sarah gelman amazon book review

She Makes Her Living Doing The Thing She Loves Most: Reading Books

“My object in life,” wrote poet Robert Frost, “is to unite my avocation and my vocation. As my two eyes make one in sight.” For nearly two decades Sarah Gelman has succeeded in uniting her passion with her profession. A fervent reader, Gelman has dedicated her entire professional career to books. 

Sarah Gelman

In her job as Editorial Director of Amazon Books, Gelman reads hundreds of books every year as she writes and curates selections for Amazon Book Review. She also interviews authors about their upcoming releases and provides book recommendations based on the season or cultural relevance. 

“It’s truly a dream to marry your passion with your career,” says Gelman. “For my whole team, there is nothing better than recommending a book that someone ends up loving, and especially re-igniting someone’s love for reading.” 

Some of Gelman’s earliest memories involve books. She vividly remembers the moment when reading clicked for her. Gelman was sitting on her parents’ bed and reading about Nan the Rat. She can also recall when she was reading Ramona and her Mother and truly understood all the words in a chapter book. “I set up a special reading nook on the floor of my closet so I could hide out and read,” she recalls. “Just like a character in a book I had recently read.”

Gelman didn’t consider books as a profession until her junior year in college when she was studying abroad at the University of Exeter. She discovered heartthrob Jamie Oliver, (aka “The Naked Chef”), signing books at a local store. Gelman stood in line for hours to get her book signed for her mother who is a passionate cook.

Just before reaching him, the woman who she now knows was his publicist cut off the line just before Gelman got to reach him. “Being a rule-breaking 20-year old, I ran around to the back of the bookstore and intercepted him as he was getting into his car,” says Gelman.

Oliver was incredibly kind, signed her book and even took a picture with her. “His publicist was horrified,” Gelman recalls. “That was the moment I started thinking about books as a career. I realized there were more ways to be a part of publishing than being an editor.” She also learned the importance of going after what you desire most.

After studying literature and creative writing at Kenyon college Gelman spent nearly a decade working as a book publicist at Random House before moving to Seattle to work at Amazon.

It was a big leap to leave New York and her publishing job to move to Seattle, where Gelman knew no one, to work for a tech company. “I wasn’t horribly unhappy at the time, but I realized that instead of living my life, my life was living me,” she says. “And for too long I thought someone else would make the decision for me. But I was single and it was just me, so I took a chance.” That chance turned out to be the best decision of her life. “Sure, it was scary and lonely at times. But I’ve never regretted it,” adds Gelman. “I am glad I had the trust in myself to make a big, risky decision.”

Since joining Amazon a decade ago Gelman has appeared on  Good Morning America and has hosted Amazon Live conversations with Mindy Kaling, Chelsea Clinton and other notable authors.

Gelman and her team release a monthly feature, Best Books of the Month where they read hundreds of books and debate favorites for an overall Top Ten and create lists in many different categories. These lists feed into their Best Books of the Year So Far that comes out in June and the Best Books of the Year lists. They also plan coverage on books that can appear everywhere from the Amazon Book Review to video interviews on Amazon’s home page.

“Finding a hidden gem and sharing that with customers is one of my favorite parts of the job,” she says. “Barely a day goes by when I don’t stop to think about how lucky I am to be doing something that fills me with so much passion.”

Gelman shared the books that she read this past year that have really stayed with her.

I read so many books, this is always such a hard question. But here are a few favorites.

What’s Mine and Yours by Naima Coster. In my opinion, Naima Coster is poised to become the next Brit Bennett. She writes about race, family, and identity in a way that’s pure and affecting. 

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I wish I had had Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day by Jay Shetty when I was in my twenties. It helped me shift my mindsets and habits when I needed it most.

I predict that Sally Hepworth will break out with her latest domestic thriller, The Good Sister , which manages to be creepy and hopeful at the same time.

Pretty Thing s by Janelle Brown is the kind of book I would recommend to friends when they asked me what to read on a flight. It’s engrossing, super fun and the sort of book you start when you board the plane in Seattle. And when you’ve finished it, you are across the country and have no memory of the flight.

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Sarah Gelman with Amazon’s Top 20 Books of 2020

Play episode.

Welcome Sarah

We’re joined on the Starline by Director of Amazon Books Editorial Sarah Gelman to break down the top 20 books of 2020. Welcome Sarah.

Let’s go Beyond the Mic, Sarah you read books every day. Books, books, books, what makes a book decent, good or great enough to get onto this list?

How many books do you read at a time? Read a chapter of this, a chapter of this?

