Based on listed USA release dates

NOTE: I am including only titles already associated with book covers since it will be no fun to use this list in future years with no pictures, or conversely to have to change votes later to any new editions showing the image.
1

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4.10 avg rating — 421,395 ratings
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2

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4.36 avg rating — 679,971 ratings
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3

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4.12 avg rating — 850,543 ratings
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4

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3.69 avg rating — 195,048 ratings
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5

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3.77 avg rating — 574,266 ratings
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6

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3.66 avg rating — 438,790 ratings
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7

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4.07 avg rating — 215,492 ratings
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8

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4.04 avg rating — 184,520 ratings
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9

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3.23 avg rating — 54,687 ratings
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10

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4.17 avg rating — 794,260 ratings
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11

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4.06 avg rating — 113,297 ratings
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12

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4.10 avg rating — 161,571 ratings
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13

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 189,820 ratings
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14

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4.08 avg rating — 92,884 ratings
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15

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3.99 avg rating — 172,577 ratings
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16

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4.41 avg rating — 46,649 ratings
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17

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4.42 avg rating — 172,310 ratings
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18

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3.99 avg rating — 1,155,595 ratings
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19

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3.69 avg rating — 25,287 ratings
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20

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3.59 avg rating — 2,838 ratings
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21

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4.16 avg rating — 80,242 ratings
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22

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4.01 avg rating — 52,791 ratings
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23

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4.30 avg rating — 189,473 ratings
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24

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4.19 avg rating — 350,546 ratings
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25

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3.78 avg rating — 37,184 ratings
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26

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3.54 avg rating — 39,475 ratings
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27

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4.23 avg rating — 141,905 ratings
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28

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4.32 avg rating — 306 ratings
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29

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3.62 avg rating — 18,887 ratings
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30

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3.66 avg rating — 7,677 ratings
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31

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3.78 avg rating — 640,649 ratings
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32

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4.12 avg rating — 99,713 ratings
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33

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3.78 avg rating — 26,399 ratings
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34

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3.98 avg rating — 2,418,409 ratings
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35

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3.88 avg rating — 562 ratings
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35

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3.74 avg rating — 58,127 ratings
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37

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3.68 avg rating — 112,947 ratings
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38

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3.76 avg rating — 44,579 ratings
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39

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3.80 avg rating — 9,850 ratings
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40

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3.83 avg rating — 21,366 ratings
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41

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4.17 avg rating — 1,481,172 ratings
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42

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3.32 avg rating — 11,985 ratings
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43

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4.25 avg rating — 26,749 ratings
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44

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3.61 avg rating — 14,073 ratings
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45

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3.81 avg rating — 11,848 ratings
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46

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3.68 avg rating — 10,298 ratings
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47

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3.73 avg rating — 52,270 ratings
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48

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4.12 avg rating — 67,840 ratings
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49

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3.30 avg rating — 6,379 ratings
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50

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4.40 avg rating — 1,002 ratings
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51

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3.81 avg rating — 58,464 ratings
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52

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3.70 avg rating — 40,551 ratings
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53

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3.71 avg rating — 40,926 ratings
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54

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3.47 avg rating — 16,677 ratings
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55

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3.61 avg rating — 50,776 ratings
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56

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 26,948 ratings
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57

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3.78 avg rating — 11,046 ratings
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58

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3.67 avg rating — 85,189 ratings
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59

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3.76 avg rating — 4,037 ratings
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60

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3.56 avg rating — 6,572 ratings
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61

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3.25 avg rating — 5,232 ratings
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62

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3.70 avg rating — 1,840 ratings
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63

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4.40 avg rating — 57,902 ratings
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64

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3.35 avg rating — 5,137 ratings
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65

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2.81 avg rating — 9,766 ratings
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66

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3.42 avg rating — 4,590 ratings
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67

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3.65 avg rating — 2,963 ratings
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68

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3.82 avg rating — 4,441 ratings
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69

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3.78 avg rating — 2,843 ratings
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70

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3.86 avg rating — 98,033 ratings
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71

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3.42 avg rating — 5,954 ratings
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71

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4.21 avg rating — 456,069 ratings
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73

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3.27 avg rating — 3,018 ratings
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74

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3.79 avg rating — 10,987 ratings
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75

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3.80 avg rating — 1,266,541 ratings
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76

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3.75 avg rating — 6,744 ratings
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77

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3.90 avg rating — 6,815 ratings
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78

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3.85 avg rating — 2,766 ratings
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79

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4.25 avg rating — 75,519 ratings
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80

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3.64 avg rating — 2,149 ratings
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81

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3.49 avg rating — 5,963 ratings
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82

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3.50 avg rating — 110,337 ratings
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83

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3.98 avg rating — 941 ratings
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84

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3.47 avg rating — 13,876 ratings
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85

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3.69 avg rating — 3,603 ratings
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86

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3.67 avg rating — 24,255 ratings
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87

