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If you use Goodreads to keep track of your books, then you already know that the Goodreads Choice Awards are happening now. I've been on Goodreads for years, but I've never actually voted for the awards before.
And, this year I'm still not voting. At least not in the first round.
But, I am going through the list of nominated books and giving my thoughts about the books in the different categories.
Before I get started, it is important to note that...
1) I don't read all that many books when they are first released because my list of books to read is very long and it takes a while to get to the new ones sometimes.
2) I don't read every single genre equally, and there are a few genres that I have zero interest in reading.
3) I'm not making any predictions on which books will win because I just haven't read enough books in any one category. Also, I feel as if we've had enough voting predictions for the current year in other areas of our lives.
4) This round has 15 books nominated in 20 categories. After the opening round results are released on November 10, there will be fewer books, and I will probably read a few before commenting on the next round. If I can get copies of any of them.
That being said, let's get into my very idiosyncratic thoughts about the books nominated this year. You can take a look at the categories here.
Fiction
Ok, so I've only heard of one or two of these books before. I don't normally read all that much contemporary literary fiction, so this is not a surprise. It's not a great way to start off this commentary though. If you've read one of the books that are nominated in this category, and think that it's good, let me know in the comments so that I can potentially read at least one of these before the next round is over.
Mystery and Thriller
Again, I haven't read anything on this list, but I do enjoy reading mysteries. I've just mostly stuck to Agatha Christie this year because I need that predictability and comfort in my reading right now. However, I did read The Hunting List earlier this year, and the same author wrote The Guest List. If this book is anything like Lucy Foley's previous book, then it's completely worth the read. Most of these books seem to lean more to the thriller side of the spectrum while I tend to prefer a nice, cozy mystery (despite reading The Guest List), so I don't know if the eventual winner is going to be a book that I would enjoy reading. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Historical Fiction
There's just something about historical fiction that makes me excited. I've heard good things about Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half. Just based on covers and titles, I'm interested in reading The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner and Hanmet by Maggie O'Farrell. If a book is related to Jane Austen or Shakespeare and has good reviews, then I want to give it a try. This is definitely a list that I will return to in order to add books to my TBR later.
Fantasy
Finally, a category that has books I've actually read on it! The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune was a magical read in every sense of the word. If you enjoy fantasy but haven't read this book yet, you absolutely need to get it now. I'm not surprised to see books by Sarah J. Maas and Brandon Sanderson on the list. In fact, I will probably end up reading Crescent City at some point in the future despite the fact that it is ridiculously long. Several of these books will end up on my TBR. You just have to be careful about choosing fantasy books to read because they are always approximately 5,000 pages long and have 17 books in a series. This has yet to stop me from reading the genre though.
Romance
I don't read romance all that often, so I don't recognize any of these authors. I can comment that the titles all sound fun.
Science Fiction
I have no comments. I rarely read science fiction. When I do, it tends to be older works or YA.
Horror
I don't read horror. Ever. Although I am very intrigued by The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, thanks to my imagination that enjoys waking me up at 2 am convinced that whatever disturbing thing I have recently read is happening right then, I will continue to avoid it.
Humor
Moving on from horror to a category I like better. We are in desperate need of comedic books right now. A friend has recommended that I read Samantha Irby's Wow, No Thank You. I know for certain that I would love Strange Planet even though I haven't read it yet. I follow Nathan W Pyle on Instagram and send other people his comics way too often. Not sorry about that at all.
Nonfiction
Normally I'd say that I prefer fiction over nonfiction, but in the last few months I've been reading more nonfiction than normal. Of course, I've been reading more in general than normal. I've heard of several of these books before, but have yet to read any of them.
Memoir and Autobiography
I thought that the best memoir that I've read in the past year was going to be on this list, but it isn't. I read Me by Elton John and thought it was so good! Sometimes celebrity memoirs are too boring or too fluffy and only get published because of a person's fame, but Elton John's story was fascinating. I looked it up, and it turns out that it was on the list for the previous year because it was published in October 2019. I'm just a little behind on that one. Out of the books nominated this year, I have read Untamed by Glennon Doyle and can confirm that it was an inspring read. A number of the other books nominated look like books I would enjoy, so my TBR is probably going to be way too full soon.
History and Biography
This is the only category where I have not heard of a single one of these books before, but want to add about half of them to my TBR. I don't know which ones to start with, so in this case, I'll probably watch to see which ones of these make it to the next round.
