Penguin Books Anniversary Bash (with a gift for you!)

Any prolific reader would recognize the Penguin book logo when they saw it. It's everywhere - and well it should be. Penguin Books is turning 75 years old! They've been around long enough for anyone to take good notice of them!

Now, honestly, could you spout off a list of Penguin paperback titles if asked? Here are some titles we can thank them for:

At Home in Mitford, by Jan Karon

The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards (which I still have on my TBR list!)

Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson

...and tons more.

Here are some children's book authors you might recognize in their lineup:

The Mitten, by Jan Brett

Animals, Animals, by Eric Carle

Penguin created a 75th Anniversary website if you'd like to learn more about them. One cool feature is the Penguin Timeline. It starts in 1935 when founder Allen Lane published the first Penguin title in England, which sparked a "paperback revolution."

Best yet, they are hosting a huge giveaway and offering bloggers some of their favorite titles. I was asked if I would like to select a title for myself and one of my readers. I picked The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde because I had been wanting to read it! So, I'm being sent a copy and one of you will also be sent one!

I have not yet read this book but was intrigued by the premise. Here is the description from Penguin's website:

In Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë's novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career. Fforde's ingenious fantasy—enhanced by a Web site that re-creates the world of the novel—unites intrigue with English literature in a delightfully witty mix.

I have high hopes!

Would you like to win a copy to read alongside me? To win, simply leave a comment below. This contest is open to U.S. Residents only and will be open through Thursday, August 5th. I will announce the winner on Friday, August 6th. This contest is open to U.S. Residents only.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

What I'm most afraid of is that I will absolutely love this book series and then will have to track every title down. Oh the horrors of it all, right?

Here's a HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to Penguin Books and thanks for the gift of the book to myself and one of my readers!