Wondering what the most popular books are right now? Check out these books so popular they won the Goodreads Awards in 2019.
‘Tis the season to discuss the Goodreads Awards Winners!
Every December, the beloved reading tracker app Goodreads announces the winners of their Goodreads Choice Awards. Millions of users across its platform vote in a multiple round format for their favorite book of the year.
Across the book community, you’ll often see the Goodreads Awards derided as a popularity contest. Which it is. In fact, the best books of the year rarely win – just the ones that have been read the most.
Now that I’m a legit book blogger, the Goodreads Awards feel so much different. When I was a regular reader, I’d scroll through and vote on the few books I had read or heard of that year.
This year, for several of the categories I had read almost every book on the ballot. Suffice it to say, my level of expertise on which books were the best of the year has risen exponentially.
Does that mean we should abolish the Goodreads Awards? Heavens no.
When you have the best books of the year voted on by the masses, you get the most popular books of the year. On the other hand, when you only have experts vote, you usually end up like the Oscars, with a list of best books that no one has ever heard of or is likely to read.
I’d much prefer the popularity contest, thank you very much.
That’s even from me. Scroll on down to see the Goodreads Awards winners for 2019. Be sure to let me know what you think of the winners in the comments!
Fiction Goodreads Awards Winner
The Testaments
Margaret Atwood
The perfect example of the fact that the Goodreads Awards is mostly a popularity contest. The Testaments is Margaret Atwood’s sequel to her acclaimed dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale. With the recent Hulu series, The Handmaid’s Tale has made a huge jump in popularity, and Atwood decided to ride that wave with her sequel. With none of the brilliance of the original, The Testaments reads much more like it’s made for tv, which it probably was.
Runners Up: Normal People by Sally Rooney, Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah, Ask Again, Yes by Mary Bethe Keane
Mystery & Thriller Goodreads Awards Winner
The Silent Patient
Alex Michaelides
One night, famous painter Alicia Berenson shoots her husband in the face 5 times, and then never utters another word again. Now criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber is determined to get the truth from this silent patient while his own life is falling apart. Overall, I struggled with this thriller, maybe because I disliked Theo’s character. Despite that, the twist at the end was extremely well done, and I can see why this book is a Goodreads Awards winner for 2019.
Runners Up: My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware, The Lost Man by Jane Harper
Historical Fiction Goodreads Awards Winner
Daisy Jones & The Six
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Already snapped up by Reese Witherspoon’s company to become an Amazon miniseries, Daisy Jones and the Six is making waves this year. After her highly successful novel The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid is back with an addictingly fun read about the rise and fall of a fictional 70s band. With sex, drugs, and plenty of drama, you’ll feel like you are watching a biopic on VH1 – but an extremely well-written one. Daisy Jones and the Six is my pick for the best book of the entire year and every bit deserving of winning in the Goodreads Awards.
Runners Up: The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, The Huntress by Kate Quinn, City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
Fantasy Goodreads Awards Winner
Ninth House
Leigh Bardugo
In her first novel for adults, Leigh Bardugo tells a dark tale set among the Ivy League elite. After surviving a horrible multiple homicide, Alex Stern is offered a full-ride scholarship to Yale. There she is put in charge of watching the secret societies, who have been dabbling into dark and dangerous magic.
Runners Up: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, Fire & Blood by George R. R. Martin, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Romance Goodreads Awards Winner
Red, White & Royal Blue
Casey McQuiston
When the President’s son falls in love with the Prince of Wales, international relations take on a whole new term. At first, America’s darling Alex Claremont-Diaz can’t stand the royal British heir, Prince Henry. Forced to develop a fake friendship for the publicity, the two soon realize that no faking is required.
Runners Up: Verity by Colleen Hoover, The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren, Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center
Science Fiction Goodreads Awards Winner
Recursion
Blake Crouch
For all the buzz it’s gotten this year, I wasn’t surprised to see Recursion among the Goodreads Awards winners. America has fallen victim to False Memory Syndrome – where victims are driven mad by memories of a life they never lived … or did they? It’s up to NYPD cop Barry Sutton and neuroscientist Helena Smith to figure out how to stop this epidemic, even as reality is shifting all around them. You’ll have a hard time putting this one down, so you’ll certainly want to pick up a copy before the film adaptation hits Netflix.
Runners Up: Dark Age by Pierce Brown, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar
Horror Goodreads Awards Winner
The Institute
Stephen King
Can you have a Goodreads Awards list without Stephen King? After winning two last year, the king of horror returns to the Goodreads Awards with another masterful story. In the middle of the night, Luke Ellis’s parents are murdered, and he is kidnapped only to awaken in The Institute. Here live children with the special abilities of telekinesis and telepathy who are tested and used at the hands of the ruthless director Mrs. Sigsby. Children who cooperate are given tokens for the vending machines. Those that don’t are brutally punished. As other children start to disappear to never be seen, Luke realizes his only hope is to escape.
Runners Up: Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky, The Girl in Red by Christina Henry, The Invited by Jennifer McMahon
Humor Goodreads Awards Winner
Dear Girls
Ali Wong
In a collection of letters written to her daughters, Ali Wong isn’t afraid to discuss any topic – advice on dating, being a working mom, and finding your roots. With her singular sense of wit, Wong’s letters have charmed their way into winners podium of the Goodreads Awards.
