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Best Books of 2011 Best Books of 2011

Best Books of the Month

Discover the best new books for May--and save 40% on this month's top 10 editors' picks. Explore more new releases not to miss, or browse this month’s editors' picks in Kindle Books.

Spotlight Selection: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

Billy Lynn and his Bravo squad mates have become heroes thanks to an embedded Fox News crew’s footage of their firefight against Iraqi insurgents. During one day of their bizarre Victory Tour, set mostly at a Thanksgiving Day football game at Texas Stadium, they’re wooed by Hollywood producers, smitten by Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, and share a stage at halftime with Beyonce. Guzzling Jack and Cokes and scuffling with fans, the Bravos are conflicted soldiers. “Okay, so maybe they aren’t the greatest generation,” writes debut author (!) Ben Fountain, who manages a sly feat: giving us a maddening and believable cast of characters who make us feel what it must be like to go to war--and return. Veering from euphoria to dread to hope, Billy Lynn is a propulsive story that feels real and true. With fierce and fearless writing, Fountain is a writer worth every accolade about to come his way. --Neal Thompson

In One Person by John IrvingHome by Toni MorrisonThe Passage of Power by Robert Caro
In One Person A masterfully told story of identity, relationships, and the struggle that comes with living a life outside of the mainstream. Irving doesn’t shy away from the difficulties of sexual exploration. Read more. Home It takes only a page or two of Morrison’s finely wrought 10th novel before you find yourself relaxing into the hands of a master. Nobody owns a sentence like Ms. Morrison. Read more. The Passage of Power In the fourth volume of this ambitious, decades-long biographic exploration, Lyndon Johnson finally reaches the White House. Caro's version of JFK's assassination is chilling, his characters Shakespearean. Read more.
An Uncommon Education by Elizabeth PercerTo the Last Breath by Francis SlakeyThis Is How by Augusten Burroughs
An Uncommon Education Percer’s gift lies in making her main character, Naomi--and her family, friends, and lovers--utterly, absorbingly real. It feels like the kind of all-night conversation that breaks your heart when it ends. Read more. To the Last Breath Slakey's prose is vivid and intense, worthy of the genre's best. He’s also threaded this adventure tale with a more personal journey, creating a single, riveting tale of inner and outer discovery. Read more. This Is How Burroughs delivers prescriptions for handling life's most pernicious problems. Don't let the snake-oil title put you off: this is raw, hard-knock-life advice, veering from brutal to hilarious to deeply compassionate. Read more.
Trapeze by Simon MawerPrivate Empire by Steve CollI Suck at Girls by Justin Halpern
Trapeze A smart, well-paced spy thriller and a memorably cunning heroine, based on the extraordinary true story of French-speaking British women recruited to go undercover in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Read more. Private Empire In many ways, Exxon/Mobil represents the corporate ideal: secretive, powerful, and immensely profitable. Two-time Pulitzer-winner Steve Coll has written a book that lives up to that ideal: revealing, fact-based, and unceasingly interesting. Read more. I Suck at Girls Relationships provide great comedic material and Halpern, proving he’s not just a one hit wonder, puts it all out there. As his dad might say, I laughed my ass off. Read more.

Browse the Best of the Month by Category

The Best Books of May for Kids & Teens

The Lonely Book
Picture Books
See You at Harry's
Middle Grade Books
Code Name Verity
Teen Books

The Best Books of 2011: New in Paperback

Many of our editors' picks for the Best Books of 2011 are new--or coming soon--in paperback.

The Submission: A Novel
›Amy Waldman
Paperback
$15.00 $10.20
Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its...
Howard Schultz, Joanne Gordon
Paperback
$16.99 $11.19
The Forgotten Waltz: A Novel
›Anne Enright
Paperback
$15.95 $10.85
›See more of the Best Books of 2011 in paperback

Best-selling New Releases by Category

More About Amazon.com's Best Books of the Month

Each month, Amazon.com's editorial team reads with an eye for the Best Books of the Month, plus the best books in popular categories like Cooking, Food & Wine books, Literature & Fiction, Children's books, Mystery & Thrillers, Comics & Graphic Novels, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy, the best books for teens, and more. We scour reviews and book news for tips on what the earliest readers have loved, we swap books amongst ourselves, and spend our nights and weekends tearing through as many of the best books as possible. Then we face off in a monthly Best Books selection meeting to champion the books we think will resonate most with their readership.

The titles that make our Best Books of Month lists are the keepers, the ones we couldn't forget. Many of our editorial picks for the best books are also customer favorites and bestsellers, but we strive to spotlight the best books you might not otherwise hear about.

The books included in Amazon's Best Books of the Month program are entirely editorial selections. We have great passion for uniting readers of all ages and tastes with their next favorite read, helping our customers find terrific gifts for booklovers, and drawing more attention to the best books by exceptional authors of all stripes.