Penguin Group (USA) Weekly Update - 1/12

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Viking/Penguin’s Tana French Is the Undisputed “Favorite Author” in Penguin Group (USA)'s Book of the Year Award Poll

In the last Spotlight of 2008, we opened the polls to all employees to vote for the second annual “Penguin Group (USA) Book of The Year” Award. Viking/ Penguin author Tana French emerged as the clear winner: In the Woods (Penguin) received the most votes, while her latest book, The Likeness (Viking), came in a close second.

Congratulations to everyone involved in making these books such successes in 2008!

We’d also like to award honorable mentions to the following titles that received the next highest number of votes:

• City of Thieves by David Benioff (Viking)
• Paper Towns by John Green (Dutton Children's Books)
• The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (Viking)

Sebastian Barry Wins Costa Book Award for The Secret Scripture

Viking author Sebastian Barry has won the prestigious Costa Book Award in the Best Novel category for The Secret Scripture, which was described by the judges as an “exquisitely written love story.” The win qualifies Barry as one of five authors up for the “Costa Book of the Year” award which will be announced at an awards ceremony in central London on Tuesday, January 27th.

Originally established in 1971 by Whitbread, Costa took over the sponsorship of the prize in 2006. The five category award-winning authors each receive £5,000 for reaching this stage in the competition, and the overall winner of “Book of the Year” will earn an additional £25,000.

Five Penguin Group (USA) Titles Are NAACP Image Award Finalists

The 40th annual NAACP Image Awards nominees were announced this week and five titles from Penguin Group (USA) are among the finalists. The nominees are:

• Song Yet Sung by James McBride (Riverhead) in the Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction category
• There’s No Traffic on the Extra Mile: Lessons on the Road From Dreams to Destiny by Rickey Minor (Gotham Books) in the Outstanding Literary Work –Non-Fiction category
• Good is Not Enough and Other Unwritten Rules for Minority Professionals by Keith R. Wyche (Portfolio) in the Outstanding Literary Work –Instructional category
• Hardheaded Weather by Cornelius Eady (Marian Wood Books/ Putnam) in the Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry category
• Letters To A Young Sister: Define Your Destiny by Hill Harper (Gotham Books) in the Outstanding Literary Work –Youth/Teens category

In addition to the Literature Categories, two Penguin Group (USA) titles that debuted on the silver screens in 2008 were nominated for Outstanding Motion Picture. The titles were Miracle at St. Anna by James McBride (Riverhead) and The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin)

The NAACP Image Awards honor projects and individuals that promote diversity in the arts in television, recording, literature and motion pictures. The 40th NAACP Image Awards will air nationally on Thursday, February 12 th, on FOX. This star-studded event, which coincides with the NAACP’s 100th anniversary, will kick off the organization’s year-long centennial celebration.

Four Books from Penguin Group (USA) Receive 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards

Four Books from Penguin Group (USA) have been selected as winners of the second annual Business Book Awards by 800-CEO-READ, an online bookseller and champion of great ideas in the business book category. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin (Portfolio) was the overall winner, named the Best Business Book of the Year, along with winners in 13 other categories.

In naming Tribes the overall winner, Jack Covert, founder and president of 800-CEO-READ said, "Tribes is Seth's most ambitious effort and potentially his most powerful, because when Seth talks about leadership, he skips the usual and goes right to the heart of it. More importantly, he is giving us a new way to talk about leadership."

Penguin Group (USA)’s three other winners, The Knack by Bo Burlingham and Norm Brodsky (Portfolio) in the Entrepreneurship/Small Business Category, Johnny Bunko by Daniel H. Pink (Riverhead) in the Fables category, and The Thief at the End of the World by Joe Jackson (Viking) in the Biography/ Memoir category, were selected from a pool of 280 entries received, which were evaluated and critiqued by 800-CEO-READ’s editorial staff.

Watch a book trailer and the animated video for Daniel H. Pink’s manga inspired career guide, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko.

