Amazon editors say this is the best book of 2022 (so far): ‘A charming, warmhearted read!’

Our team is dedicated to finding and telling you more about the products and deals we love. If you love them too and decide to purchase through the links below, we may receive a commission. Pricing and availability are subject to change.

Summer’s officially here, and that means we’re just about halfway through the year. With this in mind, some brands have accumulated enough data to create substantial “best of” lists — and Amazon is among the first to kick things off with its Best Books of 2022 (So Far) list.

On June 15, Amazon’s book editors released their list of the 10 best books of the year (from January to June). Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures, a novel the editors say “delivers a message about love and loss,” snagged the top spot.

Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel by Shelby Van Pelt

Credit: Amazon

Hand-curated by Amazon Book Editors, the list features a mix of best sellers that both shoppers and editors loved. It also features both new and obscure titles.

Editors combed through thousands of pages and hundreds of books in popular categories like literary fiction, mystery and thrillers, romance, history, biographies and memoirs, cookbooks and even children’s books.

Amazon Books editorial director Sarah Gelman said the committee agreed that Shelby Van Pelt’s “stunning debut,” Remarkably Bright Creatures, deserved the No. 1 spot simply because it’s “wholly original.”

“It somehow manages to be all the things at once: sweet, poignant, funny and wise,” she said in a release. “I still miss these characters, but particularly the wise octopus at the center of the story.”

Professional book reviewers and publications also can’t stop raving about Remarkably Bright Creatures. The Washington Post describes it as “an ultimately feel-good but deceptively sensitive debut about what it feels like to have love taken from you.” Kirkus Reviews also plainly explains that it’s “a novel about a woman who befriends an octopus” before adding that it’s “a charming, warmhearted read.”

If you want to check out what else is featured on the list, find the top 10 of the Best Books of 2022 (So Far), as chosen by Amazon’s Book Editors, below:

  1. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
  2. What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo
  3. All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
  4. The Maid by Nita Prose
  5. River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard
  6. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
  7. Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
  8. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
  9. Half-Blow Rose by Leesa Bross-Smith
  10. Hello, Molly!: A Memoir by Molly Shannon

If you enjoyed this story, check out what Amazon editors said was the best book of 2021.

More from In The Know:

The 4 safest and most effective mouthwashes to use, according to dentists and a gum surgeon

The 9 best men’s pajamas that’ll keep you cool, even for the sweatiest of hot sleepers

The 7 best cooling blankets on Amazon, according to highly rated customer reviews — starting at $22

Amazon editors say this is the best book of 2020

Listen to the latest episode of our pop culture podcast, We Should Talk: