Penguin Group (USA) Weekly Update - 1/28

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Eight Penguin Group (USA) Books Named Finalists for the 2008 Edgar Awards

Eight titles from Penguin Group (USA) have been nominated for the 2008 Edgar Allan Poe Awards:

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• In the Woods by Tana French (Viking) for Best First Novel
• Arthur Conan Doyle by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley (The Penguin Press) for Best Critical/Biographical
• The Birthday Party by Stanley Alpert (G. P. Putnam's Sons) for Best Fact Crime
• Relentless Pursuit by Kevin Flynn (G. P. Putnam's Sons) for Best Fact Crime
• Sacco & Venzetti by Bruce Watson (Viking) for Best Fact Crime
• Rat Life by Tedd Arnold (Dial Books for Young
• Readers) for Best Young Adult
• Wild Indigo by Sandi Ault (Berkley Prime Crime) for the Simon & Schuster/Mary Higgins Clark Award
• The First Stone by Judith Kelman (Berkley Prime Crime) for the Simon & Schuster/Mary Higgins Clark Award

Sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America, the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, the most prestigious awards given in the mystery writing field, are bestowed annually upon authors of distinguished work in various categories of the mystery genre. The winners of this year's awards will be announced at the annual Edgar Awards Banquet in New York City in late April of this year.

Gotham's American Shaolin is a 2008 ALA Alex Award Winner; 35 Young Readers Titles Among 2007's Best Books for Young Adults

American Shaolin by Matthew Polly (Gotham) was selected by the American Library Association to receive a 2008 Alex Award, which honors ten adult books with specific teen appeal. The awards, sponsored by Booklist, were announced at the 2008 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, January 11th-16th. In addition, an impressive 35 Penguin Young Readers titles made the list for the ALA's Best Books for Young Adults, in ten different categories, with three more adult books, including The Long Road Home by Martha Raddatz (G. P. Putnam's Sons), A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead), and American Shaolin also recognized.

Film Version of Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees Starts Production

Fox Searchlight Pictures has begun production on the film based on Penguin's The Secret Life of Bees, which will feature an all-star cast, including Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Sophie Okonedo, Alicia Keys, Paul Bettany, Hilarie Burton and Nate Parker.

Set in South Carolina in 1964, the film is the moving tale of Lily Owens (Fanning) a 14-year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother (Burton). To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father (Bettany), Lily flees with Rosaleen (Hudson), her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by the intelligent and independent Boatwright sisters (Latifah, Okonedo and Keys), Lily finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping, honey and the Black Madonna.

New on the Penguin Website

Paul Thomas Anderson's latest masterpiece, There Will Be Blood, inspired by Upton Sinclair's classic novel Oil!, has been nominated for eight Academy Awards this year and received nods for Best Actor and Best Motion Picture. Check out the official movie site.

Listen to an audiobook excerpt from W.E.B's new thriller, The Shooters, on the Penguin Podcast.

The New York Times Bestseller Highlights for the Week of February 3rd

For the week of February 3rd, Beverly Hills Dead by Stuart Woods (G. P. Putnam's Sons) debuts at #4 on the hardcover fiction list.

Here are more bestseller highlights for the week of February 3rd:

On the hardcover fiction list, Penguin Group (USA) once again occupies 40% of the list, for the 13th consecutive week: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Viking) moves up to the #3 position in its third week; A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead) is at #3 in its 35th week; World Without End by Ken Follett (Dutton) is #5 in its fifteenth week; The Shooters by W.E.B. Griffin (G. P. Putnam's Sons) is at #8 in its third week; and T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton (A Marian Wood Book/Putnam) is at #10 in its seventh week.

On the hardcover nonfiction list, In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (The Penguin Press) is at #2 in its third week; and Free Lunch by David Cay Johnston (Portfolio) is at #8, also in its third week.

On the trade paperback fiction list, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead) holds at #2 in its 150th week; The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (NAL) is at #5 in its tenth week; The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (Berkley) moves up to #6 in its third week; and The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (Penguin) is at #12 in its 83rd week.

On the mass market paperback fiction list, Morning Light by Catherine Anderson (Signet) moves up to #6 in its third week; Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs (Ace) is at #8 in its fourth week; The Suspect by John Lescroart (Signet) is at #10 in its third week; Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts (Jove) is #11 in its ninth week; Wizard's Daughter by Catherine Coulter is #13 in its fourth week; The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (Signet) is at #16 in its thirteenth week; The Hunters by W.E.B. Griffin (Jove) is #19 in its fifth week; and The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers by Lilian Jackson Braun (Jove) is #20, also in its fifth week.

On the paperback nonfiction list, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin) is #1 in its 52nd week, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) holds at #2 in its 51st week; and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (Penguin) is #9 in its 21st week.

On the advice, how-to, and miscellaneous paperback list, Getting Things Done by David Allen (Penguin) is at #10 in its tenth week.

In the young readers sector, on the children's series list, The Alex Rider Adventures by Anthony Horowitz (Dutton/Puffin, hardcover and paperback) is at #9 in its 46th week, while Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner holds at #10 in its twelfth week.

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