Runners Up: Life Will Be the Death of Me by Chelsea Handler, William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Mean Girls by Ian Doescher, Do You Mind If I Cancel? by Gary Janetti
Nonfiction Goodreads Awards Winner
Girl, Stop Apologizing
Rachel Hollis
Following her 2018 bestseller Girl, Wash Your Face, Rachel Hollis returns with a followup popular enough to have snagged her one of the coveted Goodreads Awards. While Girl, Wash Your Face was aimed at reminding women not to hold themselves back, her latest book release is more geared toward achieving goals. The weakest part of the book is the beginning which feels like a lesser copy of her previous book. The book finds its stride in the second half when Hollis describes the specific behaviors and skills you need to achieve your goals. If you approach the book with a specific goal in mind, you have a much better chance of enjoying this one.
Runners Up: Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb, Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow
Memoir & Autobiography Goodreads Awards Winner
Over the Top
Jonathan Van Ness
Jonathan Van Ness recalls his transition from misfit Midwestern boy to stardom in Netflix’s show Queer Eye. Growing up, he endured years of judgment and ridicule for being gay but was able to transform his past into a powerful force of acceptance and self-love.
Runners Up: Know My Name by Chanel Miller, Home Work by Julie Andrews, Maid by Stephanie Land
History & Biography Goodreads Awards Winner
The Five
Hallie Rubenhold
In 1888, five women are viciously murdered by the infamous Jack the Ripper. Historian Hallie Rubenhold’s research explains that the common belief that they were prostitutes is wrong. Rubenhold takes on Victorian England and explains that these five women were all in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Runners Up: Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbottom, Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, Before and After by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate
Science & Technology Goodreads Awards Winner
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?
Caitlin Doughty
Mortician and funeral director Caitlin Doughty gets dozen of letters every day asking about death, often from children. Mixing science and history, Doughty tackles 35 hilarious questions about death from children, explaining fact from fiction about corpses.
Runners Up: Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Pérez, The Body by Bill Bryson, How To by Randall Munroe
Food & Cookbooks Goodreads Awards Winner
Antoni in the Kitchen
Antoni Porowski
Yet another star from Netflix’s Queer Eye is a winner of the Goodreads Awards in 2019. This time the glory falls upon Antoni Porowski, acclaimed as the food and wine expert for the show. In his new cookbook, Porowski generally takes a small list of ingredients and turns them into a delight for the eyes as well as the taste buds.
Runners Up: The Adventurous Eaters Club by Misha Collins, Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi, The Little Women Cookbook by Wini Moranville
Graphic Novels & Comics Goodreads Awards Winner
Pumpkinheads
Rainbow Rowell And Faith Erin Hicks
Every Autumn, Deja, and Josiah have a blast working together at the world’s best pumpkin patch. However, this year is to be their last season together before they graduate and move on to adulthood. Deja decides that this year, they need to end their last shift with a bang. Beautifully illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks, Pumpkinheads takes Rainbow Rowell’s signature storytelling to a whole new level.
Runners Up: Heartstopper: Volume Two by Alice Oseman, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
Poetry Goodreads Awards Winner
Shout
Laurie Halse Anderson
Bestselling poet Laurie Halse Anderson writes her memoir in free verse in this powerful tale of surviving sexual assault. Twenty years after writing Speak, Anderson is stunned at how little has changed. Sharing deeply personal stories, Shout is perfect for the “Me Too” era.
Runners Up: The Mermaid’s Voice Returns in This One by Amanda Lovelace, The Truth About Magic by Atticus, Lord of the Butterflies by Andrea Gibson
Debut Author Goodreads Awards Winner
Red, White & Royal Blue
Casey McQuiston
When the President’s son falls in love with the Prince of Wales, international relations take on a whole new term. At first, America’s darling Alex Claremont-Diaz can’t stand the royal British heir, Prince Henry. Forced to develop a fake friendship for the publicity, the two soon realize that no faking is required.
Runners Up: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Young Adult Fiction Goodreads Awards Winner
Five Feet Apart
Rachael Lippincott
In the vein of The Fault in Our Stars comes a love story of two teens with Cystic Fibrosis. Living in and out of the hospitals their whole lives, Stella and Will develop a close bond while dealing with the same disease. Because they have Cystic Fibrosis, they must stay six feet apart at all times or risk infecting each other and jeopardizing their chances of a lung transplant. But when your a teen in love, six feet apart seems like an impossible feat.
Runners Up: On the Come Up by Angie Thomas, With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo, Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus
YA Fantasy & Science Fiction Goodreads Awards Winner
The Wicked King
Holly Black
The sequel to last year’s hit The Cruel Prince picks up with Jude behind the scenes running the Faerie Kingdom. The plot-driven writing style just begs to be devoured in one sitting, and I have to say, I enjoyed it even more than the first book. And that ending! If you love YA fantasy, be sure to pick up this hottest of the year’s YA fantasy book releases. It’s earned its place on the Goodreads Awards in 2019.
Runners Up: Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell, Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare, King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Middle Grade Goodreads Awards Winner
The Tyrant’s Tomb
Rick Riordan
Just like last year, Rick Riordian snags the Goodreads Award for Middle Grade fiction with his Trials of Apollo series. In the fourth book, Apollo heads to Camp Jupiter in San Francisco to stop the evil Triumvirate of Roman Emperors.
Runners Up: Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab, Guts by Raina Telgemeir, The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
Picture Books Goodreads Awards Winner
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Fred Rogers
Since his death, Mister Rogers is again having a huge surge of popularity. Maxwell King’s biography, The Good Neighbor, deservedly won the Goodreads Award in 2018. Tom Hanks just came out with a new film about Mister Rogers. Now, we have a picture book setting Fred Roger’s lyrics to illustrations by Luke Flowers. I’m not complaining because Mister Roger’s message of kindness never grows old.
Do you agree with the 2019 Goodreads Awards winners?
