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The 3rd Annual Goodreads Choice Awards--Polls Are Now Open for Voting!
Vote Now in the Opening Round! »
We want to know which books you loved from 2011. Choose the year's best books in our 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards, the only major book awards decided entirely by readers. Select your favorites in 22 categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Mystery & Thriller, Memoir & Autobiography, Young Adult Fantasy, and many more! Will Tina Fey's Bossypants win Favorite Book of 2011? Who has more steam—Jodi Picoult or Haruki Murakami? Will the Steve Jobs biography be a late-breaking contender? Grab a seat ringside, because it's going to be a battle until the polls close November 30!
We analyzed statistics from the 87 million books added, rated, and reviewed on the site in 2011 to list 15 books in 22 categories—that's 330 nominations. We did not consult a panel of experts or form a secret committee of publishing insiders. Readers know what's good and what's great. These nominations are based on a book's number of ratings and average rating as pegged by the more than 6 million readers on Goodreads. To emphasize reader's choice even more, the opening round also accepts write-in votes. So you can vote for any 2011 book published before November 30 (December books will be eligible next year).
You have three chances to vote. The opening round lasts until November 13. Vote now to make sure your favorite books make it into the semifinals.
On November 14, the top 5 write-in votes in each category become official nominees, bringing the total to 20 nominees in each category and you have a second opportunity to cast your vote.
The final elimination round launches November 21. We will narrow the field to the top 10 books in each category, and you will have one last chance to vote. Final voting closes November 30, and winners will be announced in December.
Now's your chance! Vote for the best books of 2011! »
Comments Showing 51-100 of 105 (105 new)
Eva wrote: "Sandra, no one nomination says anything about the GR population as a whole to most people. Only people that tend to think such a way. Did it occur to you that many people have never heard of this ..."
I'm sure many people have never heard of her. And I am always irritated when people who cheat seem to get ahead. Google her. The Wikipedia article outlines her plagiarism. I was annoyed to see one of her books in a list of 'Goodreads choice' books and expressed my opinion. I usually research authors that I read. And research them before I buy their books. Apparently many people don't. Or don't care.
By your rules Murakami's 1Q94 should not be eligible for best fiction since it was originally published in 2009 in Japan. I tried to write in a vote for Johan Harstad's novel Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to you in all the Confusion? which was published in translation in 2011, but was originally published in its native language in 2005 and the system said it was ineligble because of the original publication date.
I'm having problems adding Hexbound as a write-in vote in the Young Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy category. It's saying that the book was not published in 2011. It was published Jan 4, 2011 although on the information here on Goodreads, it says it was first published in 2010 (before the first book of the series was even published!) I saw a comment saying to write the Support crew and give them the book information to be reviewed but I can't find a link for Support or to send Support a message!
Wow, I am amazed at all the comments on this poll, some positive, some negative, some merely suggestions (as mine was). I understand you had to pick certain categories and room is probably limited.However we look at it: thanks Goodreads for doing what you do, I LOVE Goodreads and despite all the comments and criticism, one thing stays for sure: we all love BOOKS!
๑ஜ๑ Jαѕмιиє ๑ஜ๑ wrote: "Marja wrote: "Thanks for analyzing statistics from 87 million added books... but I a bit disappointed that there is not ONE category for Christian books. Is it possible to add one for next year?Th..."
"Religion in general".. even better, that would cover most of the world, right?!
One thing that's not really clear: the book should be originally published in 2011 OR published in the US in 2011? I've looked at the 2010 winners and I've found the third book from the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, which was published before 2010.
I would have liked for there to be a Chick Lit category.
Moloch wrote: "One thing that's not really clear: the book should be originally published in 2011 OR published in the US in 2011?"It's not US 2011. After it wouldn't let me write-in for Harstad's novel which was clearly published in 2011 for the first time in English I instead voted for Esi Edugyan's Half Blood Blues which doesn't get published in the US until 2012. I wish someone would clarify the rules.
Stacy wrote: "I would have liked for there to be a Chick Lit category."There are several chick lit categories. "Romance", "Paranormal Romance", and even the general choices are rather odd this time round. I don't read chick lit at all and I don't read most of the titles nominated which means at least some of them must fall into your category ;).
Serendipitous wrote: "I am not able to cast a write-in vote for a book I'd like to see nominated, even though the average rating is 4.4 stars. When I type the name of the novel in the write-in field, the "Vote" link is..."I had the same problem.
It´s November 2nd 2011. Two months still to go on 2011, 2/12 of the year still to go. There are already released books I have not yet read, and there are books still to be released in November and December. Isn´t it premature to nominate books for a best of list now and until mid November? I realize other media do the same thing, but it is a pet peeve of mine!
