The Amazon Books editorial team selects the
best titles of the year so far – naming Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel
City of Girls the #1 pick
Filled with big-hearted novels, thrilling
mysteries, moving memoirs, laugh-out-loud picture books, and more,
the Best Books of 2019 So Far list is a perfect place to discover
summer reads for every reader
(NASDAQ: AMZN)--Today, Amazon announced its selections for the
Best Books of the Year So Far, naming Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel
City of Girls the top pick overall. Over the course of the year,
the Amazon Books editorial team reads hundreds of thousands of
pages of new releases to select the Best Books of the Month as well
as the Best Books of the Year So Far and, at the end of the year,
the Best Books of the Year. The annual list features the Top 20
books of the year, published between January and June 2019, as well
as top picks across various categories, including literary fiction,
mystery and thriller, biography, children’s, and young adult. To
explore the full list visit: www.amazon.com/bestbookssofar.
“We love selecting the Best Book of the Year So Far,” said Sarah
Gelman, Editorial Director, Amazon Books. “We’ve read so many great
books this year – a heart-wrenching memoir of loss, an intoxicating
novel of a ’70s rock band, a psychological thriller worthy of
Agatha Christie comparisons, and so much more. But one book stood
out for us, Elizabeth Gilbert’s City of Girls. It has so many
elements that make reading fun – the sparkle of youth,
indiscretions, sassy characters, and freedom in a city that doesn’t
sleep – perfect summer reading in our book.”
“What a delight and a joy, to have earned this great accolade!
It’s my understanding that they see a lot of books at Amazon, so
this is a particularly delicious honor,” said Elizabeth Gilbert,
author of City of Girls. “Thank you for loving City of Girls, and
for bringing it to the world’s attention. I’m truly grateful and
thrilled.”
Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel City of Girls was also named the Best
Book of June by the Amazon Books editors. It joins previous Best
Books of the Year So Far picks that include Tara Westover’s
Educated, Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Hope
Jahren’s Lab Girl, Helen Macdonald’s H Is for Hawk, and Adam
Begley’s Updike.
The Amazon Books editors’ picks for the first 10 of the Best
Books of the Year So Far are:
1)
City of Girls: A Novel by
Elizabeth Gilbert (Riverhead Books): It’s the 1940s, and the
frivolous and fun-loving Vivian Morris arrives in New York with the
goal of “becoming someone interesting” (and in short order she is,
but for all the wrong reasons). The latest novel by the author of
Eat, Pray, Love is bawdy, big-hearted, and wise.
To listen to an interview with Elizabeth
Gilbert about City of Girls, visit the Amazon Book Review.
2)
The Silent Patient by Alex
Michaelides (Celadon Books): While we’re only halfway through
the year, this debut thriller with the twistiest of endings may be
the thriller of 2019.
Visit the Amazon Book Review to read an
interview with Alex Michaelides.
3)
Once More We Saw Stars: A Memoir
by Jayson Greene (Knopf): In the face of unimaginable
tragedy, they say the only way out is through. That’s exactly what
Greene learns when his daughter dies from a freak accident. This
emotional memoir shines a beacon of light in the darkest of
places.
Visit the Amazon Book Review to read a
feature piece by Jayson Greene on writing about grief.
4)
Mrs. Everything: A Novel by
Jennifer Weiner (Atria Books): Sweeping in its personal and
political scope, this tale of two sisters is a multi-layered and
very moving story for the #MeToo era, one that traces how far women
have come, and how far we have yet to go. Weiner’s most ambitious
novel yet.
Visit the Amazon Book Review to read a
feature interview with Jennifer Weiner.
5)
The Night Tiger: A Novel by
Yangsze Choo (Flatiron Books): Supple and powerful, like the
predator that stalks the shadows of Choo’s ensnaring tale, this
historical novel set in 1930s Malaysia swirls around a
strong-minded apprentice dressmaker and a young houseboy whose
destinies collide as they both search for a very unlucky mummified
human finger.
Visit the Amazon Book Review to read a
feature interview with Yangsze Choo.
6)
Daisy Jones & The Six: A Novel
by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine Books): Presented as a
series of interviews, this novel about a young, captivating singer
who came of age in the late ’60s/early ’70s will leave you thinking
that Daisy Jones & The Six really existed.
Visit the Amazon Book Review to read why
Taylor Jenkins Reid wrote the book the way she did.
7)
Underland: A Deep Time Journey
by Robert Macfarlane (W.W. Norton & Company): A
one-of-a-kind book, Underland explores the universe beneath our
feet, diving into catacombs, caves, and the land under Greenland’s
shrinking ice cap to delve into the darker recesses of our
imaginations—a place where artists, adventurers, and criminals have
traveled, willingly and otherwise.
Visit the Amazon Book Review to read the
Best of the Month review of Underland.
8)
The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir
of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After by Julie
Yip-Williams (Random House): Julie Yip-Williams’ beautiful
memoir speaks to one of our greatest fears, that we would be
diagnosed with a terminal disease, and to our greatest hope, which
is that we could face life straight on, fully, without squinting,
and live each day with honesty, ambition, and true feeling.
Visit the Amazon Book Review to read the
Best of the Month review of The Unwinding of the Miracle.
9)
Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet
Memoir by Ruth Reichl (Random House): Save Me the Plums
chronicles how food writer Ruth Reichl came to be editor-in-chief
of the magazine she’d pored over as a child, how she transformed it
from a stuffy relic of the old guard into a publication that
embraced a new culinary era, and how Gourmet magazine met its end.
A memoir to savor.
To listen to an interview with Ruth Reichl
about Save Me the Plums, visit the Amazon Book Review Podcast.
10)
Cari Mora: A Novel by Thomas
Harris (Grand Central Publishing): Thomas Harris’ harrowing new
novel of greed and survival, Cari Mora is as cinematic as one might
expect (and hope for), charged with smugglers and lawmen, gruesome
deaths, and deceit that crisscrosses the ocean between Colombia and
Miami. Harris is a masterful storyteller who knows exactly how to
get under our skin and into our heads.
Visit the Amazon Book Review to read the
Best of the Month review of Cari Mora.
The top pick in the children’s category is:
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote
Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart (Henry Holt and
Co.): An unforgettable middle grade novel about a girl and her
father on a cross-country journey, the people they meet, and how
they find their way home again. This is a book young readers won’t
want to miss. Coyote’s story is wise, funny, and holds onto your
heart long after you’ve read the final page.
To see the complete list of the Best Books of the Year So Far,
and to purchase for Kindle or in print, visit
www.amazon.com/bestbookssofar or visit an Amazon Books location
near you, www.amazon.com/stores.
For more coverage of the books featured on the Best Books of the
Year So Far list, as well as insightful reviews on new books,
author interviews, and roundups in popular categories, visit the
Amazon Book Review, www.amazonbookreview.com, and the Amazon Book
Review Podcast, www.amazonbookreview.com/tag/podcast.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession
rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to
operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews,
1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment
by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire
tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products
and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information,
visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
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