Penguin Audio Snares Five Listen Up Awards

Five Penguin Audio Book titles were selected as being among the Best Audios of 2008, as designated by Publishers Weekly’s Listen Up Awards, announced in the current edition of the trade publication. Penguin Audio dominated the Humor category, with three out of the five titles honored: Me of Little Faith by Lewis Black (read by the author); Why We Suck by Denis Leary (read by the author) and I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley (read by the author). Listen Up Awards also went to Take Back Your Family: A Challenge to America’s Parents by Rev Run and Justine Simmons (read by the authors) in the Nonfiction category and No Man’s Land: A Memoir by Ruth Fowler (read by the author) in the Author-Read category.
 

Berkley/ NAL Dominates the Finalist Slots for the Romantic Times Bookclub Awards

Last year was a most outstanding one for Berkley and New American Library, a fact made clear by the sheer quantity of nominees for Romantic Times Bookclub awards. The list of contenders, 85 from Berkley and NAL alone - and 90 from across the house - will be published in the February 2009 issue of the publication. The winners will be announced in the June 2009 issue, prior to the 26th annual Booklovers Convention in Orlando, Florida, April 22-26, 2009. The winners will be honored at a ceremony during the convention and awards will be presented to authors in attendance.

Among the awards given are the prestigious career achievement awards, which honor published writers for their body of work as a whole and are divided into categories and subcategories. Additional awards are presented in a variety of genres including Best Historical Novels, Best Erotic Romance & Erotica Novels, Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, Best Contemporary & Paranormal Romances, among others. Of these categories, Berkley and New American Library has produced 52 nominees. Notably, Katie MacAlister and Christine Feehan have been nominated for awards in three different categories.

Go to www.romantictimes.com for a complete list of nominees.
 

Philomel Author Mike Lupica Reads with Actor Kevin James at the NBA Store

New York Times bestselling author and sports columnist Mike Lupica joined actor Kevin James, star of the new comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop, at the New York City NBA Store this past Tuesday for a reading of Long Shot, the fourth book in Lupica’s popular Comeback Kids series (Philomel Books) (pictured). Thirty students from the Dual Language Middle School in Manhattan were in attendance as part of the NBA Cares program, the league's social responsibility initiative, in which the NBA, its teams and players, have committed to donating $100 million to charity, providing a million hours of hands-on service to the community. Lupica’s New York Times bestseller, The Big Field, will be on sale in paperback on February 5th.

Read an excerpt from The Big Field, before it’s released in paperback.
 

Daemon by Daniel Suarez Featured on Front Page of USA Today Life Section

A major feature story on Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Dutton) appeared on the cover of the Life Section in this past Monday’s edition of USA Today. To read the piece, click here.

The highly touted Daemon, which went on-sale yesterday, has received a tremendous amount of major media coverage. It was featured last Friday on NPR’s “All Things Considered” in a roundup of four “thrillers for a winter’s night”. Alan Cheuse calls it a “relentless and maniacal” thriller and says readers will “cheer” when they figure out there’s a sequel. To listen, click here.

Other major upcoming media includes a Q&A in Entertainment Weekly on January 16th; Q&A’s on both SciFi.com (Sci Fi Channel’s website) and Wired.com; and reviews on Military.com; Paste magazine; Crimespree magazine; and St. Petersburg Times, with a lot more to come.

Read an essay by Daniel Suarez and the first chapter of Daemon in our latest Mystery & Suspense feature.
 

Viking to Publish Biography of James Madison by Lynne Cheney

Viking will publish Lynne Cheney’s next book, Founding Genius: A Biography of James Madison. The book, to be published in 2011, will explore Madison’s intellectual and political genius, and tell his personal story, as well. James Madison, the fourth President of the United States, was the intellectual force behind the Constitution and a figure of such enormous political power in the early republic that he managed simultaneously to dominate the House of Representatives and serve as George Washington’s chief advisor. As Secretary of State and later president, he worked to defend America’s interests peaceably, but when that failed, he led the country in its first war under the Constitution, the War of 1812.

