Feature Friday: Amazon Lists ‘Best Books of the Year So Far’

We’re half-way through 2012, and already this year, some incredible new books have hit the stands. On Monday, June 25th, Amazon released a list of the “Best Books of the Year So Far,” including ‘best books’ by category, as well as Editor picks for the top 20 books overall. Amazon compiled lists in 13 different categories, which included Literature & Fiction, Biographies & Memoir, Teen Books, Science Fiction & Fantasy, and Non-Fiction, to name a few. Interestingly, while Amazon has certainly been influential in the rise of self-publishing, according to GalleyCat, “The top ten books on the list were all published by the Big Six publishers.”

Here are 10 of the 20 Best Books of the Year So Far, according to Amazon Editors:

1. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
2. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
3. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
4. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
5. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro
6. The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
7. Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
8. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
9. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
10. Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power by Steve Coll

What do you think of Amazon’s choices for Best Books? Do you agree with their selections? Did you read anything this year that you think should have made the cut?