Amazon Book Editors Announce the Big Fall Books Preview

(NASDAQ: AMZN)—In anticipation of what is traditionally the biggest season for books, Amazon.com today announced its Big Fall Books Preview. The Amazon Book Editors have made their selections for fall’s top 20 big books, as well as a selection of new under-the-radar books. The Amazon Big Fall Books Preview also features the season’s most anticipated releases in biographies, comics and graphic novels, cookbooks, fiction, mysteries, nonfiction, romance and science fiction—plus upcoming releases for kids and young adults. Customers can browse the full lists at www.amazon.com/fallbookspreview.

“The year’s biggest book release season is just around the corner, so we’re excited to help readers discover more great titles and start building their fall reading lists,” said Sara Nelson, Editorial Director of Books and Kindle, Amazon.com. “Each editor has also chosen one exciting under-the-radar book—from surefire blockbusters to brilliant debut novels, there’s something for everyone.”

Below are the Amazon Books Editors’ picks for the top 20 Big Fall Books, organized by release date:

• Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson: War correspondent for the New York Times Magazine and Vanity Fair, Anderson has written a thorough portrait that upends our understanding of how the modern Middle East was formed.
• Never Go Back by Lee Child: The latest entry in Child’s hugely successful Jack Reacher series.
• MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood: Following Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, modern sci-fi legend Margaret Atwood concludes her beloved speculative fiction trilogy.
• Salinger by David Shields and Shane Salerno: Shields and Salerno take on an ambitious task: penning the definitive biography of notorious literary recluse J.D. Salinger.
• W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton: Another letter brings another murder in Grafton’s acclaimed Kinsey Millhone series.
• Dissident Gardens by Jonathan Lethem: Best known for his Brooklyn heritage, Lethem sets his latest novel in a different New York borough: Queens in the ‘60s, to follow three generations of radicals.
• Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon: Pynchon goes back to New York City in 2001, just after the dot-com bubble burst and just before the events of September 11^th.
• Doctor Sleep by Stephen King: Finally, horror master King gives us a sequel to The Shining.
• The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri: Pulitzer Prize winner Lahiri’s first novel since The Namesake is a family saga that spans India and America.
• David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell: A typically Gladwellian look at the myths we all seem to carry around about underdogs and big cheeses.
• The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert: This new novel from the author of Eat, Pray, Love and Committed travels from London to Peru to Philadelphia to Tahiti to Amsterdam.
• One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson: Bryson (A Walk in the Woods, A Short History of Nearly Everything) details perhaps the most brilliant summer in America’s history, featuring national icons such as Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth and Al Capone.
• The House of Hades by Rick Riordan: The fourth book in Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series.
• Camelot’s Court: Inside the Kennedy White House by Robert Dallek: Fifty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy comes Dallek’s comprehensive biography of the Kennedy administration.
• Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding: Fielding returns with a third Bridget Jones book, her first in over ten years.
• Sycamore Row by John Grisham: Grisham’s latest, a sequel to A Time to Kill, finds its protagonist Jake Brigance defending justice in the courtroom of a quiet Southern town.
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: This long awaited novel from the author of The Secret History is about an orphan navigating the worlds of art and power.
• Double Down: Game Change 2012 by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann: Halperin and Heilemann made waves with Game Change, a gripping look behind the curtain of the 2008 presidential election. The two follow up with similarly ambitious coverage of the 2012 race.
• The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin: Goodwin, who won the Pulitzer Prize for No Ordinary Time about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s relationship, returns with this book about Theodore Roosevelt and his presidential successor William Howard Taft.
• The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan: Following three generations of women from Shanghai, a remote Chinese village and San Francisco, Tan’s new novel tackles themes of motherhood and Chinese history over half a century.

And the editors’ personal under-the-radar picks:

• My Notorious Life by Kate Manning: A historical novel of Dickensian sprawl, My Notorious Life is loosely based on the experiences of an infamous midwife in late 19^th century New York—compelling, assured and irresistible. – Sara Nelson
• The Maid’s Version by Daniel Woodrell: A story of hard times and hard people, of secrets, betrayals and revenge. This is an entirely original, brutal, and darkly elegant book, and Woodrell is a storyteller at the top of his game. – Neal Thompson
• The Mushroom Hunters: On the Trail of an Underground America by Langdon Cook: This book is a ton of fun—equal parts adventure, natural history, and gastronomy. Above all, The Mushroom Hunters will make you hungry. – Jon Foro
• The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane: The Night Guest is an impressive debut—a tender novel about old age and a psychological meditation on isolation—that moves with the curious pace of a mystery. – Kevin Nguyen
• Provence, 1970: M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste by Luke Barr: With M.F.K. Fisher’s instinct for elegantly simple and sensuous detail, author Barr immerses us in this sea change, when our collective culinary ambition started its shift from Mastering the Art of French Cooking to The Art of Simple Food. – Mari Malcolm
• Johnny Cash: The Life by Robert Hilburn: Hilburn—who counted Cash as a friend and was the only music journalist at the famous Folsom Prison concert—draws from his extensive personal interviews with the singer, as well as new material from Cash’s inner circle, to create a biography that is both compassionate and clear-eyed. – Chris Schluep
• Parasite by Mira Grant: The first book in an ominous two-part series blends sci-fi imagination with the terrifying authenticity of horror then delivers like a creeping thriller, getting under your skin in a very good way. – Robin A. Rothman
• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell: An immensely satisfying coming-of-age novel, Fangirl deftly captures the experience of discovering your true voice and clumsy, vulnerable, remarkable, first love. – Seira Wilson
• Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things by Cynthia Voigt: Mister Max is a thoughtful and beautifully written novel that will reassure the most timid of readers that hidden within themselves is a wealth of courage and untapped possibility. – Seira Wilson

The most pre-ordered books in print publishing this fall are:

1. The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

2. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

3. Allegiant (Divergent) by Veronica Roth

4. Never Go Back by Lee Child

5. W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton

The most pre-ordered books on Kindle publishing this fall are:

1. Never Go Back by Lee Child

2. Allegiant (Divergent) by Veronica Roth

3. House of Hades by Rick Riordan

4. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

5. W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton

All of the top 20 books are available to pre-order in print and Kindle formats. To see the complete Big Fall Books Preview, go to www.amazon.com/fallbookspreview.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the most-advanced e-reader ever constructed with 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, extra-long battery life, and a thin and light design. The new latest generation Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, now features new, improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD features a stunning custom high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end, laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support, dual-antennas and MIMO for faster streaming and downloads, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine—and it is available in two display sizes—7” and 8.9”. The large-screen Kindle Fire HD is also available with 4G wireless, and comes with a groundbreaking $49.99 introductory 4G LTE data package. The all-new Kindle Fire features a 20% faster processor, 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.