Suffering in youth the first of many seizures he experienced in his life, he often prevailed through sheer grit, rising from his sick bed to overwhelm opponents with learning and logic. Gifted with steady temperament—“the best man in the world,” Jefferson called him—Madison preferred to operate without drama, but he nevertheless married one of the most dramatic and glamorous women of the age, the warm and outgoing Dolley. She was at his side during the War of 1812, a conflict that saw dire events, including the burning of Washington. At the end, however, John Adams wrote that Madison’s administration had “acquired more glory, and established more union, than all his three predecessors, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, put together.”

Cheney, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, has been studying Madison since 1987, when she was a member of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the Constitution. The wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, she is the author or co-author of twelve books, including six bestselling books about American history for children.
 

Stealing Buddha’s Dinner Chosen as Purdue’s “Common Read” for First Year Experience Program

Purdue University has selected Bich Minh Nguyen’s Stealing Buddha’s Dinner (Penguin) as their Common Read for their inaugural First Year Experience program, which is now one of the biggest FYE programs in the United States. The selection means that the University will purchase 8,000 copies and 1,000 eBooks of Stealing Buddha’s Dinner to supplement the program.

Bich Minh Nguyen, who also teaches at Purdue, has a new book, Short Girls, which Viking will publish this summer.

Read an interview with the author and discover discussion questions in the reading guide.
 

Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster Is Costco’s “Pennie's Pick” for January

Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster (NAL) has been chosen as this month’s “Pennie's Pick” by Pennie Clark Ianniciello, Costco's book buyer. The monthly pick is published in Costco Connection, which is distributed to the warehouse club's members. Pennie writes: "If 15 minutes of laughing burns 10 to 40 calories, I recommend Jen Lancaster's Such a Pretty Fat as a New Year must-have weight-loss tool…Lancaster's sometimes caustic wit had me laughing out loud--and nearly falling out of my chair. I imagine I'm not alone in relating all too well to her experiences with gyms, weight-loss programs and wavering self-control. Whether Lancaster's words hit home or not, I dare anyone to read this book and not laugh.”

Watch the book trailer for Such a Pretty Fat, featuring Jen Lancaster.

Greg Mortenson Continues to Inspire as Three Cups of Tea Reaches 100 Weeks on The New York Times Bestseller List

Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea (Penguin) continues to touch people everywhere. As of this coming Sunday, January 11th, it will be on The New York Times paperback nonfiction list for 100 weeks. This past Sunday, Mortenson was on “CBS Sunday Morning” (click here to watch), and pieces recently ran in The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Mortenson was also featured in Outside Magazine, which inspired a group of 7th grade students in Hawaii who are reading Three Cups of Tea to write in letters about what the book and Mortenson’s example and accomplishments mean to them. To read some of their heartfelt letters, click here.

View the reading guide for Three Cups of Tea.
 

Major Media and Events for Viking Author Michael Davis

Michael Davis, author of Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street (Viking; on-sale now), kicked off his tour with an incredible event at Barnes & Noble/Lincoln Triangle on Monday, January 5, where he was joined by Caroll Spinney (aka Big Bird and Oscar), Roscoe Orman (aka Gordon), and Christopher Cerf (a longtime music and lyrics writer for the show). The crowd stayed until 11pm waiting to have their books signed by all four. We have already seen an impressive list of media for the book, including The New York Times Book Review (12/28), “The Diane Rehm Show” (1/6), USA Today (12/31-1/1), The Washington Post (12/18), Time.com (posted 12/30), and a 22-market TV Satellite Tour on 12/30. Still to come is a profile of the show and Michael in Newsweek - not to mention sure-to-be fantastic events on Michael's tour, in Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.

Read the prologue of Street Gang in our latest Parenting feature.

