Amazon book editors announce the 100 best books of the year
SEATTLE, Nov 08, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced its picks for Best Books
of 2011. This annual feature includes the Editors' Picks for the Top 100
Books of the Year and Top 10 lists in more than two dozen categories,
from Literature & Fiction to Children's Picture Books to the new
category Kindle Singles. To see all of the Best Books of 2011, or to
download any of the picks to your Kindle, visit www.amazon.com/bestbooks2011.
"Well-known authors like Haruki Murakami and Jeffrey Eugenides really
delivered this year, but 2011 was also a time for notable debuts," said
Chris Schluep, Senior Editor of Books at Amazon.com. "There are three
first-time novelists among our top 10 picks, led by our choice of Chad
Harbach's 'The Art of Fielding' as Best Book of the Year. We welcome the
opportunity to introduce our customers to voices that will entertain and
inform for years to come, and with choices from literary masterworks to
genre fiction to nonfiction, there's something for everyone."
The Best Books of 2011 Store is live now on Amazon.com. The Best Book of
the Year, "The Art of Fielding" by Chad Harbach, was an Amazon spotlight
pick for September's Best Book of the Month. In a year of wonderful
debuts, our editors singled out Harbach's first novel for its depth and
confidence, superior narrative and style, unique publishing story, and
ability to transcend that story and just be a great read.
Here's a look at the Top 10 editors' picks for the year:
1. "The Art of Fielding" by Chad Harbach: "The Art of Fielding"
is the veritable baseball book that's actually about much more than
baseball, and it's on par with the work of Bernard Malamud and David
James Duncan. It's rare to see a debut so confident, intimate,
unpredictable and wholly memorable.
2. "1Q84" by Haruki Murakami: Murakami has created a sensation: a
nearly 950-page novel that is ordered and scrupulous, and reads like a
meditation. "1Q84" is the story of two people living in parallel, who we
know must meet each other eventually, and their twisting arcs drive this
magnum opus by one of the world's finest novelists.
3. "What It Is Like to Go to War" by Karl Marlantes: The veteran
marine and best-selling author of "Matterhorn" draws on his brutal
experiences in foreign jungles to look at the nature of combat with
unflinching honesty. Balancing novelistic descriptions of fear, power
games and courage with a thoughtful prescription for our soldiers' well
being, Marlantes lifts the bar for understanding the experience of war.
4. "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larsen:Master
storyteller Larsen describes the life of America's first and only
ambassador to Nazi Germany, along with the scandalous adventures of the
ambassador's carefree daughter. "In the Garden of the Beasts" is
an historical portrait that is as entertaining as it is important, and
it reads like the best of political thrillers.
5. "The Marriage Plot" by Jeffrey Eugenides: Eugenides' third
novel, and his first after the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Middlesex,"
describes the lives of three college seniors at Brown in the early
1980s. It is a thoughtful, andat times disarming, novel about
life, love and discovery, set during a time when so much of life seemed
filled with deep portent.
6. "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" by Laini Taylor: With this young
adult novel, National Book Award finalist Taylor has created a magical
world that will sweep up even the most jaded of readers. The story of
17-year-old Kalou is an enchanting tale of magic, star-crossed love and
difficult choices with heartbreaking repercussions that could make it
the next hot YA sensation.
7. "Before I Go to Sleep" by S.J. Watson: Suspenseful from start
to finish, Watson's "Before I Go to Sleep" -- the story of Christine, who
wakes up every day not knowing who she is -- presents profound questions
about identity and is one of the best literary thrillers of the past few
years. Compelling, immersive and chilling.
8. "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson: Few in history have
transformed their time like Steve Jobs has. In this timely book,
Isaacson paints a vivid, compelling portrait that pulls no punches -- the
end result is satisfying, complete, and gives insight into a man who
managed to turn his contradictions into potent strengths.
9. "Lost in Shangri-La" by Michael Zuckoff: A riveting story of
survival and deliverance from a notorious valley in the New Guinea
jungle, Zuckoff's "Lost in Shangri-La"deserves its place among
the great survival stories of World War II.
10. "The Tiger's Wife" by Téa Obreht: Croatian native Obreht
tells the story of a young doctor seeking answers around her
grandfather's death, delving into a land of storytelling, mythology, and
conflict in her extraordinary debut.
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.
SOURCE: Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr
