Goodreads Choice Awards 2015

There are three reasons why November is one of this bloggers favorite months of the year. There is Thanksgiving, the only day of the year when I can have both homemade German chocolate cake and homemade pecan pie with cheesecake filling. Then there is National Novel Writing Month, which somehow motivates me and thousands of others around the world to write 50,000 words in 30 days. And last but not least, there is the annual voting for the Goodreads Choice Awards.

Every year I do my best to select books that I will not only enjoy reading, but that others will joy as well and may also discover as their new favorite book or author. Some of the books end up being nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award. Every November, readers decide on which books will win in 20 different categories, and this year will be interesting, just like years before. With many books that made it on this blog being included in the nominations, let's get started with the predictions.

For the Best Fiction category there is only one Door Stop Novel that made it in, and its post will be coming out this Friday. Girl at War by Sara Nović is the type of story I usually shy away from, but I am glad I picked up this story about a young girl and her early life in Croatia, and what she found when she returned after living an entirely different life in the United States. I am confident it will make a strong showing, but competition is stiff with books like A Little Life by Hanya Yanaghihara and Fates and Furries by Lauren Groff.

It is absolutely no surprise that The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins has been nominated for the Best Mystery & Thriller category. This book was compared heavily to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, but to me, it is much better, and easily gets my vote. But I will not surprised if Robert Galbraith's (a.k.a. J.K. Rowling) Career of Evil does well too.  

Also not surprising is the inclusion of Kate Atkinson's A God in Ruins for the Best Historical Fiction category, especially seeing as how its predecessor, Life After Life, took home the win in 2013. But I doubt At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen, of Water for Elephants fame, will go down easy. 

None of my science fiction selections made the cut this year, so I am writing in The Long Utopia by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, because why not? It is the fourth book in the series, the first of which actually won for Best Science Fiction back in 2012. 

I know I am more than a little biased towards Brené Brown, whose newest book, Rising Strong, has been nominated for Best Nonfiction. I have heard her speak on more than one occasion and also read her previous book, Daring Greatly. I cannot recommend her books and talks enough, even though her subject matter can be challenging and make many people more than just a little uncomfortable.

Not only will there be a chance for you to vote for Girl at War in the fiction category, but you can also vote for it under Best Debut Goodreads Author as well. However, I do believe that I am going to vote for My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga. Warga's novel is a young adult story about a girl making plans for her suicide. It is a bold debut and one worth checking out, even due to the sensitive nature of the subject. 

Warga's novel has also been nominated for Best Young Adult Fiction, but so has Sarah Dessen's latest novel, Saint Anything. Both books will face stiff competition from David Arnold's Mosquitoland and Jennifer Niven's All the Bright Places. But I believe while Dessen may not win, she will certainly make it to the final round. 

My shock over not seeing Rainbow Rowell's Carry On in the Best Young Adult Fiction category subsided upon seeing it in the category for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction. Rowell has already won Goodreads choice awards for Eleanor & Park and Landline, and I will not be surprised if she comes away with yet another win. I expect Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen to also at least make it to the finals, where the two will have to fight it out with the others.

With seven books over seven categories, and one write-in, I certainly have my favorites picked out that I will stand by and root for while the voting for the opening round continues through Sunday, November 8th. You can vote for your favorites here, and feel free to comment with your own predictions.