Penguin Group (USA) Weekly Update - 8/25

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Author Greg Mortenson To Receive "Sitara-e-Pakistan," Pakistan's Highest Civil Award

Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, which has been on The New York Times bestseller list for 81 weeks and is currently at #1, has been chosen by the Pakistan government receive Pakistan's civilian award, Sitara-e-Pakistan (The Star of Pakistan), the highest civil award given by the country. The Pakistan Civil Awards were established in 1957, after Pakistan became an independent republic. Since then, only a handful of foreigners have received the honor.

Mortenson said: "It is an honor and humbling to receive this award and it really represents and belongs to the millions of determined children and communities who aspire to hope through education."

The awards will be given at an Islamabad civil ceremony on March 23rd, 2009.

Award-Winning Songwriter Rodney Crowell Joins Dutton Author Daniel Levitin at his Barnes & Noble Launch of The World In Six Songs

In a very unique book launch, Daniel Levitin performed with songwriter, Rodney Crowell at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Center for the launch of his new Dutton book, The World in Six Songs. Crowell and Levitin put on a special musical performance for the audience that helped illustrate Levitin's theory that human identity can be formed out of six kinds of songs.

The World in Six Songs continues on its media blitz, with highlights that include: People "Soundcheck," "On Point," a HuffingtonPost lead review, and interviews on over 30 radio stations.

Pictured: New York Times Bestselling author Daniel Levitin and award winning singer/songwriter Rodney Crowell sing "six songs" at the launch event for The World in Six Songs at B&N Lincoln Center.

81-Year-Old Portfolio Author Donald R. Keough Hits The New York Times Bestseller List with His First Book, The Ten Commandments for Business Failure

Donald Keough, former president of Coca-Cola, has hit #10 on The New York Times advice how-to and miscellaneous bestseller list with his first book — at age 81 — The Ten Commandments for Business Failure. Keough is a widely admired elder statesman who is sought out for advice by people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Jack Welch, and Rupert Murdoch. After an amazing 60-year career, Keough has put the lessons he's learned into a lighthearted but cautionary guide to ten guaranteed ways to fail.

The book has jacket endorsements from the #1 and #2 richest men in the world, the most admired CEO in history, the world's most powerful media mogul, a former U.S. President, the president of a major university, and an Academy Award-winning director. Bill Gates says: "Don possesses a special combination of experience, wisdom, self-confidence, and self-awareness. His commandments for failure will teach you more about business success than a whole shelf full of books." And Jack Welch comments: "This is a great book, filled with terrific advice from a management icon, and brought alive by real stories from business history. It is a must-read for every leader."

To date, the book has received some great national media, including a Q&A in The New York Times; and appearances on both "The Charlie Rose Show"; and CNBC's "Closing Bell".

Selden Edwards, Author of Dutton's The Little Book Continues to Get Great Attention

Maureen Corrigan gave The Little Book an amazing, selling review on NPR's "Fresh Air" on Wednesday, recommending it as a perfect end of the summer read: "It turns out that Edwards has been working for a third of a century on something that's fun! A narrative bauble! A veritable meringue of a tale! . . . an ideal late summer reading get away...The Little Book is all about plot — that's what makes it both an entertaining mental escape and a tough book to do justice to in a review...Especially delicious . . . a soaring thing of joy whose only purpose — and I mean this as a compliment — is to delight and entertain." Short excerpts don't do this luminous review, justice. To see or hear the full review, click here.

And, Entertainment Weekly included The Little Book on "The Must List: 10 Things We Love This Week" in the Fall Movie double issue.

The great reviews and praise keep getting better and better for this first time author.

Be sure to also check out Wednesday's edition of Shelf-Awareness, which features a great Q&A with Selden Edwards, author of the debut novel The Little Book.

Penguin Classics Book Giveaway: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories

New in stores this week is the Penguin Classics edition of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories, which brings all of the stories from F. Scott Fitzgerald's two story collections together in one beautiful edition. The title story is set to be a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, and will be in theaters Christmas Day. The film, directed by David Fincher (Fight Club), is already generating some major Oscar buzz.