Science and Technology
I haven't heard of any of these before, but I'm very interested in reading No Filter by Sarah Frier, That Wild Country by Mark Kenyon, and A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough.
Food and Cookbooks
Y'all I love a good cookbook. But, I am very skeptical about this list. There is a book called Outlander Kitchen on here. I am aware of the popular series and have read one of the books, but I would not have expected that a cookbook based on the series would be nominated as one of the best cookbooks of the year. I do wonder if maybe the cookbook category isn't one of the widest used categories on Goodreads. I know that I never add cookbooks that I've looked through onto Goodreads. None of the cookbooks that I've heard about this year are on the list. Except for Joanna Gaines' new book. I would actually like to read that one (and Wine Girl by Victoria James sounds like something I would like). I just don't know how to feel about this category.
Graphic Novels
Outside of middle grade graphic novels that I used to read when I taught middle school English, I don't tend to read graphic novels. I know that lots of people enjoy graphic novels, but I find them difficult to follow and feel like I don't appreciate them enough. I have added I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf by Grant Snider to my library holds though, so I'm going to give at least one of these a try.
Poetry
Naturally, books by Amanda Lovelace and Rupi Kaur made this list. While I don't read a large amount of poetry, those are names that even I know. I'm surprised that there are other names that I recognize, like Margaret Atwood and Loi Lowry. Maybe I should have known that they write poetry, but I did not. I like the idea of reading poetry, but in practice, I don't. It's always seemed difficult to find work that I enjoy, but I think the problem is that I've been haphazardly selecting books of poetry to read without bothering to try to find topics that appeal to me. Judging by this list of nomination, there are so many writer producing works on a range of topics, and it's more than possible for me to find poetry that I would enjoy.
Debut Novels
This category is so exciting! Obviously, we've never read books by any of these authors before, but I love the possibility of finding a new favorite.
Young Adults
By far, the young adult category has the best covers. The action begins before you even open up and start reading. Thanks to #bookstagram, there are quite a few titles that I recognize. I've been seeing Felix Ever After, Clap When You Land, and Majesty everywhere.
Young Adult Fantasy and Science Fiction
I know I said earlier that I don't read much science fiction, but I do read YA dystopian novels, which are actually science fiction. And, I read YA fantasy as much, if not more, than I read normal fantasy. I have no plans to read Stephanie Meyer's Midnight Sun, and chances are that I won't be reading Suzanne Collins' The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but it is fun to see new books from a series that I enjoyed when I was younger. The one that stands out the most to me is These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong. I am completely on board with reading a YA retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in 1920s Shanghai.
Middle Grade and Children's
Since I wasn't reading new books for my classroom during most of 2020, I recognize fewer of these books than I normally would. Naturally, there are books by Rick Riordan and James Patterson. The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate is likely going to be a great read given how good the previous book was, and Jacqueline Woodson's Before the Ever After is probably fantastic because everything that she writes is fantastic.
Picture Books
I haven't read any of the 2020 nominees for this category. I think if I were still teaching, I would try to get a copy of The Oldest Student, which tells that story of Mary Walker learning to read at the age of 116. I think that picture books is a difficult category because the books that I find interesting aren't necessarily the ones that appeal the most to the intended audience.
Overall Thoughts
It was fun looking through the books that were nominated for the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards. However, looking back at the winners from previous years, I am not convinced that the books that won were always the best books of that year. I love Jonathan Van Ness, but was her momoir really the best memoir of 2019. (It totally might have been. I didn't read it so I can't say for sure, but there were some other really good memoirs nominated that year.)
I do like that normal readers are the ones voting on this list and that it is not based on the number of copies sold. But, with 15 books in each category, it's unlikely that anyone will have read more than a handful of books from each one. Personally, if I've only read one or two books from a category, I wouldn't want to vote in that category. I feel like I would need to have read them all to make a good choice, but that isn't realistic to do. I do realize that this is just a thing that I website is doing and not quite as serious as other votes I've participated in recently, but I'm currently in the frame of mind where I want to know all of the information before making a decison. Even if it is for something that is ultimately not that important.
Voting for the opening round ends on November 8, and the semifinal round begins on November 10. I'll hopefully be back during the semifinal round with more thoughts about books.
Have you read any of the books nomiated? Which ones do you think are the best?
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