Hudson Booksellers Announces the Best Books of 2007

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Oct. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Hudson Booksellers, a brand unit of travel retailer Hudson Group, has announced its list of the Best Books published in 2007. Hudson operates 66 full-service bookstores and sells books in over 400 Hudson News newsstands in airports and transportation terminals throughout North America. Hudson's book sales were close to $100 million last year.

This year's selection includes the 10 Best Fiction, 10 Best Nonfiction, 5 Best Children's, and 5 Best Business books, in the estimation of a panel consisting of the company's bookselling professionals as well as Airport General Managers. Books were chosen for their innovation, readability, thematic impact, popular appeal and cultural relevance. 1000 Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini was chosen as Book of the Year.

"Travelers are generally in a hurry, so we have to prioritize and find creative ways of communicating our enthusiasm for various titles," said Sara Hinckley, vice president, Book Buying & Promotions. "We think celebrating our favorite books of the year makes a strong statement. Our goal is to help customers connect to great reads quickly, especially during the hectic holiday travel season. The lists will be prominently displayed in all Hudson Booksellers and large Hudson News stores, starting December 1."

The books are listed alphabetically by author:

Best Fiction: Away - Amy Bloom, The Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolano, The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon, Falling Man - Don DeLillo, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz, 1000 Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini, A Free Life - Ha Jin, Tree of Smoke - Denis Johnson, After Dark - Haruki Murakami, The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney.

Best Nonfiction: The Day of Battle - Rick Atkinson, A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah, Boom - Tom Brokaw, I Am America - Stephen Colbert, American Creation - Joseph Ellis, The Assault on Reason - Al Gore, God is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens, Einstein - Walter Isaacson, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral - Barbara Kingsolver, The World Without Us - Alan Weisman.

Best Children's: The Dangerous Book for Boys - Conn Iggulden, Mahalia Mouse Goes to College - John Lithgow, Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling, The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Brian Selznick.

Best Business: Five Minds for the Future - Howard Gardner, Microtrends - Mark Penn, The No Asshole Rule - Robb Sutton, The Black Swan - Nasim Nicholas Taleb, Wikinomics - Don Tapscott.

This year, Hudson highlighted some additional bookseller favorites, called "Books We Love." Noted Hinckley: "We can't necessarily justify their selection as the best literary titles (though some landed just below the top 10), but they are good reads, which makes them fun and easy to sell. We just want these books to succeed."

Books We Love: Sin in the Second City - Karen Abbott, Christine Falls - Benjamin Black, Boomsday - Christopher Buckley, An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England - Brock Clarke, Loving Frank - Nancy Horan, The God of Animals - Aryn Kyle, Born Standing Up - Steve Martin, Rigged - Ben Mezrich, You Suck - Christopher Moore, Rant - Chuck Palahniuk, Run - Ann Patchett, Gods Behaving Badly - Marie Phillips, Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult, The Women Who Raised Me - Victoria Rowell, Three Bags Full - Leonie Swann, The Children of Hurin - J. R. R. Tolkien.

"We also added a 'Newsworthy/Noteworthy' category," continued Hinckley. "These are titles we just had to mention because of the cultural significance of their release. Some have been in the headlines (and been #1 bestsellers). Others are new releases from modern masters. One (Ken Follett's book) is a sequel 20 years in the making. All of them generated tremendous excitement in the bookselling community during 2007."

Newsworthy/Noteworthy: Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Giving - Bill Clinton, Brother, I'm Dying - Edwidge Danticat, And Then We Came to the End - Joshua Ferris, World Without End - Ken Follett, The Age of Turbulence - Alan Greenspan, How Doctors Think - Jerome Groopman, The Coldest Winter - David Halberstam, On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan, Exit Ghost - Philip Roth, Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo, Blackwater - Jeremy Scahill, The Devil Came on Horseback - Brian Steidle, At the Center of the Storm - George Tenet, Legacy of Ashes - Tim Weiner, The Great Upheaval - Jay Winik.

About Hudson Group: Hudson Group is a privately held corporation that operates more than 500 newsstands, bookstores and premier specialty retail shops in 69 airports and transportation terminals throughout North America. The company's flagship concept, Hudson News, is North America's only national newsstand brand. The company's bookstore brand, Hudson Booksellers, is headquartered in Marietta, GA. Other specialty retail brands operated by Hudson include Kids Works, Euro Cafe, $10/$15 Boutique, Discover, Christmas In and Kitchen. National brands partnering with Hudson Group include CNN, Crabtree & Evelyn, Discovery Channel, Godiva Chocolatier, House of Blues, Life Is good, Quiznos, Radio Shack, Roots and Sunglass Hut.

    Contact:  Laura Samuels                  Sara Hinckley
              Dir., Corp. Communications     V.P., Book Buying & Promotions
              201-528-2402                   678-560-5960
              lsamuels@hudsongroup.com       shinckley@hudsongroup.com