Penguin Book Giveaway: Friends in High Places

In Friends in High Places by Donna Leon, what begins as a red tape headache ends in the murder of a bureaucrat. Commissario Guido Brunetti starts an investigation that will take him into the unfamiliar and dangerous areas of drug abuse and loan-sharking, and will reveal, once again, what a difference it makes in Venice to have friends in high places.

The New York Times Bestseller Highlights for the Week of August 31st

Three new debuts for Penguin Group (USA) on The New York Times bestseller list for the week of August 31st: Shadowfires by Dean Koontz (Berkley) appears at #20 on the mass market fiction list; The Ten Commandments for Business Failure by Donald R. Keough (Portfolio) hits at #10 on the hardcover advice, how-to and miscellaneous list; and Will Work from Home by Troy Johnson and Robyn Freedman Spizman (Berkley) is at #8 on the paperback advice, how-to, and miscellaneous list.

Here are more bestseller highlights:

On the hardcover fiction list, Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva (G. P. Putnam's Sons) is #5 in its fourth week; Tribute by Nora Roberts (G. P. Putnam's Sons) is #11 in its sixth week; and Foreign Body by Robin Cook (G. P. Putnam's Sons) is #13 in its second week.

On the trade paperback fiction list, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead) is #4 in its 180th week; The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin) is #10 in its 111th week; Second Chance by Jane Green (Plume) is #13 in its twelfth week; The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (Berkley) is #13 in its 33rd week; In the Woods by Tana French (Penguin) is #14 in its twelfth week; The Last Summer (Of You and Me) by Ann Brashares (Riverhead) is #15 in its fifteenth week; and The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (Penguin) is #17 in its 113th week.

On the mass market paperback list, Into the Flame by Christina Dodd (Signet) is #4 in its second week; Strangers in Death by J.D. Robb is #6 in its second week; Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs (Ace) is #8 in its third week; The Sanctuary by Raymond Khoury (Signet) is #9 in its third week; The Turbulent Sea by Christine Feehan (Jove) is #10 in its third week; and The Secret Servant by Daniel Silva (Signet) is #18 in its seventh week.

On the paperback nonfiction list, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) holds at #1 in its 81st week; Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin) is #3 in its 82nd week; Generation Kill by Evan Wright (Berkley Caliber) is #13 in its fifth week; and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (Penguin) is #14 in its 51st week.

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (Plume) is #2 on the paperback advice, how-to and miscellaneous list in its 29th week; and Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide by Leonard Maltin (Plume/Signet) is #10 in its second week.

In the young readers sector, Ladybug Girl by Jacky Davis and David Soman (Dial) is #6 on the children's picture books list in its 21st week; while on the children's chapter books list Kiss My Math by Danica McKellar (Hudson Street) is #4 in its second week and DK's Clone Wars: The Visual Guide is #5 in its third week. Three books from Grosset & Dunlap's Star Wars: The Clone Wars series remain on the children's paperback list for a third week: The Clone Wars by Tracey West at #3; The New Padawan by Eric Stevens at #5; and Battle at Teth by Kirsten Mayer at #6. And, Math Doesn't Suck by Danica McKellar (Plume) moves up to #7 in its second week on the children's paperback list.

New Next Week

Silks by Dick and Felix Francis (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 8/26)

Fans on both sides of the Atlantic eagerly anticipate each new novel from the master of the mystery, Dick Francis. Last year, the three-time Edgar Award winner wrote Dead Heat, a New York Times bestseller and the inspired product of a new collaboration with his son, Felix. Now, the two team up again for Silks, a winner sure to delight fans of every stripe. Silks has already garnered great advance reviews, including Kirkus, which boasts that "Francis produces a whodunit more accomplished than ever..." Publishers Weekly says, "Bestseller Francis and his son, Felix, deliver another gripping thriller," and Booklist writes, "Francis is, again, far in the lead." Expect more raves to come, including a review in The New York Times Book Review.