High Praise and Major Publicity for Disquiet by Julia Leigh

Penguin Paperback Original, Disquiet, by Julia Leigh, which is the story of a haunting family reunion in a chateau in France, has received enormous praise over the past few weeks. Entertainment Weekly named it #7 on its Best of 2008 Fiction list and raved, “passing detail in this slim, moody narrative is askew. . . . Leigh's memorably creepy novella is as potent as it is petite.” In the 12/28 New York Times Book Review, Leigh was praised for her “swift, cinematic fits of third-person narration whose images smolder with taciturn brutality . . . or spark with risible banality." And in the 1/12 issue of Time magazine, the book is called a "small-scale masterpiece of mood." USA Today also plans a review.

For more about this mesmerizing novella and an interview with the author, click here.

The New York Times Bestseller Highlights for the Week of January 18th

The New York Times Bestseller Highlights for the Week of January 18th

Two #1 debuts on The New York Times bestseller list for the week of January 18th, with four other books also debuting from Penguin Group (USA). Black Ops by W.E.B. Griffin (G. P. Putnam’s Sons) hits at #1 on the hardcover fiction list; while Murder Game by Christine Feehan (Jove) appears at #1 on the mass market paperback list. In addition, Running Hot by Jayne Ann Krentz (G. P. Putnam’s Son’s) is #8 on the hardcover fiction list; and People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin) is #8 on the trade paperback fiction list; while The Shooters by W.E.B. Griffin (Jove) and Betrayal by John Lescroart (Signet) are #12 and #19 on the mass-market fiction list respectively.

Here are more New York Times bestseller highlights:

On the hardcover fiction list, Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell (G. P. Putnam’s Sons) is #2 in its fifth week, while Arctic Drift by Clive and Dirk Cussler (G. P. Putnam’s Sons) is #11 in its sixth week.

On the hardcover nonfiction list, Why We Suck by Denis Leary (Viking) is #7 in its seventh week; The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson (The Penguin Press) is #12 in its fourth week; and Do the Right Thing by Mike Huckabee (Sentinel) is #14 in its seventh week.

On the trade paperback fiction list, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead) is #2 in its sixth week; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Riverhead) is #6 in its eighteenth week;World Without End by Ken Follett (NAL) is #8 in its thirteenth week; The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (Berkley) is #9 in its 46th week; The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead) is #13 in its 199th week; In the Woods by Tana French (Penguin) is #17 in its 21st week; and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (Penguin) is #19 in its 117th week.

On the mass market paperback list, The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts (Jove) is #3 in its sixth week; T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton (Berkley) is #8 in its sixth week; Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (Ace) is #9 in its seventeenth week; and Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris (Ace) is #15, also in its seventeenth week.

On the paperback nonfiction list, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) is #4 in its 101st week; Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin) is #6 in its 102nd week; and The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan (Penguin) is #12 in its 68th week.

On the advice, how-to, and miscellaneous paperback list, I Can Has Cheezburger? by Professor Happycat and icanhascheezburger.com (Gotham) is #10 in its 13th week.

In the young readers sector, on the children’s picture books list, The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore (Various publishers) is #2 in its 21st week; and Brava, Strega Nona!, written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola (Putnam) is #10 in its seventh week. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (Razorbill) is #4 in its eleventh week on the children’s chapter books list. On the children’s paperback books list; Slam by Nick Hornby (Riverhead) is #6 in its thirteenth week, and Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (Speak) is #9 in its 24th week. And, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (Razorbill) returns to the children’s series list at #7 in its fourth week.
 

New This Week

Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun (Riverhead, on-sale now)

Nami Mun’s debut novel Miles from Nowhere began generating buzz back in May when Nami was first seen on the “Emerging Voices Panel” at BEA, and the high praises continue to pour in. People magazine selected the book as a “People Pick” this week, giving it 4-stars and raving, “[A] searing debut…[Mun] writes with lovely precision, lending a hallucinatory beauty to the bleak world she has created.” And USA Today highlighted the novel with a boxed “5 Questions” feature on their book page. The Chicago Tribune ran a front page feature story and called it, "A gritty, riveting story filled with soft and lovely descriptive touches [with an] ability to zip back and forth between despair and joy, between degradation and exhilaration." Reviews have also run, or are forthcoming from, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Orlando Sentinel, Dallas Morning News, The Believer, and Entertainment Weekly, with more to come.