You worked for Random House as a PR Manager, what makes being part of the book selling side so different than the book promoting side?

Let’s break down some of the top books, “A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice and Freedom” is the # 1 book. Why did it do so well?

What’s the best children’s book that might be perfect for a gift this year? That just sounds fun?

So how does the Battle Royale of book selection to make the list happen? Do you all get on a zoom call and fight or is it a process?

For more information on the books featured on the Best Books of the Year list visit the Amazon Book Review where can people find it?

For more information on the books featured on the Best Books of the Year list visit the Amazon Book Review where?

Sarah Gelman, Director of Amazon Book Editorial thanks for taking the time to talk to us today.

And that my friends is a Beyond the Mic Short Cut.

Read the Amazon Book Review here

Check out the Amazon Editors Best Books of 2020 !

Check out Sarah’s last appearance on Beyond the Mic .

Listen to this great podcast!

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February 24, 2021

Written by Cosette Jarrett

This Amazon employee reads great books on behalf of our customers

How would you describe your role?

Where do customers find your editorial team's book recommendations, how do you consider readers' interests as you read and recommend new books, how many books would you say you read in a given year, what's one of your favorite parts of your job, after 11 years at amazon, what is one of the projects you're most proud of.

Sarah Gelman interviews Jay Shetty for Author Live

Watch Gelman interview Jay Shetty, author of "Think Like a Monk," in this episode of her team's Author Live series on Amazon Live.

How do you balance managing two teams?

What steps did you take to get to where you are today?

What advice would you give to a fellow book lover aspiring to a career like yours.

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Sarah Gelman from Amazon Books On Books You Should Be Reading

She’s always looking to perfect her reading nook, talks about exploding llamas and loves to read books to her sons. Sarah Gelman from Amazon Books joins us to talk the best books of 2020 so far.

Today, Amazon announced its choices for 2020’s Best Books of the Year So Far, selecting Abi Daré’s debut novel,  The Girl with the Louding Voice,  as the top pick.

