Goodreads Awards

[willoyd]

Is it just me?  (Probably!)

I've just been browsing the list of nominations for this year's Goodreads awards, and I was struck, yet again, as to how few of the nominations I'm remotely interested in reading.  There are one or two, but every year this long list of books comes out, and every year I look down it for inspiration/ideas, and each time I come away thinking that virtually none appeal.

 

I appreciate it's an American dominated site (the "history" books are almost all American for instance), but even so, I would have expected more of interest.

 

As I said, probably just me, but curious to see if it is.

[Brian.]

I don’t tend to be up on the most recent trends when it comes to popular books but the Goodreads awards have always confused me. I go through the shortlisted books in genres I read and am doing well if I recognise any. If I compare that to other awards shortlists I can usually recognise a fair few of the books even if I haven’t read any of them.

 

Amazon have really let Goodreads fester. The whole site needs a proper overhaul but it would been they have no interest in doing so. 

[Hux]

It's almost impossible to cater to everyone's likes so they tend to settle on very safe, rather beige books. 

 

Heard of none of them. Doubt I'll read any.

[Hayley]

Definitely not just you @willoyd! I recognise a couple more books from the list this year than last - all of them from the fantasy or science fiction lists - but I haven’t read any of them and only have one on my wish list (Fairy Tale by Stephen King).

 

15 hours ago, Brian. said:

Amazon have really let Goodreads fester

It is all money but no heart. We need Amazon’s budget over here 🥲

[France]

No, not just you Willoyd. I've got to the point where I can barely be bothered to look through the list as it's so likely to have nothing I'm interested in that I haven't already noted.  I have much the same reaction to Richard and Judy's book club.

[willoyd]

On 12/1/2022 at 5:12 PM, France said:

No, not just you Willoyd. I've got to the point where I can barely be bothered to look through the list as it's so likely to have nothing I'm interested in that I haven't already noted.  I have much the same reaction to Richard and Judy's book club.

 

Just looked through the latest Richard and Judy list - looks dreadful. At least 2 writers I'd positively want not to read, and the rest look to just be more of the same.  There used to be some good reading in these lists.

 

Going back through the GoodReads list, there are just 5 books I've either enjoyed or want to read:

 

Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus.  Enjoyed this - although wouldn't really have classed it as historical fiction even if set in 1950s.  A light, wet Sunday afternoon sort of read.  Picked it up in a half price sale.

The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O'Farrell.  Looks interesting, and O'Farrell is usually a good read, even if not always up to the standard of Hamnet.

Violeta - Isabel Allende. Another interesting one, mainly because Allende pretty much always is.

An Immense World - Ed Yong.  Heard a couple of episodes of this being read on Radio 4 - sounded fascinating, and have alrleady bought book to read (it was cheap through Amazon for Black Friday).

And There Was Light - Jon Meacham. Excellent reviews on a subject I'm very interested in (American Civil War/Lincoln history).

 

Only the Meacham was news to me though. The general fiction list looks really dull (these three fiction were all on the historical fiction page).

 

Edited December 4, 2022 by willoyd

[France]

2 hours ago, willoyd said:

 

Just looked through the latest Richard and Judy list - looks dreadful. At least 2 writers I'd positively want not to read, and the rest look to just be more of the same.  There used to be some good reading in these lists.

 

Going back through the GoodReads list, there are just 5 books I've either enjoyed or want to read:

 

Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus.  Enjoyed this - although wouldn't really have classed it as historical fiction even if set in 1950s.  A light, wet Sunday afternoon sort of read.  Picked it up in a half price sale.

The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O'Farrell.  Looks interesting, and O'Farrell is usually a good read, even if not always up to the standard of Hamnet.

Violeta - Isabel Allende. Another interesting one, mainly because Allende pretty much always is.

An Immense World - Ed Yong.  Heard a couple of episodes of this being read on Radio 4 - sounded fascinating, and have alrleady bought book to read (it was cheap through Amazon for Black Friday).

And There Was Light - Jon Meacham. Excellent reviews on a subject I'm very interested in (American Civil War/Lincoln history).

 

Only the Meacham was news to me though. The general fiction list looks really dull (these three fiction were all on the historical fiction page).

 

Oh my, I've just looked at the latest Richard and Judy list and what a load of dross (to put it politely)!

 

The only completely new to me title on the Goodreads list that looks interesting is the book about Josephine Baker.

[Madeleine]

Yes Richard and Judy seem to be getting very predictable, if there is a book on their list that I want to read then I've probably already got it on my wish list anyway!

[lunababymoonchild]

On 12/4/2022 at 8:54 PM, Madeleine said:

Yes Richard and Judy seem to be getting very predictable, if there is a book on their list that I want to read then I've probably already got it on my wish list anyway!

 

I'm the same.  Having a quick look through the list I see that I've read a few - that includes The Snow Child, my current read - the fact that it's a Richard and Judy bestseller doesn't even register, if I want to read it then I read it. I have been known to read absolutely appalling books in my time and that's my choice. I would never condemn anyone else for doing it. As for The Goodreads awards, doesn't mean anything to me and easily ignored.