The Wednesday Letters by Jason Wright (Berkley, 8/26)

Last year, a little novel published by a small press in Utah took everyone by surprise when it debuted in hardcover — and hit #6 on The New York Times list! Now Berkley is primed to make Jason Wright's The Wednesday Letters an even bigger success in paperback. This moving love story begins with an extraordinary promise: a husband will write his new bride a love letter every week of their married lives. Thirty-nine years later, their adult children discover the thousands of letters their parents left behind chronicling the ups and downs of their marriage. They also find clues to a family secret that will bring them face-to-face with a life-changing moment of truth. Readers across the country have not only embraced the book, they've even been inspired to write their own "Wednesday Letters" to loved ones.

Jason Wright hits the road next month on a 15-city tour that kicks off with an appearance on Glenn Beck's national television show on CNN and an event at Borders' Columbus Circle store in New York. Media is lining up nicely in other tour cities, which include Dallas, Tulsa, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Phoenix, and Nashville. The Wednesday Letters has also been selected as the September Spotlight pick for BJ's Book Club.

Pontoon by Garrison Keillor (Penguin, 8/26)

The Penguin paperback publication of Pontoon by Garrison Keillor, beloved host of public radio's A Prairie Home Companion, will go on sale on August 26th, shortly before the September 16th release of his upcoming Wobegon novel Liberty (Viking). Pontoon rose to #3 on The New York Times bestseller list and was Keillor's first Wobegon novel in six years. It was hailed by Parade as "a stirring tale about being true to yourself on all of life's little journeys." Keillor embarks on a 16 city book tour in support of Liberty and Pontoon on September 15th.

The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker (Penguin, 8/26)

Steven Pinker, a Harvard professor and one of TIME magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World Today," sealed his reputation as a great explainer when he was asked on "The Colbert Report" to explain how the brain works in five words or less — and did it. (Brain cells fire in patterns.) Now, the two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize shows off this gift again in a book that explains the mysteries of human nature in a completely new way — by exploring how we use words in The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature. The New York Times Book Review said, "The majesty of Pinker's theories is only one side of the story. The other side is the modesty of how he built them. It all makes sense, when you look at it the right way." Pinker will be touring for two weeks in September to promote the Penguin Books edition of his latest New York Times bestseller. Keep an eye out in The Atlantic for his piece about the FCC appealing a decision that overturned their "fleeting expletives" policy and you can hear him being interviewed on WBUR's "Here and Now," among other shows.

Chaos by James Gleick (Penguin, 8/26)

The 20th-Anniversary edition of the million-copy-plus bestseller, Chaos: Making a New Science goes on sale August 26th. Written by Pulitzer Prize finalist and National Book Award nominee James Gleick, the anniversary edition has a new afterword that discusses the latest developments in chaos theory, profiles the key scientists taking it forward, revisits some of the book's heroes to show where they are now, and reveals how the ideas of chaos theory have been adopted and internalized, not just by mainstream science but also by the whole culture.

The Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith (Penguin Classics, 8/26)

The Book of Mormon is the sacred text of the fourth largest religious community in America with nearly 13 million adherents around the world. Penguin Classics is proud to be publishing, for the first time, founder Joseph Smith Jr.'s third and final revision of this text with an introduction by Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp, an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina where she teaches, among other topics, "Mormonism and the American Experience."

Fellow Citizens edited by Robert V. Remini and Terry Golway (Penguin Original, 8/26)

In perfect timing for election season, a testament to the power of oratory, Fellow Citizens: The Penguin Book of U.S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses, Edited with an Introduction and Commentaries by Robert V. Remini and Terry Golway, is a complete collection of American presidential inaugural addresses featuring lively commentary on the state of each president's union. Beginning with George Washington and ending with George W. Bush, this stirring and often surprising compilation offers a great overview of the history of America — from its formation as a young republic to the modern war on terrorism. With a radio satellite tour and the election and inauguration just around the corner, this is a must-have book.

Frida's Bed by Slavenka Drakulic (Penguin Original, 8/26)

Frida's Bed is critically-acclaimed author Slavenka Drakulic's poignant imagining of the final hours of Frida Kahlo's life, as she looked back upon her experiences with love, passion, art, and, most significantly, pain. In this unusual and haunting work of fiction, Drakulic; explores the relationship that Kahlo had with the various illnesses and ailments that she suffered, and how this suffering informed her art. Nice reviews have already run in Elle magazine and The San Francisco Chronicle, with more to come.

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