Goodreads Choice Awards 2024

It is certainly one of my favorite times of the year, even though this year this event totally snuck up on me.

It is time for the annual Goodreads Choice Awards! Yes, it is the time when readers cast their votes for their favorite books of the year, and there are always surprises, upsets, and quite a few "oh yeah, of course" wins. First things first, we gotta take a look at who has been nominated.

In the Favorite Fiction category, there are three DSNs who have earned a place among the nominees. If there was a sub-category for workplace fiction, both I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue, and Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum would fit into it. They have made the cut, along with Danzy Senna's Colored Television (blog post coming later this month). All three are certainly worthy, and after much deliberation, I will give my vote to Sue's I Hope This Finds You Well. Anyone who has ever worked in an office will relate to many parts of this book.

For the Favorite Historical Fiction category, this blog may have a record with seven DSNs nominated. This is always a tough category, and this year will be no different with Kristin Hannah's The Women, Xochitl Gonzalez's Anita de Monte Laugh's Last, Percival Everett's James, Vanessa Chan's The Storms We Made, Kate Quinn's The Briar Club, Elizabeth Gonzalez James' The Bullet Swallower, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia's The Seventh Veil of Salome all nominated. It is a stacked list for sure, and I only choose Anita de Monte Laughs Last after the most careful of considerations. Quinn's The Briar Club is a close second, and Hannah's The Women is not to be brushed aside either. 

There is one DSN that made it into the Favorite Fantasy category, and that is Meg Shaffer's The Lost Story. Two young boys get lost in the woods, only to emerge six months later, completely changed. Only one remembers what happened, but it changes the course of both of their lives. Personally, I hoped for more from this story, but I understand why it is popular. 

I gotta say, I am proud of myself for managing to have five DSNs nominated in the Favorite Science Fiction category, as it will always and forever be a genre I struggle to connect with. Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino, The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard, Annie Bot by Sierra Greer, Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell, and The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley all made the cut. For me, the winner would be Beautyland, but it will certainly have a hard fight against Jeff VanderMeer's Absolution. 

Five books made it into Favorite Debut Novel category, four of which are already nominated in somewhere else. Joining Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop, The Storms We Made, Sky Full of Elephants, and The Ministry of Time is Morgan Talty's Fire Exit. This time I will be voting for Hwang Bo-Reum's novel, set in a neighborhood bookshop in South Korea.

The only DSN to make it into Favorite Young Adult Fantasy is The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste, and intense and imaginative story set in a world where brewing love potions may be a lucrative business, but also a dangerous and illegal one. And for the Favorite Young Adult Fiction category, we have The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson, and the dark academic mystery Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. It may not be my favorite YA of the year, but I will give my vote to Where Sleeping Girls Lie, mostly for its inventive and intriguing boarding school setting. 

Only one memoir from the blog made the cut to be nominated as a Favorite Memoir, and it is Hanif Abdurraqib's There's Always This Year. And I am thrilled to see Madness by Antonia Hylton earn a place in the Favorite History & Biography category, as it is as fascinating as it is informative. 

And there we have it readers. Twenty-two DSNs stand proud and ready to receive your votes as you pick out your favorite books for this year, at least from those listed by Goodreads. As usual, I am surprised by a few omissions, as well as a few inclusions. And then there are those authors who I am used to seeing be included, but are not, despite having a book come out this year. Readers are always looking for their next favorite author, and I certainly will be investigating some of the nominees that I previously failed to take notice of. 

With voting for the opening round closing on Sunday, November 24th, be sure to make your voice heard.