Today marks the official 75th anniversary date for the launch of Penguin Books, and it is a huge celebration for the well-known publisher. Check out their official celebration site where you can learn all about the history, the original ten books, and of course, the Penguin mobile (which is perhaps the most fun element of Penguin’s extended anniversary party). This mini-cooper with the Penguin logo is driving to bookstores all over the US to bring some of Penguin’s bestselling authors to parties in their hometowns, increase awareness of The Nature Conservancy, and promote literacy. At each event, a set of 75 Penguin Books is donated to a local library or literacy group. Each author is signing the Penguin-mobile as it makes its way across the United States, and the summer’s events will culminate with a party at the New York Public Library in September where Penguin will auction the car with the proceeds going to the New York Public Library. Penguin is also donating sets of books to numerous U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Penguin Ink
Have you seen the latest re-designed covers of six of Penguin’s favorite books? They have been specially designed by some of the world’s best artists working in the world of tattoos and illustration. Here are just a couple to tempt you:
BOOK GIVEAWAY
So, in keeping with the celebratory mode, Penguin has generously offered to provide me with one of the 75 books they are donating to libraries and literacy books to give away here on my blog. I got to pick which one I thought readers of my blog would most like to have, and I decided to go with a classic….
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
(Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
368 pages
ISBN 9780143105947
27 Oct 2009 | Penguin Classic |
This edition features gorgeous graphic cover art by illustrator Lilli Carre. This book would make an excellent permanent edition to any library…want to win a copy???!? Here are the guidelines for the giveaway:
- Contest runs from today (July 30, 2010) through August 6th, 2010 (one full week).
- NO geographic restrictions – contest open to ANYONE, ANYWHERE!
- To enter, you must leave me a comment on this post telling me your favorite Penguin read from THIS LIST and why it is your favorite.
- Contest closes at 5:00 PM PST on August 6th when I will draw one name using Random.Org
- The winner will be announced on my blog either on August 6th or 7th and I will email the winner to get their snail mail (the publisher will be mailing out the book).
Easy, right?
Good luck!!!!
= Excellent
= Good/Very Good
= Okay read
= Not recommended
= Ugh! Don't waste your time.
Wow, best giveaway I’ve seen for awhile. I never seem to have much luck but I hope I win this one!
For me, it’s a tie between Eat,Pray,Love and Lady Chatterleys Lover. The first for makng me examine some of the things about myself I’m not satisfied with and second for being so unapologetically raunchy and honest about sexual attraction.
I think it’s always difficult to explain “why” a book is a favorite. At Home in Mitford touched me in so many ways. I read the entire series twice, recommended it to friends, and wished that my town had a “Father Tim”. He is the kind of minister that organized religion needs – loving, forgiving, flawed, believeable.
Thanks for the super giveaway.
lcbrower(at)cableone(dot)net
Okay…I LOVE The New York Trilogy. It was assigned to me in college, and it was the first book that I read there that I just knew I would love forever. Auster is such a tremendous author that the mystery seemed like more than a mystery-if that makes any sense. It took me in, and I couldn’t get enough.
I would love to win this copy of Huck Finn. Besides loving the cover, I would love to give this copy to my daughter. She needs a copy to wear out just like mine is.
girlsgonereading (at) yahoo (dot) com
I loved The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. The characters were richly drawn and I loved the generational dynamics.
dlodden at frontiernet dot net
Definitely Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy! I figured I’d read a classic on a whim and got intimidated by the length and language at first, but after a couple of chapters it pretty much became my favorite.
I hope I win The Short Novels of John Steinbeck!
akosikulot at gmail dot com
It is very fun to see all your picks for favorites
Kulot Funa: The giveaway is just for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
This is a really hard decision to make… but, I think I’d have to go with Chocolat!! I absolutely adore this story. There is something in the writing that just touches the soul. And I do love the way chocolate can solve all problems!!
So many great books! I loved Anna Karenina. I would enjoy reading it again some time.
That’s a really cool Huck Finn cover, but you don’t need to enter me. I’ve already got an older edition on my shelf. And I love that cover for The Bone People, one of my favorite books!
I loved Shadow of the Wind. I love the cover they had for Pride and Prejudice though – it’s great!
I would love to have that Huck Finn on the shelves! I just bought the Deluxe Edition of Moby Dick and it’s a beautiful paperback.
As I was scanning down the list, I kept saying “oh yes, that’s my favorite” but then I would see another that I love just as much! What a tough question! I’m going to call a four-way tie between Great Expectations, The Eyre Affair, The Shadow of the Wind and The Odyssey. The Odyssey is just a wonderful piece of foundation literature. Great Expectations is dramatic and the characters are brilliant. The Eyre Affair is witty and smart and holds up on every re-read. The Shadow of the Wind is moody and dark and thrilling. Love them all!
What a list! Tough to pick a favorite. I am leaning towards Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club. I read it about 5 years ago but I still remember the book. The characters are so memorable.