Press Release from Amazon : Throughout the year, the Amazon Books editorial team pores over thousands of pages to determine the Best Books of the Month, Best Books of the Year So Far, and Best Books of the Year, debating new releases across various categories—including literary fiction, mystery and thriller, biography, children’s books, and young adult—all to help customers find their next great book. For Best Books of the Year So Far, the Amazon Books editorial team read and selected titles released between January 2020 and June 2020. This year’s list includes the  first adult novel  of a longtime children’s book author, a sought-after tattoo artist’s  memoir  on assimilating to American culture after leaving Vietnam, and a  gripping true story  of a family trying to understand how schizophrenia has affected their lives and future. “Determining the Best Books of the Year So Far took on even greater importance this year as many of us spent months at home and often turned to books to better understand our new normal or seek reprieve in another person’s story. In every page and chapter of these profound books, we found opportunities to escape to different worlds, travel through time, and remind ourselves of the things that connect us all,” said Sarah Gelman, Editorial Director, Amazon Books. “For the Amazon Books editors,  The Girl with the Louding Voice  stood out thanks to its unforgettable characters and message of hope and determination when all feels lost. It’s impossible to walk away from this book without feeling hopeful.” The Girl with the Louding Voice ’s altruistic protagonist resonated with readers as well, as the most highlighted passage from the Kindle edition of the book spoke to a desire to make an impact on oneself and others: “ My mama say education will give me a voice. I want more than just a voice, Ms. Tia. I want a louding voice,” I say. “I want to enter a room and people will hear me even before I open my mouth to be speaking. I want to live in this life and help many people so that when I grow old and die, I will still be living through the people I am helping.” Upon hearing the news that her debut novel is at the top of the Best Books of the Year So Far list, Abi Daré said: “I am completely mind-blown by this! At a time when the world feels weightless and the days an endless, timeless thing filled with uncertainty, this news brought some laughter and color into my heart. A huge thank you to the brilliant editors at Amazon, who have read countless other fabulous books this season, and have loved and selected  The Girl with the Louding Voice  for this accolade. Thank you for shining a light on Adunni’s inspiring and beautiful story with your very powerful beam! I am beyond thrilled and utterly grateful.”   Here are the Amazon Books editorial team’s top 10 picks of 2020 so far: The Girl with the Louding Voice: A Novel  by Abi Daré:  In this rousing tale of courage and pluck, a 14-year-old Nigerian girl is sold into servitude by her father when her mother — a proponent of education — passes away. You will root for Adunni as she endeavors to escape her sorry — and  often harrowing — lot, and applaud the kind strangers who buoy her efforts and her spirits. Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family  by Robert Kolker:   Hidden Valley Road  is a heartbreaking, expertly told story of an all-American family, the Galvins, six of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia while still teenagers. Relying on exhaustive research, Kolker weaves together cultural, medical, and family history to show the ravages of mental illness on the six Galvin boys, on their parents, and, perhaps most movingly, on their other six siblings. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel  by Suzanne Collins :  The 10th anniversary of the Hunger Games is beginning, and 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow—President Snow, when we met him decades later in  The Hunger Games— has an important role to play. Nearly impossible to put down,  The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes  is an exciting and thought-provoking novel that goes outside the arena to ask interesting questions about human nature and ambition. Deacon King Kong: A Novel  by James McBride:  Set in the 1960s, this propulsive and darkly comic neighborhood epic features a cast of characters that are beguiling, boozed-filled, and larger than life. National Book Award-winner McBride weaves a fictional story of one Brooklyn project, but in doing so tells a broader tale of race and religion, getting by and getting out, and how grudges and alliances become embedded in the foundations of our lives. Pretty Things : A Novel by Janelle Brown:  When a second-generation grifter, Nina, and her shady boyfriend move to Lake Tahoe, they collide with a woman from Nina’s past, heiress Vanessa Liebling. Behind a glittering façade of old money and fast living, a darker story of social climbing, social media, revenge, and betrayal starts to take menacing shape. Writers & Lovers : A Novel by Lily King:  Writers & Lovers  is about the uncertainty of relationships, and of pursuing the creative life, in a world that values success and stability. Life is not waiting for Casey to fulfill her dream of being a novelist, so she works as a waitress and she dates, and she tries to figure it out as she goes. Love and art require frequent, often imperceptible, leaps of faith—and this book captures that perfectly. Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by  Phuc Tran:   Sigh, Gone  is one of the funniest and most profound memoirs of the year so far. Without rose-colored glasses and with a flair for humor, Tran recounts his childhood as a Vietnamese kid growing up in a small Pennsylvania town: the racism, dislocation, and violence that surrounded him, how he fought to fit in, and how he fell in love with literature. The City We Became: A Novel  by N. K. Jemisin:  Five strangers unexpectedly become the living embodiments of New York City’s boroughs and must battle an evil entity that threatens the city. Jemisin infuses this live-wire love letter to the city’s diverse denizens with reality-ripping storytelling. Oona Out of Order: A Novel  by Margarita Montimore : Oona Lockhart is celebrating New Year’s Eve 1982 and the eve of her 19th birthday, but at midnight she passes out and wakes up as a 19-year-old trapped in the body of a 51-year-old. Thus begins Oona living life out of order. Although  Oona Out of Order  could be a fun romp through the adage “youth is wasted on the young” (and it is), it’s also a deeper look at destiny, love, and family. The Mercies: A Novel  by Kiran Millwood Hargrave:  There isn’t much that is not unforgiving when it comes to the far-flung and frigid town of Vardø, Norway, including the sea that surrounds it, which swallows the majority of its male population in an epic storm while they’re fishing. Accusations of witchcraft quickly infect this grieving but resourceful community, threatening what hard-won normalcy they’ve regained.  The Mercies  is infuriating, baleful, but full of stubborn hope. The Girl with the Louding Voice  joins the Amazon Book editors’ past Best Book of the Year So Far selections, including Elizabeth Gilbert’s  City of Girls , Tara Westover’s  Educated,  and Arundhati Roy’s  The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. To view the complete list of the Best Books of the Year So Far spanning literary fiction, cookbooks, children’s books and more, visit  www.amazon.com/bestbookssofar .

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Amazon reveals its picks for best books of the year on “CBS Mornings”

Only on "CBS Mornings," Amazon reveals its best books of the year list. Amazon books editor and director, Sarah Gelman, joins “CBS Mornings” to discuss this year's picks, and why the number one book "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin is the "perfect" novel for our moment.

Join my book club, Sarah Selects

When you read for a job, you read a lot. Whenever I find a book that sticks with me, I love to recommend it to my friends and family, but I wanted to find a way to share those books more broadly so people everywhere could join in the discussion. That’s why I launched Sarah Selects , my new Amazon Book Club. I hope you’ll join us!

In the meantime, see what I had to say about my first pick, Half-Blown Rose by Leesa Cross-Smith below.

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About the Editor

Sarah gelman.

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Check out the august sarah selects book club pick.

Editorial Director Sarah Gelman’s beach read picks, as seen on CBS Mornings

Check out the July Sarah Selects book club pick

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