Miles from Nowhere follows thirteen-year-old Korean-American Joon through the streets of pre-Giuliani New York City of the 1980’s, after she flees her dysfunctional immigrant parents. For five years, Joon threads a path of survival through homelessness, drug addiction, and physical abuse. She watches as friends get sick with AIDS, go to jail, and die, all while she tries to support herself with gigs as a dance hostess, a door-to-door cosmetics salesgirl, and petty criminal. Miles from Nowhere is Joon’s streetwise meditation on love, fate and fortune, as she begins a long climb toward wholeness.

Nami Mun will be hitting major markets on her three-week tour, including Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Austin, Denver, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Ann Arbor, and Boston.

Don’t miss her when she’s in New York at Barnes & Noble/ Tribeca, on Monday, January 12th at 7:00 PM.

Read this interview to learn more about the author and her debut novel.

The World is Fat by Barry Popkin (Avery, on-sale now)

Barry Popkin, author of The World is Fat, explores the obesity epidemic that has swept the world. Did you know that 50 years ago there were 100 million overweight people in the world? And today? Today, over 1.6 billion people are overweight. In his new book, Popkin argues that the fattening of the human race is the result of an unprecedented collision of technology, globalization, government policies, and food industries practices with human biology. Popkin is the director of the University of North Carolina Interdisciplinary Obesity Center and professor of global nutrition for three decades. His research has spanned six continents, where he spearheaded wide-ranging, long-term studies of the effects of lifestyle change on body composition.

The media is intrigued with Popkin and what he has to say in The World is Fat; publicity highlights include: a mention in a New York Times Op-ed piece (12/17), January Elle, December Shape, February Health Magazine, USA Today (1/7), Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, a national radio tour, Slate.com, Newsweek.com Q&A (12/20/08), US News & World Report.com Q&A (1/7/09), and much more.

Read an excerpt from The World Is Fat and learn how drinking habits can contribute to weight gain.

People are Idiots and I Can Prove It! and You’re Broke Because You Want to Be by Larry Winget (Gotham, on-sale now)

The Pitbull of Personal Development and New York Times bestselling author is back with advice on the dumb things people do to sabotage their success. In Larry Winget’s new book, People Are Idiots and I Can Prove It!, he dishes out the straight talk on what he calls “life’s messes,” and offers sound, simple solutions.

Larry’s bestselling You’re Broke Because You Want to Be is new to paperback. With more than 40% of families today are feeling financial pressure and the state of our current economy this book could not have been reprinted at a better time. In You’re Broke Because You Want to Be, Winget expands on the ideas that have made his popular television show “Big Spender” a hit and offers straightforward talk about coming to grips with your finances.

Read an excerpt from Winget’s newest book, People Are Idiots and I Can Prove It!

Also check out Winget’s recent blog posts on the Penguin Blog.

Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh (Penguin, on-sale now)

We first met Sudhir Venkatesh in the pages of Freakonomics. A sociologist who spent seven years infiltrating a large crack-dealing gang in one of the nation’s most notorious housing projects on the South Side of Chicago, Sudhir Venkatesh gave us the full story in his critically acclaimed bestseller Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets. Now available for the first time in paperback, this incredible, intimate look at life in the projects reveals how people survive in what ultimately amounts to an urban war zone. Gang Leader gives a fundamentally honest view of the morally ambiguous, highly intricate, often corrupt struggle to survive in some of the most appalling living conditions in our country, and is also an emotional and complicated look at the friendship that develops between the sociologist and a gang leader, two ambitious men a universe apart.