I loved Ghost Wars. It’s an excellent chronicling of the CIA’s involvement in Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion through September 10, 2001, and makes a valuable contribution to understanding how and why Islamic Fundamentalists came to direct their jihad against the U.S. It won the Pulitzer Prize, and of course, more importantly, I gave it a 5/5! :–)
nbmars AT yahoo DOT com
I loved On Beauty by Zadie Smith because it is a beautifully-written, witty story about a British/American mixed-race family who clashes over their different values, dad being a professor with very conservative values while some of his children are becoming quite liberal in their thinking. Dad cannot understand this and doesn’t know how to deal with it. His wife has other things on her mind and seems to understand the children better. The theme and nature of beauty is addressed as well in a captivating way as are the ethnic and cultural differences within the family. The characters are strong, flawed and very real and the story is so interesting it made me think about how different family members can be from one another as well as how the things we do for ourselves can be interpreted differently by others who we love and have a terrible impact on them even though we never intended it. Fortunately sometimes the impact is great too!
Great question for this awesome giveaway. Thank you! (sorry for such a long response!)
Aimala127 AT gmail DOT com
I would say On Beauty from the list. Tough choice though.
Thanks for the giveaway. Really appreciate it that its international.
No need to enter me — I just posted this at win a book!
http://winabook.westofmars.com/2010/07/31/penguin-giveaway-to-celebrate-75-years/
At Home in Mitford. I’ve read Jan Karon’s whole series and they among the most charming books I’ve ever read. I just love Father Tim and his wife, Cynthia. It’s like reading about your own neighborhood & the folks next door.
JHS
Colloquium
jhsmail at comcast dot net
would have to be Romeo and Juliet because I just love the timelessness of this love story.
madamerkf at aol dot com
It astonished me how Wuthering Heights did not make it to the list yet! It is one of the greatest love stories. Wuthering Heights is almost a part of England’s cultural mythology! However, it is one of the best not just in English literature but also European and now even Asian(I can say that cause am an Indian and all book-lover friends have this on their book-shelves)
As my copy of Wuthering Heights rightly claims- Emily Bronte’s book of passion, power and vengance!
“The passion of Heathcliff and Catherine, the coupleism of Hindley and Frances, , the infatuation of Isabella, the puppy love of Cathy and Linton, and the sexual attraction of Cathy and Hareton.”
Oh! And I’d really like to gift myself The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for my birthday today
I loved reading Chocolat by Joanne Harris. It always makes me think that life goes on no matter what difficulties you must face.
Great giveaway! I’d love to be entered.
Please count me in. Thanks.
avalonne83 [at] yahoo [dot] it
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner is a wonderful character about people and places study that merges two stories, past and present. And, of course, Stegner is a truly great writer.
Looking at that list I’m amazed by how many great books Penguin publishes! I love so many of those books, but the list reminded me of how much I love Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle–it’s like a punch in the gut (in a good way…?). As you might expect from him, the writing is amazing. I couldn’t put it down.
Great giveaway, thanks for doing this.
There are some really good books on the list but the one that stands out for me is In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick. I read it when it first came out. I had a hard time finding it and when I did it was in a funky indie bookstore which quickly became my favorite book store in Montana. The book is well written, almost in novel form.
The book was what started me on the path to reading mostly non-fiction. It remains one of my favorite books because it taught me nonfiction can be as much fun to read as fiction and because it led me to that wonderful indie bookstore I came to love.
So many great reads, but The Joy Luck Club would be my favorite—I read it at a time when I was really struggling with the relationships that each of my sisters and I have with my Mother–it helped –i think it took some pressure off me–helped me appreciate our differences and how they impacted our relationships.
Thanks for this lovely giveaway. The Shadow of the Wind would be my choice since it is unique and memorable.
I love “the memory keeper’s daughter” its such a good book because it shows what love is really about and how even though just because a baby has down syndrome that it still deserves to be loved by someone, its a really touching book.
unforgetable_dreamer_always(at)hotmail.com
Well, alas, I haven’t read everything on the list you linked to. But I’ve read some of them, and those I’ve read are all extremely memorable! I ended up choosing Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee as my favorite because I wanted to pick a more contemporary novel, and Coetzee is simply one of the finest writers of our time. Being someone with a strong interest in the affairs of contemporary sub-Saharan Africa, I turn to Coetzee again and again to give me another way of understanding relationships and ways of life in post-Apartheid South Africa. I also love your pick of Huckleberry Finn!
I think my favorite on that list is Three Cups of Tea because it is such an inspiring story. It makes me want to go out and volunteer to change the world!
When I was in high school I fell in love with a guy and Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass as the same time. To me they are still intricately intertwined.
I really like Chocolat. It is just a good story with a lot of wonderful characters that seem to come to life as you read.
My favorite from this list is The Odyssey. It was the first book I read in High School that real got me into loving books. My English teacher loaned me his copy and I was hooked. Thanks for the chance at this other classic!
jason(at)allworldautomotive(dot)com
My favorite is Collapse by Jared Diamond, though I think his book Guns, Germs and Steel is an even finer work.