Amazon reveals top 20 picks for the best book of 2018 so far

In June, book lovers are looking for new books they could add to their summer reading lists, and welcome with appreciation a mid-year list of The Best Books of the Year So Far.

Revealed in mid-June, the ranking is curated by Amazon editors and includes titles featured as the Best Books of the Month between January and June, as well as worthwhile new titles released in the recent weeks.

Amazon editors have picked Educated by Tara Westover as the top pick of 2018 so far. This stirring memoir chronicles how she survived her survivalist upbringing, eventually earning a Ph.D. from Cambridge University.

Sarah Harrison Smith, editorial director of Amazon Books and Kindle, said about the winning book:

It was Educated, Tara Westover’s utterly remarkable memoir, that was our hands-down favorite. By sheer force of will, she emerged from a rough, unschooled childhood among Idaho survivalists to earn a doctorate in history at Cambridge University. We were awed by her journey.

The #1 book in Literature & Fiction (and #2 overall) is The Great Alone, an instant New York Times bestseller by Kristin Hannah, the author of The Nightingale.

This page-turner follows a damaged Vietnam vet who moves his family to the wilds of Alaska. As winter approaches and his mental state deteriorates, his wife and daughter find themselves in an increasingly precarious position.

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn was picked as the best book in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense category. It’s a seductive and unpredictable novel about an agoraphobic woman with a tricky past who witnesses a murder.

What are other books released in the first half of 2018 and adored by Amazon editors? Let’s take a look.

You can find more books for your summer reading list by exploring top 20 picks in popular categories:

• literature & fiction
• mystery, thriller & suspense
• romance
• cookbooks
• children’s books

If you are still hungry for book recommendations, make sure to find out what are the top book bestsellers of 2018 so far.

⇢ Best Books of 2018

Top Amazon books of 2018 so far, by category

Top 5 picks in Literature & Fiction

1. The Great Alone

Kristin Hannah

When Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of the night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. ⇢ More info.

2. Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao,
3. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin,
4. There There by Tommy Orange,
5. You Think It, I’ll Say It: Stories by Curtis Sittenfeld.

Top 5 picks in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

1. The Woman in the Window

A.J. Finn

For readers of Gillian Flynn and Tana French comes one of the decade’s most anticipated debuts: a twisty, powerful thriller about an agoraphobic woman who believes she witnessed a crime in a neighboring house.

Anna Fox lives alone, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine, watching old movies, recalling happier times… and spying on her neighbors.

Then the perfect family moves into the house across the way. When Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble – and its shocking secrets are laid bare. ⇢ More info.

2. The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks,
3. The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor,
4. The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey,
5. The Wife by Alafair Burke.

Top 5 picks in Biographies & Memoirs

1. Educated: A Memoir

Tara Westover

Tara Westover hadn’t been registered for a birth certificate. She had no school records because she’d never set foot in a classroom.

As she grew older, her father became more radical, and her brother, more violent. At sixteen Tara decided to educate herself.

Her struggle for knowledge would take her far from her Idaho mountains, over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far. If there was still a way home. ⇢ More info.

2. The Line Becomes A River by Francisco Cantú,
3. The Electric Woman by Tessa Fontaine,
4. Look Alive Out There: Essays by Sloane Crosley,
5. I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes With Death by Maggie O’Farrell.

Top 5 picks in Romance

1. The Kiss Quotient

Helen Hoang

It’s high time for Stella Lane to settle down and find a husband – or so her mother tells her. To overcome her lack of dating experience, Stella decides to hire a male escort to teach her how to be a good girlfriend.

Faced with mounting bills, Michael decides to use his good looks and charm to make extra cash on the side.

The more time they spend together, the harder Michael falls for this disarming woman with a beautiful mind, and Stella discovers that love defies logic. ⇢ More info.

2. Not Quite Crazy (Not Quite Series) by Catherine Bybee,
3. Tempest (Old West) by Beverly Jenkins,
4. The Trouble with True Love by Laura Lee Guhrke,
5. A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole.

Top 5 picks in Teen & Young Adult

1. Children of Blood and Bone

Tomi Adeyemi

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, Maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good. ⇢ More info.

2. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland,
3. Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi,
4. A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir,
5. Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe by Preston Norton.

Top 5 picks in Science Fiction & Fantasy

1. The Only Harmless Great Thing

Brooke Bolander

In the early years of the 20th century, a group of female factory workers in Newark, New Jersey slowly died of radiation poisoning.

Around the same time, an Indian elephant was deliberately put to death by electricity in Coney Island.

Now, these two tragedies are intertwined in a dark alternate history of rage, radioactivity, and injustice crying out to be righted.

Prepare yourself for a wrenching journey that crosses eras, chronicling histories of cruelty both grand and petty in search of meaning and justice. ⇢ More info.

2. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert,
3. The Book of M by Peng Shepherd,
4. Gunpowder Moon by David Pedreira,
5. Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller.

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