From the blog post above: [Y]ou can vote for any 2011 book published before November 30 (December books will be eligible next year).
Marja wrote: "Thanks for analyzing statistics from 87 million added books... but I a bit disappointed that there is not ONE category for Christian books. Is it possible to add one for next year?Thanks,
Marja M..."
I don't see a need for a Christian or religion section. If Christian authors are really contributing to their fields, their books will show up in these categories, whether they write Christian fiction, non-fiction, historical fiction... . We shouldn't ask sites, competitions, industries to cater to our categories - and we shouldn't be segregating ourselves from the culture (remember that bit about being in the world...?)
Sincerely, a seminary student
p.s. if you're on this site, you're probably a reader! A wonderfully researched book that goes in-depth on this topic is To Change The World by Hunter
rivka wrote: "From the blog post above: [Y]ou can vote for any 2011 book published before November 30 (December books will be eligible next year)."I have not even read yet books published in October. I can not read to nominate before November 13th a book published on November 30th even if I *can* nominate it. There is something caming out on mid November which I already bought and preordered and will never read on time even if I wanted.
But ignore, as I said it seems everybody does these premature best-of-the-year lists and it is a huge pet peeve of mine. Oh well.
Hirondelle wrote: "But ignore, as I said it seems everybody does these premature best-of-the-year lists and it is a huge pet peeve of mine. Oh well."I understand you: it wasn't a big deal to wait until January 2012 to do the 2011 poll, but, as you said... "Oh well".
If you click "learn more" at the top of the Choice Awards page, you'll see the rules and "fine print."Books are eligible if published for the first time in the United States in English. (Hence, why 1Q84 is nominated.) However, our write-in field is not able to distinguish between books published in various languages at certain times, because our catalog does not yet specifically record this data. The limits of technology! If you're interested in discussing book metadata problems like these, please join the Goodreads Librarians group.
We've asked our librarians to help sort out publication date problems. You can post in this thread with questions or request to edit/correct a pub date:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/7...
If you'd like to vote for a work in translation with an original pub date before 2011, a librarian can temporarily set the date to 2011, if they determine the book to be eligible. We know this isn't an ideal system, and we apologize for the inconvenience! Having better language data is a longer-term problem we'd like to solve, but for now, we hope this will allow people to vote for their favorites.
Thanks!
Makes sense. Thanks Jessica!
Moloch wrote: "Hirondelle wrote: "But ignore, as I said it seems everybody does these premature best-of-the-year lists and it is a huge pet peeve of mine. Oh well."I understand you: it wasn't a big deal to wait..."
It is related to another pet-peeve, the hurry in being early at this or that till things are done completely out of season. Considering fashion retail it´s no longer possible to buy swimsuits in August or gloves in February (northern hemispherE) which is when you might actually need them. And personally at least I like to do best of the year stuff close to year´s end, not when so much of the year is still ahead (open so to speak). Pet peeve indeed.
SilverRaindrops wrote: "Stacy wrote: "I would have liked for there to be a Chick Lit category."There are several chick lit categories. "Romance", "Paranormal Romance", and even the general choices are rather odd this ti..."
The problem with a Chick Lit category is that it explicitly ties a certain type of book to one gender or another.
Good grief, if something by the Casts wins, I will probably shoot myself.
Nadine Rose wrote: "Any chance of an Indie Author category?"I second that!
Nightfalltwen wrote: "Good grief, if something by the Casts wins, I will probably shoot myself."lol
Evan wrote: "As someone who will never be able to qualify for entering a poll like this I just want to put this out there. First, I fail to see how a "best of (given current year)" poll could possibly be anythi..."I totally agree! I didn't read any of the books listed and you wanna know why? Because I can't afford to read hundreds of books that cost at least $10 each. Most, if not all, the books I read this year are by indie authors because their books are cheap and better than those over-priced popular books!
So I agree, this poll is a popularity contest and really not about whether a book was the "best".
LeAnn wrote: I totally agree! I didn't read any of the books listed and you wanna know why? Because I can't afford to read hundreds of books that cost at least $10 each. Most, if not all, the books I read this year are by indie authors because their books are cheap and better than those over-priced popular books! I can't afford to buy a lot of books myself, but I've read a lot of books this year just by going to my local library branches - it's really the only way I can keep up with some of the newer releases since I can't buy them. It might just be my branch, but I have a good one that keeps in stock a ton of 2011 releases.
Equally, I've read a lot of indie author's too (I've made a nomination for one just a little while ago). I don't think it's a problem if people nominate their favorite indie author in the midst of the poll (or maybe even suggest an indie category - that's probably one suggestion I would've made in terms of the categorical listings in this poll - that and a Religion/Religious category, because it doesn't seem fair to those authors who write in that distinct genre).
