SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon.com, Inc. today announced their annual Best Books of the Year So Far list, a midyear retrospective that highlights the best books released in 2012 between January and June. “Behind the Beautiful Forevers,” “Gone Girl” and “The Fault in Our Stars” took the top three spots. Along with an overall Top 20 list, customers looking for great books to read this summer will find Top 10 editors’ picks lists in 13 popular categories, from Cookbooks, Food & Wine to Teens to Romance. The Best Books of the Year So Far are available in print and Kindle editions at www.amazon.com/bestbookssofar.
“The variety of books on the list reflects the broad range of titles published in 2012 so far,” said Sara Nelson, Editorial Director for Books, Amazon.com. “To us, ‘Behind the Beautiful Forevers’ is a masterpiece in nonfiction writing. But we rounded out the top three with a thriller and a young adult novel – there really is something for everyone on this list. Helping customers find and discover outstanding books is an important role for us at Amazon, and we look forward to discovering new and innovative ways of bringing our customers in contact with books we think they'll love.”
The Best Books of the Year So Far are hand-picked by the Amazon Books editors, who rank their favorite titles in an overall Top 20 list, plus 10 picks each in 13 popular categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Business & Investing, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Crafts, Hobbies & Home, Literature & Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers, Nonfiction, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Comics & Graphic Novels, and Teens, as well as Middle Grade and Picture Books for Kids.
The Amazon Books editors’ picks for the Top 10 Best Books of the Year So Far are:
1) “Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity” by Katherine Boo: A Pulitzer-winning author writes the true story of struggle and hope in a Mumbai slum.
2) “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn: Plot twists and revelations make this a psychological thriller of the highest order.
3) “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green: Two kids with cancer deal with the big subjects—life, love, and death—in this perfect blend of levity and heart-swelling emotion.
4) “Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk” by Ben Fountain: Questions of privilege, power, and heroism swirl in this debut novel about recently returned Iraq War veterans invited to attend a Cowboys football game.
5) “The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson” by Robert A. Caro: The fourth installment in Caro’s authoritative biographical series on Lyndon Baines Johnson – a masterpiece in nonfiction.
6) “The Orphan Master’s Son” by Adam Johnson: A superb novel about freedom, sacrifice and violence, set within the dark borders of North Korea.
7) “Tell the Wolves I'm Home” by Carol Rifka Brunt: A singular portrait of a girl and her family transformed during the late-80s AIDS epidemic.
8) “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” by Cheryl Strayed: A memoir of a 1,100-mile journey that nearly broke the author to pieces, before she used those pieces to rebuild her life.
9) “The Age of Miracles” by Karen Thompson Walker: Speculative fiction and a girl’s coming-of-age story meet in this gripping debut.
10) “Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power” by Steve Coll: An examination of the largest, most profitable company in history by a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner.
Customers can also enter the Best Books of the Year So Far Sweepstakes on the Amazon.com Books Facebook page through July 23 for a chance to win one of 10 Kindle Fire devices, each accompanied by a $100 Amazon.com Gift Card. There is no purchase necessary to enter. Must be a legal resident of the 50 United States or D.C., 18 or over. Learn more at http://www.facebook.com/Amazon.comBooks?sk=app_172341942779663 and enter for a chance to win.
To see the complete lists of the Best Books of the Year So Far, go to www.amazon.com/bestbookssofar.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes – still with all the benefits of the most advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch, with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle Fire is the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon’s new revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core processor.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.