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Amazon editors say this is the best book of 2023: 'One of the great American novels of our time!'
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With the year winding down, the “best of” lists are starting to roll in, and the one that we look forward to the most, year after year, is Amazon’s Best Books of 2023.
This year, the selections are pretty stellar, with titles from Stephen King, Amanda Peters, Nathan Hill, Jonathan Eig and more. However, after a long curation and elimination process, Amazon book editors chose The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride as the best book of 2023.
Though centered on a mysterious murder, this McBride novel, at its core, is a story about "how powerful communities can be and what it means to be American."
Editors also appreciated that the "irresistible" book, which is "chock full of social, racial and ethnic politics," remained hopeful (and sometimes hilarious), serving as a reminder to be both compassionate and kind to one another.
In 2021 and 2022, fiction reigned supreme, and this year, the winning streak continues.
Sarah Gelman, editorial director for Amazon Books, shared in a press release that, while biographies and fantasy titles made up the top 10, it was this thought-provoking novel that nabbed the top spot for a number of reasons.
“Between dragon-filled romantasy (Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros), murderous senior citizens (Holly by Stephen King), and the definitive biography of a legend (King: A Life by Jonathan Eig), this year’s Best Books list truly has a great read for everyone,” Gelman explained. “But it was James McBridge’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store that our team unanimously fell in love with…”
She went on to add that the editors wanted to “spend time with the residents of Pottstown, Pennsylvania’s Chicken Hill neighborhood” after reading that last word of the best-selling book.
If you also want to check out what else is on the list, find the 10 Best Books of 2023, as chosen by Amazon’s book editors, below.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A Novel by James McBride
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
Wellness by Nathan Hill
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Holly by Stephen King
Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane
Though centered on a mysterious murder, this McBride novel, at its core, is a story about "how powerful communities can be and what it means to be American."
Editors also appreciated that the "irresistible" book, which is "chock full of social, racial and ethnic politics," remained hopeful (and sometimes hilarious), serving as a reminder to be both compassionate and kind to one another.
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