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Amazon Announces Its Best Books of the Year So Far List, With ‘Wild Dark Shore’ Taking the Top Spot
Amazon's annual list includes novels from Taylor Jenkins Reid and Ocean Vuong, Tina Knowles' memoir, and an exposé of Johnson & Johnson
Jonathan Zavaleta
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June 5, 2025
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Despite selling just about everything, Amazon started as an online bookstore, and it still sells a lot of books. To mark the near mid-point of what’s been the longest year in human history, Amazon rolled out its recommendations for the best books of the year so far on June 5.
According to Amazon, “the Amazon Books Editors come together to discuss, debate, vote, and select our favorite titles from the first half of the year. Our favorite books so far this year include themes like found family, grief, and altruism, and inspire us to change the way we live our daily lives.”
Amazon’s Book Editors picked Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore, released by Flatiron Books in March, as the best book of the year so far. Sarah Gelman, Amazon Books’ editorial director, said, “Over thousands of hours, we read across genres from authors both new and established, searching for the very best books that make us smile, think, cry, cringe, and pique our sense of wonder. Our top pick of the year so far, Wild Dark Shore, is a novel that masterfully evoked each of these emotions in our team, and beautifully highlights the imperfections of human nature even when we have the best intentions.”
The top 20 list includes fantasy, literary fiction, and even investigative nonfiction. Noteworthy books from the top ten include Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Atmosphere and Ocean Vuong’s The Emperor of Gladness. Notable nonfiction books include Sarah Wynn-Williams’ Careless People, Tina Knowles‘ memoir Matriarch, and Ron Chernow’s Mark Twain.
You can check out Amazon’s top 20 list below. Prefer to shop elsewhere? You can check out Barnes & Noble’s list of the best books of the year so far instead.
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
$23.91 $28.99 18% off
What it’s about: “Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground”
Why it was picked: “McConaghy’s exquisite gift is that she creates characters that you know you shouldn’t trust with your whole heart, but you do anyway. The result is a gutting, magnificent story of the things people will do—or won’t do—for the people and things they care about.” Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby
$25.99 $28.99 10% off
What it’s about: “When eldest son Roman Carruthers is summoned home after his father’s car accident, he finds his younger brother, Dante, in debt to dangerous criminals and his sister, Neveah, exhausted from holding the family—and the family business—together… But mortality draws even closer when it becomes clear that the crash that landed their father in a coma was no accident and Dante’s recklessness has placed them all in real danger.”
Why it was picked: “In King of Ashes, S.A. Cosby conjures up a prodigal son tale with a little of The Godfather in its DNA, but this is S.A. Cosby we’re talking about, so it’s both business and personal, with all the family secrets, hubris, conflicts, brotherly love, lethal betrayals, and retribution that involves.” —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor
No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson
$14.99 $32.00 53% off
What it’s about: “Harris takes us light-years away from the company’s image as the child-friendly “baby company” as he uncovers reams of evidence showing decades of deceitful and dangerous corporate practices that have threatened the lives of millions.”
Why it was picked: “This exposé into one of America’s most trusted companies is mind-blowing. Just as you’ll be appalled by the villains, you’ll also be inspired by the brave whistleblowers who put their careers, and possibly lives, on the line to bring truth to light.” —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
$21.00 $30.00 30% off
What it’s about: “Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul.”
Why it was picked: “‘Life is good when we do good things for each other.’ This Dostoyevsky quote provides a powerful refrain for Vuong’s moving sophomore novel. If he wasn’t already referred to as ’the patron saint of the lonely,’ this story would earn him that moniker.” —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor
Sunrise on the Reaping (A Hunger Games Novel) by Suzanne Collins
$19.17 $27.99 32% off
What it’s about: A prequel to The Hunger Games, Sunrise on the Reaping centers on Haymitch Abernathy as he competes in the fiftieth annual Hunger Games. “As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.”
