influential work, Tristes Tropiques. Levi-Strauss began the story of his anthropological work in Brazil and elsewhere by declaring: "I hate traveling and explorers." And indeed, many of his critics' largest problems with his structuralist approach to anthropology, which sought universal ideas in so-called primitive societies to show human commonalities, was that Levi-Strauss was not an explorer. He preferred study to fieldwork. Levi-Strauss searched for an underlying universal structure to humanity and believed that humans relied on opposites, such as cold vs. hot, to understand the world.

Tristes Tropiques was one man's look at humanity, his attempts and work to understand it. Much of anthropology has changed since the book was published 55 years ago and Levi-Strauss himself rejected the idea that he was the "father of structuralism". But regardless of labels, his influence on anthropology is undeniable and his works will continue to be read by those still trying to make sense of how people explain the world around them.

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True story:  Hamlet was my first boyfriend. 

It was the summer of 1995. The O.J. Simpson trial was in full swing, as was a war in the Balkans. Much smaller dramas were taking place in my hometown of Marblehead, Massachusetts. I was thirteen and rehearsing for my fifth production with a children's theatrical troupe called the Rebel Shakespeare Company.

This was what we did, my friends and I. While our peers played sports or hung out at the mall developing social skills, we rehearsed and performed Shakespeare plays in an old Revolutionary War fort-turned-park. Our audiences consisted mostly of extremely patient parents steeled for a long afternoon of watching children in velvet capes shout unintelligibly over the roar of overhead airplanes. But we loved it. Those summers were imbued with the kind of magic that can only be created by combining the thrill of performing some of the greatest scenes in the English language with approximately one zillion hormones.

Naturally, it was a recipe for romance.

In our production, Hamlet was played by a young actor who was a big star in the Marblehead children's acting scene. Everybody thought he was going to grow up to be famous, including him. He had floppy red hair, a scattering of freckles, way too much energy, and a not-at-all secret crush on me.

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Sentinel’s Mike Huckabee Hits the Road on a 60-Bookstore Tour through 21 States

On November 3rd, Sentinel will publish former Governor Mike Huckabee's new book, A Simple Christmas: Twelve Stories That Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit.

Unlike his previous New York Times bestseller, Do The Right Thing, this one has nothing to do with politics. It's a collection of true stories from his own life, ranging from childhood to the present -- all taking place at Christmas time. Some of these memories will bring a smile, some may bring a tear, but all will help readers reconnect with the things that really matter -- faith, family, love, and hope.

Huckabee is going on another massive national bus tour (his bus is pictured) - 60 bookstore signings in 21 states in 3 weeks. The events will cross-promote the paperback of Do The Right Thing. In addition, he is scheduled to make several national TV, radio, and print appearances, starting with his own talk show ("Huckabee") on Fox News Channel this weekend. In December, after the tour, he will wrap up with mainstream media including “The Daily Show” and “The View.”

For more information, click here.

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The New York Times Bestseller Highlights for the Week of November 8th

Penguin Group (USA) has two debuts on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of November 8th: The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam) hits the hardcover fiction list at #2; and Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin (Viking) is #4 on the hardcover nonfiction list. In addition, DK’s Lego Star Wars by Simon Beecroft hits the #1 slot on the children’s picture books list, in its third week.

Here are more New York Times bestseller highlights:

On the hardcover fiction list, The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn Books/ Putnam) is #5 in its 30th week; A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris (Ace) is #12 in its third week, Rough Country by John Sandford (Putnam) is #15 in its fourth week; and The Professional by Robert B. Parker (Putnam) is #16 in its third week.

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via press release:

Producer Michael Schwarz says the main characters in this film don't move and they don't talk. "As main characters, that makes it tough," he says about producing "The Botany of Desire," featuring Author Michael Pollan and based on his best-selling book.

Airing on Wednesday, October 28, at 8 p.m. EST on PBS, the special takes viewers on an eye-opening exploration of the human relationship with the plant world -- seen from the plants' points of view. Narrated by Frances McDormand, the program shows how four familiar species -- the apple, the tulip, marijuana (Cannabis) and the potato -- evolved to satisfy our yearnings for sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control.

Schwarz said the whole notion of looking at the world from a plant's point of view was something that nobody had really done before. "It's very provocative and intriguing, and the stories of the plants themselves were so surprising. The most interesting thing about the book is the chance it gives you to get inside Michael's head as he's thinking about these plants, and musing about them, and it is the philosophical nature of the book that's interesting."

The talented cinematographers brought a lot of the look to the film, according to Schwarz. "The interesting thing about cameras is that they can see things that we don't. And one of the things we really tried hard to do was to see the plants in a way you don't ordinarily see them when you look at them in nautre. So we wanted to take them out of their natural environment some, but we also tried to look at them very close up. We used a lot of macro photography in some cases. You saw a lot of that with the marijuana plant, in particular, where you just don't see the resin," Schwarz explains.

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Berkley Author Julie Hyzy Wins Two Awards at the 2009 Boucheron

Berkley Prime Crime author Julie Hyzy has won two awards for her book, State of the Onion: A White House Chef Mystery: the Anthony Award and the Barry Award in the Best Paperback Original category. Both awards were presented this past weekend in Indianapolis at Bouchercon, the largest annual meeting in the world for mystery lovers.

The Barry Awards are named for one of the most beloved ambassadors of mystery fiction, Barry Garner, and are voted on the readers of Mystery News and Deadly Pleasures. The Anthony Awards are named for Anthony Boucher, one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America, and are among the most prestigious awards in the world of mystery writers.

Julie Hyzy’s new White House Chef Mystery, Eggsecutive Orders will be out in January 2010 and features the White House Easter Egg Roll.