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The world has been mourning the passing of Harper Lee. President Barack Obama (pictured, via) wrote a post on Facebook to praise the To Kill a Mockingbird author.

Here’s an excerpt from Obama’s post: “Ms. Lee changed America for the better. And there is no higher tribute we can offer her than to keep telling this timeless American story – to our students, to our neighbors, and to our children – and to constantly try, in our own lives, to finally see each other.”

Many members of the publishing industry have also spoken out in remembrance of Lee including HarperCollins publisher Michael Morrison, literary agent Andrew Nurnberg, and Amazon Books editorial director Sara Nelson. Do you have a favorite quote from To Kill a Mockingbird or Go Set a Watchman?

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins has been named the bestselling book of 2015 on Amazon.

In addition to its bestselling books of the year list, the e-commerce company has revealed the titles that made it onto the bestselling kids & teens book of the year, and the most gifted books of the year. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School by Jeff Kinney claimed the number one spot on the kids & teens book list. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee nabbed the top spot on the most gifted book list.

Sara Nelson, the editorial director of Books and Kindle at Amazon.com, gave this statement in the press release: “What this list suggests is that Amazon customers like to be entertained—and scared! The creepy thriller The Girl on the Train is our best-selling book of the year, hands down, but Silent Scream, 14th Deadly Sin and Luckiest Girl Alive are no slouches in the category, either. It’s great to see The Nightingale perform so well; it suggests that readers continue to come back to novels about WWII, as long as they deliver stories of people and the difficult decisions that war makes them make.”

Amazon’s Top 20 Bestsellers in 2015

Amazon’s editors have put together a list of the “Best Books of the Year So Far,” a list of titles that have come out over the year so far that Amazon claims is a must-read.

Adam Begley’s Updike took the No. 1 position on the list. We have the entire list with links and descriptions of the books after the jump.

“It’s never easy to narrow down our favorites, but after much debate and discussion, we’ve arrived at a list that will fit every customer’s summer reading agenda—whether you’re headed to the beach, traveling the world or enjoying a stay cation,” stated Sara Nelson, Editorial Director of Print and Kindle Books at Amazon.com. “Updike may seem like an unusual choice for our number one pick, but it’s poised to be one of the best biographies of 2014. It’s a candid, enthralling book that readers won’t be able to put down.”  (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Gone Girl: A Novel by Gillian Flynn; The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown; L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy and The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet are among Amazon’s list of 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime – the Mystery & Thriller Edition.

The list was put together by Amazon Books’ editorial team. Follow this link to explore their recommendations. You can also check out Amazon’s list of 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime list here.

“There are many different kinds of books that fall under the mystery/thriller umbrella – from police procedurals to murder mysteries to spy thrillers,” explained Sara Nelson, editorial director of Amazon.com in a statement.  ”When we were compiling our list of 100 Mysteries & Thrillers to Read in a Lifetime, we wanted to be sure to include books from all of those sub-categories. The team had plenty of lively arguments, several passionate filibusters, and a number of voting sessions before we came up with the final list.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A number of publishing professionals have announced big job changes today.

Sara Nelson (pictured, via) is leaving O, The Oprah Magazine to serve as editorial director at Amazon.com Books. Publishers Weekly had the scoop: “A spokesperson for Amazon said Nelson ‘will be leading our editorial vision for books in the print and Kindle bookstores on Amazon.com.’”

Parul Sehgal will be a new preview editor at The New York Times Book Review.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“If you read only one book this summer,” says Sara Nelson, books editor of Oprah Magazine, “it should be RULES OF CIVILITY by Amor Towles.”

According to Nelson:

“Rules of Civility is to books what the great classic movie, An Affair to Remember is to film. It’s salty and funny and so wise about class, ambition and love in New York. Part of what makes the novel work, in my opinion, is that the city is, itself, a character in the book; the author has clearly done his research (but its seams don’t show!) about the provenance of certain buildings and jazz clubs in the late 1930s. Most of all, however, I loved the book because I loved Katey Kontent, its protagonist—a tough-talking but tender dame.”

We at Bookfinds are still mourning the loss of the Oprah Book Club, so we will continue to highlight book recommendations that come from the house that Oprah built.

Have you read RULES OF CIVILITY? Did you enjoy it? It is currently in the to-be-read pile of the Bookfinds team. We will keep you posted.