The Amazon Books Editors have announced their selections for the Best Books of 2021, naming Amor Towles’ The Lincoln Highway as the Best Book of the Year; Towles’ New York Times bestseller A Gentleman in Moscow was also included in the Best Books selection in 2016.
The annual list is hand-picked by a team of editors who read thousands of books each year. They share their recommendations with customers to help make holiday shopping easier. Featuring the top 100 books published this year, the editors’ selections also break out the top 20 books in numerous categories, including mysteries, memoirs, children’s books, and cookbooks.
“This year, fiction reigned, with emerging and established authors telling stories of struggle, daring, and redemption. We all had our personal favorites this year, but the one book the team unanimously agreed on was Amor Towles’ The Lincoln Highway—we just couldn’t stop talking about it. The four main characters’ sense of innocence felt like the hope we needed as we end this year.”
– Sarah Gelman, Editorial Director, Amazon Books
The Amazon Books Editors Top 10 picks of 2021, as described by the editors, are:
- 1. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles: Towles (A Gentleman in Moscow)
- 2. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner
- 3. The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
- 4. How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith
- 5.The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
- 6. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
- 7. Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
- 8. Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
- 9. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- 10. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Amazon Books Editors Top Children’s pick of 2021 is:
- The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo
