Goodreads Choice Awards 2014 Final Round

Well this is it. The final round of voting has begun for the 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards. Voters have until the beginning of next week to make their voices heard before Goodreads awards the best books of 2014.

I am pleased to announce that both of the books in the Best Fiction category that I have featured, or will feature, on this blog have made it into the final round. Both Rainbow Rowell's Landline and Haruki Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki have survived the stiff competition this year to make it into the finals, and I believe I will stick with my initial choice and vote once again for Rowell. 

Sue Monk Kidd has also made it into the finals for Best Historical Fiction with The Invention of Wings. I won't be at all surprised if this book ends up taking the ultimate prize for this category.

And it looks like history was not meant to repeat itself when it came to Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's The Long Mars. As I have mentioned in previous posts, last years The Long War, the second book in the duo's The Long Earth series, also made it into the Best Science Fiction category via write-in, only to not make it into the finals. But this year, The Long Mars has passed the test and fans like myself will have the opportunity to maybe get it a win. 

Both Amy Poehler's Yes Please and Christopher Moore's The Serpent of Venice have made it into the finals for Best Humor. This is another instance where I won't be at all surprised if Poehler takes home the top prize. If Moore ends up taking it, I will still be incredibly pleased, but I believe it would probably be seen as somewhat of an upset.

It seems that the story of Esther Earl Grace has made as much of an impression on the general reading public as it did on me, as it has entered the final round with some stiff competition in the Best Memoir & Autobiography category. This Star Won't Go Out is an emotional book that is more than just a story about a young girl with a terminal disease. Esther was joyful, full of hope, and most of all, just so full of love: something that easily comes through in the pages of this book.

E. Lockhart's We Were Liars survived the semifinal round and will battle it out for Best Young Adult Fiction, which is always a tough category. And just as I thought, Nina LaCour's Everything Leads to You just didn't quite make the cut.

And just when I thought I was going to be ten for ten in my predictions, I click on the Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction to find that Leslye Walton's The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender did not make it into the final round, which is really a shame as it is one of the most uniquely beautiful and heartbreaking stories I have read in a long time. But that is the nature of the awards. If not enough readers vote for the book, then it just doesn't make it in. 

This last round of voting is open until Monday, November 24th, and the winners will be announced shortly after that. So make sure to vote and support your favorites. And while you're there, you can also pick up some great ideas as to what to read next.