Are Goodreads Choice Awards Novels worth your reading time? Let’s review their rating statistics and reviews to see if they deserve their titles.
With Goodreads releasing their Choice Awards for the Best Books of 2022, one can get lost in the dozens of winners and nominated novels for each category. With so many options of modern popular books that are excellent, which ones are worth reading?
We’ll be looking at some of the Goodreads Choice Awards winners and their ratings and deciding which of these popular winners are worth the read (spoiler alert: this list is incredibly positive and hints more at the negatives and positives of each book rather than a downright rejection of any)!
1. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus, is the winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards Best Debut Novel category. The novel has a total 4.36-star rating from 420,309 different ratings. The novel is highly rated by readers, with 85% of its ratings being at or above four stars (53% being five stars). With a quirky and intelligent female protagonist in the early 1960s, this novel seems as if it would be a good choice for a reader to pick up. Yet, some criticize the novel for being described as a ‘comedy’ with some of the heavy subject matter of the novel. This novel discusses matters such as homophobia, suicide, misogyny, and sexual assault. Thus, if reading this novel, read with care and take into account what you are comfortable with reading.
2. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin, is the winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards Best Fiction category. The novel has a total 4.29-star rating from 256,134 different ratings. The story is about two friends who go through the ups and downs of fame, love, life, and video games. As for reviews, this novel has a mixed bag of reviews. Many find the book brilliant and a testament to Zevin’s excellent writing over the course of several of her novels. Others found it hard to resonate with the characters and truly couldn’t decide whether they liked the novel or not. Yet the ratings of this novel are very high, with of the ratings 83% being four stars or higher! 49% of these ratings are five star ratings. Thus, this may be the book for you!
3. Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Carrie Soto is Back is the winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards Best Historical Fiction category. Taylor Jenkins Reid wrote the novel, which has a total 4.25-star rating from 237,964 different ratings. Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing has won the Best Historical Fiction category for two other novels: Malibu Rising and Daisy Jones and the Six. Other notable writings by Reid include The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. The novel is highly rated by readers, with 83% of its ratings being at or above four stars (44% being five-star ratings). Readers describe the story as a gripping read which fans of Reid from past and present can love. Others were surprised to be so drawn in by a book about tennis. Nonetheless, this book proves to defy all odds (like its main protagonist) and find its way into the hearts of its readers.
4. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Book Lovers is the winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards Best Romance category. The novel, by Emily Henry, has a total 4.20-star rating from 627,964 different ratings. Henry’s writing won the Best Romance category for Goodreads last year as well. The novel is generally commended for the ‘realness’ and ‘deepness’ of its center-oriented relationship. With Nora being a cold and cutthroat woman who happens to love reading, and Charlie being a brooding book editor, there seems to be a strong basis behind both the main relationship of the novel and the novel’s title, Book Lovers. With 80% of the ratings of this novel being 4-stars or higher (43% of these being 5-star ratings), this popular book seems like a definite good read from the two-time Best Romance winner.
5. Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
Hidden Pictures is the winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards Horror category. The novel has a total 4.17-star rating from 89,348 different ratings. Jason Rekulak wrote the novel, who had prior run his own independent press called Quirk Books. 80% of the ratings of this novel are 4-stars or higher (with 41% of these being 5-star ratings. The novel is a mystery about a woman who becomes a nanny for a young boy, but this boy had many more secrets than she was expecting. While some commend this book for its perfect delivery and suspense, others claim this book has fat-shaming content in it that they cannot stand behind. Others thought it jumped the gun and is messy in its writing, while others think it rides the line between crazy and fun. So, readers beware — this one may or may not be a chance worth taking!
6. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Sea of Tranquility is the winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards Science Fiction category. The novel has a total 4.13-star rating from 138,748 different ratings. Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel, wrote Sea of Tranquility and published it in 2022. The reviews for this text are overwhelmingly positive, with many commending its commentary on pandemics and bureaucracy. Others say it is incredibly similar to Cloud Atlas. 78% of the ratings of this novel are 4-stars or higher. 37% of these ratings are 5-star ratings! This makes Sea of Tranquility seem like a good choice if looking for a new science fiction novel.
It’s important to note that no novel is perfect for everyone. Even Goodreads’s best aren’t perfect for every reader. We often try to narrow things down by looking at ratings and reading reviews, but this doesn’t always lead to success. The truth is there is often trial and error in choosing which books to read. Don’t we all have DNF (did not finish) lists? So use this list to try new things and take new risks! Find a new book or new genre that you can enjoy. Explore the world through a new book!
