YORK, Pa. — Editors at Amazon have spent the last almost 25 years picking the best books out of the bunch to help readers find their next favorite novel.
“Really, the goal was, there is so much selection out there, we want to curate what we think the best reads are to help readers discover their next great book," editor Abby Abell said. "And so that was really the antithesis for the creation of this team and why it exists today.”
Abell previously worked in publishing and has been with Amazon for 15 years. She is a senior editor and the leader of the romance category for the Best Books team and says she has always loved the group, even before joining it.
The Best Books lists are released several times a year to help refresh bookworms' shelves. The Best Books of 2024 So Far catalog was released in June and features instant hits like "James" by Percival Everett and "The Ministry Of Time" by Kaliane Bradley—Abell's favorite from the recent selections.
“I loved this because I had never read anything like it before," Abell said about Bradley's book. "It’s a debut, and it’s genre-bending.”
"The Ministry of Time" has elements of a spy/thriller, time travel, government conspiracy and romance story. Abell says it's this kind of variety that make the Best Books lists so valuable.
“If you’re not sure where to start, this kind of provides a great curated selection, and we also create top 20 lists for each of those genres as well," she shared. "So if you know you love memoirs but aren’t sure what to read next, we’ve got a list of our top 20 favorites from the year so far that you can dig into.”
Abell also suggests that people who would like to read more but aren't sure where to start take a look at the lists. The books that make the final cut are curated from picks by a variety of people with years of publishing experience and different tastes, so there is a little bit of something for everyone.
The editors' selections can also help readers find books for specific occasions, like a summer beach read. Abell recommends the No. 3 pick, “All the Worst Humans: How I Made News For Dictators, Tycoons, And Politicians” by Phil Elwood, and the No. 8 selection, “Lies and Weddings” by Kevin Kwan, for enthralling vacation reads.
“It is juicy, it is jaw-dropping, it reads like fiction," she said of Elwood's exposé, adding that Kwan's novel is “juicy and salacious.”
While the recently released list covers the Best Books of 2024 So Far, its December counterpart will consider the best books of 2024 as a whole. Abell predicts that some of the books from June's list will hold over to the end of the year, like "James" and Kristin Hannah's "The Women."
“She does such an incredible job of evoking so many emotions and putting you in that place and time, so I think that’s another one that we’ll probably see again,” Abell said of Hannah's novel.
The Top 10 novels on the Best Books of 2024 So Far is as follows:
- James by Percival Everett
- The Women by Kristin Hannah
- All The Worst Humans: How I Made News For Dictators, Tycoons, And Politicians by Phil Elwood
- The Ministry Of Time by Kaliane Bradley
- Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
- Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
- All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
- Lies and Weddings: A Novel by Kevin Kwan
- Lost Man's Lane: A Novel by Scott Carson
- This Could Be Us (Skyland Book 2) by Kennedy Ryan
“This team and these lists and what we do, I love being a part of helping readers and helping myself find books that I’m going to love so much,” Abel said.
To have a chance of making the final lists, each book is picked by an individual editor and then championed through the selection process. Once the editors have their top choices and arguments prepared, it's game on.
“And then, we really get in a room and we kind of argue about what we think should make that top 20 list," Abell laughed. "And, you know, the things that we consider are again—is it a book we can’t stop talking about? Is it a fresh perspective and voice that maybe we haven’t heard before? And then I think the other thing is again, how can we help readers find their next great book?”
She says "James" was a rare unanimous choice to take the No. 1 spot. The novel is a modern retelling of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" from the perspective of James, the slave in the story. The editors say readers do not need to be familiar with the original story in order to enjoy and appreciate "James," but rereading "Huckleberry" could help deepen their appreciation for the book.
“It is so thought-provoking, adventurous, and funny somehow, and we really think it’s kind of a new classic,” Abell said.
She offers more tips for beginning your reading journey or finding your next favorite novel in the full interview above.