You can watch the trailer for this book here.

The Man Plan by Whitney Casey (Perigee, on-sale now)

Media is sizzling for Whitney Casey's The Man Plan: Drive Men Wild, Not Away (Perigee). Casey, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and former CNN correspondent, interviewed over 250 men, ages 20 to 60, about what they want in a woman from fashion to finances, food to fragrances. Now she shares the results of her studies in The Man Plan and puts women in the driver’s seat.

National broadcast media includes interviews on: “The Howard Stern Show,” “The Today Show,” “Fox and Friends,” “The Early Show” and “Extra.” Print coverage includes reviews in: Glamour, InStyle, Marie Claire, and an excerpt in Cosmopolitan. In addition, Casey is embarking on a media tour in ten major markets, including: Los Angeles, Miami and Houston. Along the way, she’ll be doing interviews on: “The CW Morning Show” in New York, “Good Day Philadelphia,” “Good Day Atlanta,” “Good Day LA,” and “Good Day Chicago,” with more to come.

Where’s My Fifteen Minutes? by Howard Bragman (Portfolio, on-sale now)

We all have different reasons for wanting our fifteen minutes of fame. Whether you’re looking for personal glory, attention for a deserving cause, or great press that will boost your company’s image (and profits), Howard Bragman can show you the way. Over and over again, Bragman has helped legions of prominent people—movie stars, business leaders, philanthropists—get their messages out, in good times and bad. He’s also helped some not so famous—and downright infamous—people do the same.

Bragman’s new book, Where’s My Fifteen Minutes: Get Your Company, Your Cause, or Yourself the Recognition You Deserve, is filled with juicy behind-the-scenes stories of celebrity dos and don’ts, with examples from Paris Hilton and Angelina Jolie to Paula Abdul and K-Fed. While the tales are ripped from the tabloid headlines, the advice applies to any field. Whether you’re trying to build a business, advance your career, or change the world, Bragman’s insights and experience will show you the way.

New Next Week

Nothing to Fear by Adam Cohen (The Penguin Press, 1/12)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed the presidency at a time of unprecedented national crisis – when, in March of 1933, more than 10,000 banks had gone under following the Crash of 1929, a quarter of American workers were unemployed, and riots were breaking out at garbage dumps as people fought over scraps of food. In Nothing to Fear : FDR’s Inner Circle and the Hundred Days that Created Modern America, New York Times editorial board member Adam Cohen brings to life this fulcrum moment in American history – the tense, frenzied first one hundred days, when FDR and his inner circle – a “team of rivals” for the 20th century – completely reinvented the role of the federal government.

Coinciding with the landmark inauguration of Barack Obama, Cohen’s illuminating group portrait of FDR and the five men and women who made up his cabinet is a timely and insightful account of the defining moment of both a president and a presidency. Obama undoubtedly faces the most challenging presidential transition since FDR took over from Herbert Hoover, and the president-elect has announced that he and his transition team are reading books on FDR’s first hundred days to prepare for office. The myriad similarities between both FDR and Obama and the political environments in which each assumed the presidency are indeed striking. Both men catapulted to national prominence after delivering speeches at the Democratic National Convention, in 1924 and 2000. Both were preceded by hugely unpopular, lame duck presidents. And, like FDR, Obama inherits a nation embroiled in catastrophic financial turmoil.

A riveting read infused with historical and contemporary relevance, Nothing to Fear is both a narrative account of the personal dynamics that shaped the critical first Hundred Days of FDR’s presidency, and a character study of one of America’s defining leaders in a moment of crisis. We’ve seen excellent early reviews in Time and Esquire, and George Stephanopoulos recently chose the book as his pick of the week on ABC’s “This Week.” Look for reviews to come in The New York Times, as well as the Times Book Review, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, and feature interviews in U.S. News & World Report and Salon.com, as well as interviews on WNYC’s “Leonard Lopate Show,” “Democracy Now,” and much more to come.