Goodreads Choice Awards 2018

BEST FICTION

Jojo Moyes wins the Best Fiction award for her third book in the Me Before You series (the first book was adapted into a tearjerker of a movie). Here heroine Louisa Clark ventures to New York City to start a new life. This is the British author’s first Goodreads Choice Award.

 

BEST MISTERY & THRILLER

Stephen King is no stranger to the Goodreads Choice Awards. And although fans may know him best as a horror novelist, this is his third win in the Goodreads Choice Awards Mystery & Thriller category (he also earned wins here for End of Watch in 2016 and Mr. Mercedes in 2014). This year he beat out the debut The Woman in the Window to take the title.

BEST HISTORICAL FICTION

Kristin Hannah wins the Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction, a category she also took in 2015 for The Nightingale. This family drama set in the wilderness of Alaska in 1974 captured readers’ hearts with its portrayal of crisis and survival amid an unforgiving landscape.

BEST FANTASY

Sing, o Muse, of the triumph of Circe. Madeline Miller’s reimagining of The Odyssey is less concerned with mortal men, focusing instead on a strange woman, one possessed with power and the blood of the gods. This is the first Goodreads Choice Award for Miller, a high school teacher of Latin and Greek, who made her publishing debut in 2011 with The Song of Achilles, a spin on another of Homer’s epic poems, The Iliad.

BEST OF THE BEST

Fresh off her double Goodreads Choice Award win last year (and a critically acclaimed adaptation this year), Angie Thomas returns to claim the victory in our special tenth anniversary Best of the Best category, which had readers pick an ultimate favorite from 170 past winners. Her powerful debut, The Hate U Give, follows a 16-year-old who finds her voice after her unarmed childhood best friend is fatally shot by the police.

BEST ROMANCE

The numbers are in. This year readers fell in love with Stella Lane, the unforgettable heroine from Helen Hoang’s The Kiss Quotient. More comfortable with data than with dating, Stella turns to escort-turned-teacher Michael Phan to learn all the ways of modern romance. This is Hoang’s first book, first nomination, and first win in the Goodreads Choice Awards, beating Colleen Hoover’s All Your Perfects and E.L. James’ Darker.

BEST SCIENCE FICTION

Over the last decade, V.E. Schwab has earned seven nominations across four different categories. The beloved writer (who also publishes children’s and young adult books as Victoria Schwab) now takes home her first win with Vengeful. The second book in her Villains series continues the dark saga of would-be superheroes transfixed by dangerous experiments and the advantages of “post-death” life.

BEST HORROR

The Master of Horror strikes again. Up against books about vampires, haunted houses, and Satan himself, Stephen King’s eerie tale of a small town with big troubles beat back the competition. The bestselling storyteller might need to buy a bigger award shelf: He now has eight Goodreads Choice Awards, including Best Mystery & Thriller this year with The Outsider.

BEST HUMOR

Is there anything Tiffany Haddish can’t do? In 2018 alone, she headlined comedy festivals across the country, starred in four major Hollywood movies, and acted in a TBS television show. Now she can add award-winning author to her already impressive résumé with her Best Humor win for The Last Black Unicorn—a collection of hilarious essays that recounts her rags-to-riches tale from South Central to Tinseltown.

BEST NONFICTION

Published posthumously, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark is Michelle McNamara’s nonfiction account of her journey to unmask The Golden State Killer—a serial killer who wreaked havoc in California in the 1970s and ’80s. This book is meticulously researched, as McNamara spent years putting together the pieces of this tragic, true-crime puzzle that ultimately eluded her grasp. The silver lining? Her book created renewed interest in the case that may have helped lead to an arrest.

BEST MEMOIR & AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Tara Westover struck gold with her first book and first Goodreads Choice Award win for Educated. The memoir has spent more than half a year on The New York Times’ bestsellers list and was heralded by Barack Obama as a “remarkable memoir of a young woman raised in a survivalist family in Idaho who strives for education while still showing great understanding and love for the world she leaves behind.”

BEST HISTORY & BIOGRAPHY

The first full-length biography of Fred Rogers, the beloved creator and star of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, easily won the award for Best History & Biography. Maxwell King, a former journalist who now leads the nonprofit Pittsburgh Foundation, offers a view of the children’s champion that is both a feel-good tribute and a look into Rogers’ commitment to making the world a better place.

BEST SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

While many of this year’s nominees looked to the future, Steve Brusatte wins Best Science & Technology with his engaging exploration of the distant past. In The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, the paleontologist traces the evolution of the majestic prehistoric creatures, interspersing the scientific narrative with his own stories of globe-trotting expeditions and remarkable discoveries.

BEST FOOD & COOKBOOKS

Another year, another win for Chrissy Teigen, who takes home her second Goodreads Choice Award in the Food & Cookbooks category for Cravings: Hungry for More. Teigen was awarded the same title two years ago, for the first book in the series, simply titled Cravings. This follow-up cookbook is chock full of tried-and-true recipes, as well as a few unexpected takes on modern classics (Pad Thai Carbonara, anyone?).

BEST GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS

For the third consecutive year, Sarah Andersen is the Goodreads Choice Award winner for Best Graphic Novels & Comics. Herding Cats, the latest installment in her witty and relatable Sarah Scribbles series, catches up with the world-famous cartoonist as she figures out her own definition of adulthood, tackling scary deadlines, beating back piles of junk-food wrappers, and lovingly corralling an ever-growing horde of pets.

BEST POETRY

Poet Amanda Lovelace wins her second Goodreads Choice Award for the latest book in her Women Are Some Kind of Magic series: The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One (the follow-up to the 2016 Best Poetry winner, The Princess Saves Herself in This One). Her latest collection focuses on the idea of an indestructible witch who has the power to take on her enemies. Something tells us she overcomes her oppressors.

BEST DEBUT AUTHOR

If you tuned in to The Tonight Show over the summer, you may have recognized Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone as the first reader-recommended pick for Jimmy Fallon’s book club. This West African-inspired YA fantasy conquered the Best Debut category, beating There There and The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Already optioned for a film, it’s only a matter of time before Adeyemi’s heroine, Zélie, makes her appearance on the big screen.

BEST YOUNG ADULT FICTION

Welcome back to the halls of Creekwood High, where first-love angst and senior-year drama take center stage. This year, the spotlight shines on the rad drummer girl from Becky Albertalli’s Leah on the Offbeat. In 2015, Albertalli’s Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda was also nominated for Best Young Adult Fiction. It’s only fitting that Simon’s best friend, Leah, receives a standing ovation.

BEST YOUNG ADULT FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION

Keeping her crown in Best YA Fantasy is four-time Goodreads Choice Award winner Sarah J. Maas. Her reign began in 2015 with Queen of Shadows and continues today with Kingdom of Ash. The latter is the epic finale of her Throne of Glass series, which follows the adventures of the deadly assassin Celaena Sardothien. While Celaena’s journey has ended, Maas plans to return to Erilea next year with The World of Throne of Glass compendium.

BEST MIDDLE GRADE & CHILDREN’S

The gods have spoken. For the last eight years, the young demigods from Rick Riordan’s bestselling fantasy series have dominated the Best Middle Grade category. Scorching the competition this year is Riordan’s The Burning Maze, which is the latest installment in The Trials of Apollo series.

BEST PICTURE BOOKS

Empire actress Grace Byers and illustrator Keturah A. Bobo swept the Best Picture Books category with I Am Enough. A touching ode to kindness and self-love, this warm and lyrical tale beat A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo and We Don’t Eat Our Classmates.

[Fonte goodreads.com]