虽然2017年还剩三个多月的时间，但年度最佳书单已经开始成形，而且恰好赶上了节日购物季。

研究显示，我们把更多或者坦率地讲是太多时间，用在了联网设备上，在活动之间的片刻时间也要用来数字娱乐。为什么不探究一则更深层次的故事？为什么不尝试阅读一本传统的纸质图书？（当然我们并不是要对电子阅读器用户指手画脚。）

亚马逊（Amazon）的编辑们在6月份列出了一份榜单，其中囊括了他们认为到目前为止最优秀的图书。官方榜单有20本；下面是其中的前七本书。

There are more than three months left in 2017, but the best reads of the year are beginning to crystallize—just in time for holiday shopping season, naturally.

Studies show that we’re spending more time—too much, frankly—immersed in our Internet-connected devices, soaking up the brief moments in between activities with digital distraction. Why not dig into a deeper narrative? Why not try an old-fashioned book? (And no, we won’t judge you for reading one using an e-reader.)

In June, Amazon editors assembled a list of what they believe are the best books of the year to date. Their official list goes to 20; here’s a look at the top seven.

1.《极乐部》（The Ministry of Utmost Happiness），作者：阿兰达蒂•洛伊

亚马逊编辑塞拉•威尔森表示，这本书引领读者来到印度次大陆，讲述了“印度宗教、政治和文化变革的年代”，书的开篇是一个叫安尤姆的女人在她称作家的墓地打开一张毯子，故事由此展开。其他人物的叙述逐渐勾勒出故事的轮廓：怪人提洛，浪漫风趣的穆萨，提洛的房东，还有两位吉宾小姐。这是一个暴力、幽默、讽刺和令人伤心的故事。『购买链接』

1. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, by Arundhati Roy

The book takes the reader on a journey across the Indian subcontinent—”years of India’s religious, political, and cultural changes,” Amazon’s Seira Wilson notes—and begins with a woman named Anjum unrolling a carpet in a graveyard she calls home. Narratives of other characters begin to weave into the picture: the odd Tilo, romantic interest Musa, Tilo’s landlord, two people named Miss Jebeen. It’s a violent, humorous, ironic, and heartbreaking story. (Knopf; $20)

2.《花月杀手：奥沙谋杀案和联邦调查局的诞生》（Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI），作者：大卫•格雷恩

本书主要讲述了印第安人部落奥沙的故事。这个部落在上世纪20年代通过谈判，成功维护了他们在俄克拉荷马州土地上的开采权。这一度让奥沙部落变得非常富有 — 然后他们遭遇了一系列处决式的枪杀、中毒和房屋爆炸，接连有人死亡。书中记录了J.埃德加•胡佛的调查过程。『购买链接』

2. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann

This book centers on the Native American tribe known as the Osage, who in the 1920s managed to negotiate to maintain the mineral rights for their land in Oklahoma. In time it made the Osage very rich—and that’s when they started dying through a series of execution-style shootings, poisonings, and exploding houses. The story follows J. Edgar Hoover’s investigation. (Doubleday; $20)

3.《贝尔镇》（Beartown），作者：弗雷德里克•贝克曼

这本书讲述了一个家庭的悲欢离合（一个家庭因为一件暴力犯罪而四分五裂），也是一则青少年成长的故事（对于故事核心的年轻人）。几个人能否改变一个经济状况日益恶化的混乱、严密的社区？答案在前几页徐徐展开，但直到书的结尾才真相大白。『购买链接』

3. Beartown, by Fredrik Backman

It’s part domestic drama (a family pulled apart by an act of violence), it’s part coming-of-age story (for the young adults at the story’s center). Can a handful of people change a scrappy, tight-knit community with declining finances? The answer begins to unfold in the first few pages and doesn’t let up until the last. (Atria; $20)

4.《一路向西》（Exit West），作者：莫欣•哈米德

这本书的主人公是一对年轻情侣娜迪亚和萨伊德，他们在一个遥远的城市里相爱，但这个城市后来变成了暴力无情的野蛮之乡。两个相爱的人被迫离开亲人，通过魔法门逃离这个国家。这是一则有关逃亡和如何在这个世界找到自己的位置的故事。『购买链接』

4. Exit West, by Mohsin Hamed

The book centers on a young couple, Nadia and Saeed, who fall in love in a distant city that turns violent. The activity causes the pair to leave behind their loved ones and flee the country through magic doors. It’s a story about being in exile and establishing one’s place in the world. (Riverhead; $16)

5.《神父爹地》（Priestdaddy），作者：帕特丽厦•洛克伍德

令人虚弱的疾病和贫困，使作者和她的丈夫不得不搬回儿时的家，与她的父亲 — 一名已经结婚的神父（不要问） — 住在一起，按照亚马逊编辑凡妮莎•克罗宁的描述，她的父亲“喜欢穿着四角裤闲逛，‘撕扯’他的吉他，咆哮着‘HOMEY DON’T PLAY THAT’’，来表达他的不满。”这部幽默小说讲述了作者如何应对古怪的父母们的恶作剧。（Riverhead出版社；16美元）

5. Priestdaddy, by Patricia Lockwood

Debilitating illness and poverty drive the author and her husband to move back into her childhood home with her father, a married priest (don’t ask) who, as Amazon’s Vannessa Cronin puts it, “likes to lounge about in his boxers, ‘shredding’ his guitar, and raging ‘HOMEY DON’T PLAY THAT’ to signify displeasure.” The humorous story focuses on the author’s attempts to manage her lunatic parents’ shenanigans. (Riverhead; $16)

6. 《你不必说你爱我》 （You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me），作者：谢尔曼•亚历斯

这本回忆录的背景是在斯波坎印第安人保留地，讲述了一个母亲（非常聪明，有时候很残酷）与儿子之间的复杂关系。亚马逊编辑萨拉•哈里森•史密斯形容这本书“可读性强，朴实无华，幽默风趣，非常感人。”（Little, Brown & Co；20美元）

6. You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, by Sherman Alexie

A memoir set in the Spokane Indian Reservation that centers on the complicated relationship between a mother (“whip-smart, sometimes cruel”) and son. “Readable, unpretentious, funny, and deeply compassionate,” notes Amazon’s Sarah Harrison Smith. (Little, Brown & Co; $20)

7. 《林肯在中阴界》（Lincoln in the Bardo），作者：乔治•桑德斯

这是以短篇小说和随笔闻名的桑德斯第一部长篇小说。故事发生在1862年，从亚伯拉罕•林肯总统第一个孩子因伤寒夭折开始。据出版商描述，在林肯悲痛欲绝的时候，白宫附近的公墓里居住的鬼魂“相互交往，发牢骚，同情其他鬼魂的遭遇，争吵并且做出各种古怪的忏悔行为。”『购买链接』

7. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders

It’s the first proper novel by Saunders, known better for his short stories and essays. The story is set in 1862 and starts with President Abraham Lincoln losing his young son to typhoid. As Lincoln grieves, the ghosts who inhabit the cemetery near the White House “mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance,” according to the publisher. (Random House; $17)