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Some people are born with their heads in a book, while others find reading more of a challenge.

Whether you’re an avid reader, or if you’re hoping to reinvigorate the habit and cut down on Netflix, a list of the best books of the year might be the perfect jumpstart you need.

It is getting colder after all, and that makes it the perfect time to cosy up with a good book and a cup of tea. A candle (because of load shedding) might really add to the vibe.

This week, Amazon published its annual list of the Best Books of the Year (so far), a carefully curated collection of noteworthy, engaging reads that have been published from January to June.

Their favourites include something for everyone, with popular categories from biographies to literary fiction, to romance and sci-fi.

Amazon Books has the full list of 20 picks, but here we’ll keep it short and sweet with five.

1. Great Circle: A novel by Maggie Shipstead:

“At a young age, Marian Graves becomes obsessed with flying, and she’ll do whatever it takes to get into the sky and circumnavigate the globe.

Fast forward 100 years, and Hadley Baxter is remaking herself in Hollywood as the role of Marian Graves in a Hollywood bio-epic. From Montana to Los Angeles, London to New Zealand, Great Circle follows these two women who yearn for adventure and freedom, and like flying, it’s the thrill of the century.” — Al Woodworth, Amazon Book Review

2. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

“When he was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature, the committee noted how Ishiguro ‘uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.’

In this beautiful novel, Ishiguro presents an ‘Artificial Friend,’ a robot girl with artificial intelligence designed as a playmate for real children.

It is a simultaneously heartbreaking and heart-mending story about the abyss we may never cross.” — Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review

3. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson

“Isaacson is famous for writing Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci, so a title like The Code Breaker might imply a book about a lesser character.

But the 2020 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, biochemist Jennifer Doudna, who co-developed the gene-editing technology CRISPR, is a giant in her own right.

CRISPR could open some of the greatest opportunities, and most troubling quandaries, of this century — and this book delivers.” — Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review

4. We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker

“We Begin at the End is a story of regret and revenge, wrapped around a mystery, buried inside a tale of star-crossed love.

Thirteen-year-old ‘outlaw’ Duchess Radley — fierce but vulnerable — attempts to protect her troubled mother but instead sets off a fateful chain of events in this gorgeous, harrowing novel.” — Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Book Review

5. What’s Mine and Yours by Naima Coster

“For fans of Celeste Ng, Ann Patchett, and Jacqueline Woodson, What’s Mine and Yours beautifully unravels the hurt, happiness, and hope that one generation bestows upon the next.

An unforgettable portrait of how parents and kids —white and Black — handle love and loss, racism and loyalties.” — Al Woodworth, Amazon Book Review

That should get the ball rolling.

To see the full list, head here.

[source:amazon]