Winners of the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards

So here we are. It has finally come time to announce the winners of the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards. For the last few weeks, readers and critics have been voting, hoping that their favorite books take home the top prize. I am curious to see if there are any upsets; and of course, this also gives me an opportunity to research those books that I somehow managed to miss throughout the year.

Well, the first one is not a surprise at all as The Testaments by Margaret Atwood is our clear winner for Best Fiction. With over 50,000 votes separating it from second place, this follow-up to Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale has clearly resonated with readers. 

Another book that completely blew away the competition is Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid in the category of Best Historical Fiction. There is something about the style, voice, and story that many readers loved. It is a book readers are still talking about. And I am sure it will be given by many as Christmas gifts for fellow readers.

While I really liked Recursion by Blake Crouch, I am a bit surprised (though incredibly pleased) that it has won Best Science Fiction. It was up against some stiff competition, but there were enough readers who also enjoyed this different look at memory and time travel.

The win for Best Graphic Novels & Comics goes to an author who has won many Goodreads Choice Awards, though usually it is in the Best Young Adult Fiction Category. Rainbow Rowell's Pumpkinheads has managed to garner more votes than even the graphic novel adaptation for The Handmaid's Tale. With Rowell's usual mastery over characters and setting, Pumpkinheads celebrates all things autumn and Midwestern.

And when it comes to the Best Young Adult Fiction category, Angie Thomas came so incredibly close to taking home the win with On the Come Up, much like she did with The Hate U Give back in 2017. Instead, Rachael Lippincott's Five Feet Apart takes the win, with a margin of less than 2,000 votes. So close...

And there it is. Out of the 25 DSNs that were nominated, four have managed to come away with the win. Now the process starts all over again as contenders for 2020 are already out there gathering their reader-base. I am excited to see what the next year will bring.