Marja wrote: "Thanks for analyzing statistics from 87 million added books... but I a bit disappointed that there is not ONE category for Christian books. Is it possible to add one for next year?Thanks,
Marja M..."
I agree 100%!
Marja wrote: "Thanks for analyzing statistics from 87 million added books... but I a bit disappointed that there is not ONE category for Christian books. Is it possible to add one for next year?Thanks,
Marja M..."booo
๑ஜ๑ Jαѕмιиє ๑ஜ๑ wrote: "Marja wrote: "Thanks for analyzing statistics from 87 million added books... but I a bit disappointed that there is not ONE category for Christian books. Is it possible to add one for next year?Th..."
Better idea
Homer & Langley: a Novel by E.L. Doctorow was a favorite ;-)
These nominations are based on a book's number of ratingsThat loads everything in favour of books published late 2010 and early 2011 and pretty much counts everything out published Sept and Oct 2011.
Evan wrote: "As someone who will never be able to qualify for entering a poll like this I just want to put this out there. First, I fail to see how a "best of (given current year)" poll could possibly be anythi..."You said it all, buster! Congrats.
Marja wrote: "Thanks for analyzing statistics from 87 million added books... but I a bit disappointed that there is not ONE category for Christian books. Is it possible to add one for next year?Thanks,
Marja M..."
In complete fairness, if Christian books are added, then there should also be categories for Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, various American Indian tribal and other major religions. This is, after all, an international website.
Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "While it is fun to see what the Goodreads Readers Choices might be, it doesn't say much for the quality of Goodreads readers when I see a book nominated that is authored by someone who has been gui..."I hope, for your sake, you can document that, otherwise you've just committed public libel.
Eva wrote: "Sandra, no one nomination says anything about the GR population as a whole to most people. Only people that tend to think such a way. Did it occur to you that many people have never heard of this ..."
Actually, the search I conducted indicated Cassandra CLARE is a Simon & Schuster best-selling author. Yes, it does sound like another Goodreads witch hunt, but the deliberate libel (unless she can prove the plagiarism) by Sandra aka Sleo is SO FAR OVER THE LINE THAT IT'S OFFENSIVE and she should either apologize or be banned. She's essentially called the target of her attack an intellectual property thief. As a journalist, publicist and author, I'm highly offended at that allegation.
Although it is not The English Patient, I am Reading The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje .. Fun travel adventure!
Pick Marja. She needs the Oral Roberts Award.
Ooh I just had to choose between Patrick Rothfuss and Terry Pratchett! I feel as if I've betrayed Commander Vimes :-(lol
Due out tomorrow the new Jackie Collins: "Ye Gods & I."
I would like to nominate Yesterdays Tomorrow by Catherine West. Not sure if it would be considered historical romance or contemporary since it takes place during the Vietnam War.
Moloch wrote: "Fantasy AND Best Paranormal Fantasy? Are they so different that we need two categories?"Yes, yes they are. Of course there's overlap but generally speaking the only thing they have in common is the use of magic and/or mad up creatures. The tropes and structure are often very different.
Ok, I am so busy with the Classics, I cant read a book of 2011. But Goodreads Is my favorit web page!Thanks, that I have to be a part...
HUGE FLAW IN THE "VOTING" A book I know was not published until January 6 of this year is "ineligible" because the date listed on this site says it came out in November of 2010. This is wrong!!!!
Trust me there are hundreds of readers who know full well the book was out in January and that the next one doesn't come out till January of this coming year. So frankly I'm not even voting - some cheep vampire fiction or one of those with an HBO link (and bad writing) will win. all these things are rigged anyway; I shouldn't be surprised.
Didn't know vampires "cheeped" like birds. Also, this is a popularity contest rather than a judging of a book's quality, so it's immaterial. It the scheme of professional and/or quality of writing a popularity contest is meaningless.
Robin, if there is a book whose data you believe to be inaccurate, a post in the Librarian's Group will get someone to investigate -- and correct, when errors are present -- the book in question.Edit: If the book is Soul Mirror, I verified a pub date of Jan. 4, 2011, and corrected our data.
Stop "triviatas" and git back to reading. GR contests are inane.
Evan wrote: "First, I fail to see how a "best of (given current year)" poll could possibly be anythi..." It IS a popularity contest and it's fun to see what's the most popular. As for myself, I don't have to read every book published in a certain year to figure out my fav of that year. I know what kinds of books I like, and from those I vote for the ones that I loved the most.
We can't make everyone happy - obviously - but we can work towards what the masses want. And it's quite obvious most GR members are thrilled with this yearly poll. I'll continue to talk up GR like I'm a paid employee!