Why it was picked: “Sunrise on the Reaping took me back to the thrill of reading The Hunger Games years ago. With the backstory of Haymitch Abernathy and the 50th Hunger Games, this action-packed popcorn read also has a dark kernel you’ll chew on long after the shocking end.” —Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor
The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley
$28.00
What it’s about: “Adela Woods is sixteen years old and pregnant. Her parents banish her from her comfortable upbringing in Indiana to her grandmother’s home in the small town of Padua Beach, Florida. When she arrives, Adela meets Emory, who brings her newborn to high school, determined to graduate despite the odds; Simone, mother of four-year-old twins, who weighs her options when she finds herself pregnant again; and the rest of the Girls, a group of outcast young moms who raise their growing brood in the back of Simone’s red truck.”
Why it was picked: “This beautifully told novel about three teen moms in the Florida Panhandle is a banner example of what the best fiction can do: put us in other people’s shoes, challenge our thinking, and expand our empathy.” —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor
Memorial Days: A Memoir
$17.84 $28.00 36% off
What it’s about: “Many cultural and religious traditions expect those who are grieving to step away from the world. In contemporary life, we are more often met with red tape and to-do lists. This is exactly what happened to Geraldine Brooks when her partner of more than three decades, Tony Horwitz – just sixty years old and, to her knowledge, vigorous and healthy – collapsed and died on a Washington, D. C. sidewalk… Three years later, she booked a flight to a remote island off the coast of Australia with the intention of finally giving herself the time to mourn.”
Why it was picked: “Emotional, pragmatic, and filled with the keen observations of a literary luminary’s broken heart, Geraldine Brooks’ memoir is a euphoric love story, and a meditation on grief and curiosity…Incandescent and necessary.” —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
Dead Money by Jakob Kerr
$15.95 $30.00 47% off
What it’s about: “In her job as unofficial “problem solver” for Silicon Valley’s most ruthless venture capitalist, Mackenzie Clyde’s gotten used to playing for high stakes. Even if none of those tech-bro millions she’s so good at wrangling ever make it into her pockets. But this time, she’s in way over her head—or so it seems. The lightning-rod CEO of tech’s hottest startup has just been murdered, leaving behind billions in “dead money” frozen in his will.”
Why it was picked: “So much fun. Set among Silicon Valley’s tech bros, this twisty closed-door mystery follows Mackenzie as she races to solve a CEO’s murder. Is she in over her head, or does she know more than she lets on? This is a one-sitting read that’s slick, cynical, and surprising, with an absolutely delicious last line.” —Abby Abell, Amazon Editor
Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid:
$21.00 $30.00 30% off
What it’s about: “Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space… In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.”
Why it was picked: This heart-wrenching and exhilarating journey to the cosmos masterfully captures both the thrill of space exploration and the complexities of human connection. Atmosphere is a testament to resilience and how far we’ll go to chase our dreams, even when those dreams seem as distant as the stars.” —Kami Tei, Amazon Editor
Matriarch: A Memoir by Tina Knowles
$24.48 $35.00 30% off
What it’s about: “Tina Knowles, the mother of iconic singer-songwriters Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Solange Knowles, and bonus daughter Kelly Rowland, is known the world over as a Matriarch with a capital M: a determined, self-possessed, self-aware, and wise woman who raised and inspired some of the great artists of our time. But this story is about so much more than that.”
Why it was picked: “Come for Beyoncé, but—trust me—you’ll stay for Tina. Tina Knowles is a force of a nature, which is why we devoured this memoir in one sitting, and discovered why it was almost inevitable that this driven, creative, and savvy businesswoman would raise two girls who would reshape American music—and culture.” —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
You can see the rest of the top 20 below:
11. Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride by Will Leitch
Amazon | Bookshop.org | Barnes & Noble
12. Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash by Alexander Clapp
Amazon | Bookshop.org | Barnes & Noble
13. When We Ride by Rex Ogle
Amazon | Bookshop.org | Barnes & Noble
14. Mark Twain by Ron Chernow
Amazon | Bookshop.org | Barnes & Noble
15. Heartwood by Amity Gaige
Amazon | Bookshop.org | Barnes & Noble
16. Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams Amazon | Bookshop.org | Barnes & Noble
17. The Names by Florence Knapp
Amazon | Bookshop.org | Barnes & Noble
18. The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick
Amazon | Bookshop.org | Barnes & Noble
19. Seeking Shelter by Jeff Hobbs Amazon | Bookshop.org | Barnes & Noble
20. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune
Amazon | Bookshop.org | Barnes & Noble
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