It’s the final round! We’re at the point of the awards where I just vote for books from authors I like or skip whole categories. The only category I’ve read more than two books is romance. Sadly, Ilona Andrews Emerald Blaze did not make it.
My nominations:
Mystery & Thriller – When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
Fantasy – The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
Romance – Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
Sci-Fi – Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis
Food and Cookbooks – Modern Comfort Food: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten
Graphic Novels & Comics – Fangirl, Vol 1: The Manga by Sam Maggs, Rainbow Rowell; Illustrated by Gabi Nam
Middle Grade & Children’s – The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan
Picture Books – The Seed of Compassion: Lessons from the Life and Teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama by Dalai Lama XIV; Illustrated by Bao Luu
Alright, so I’ve read three of the above books. The library has the graphic novel Fangirl waiting for me to pick up, so if I’m able to pick that up before the deadline, I could change my vote. Unless I absolutely hate it, I don’t see that happening. All the other books were books from authors I’ve enjoyed in the past.
This is pretty normal for me when it comes to the Goodreads Choice Awards. Usually, I end up finding a lot of books that I hadn’t heard about that I’m interested in, but not this year. I’ve been in a very critical mood lately, and there ended up only being a couple of books that I added to my list.
In my opinion, the Goodreads Choice Awards needs some changes. I was pleased to see more diversity, but I would love to see the categories changed. Why is Biography not in the same category as Memoir and Autobiography? Having one category for romance is ludicrous. Why are books that aren’t even published yet allowed to be included? The Pioneer Woman cookbook doesn’t even come out until tomorrow.
There are so many illustrated covers. I liked the trend, to begin with, in romance, but I’m starting to miss beautiful women in elaborate gowns draped over bare-chested men.
Anyway, there you have it, the conclusion to the Goodreads Choice Awards.
So as expected none of the books I voted for made it in their categories. I was able to vote for Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews in the romance category. I also went ahead and voted for Axiom’s Edge in the Sci-Fi category. I’m honestly not sure if I’ll vote in the other’s or what I’ll vote for. Maybe Alyssa Cole’s book When No One is Watching in the mystery category. I haven’t read it yet, but I love her. I’m not a fan of voting for books I haven’t read, though.
Oh well. There you have it. Another year where not enough people nominate the books I love lol
Today starts the nomination process for the Goodreads Choice Awards. I try to participate every year, but like most years, I haven’t read most of the books initially nominated. For those new to the awards to be nominated, the book has to be published this year. Goodreads uses their algorithms to come up with fifteen books in the twenty categories to start the process off. Considering some of the books nominated don’t come out until this month, I’m not sure how fair their algorithms are.
Each year I discover books I’ve overlooked or never heard of, but I also get incredibly frustrated. How am I supposed to take all the books I’ve read and narrow them down to the categories provided?? There’s only one romance category?? There’s no Juvenile Non-Fiction category?? There’s a sci-fi category, a fantasy category, a young adult fantasy category, but no young adult sci-fi category?? How am I supposed to vote when I still haven’t read all of the books from this year?? Why is this being held now when there are still almost two months left in the year?????
It’s too much!
So, I’m just going to post my favorite books of 2020, so far, here. None of them have been nominated, but the best part of the awards is that you can select them yourself. So if you too liked these books, then please head over to Goodreads and do your duty.
First, The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde. I nominated this one under the fiction category, though it could probably go under the humor category as well. It was a fantastic satire novel that called out racism using absurd creativity.
I’ve got two historical romances, and I wish I could nominate both. The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite and The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan. Waspish Widows is the story of two older women who fall in love in a time when women didn’t even have the right to vote. The Duke Who Didn’t had a hero and heroine fall in love despite their incredibly different backgrounds. The backdrop was a small village in England that was predominantly people of Asian descent. Plus, there was a lot of good food mentioned.
Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams, Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey, and The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler were the contemporary romances that I wanted to nominate. Undercover Bromance is the second book in a series that I fell in love with earlier this year. The concept of a book group of men reading romance novels is one I love. Love Her or Lose Her made me realize I was missing out on an entire trope of married couples learning to fall back in love with each other. I absolutely loved the sweetness and humor in The Tourist Attraction.
Five romances, and I can only nominate one. It’s horrible. I ended up going with The Duke Who Didn’t because, well, it came down to the food. Lol It was really close, though. The Tourist Trap nearly edged it out for the coveted top spot. If only there were historical and contemporary romance categories.
The science fiction and fantasy categories were easier. The only five-star fantasy book that I’ve read this year was Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews. I did think about nominating N.K. Jemisin’s The City We Became, I liked it, but I liked Emerald Blaze better. Jemisin’s book was one of the fifteen nominated by Goodreads, so she will probably make it to the next round. If Andrew’s book doesn’t make it will make my next vote easier.
At first, I didn’t think I had a science fiction pick. Not only have I not read many this year, but I haven’t rated the ones I did read highly. I’m trying only to nominate books I rated five stars. I’ve started reading Christopher Paolini’s To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, but there’s no way I’ll finish it in time. So I decided to go with Sweep with Me by Ilona Andrews. Yes, it’s another Ilona Andrews book, but they’re my favorite authors.
Last, but certainly not least, is my non-fiction selection. I’ve slacked on non-fiction this year. I could not concentrate like I need to to read non-fiction. So I ended up nominating This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell. It’s a juvenile non-fiction book, so I don’t believe it stands a chance, but it was an excellent book. It clearly explained the issues for young people as well as adults with limited knowledge of the issues.
There are many categories where I didn’t nominate any books, which always bugs me. I don’t have enough time to read everything I want to unfortunately. I’m curious what books everyone else will be voting for, and I’m looking forward to the weeks ahead. Even though I know most of the books I love, if not all, will not win their much-deserved awards.
Dynamite Review 