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3.27 avg rating — 1,686 ratings
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88

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3.62 avg rating — 4,212 ratings
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89

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3.70 avg rating — 18,195 ratings
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90

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3.35 avg rating — 31,871 ratings
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91

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4.08 avg rating — 15,584 ratings
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92

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3.58 avg rating — 24,275 ratings
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93

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3.80 avg rating — 372 ratings
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94

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3.78 avg rating — 135 ratings
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95

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3.41 avg rating — 4,017 ratings
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96

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3.76 avg rating — 1,130 ratings
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97

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3.42 avg rating — 6,207 ratings
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97

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4.01 avg rating — 1,272 ratings
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99

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4.07 avg rating — 25,115 ratings
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100

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3.70 avg rating — 13,058 ratings
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399 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


ART 4034 books
5 friends
Karl 36 books
3 friends
JMWilliams 415 books
92 friends
Peter 247 books
12 friends
Cynthia 2052 books
2243 friends
Dale 1933 books
94 friends
St. Martin's Press 1927 books
3130 friends
George 296 books
160 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-21 of 21 (21 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart I removed Thorn's Redemption and Traceless. These are neither literary fiction nor 2020 releases.


message 2: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart I don't believe Someday in Paris is literary fiction. It appears to be a digital-only romance title. I can't tell whether it's self published, but it has only been added by the same 9 voters.


kittykat AKA Ms. Tortitude Rainbowheart wrote: "I don't believe Someday in Paris is literary fiction. It appears to be a digital-only romance title. I can't tell whether it's self published, but it has only been added by the same 9 voters."

Not that I know what book you are talking about, but neither being digital only or self published excludes it from being literary, although it is certainly unlikely.

However, like most lists here, once other people get a gist of it they ignore the reason/instructions given by the original poster and so, unsurprisingly, there are a number of titles added here that are not lit fic.


message 4: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart It looks like someone else already removed the book in question.

You're right that a lot of people tend to ignore list instructions. I have noticed some YA titles being added as well. The newest Hunger Games and Miss Peregrine titles are certainly not adult literary fiction.


kittykat AKA Ms. Tortitude Rainbowheart wrote: "It looks like someone else already removed the book in question.

You're right that a lot of people tend to ignore list instructions. ..."


It's always incredibly frustrating with these lists and ironic that on a site for readers, some show that they don't actually seem to read very well at all.


message 6: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed Conjunction and So All Is Peace, which do not have editions scheduled for release in 2020. Also removed Uncanny Valley, which is a memoir, not fiction.


message 7: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed Through Love and Sorrow, not literary fiction, also does not have a 2020 edition. Ditto A Detective Named Abby, self-published short story, and The Life and Times of Fuzzy Wuzzy, looks to be a self-published picture book.


message 8: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Did some cleanup on this list and removed Big Money, Secret Legacy, VanWest the Past, and Not All You Need is Love. Promotional author spam, self-published, not literary fiction. Also deleted Magnetized, which is a non-fiction book.


message 9: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Author spam currently in the 4th spot, The Boy Who Saw Colours. It's self pubbed. Kara, do you want that removed?


message 10: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Author spam has now taken over the top spot. :(


message 11: by Kara (new)

Kara Please remove, and follow all manner of removal policies on this and any other list I've posted. I am afraid I cannot consistently monitor this account. Thanks so much for the work you do, Rainbowheart!


message 12: by Stephanie (new)

Stephanie How do you define literary fiction?


message 13: by Jodi (new)

Jodi After Me Comes the Flood by Sarah Perry was written in 2014, not 2020.


message 14: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart It seems like the first U.S. edition is 2020.


message 16: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart The book you linked is from 2014, Bill.


message 17: by Stephanie (new)

Stephanie Rainbowheart wrote: "It looks like someone else already removed the book in question.

You're right that a lot of people tend to ignore list instructions. I have noticed some YA titles being added as well. The newest H..."


Where are the list instructions?


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Stephanie wrote: "How do you define literary fiction?"

I haven't voted for any because the books I pre-ordered aren't exactly literary fiction 😊


message 19: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed self-published spam titles by Lynessa Layne, which are decidedly not literary fiction.


message 20: by Michele (new)

Michele Merens Hi Rainbow Heart. I am a new author to Goodreads, my novel "Inside Our Days" published in Oct 2020 by Muriel Press, Marian University is in the adult literary fiction genre. Someone did put my book onto Goodreads and rated it a few months ago; tonight, I added my book to this list only because it said anyone could add? When it didn't seem to work without a vote, I put my vote in to do so; then it listed. If I have acted in error or against the posting rules, I wanted to apologize, and I will understand if the title has to be withdrawn or put up by others. But I hope it might stand? Again please forgive if I misread the rules here, I am still a bit confused on the particulars of using this site. Thank you.


message 21: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Hope no one minds, but since it's already January 1 and no 2022 list had appeared, I took the liberty of creating one.

Anticipated 2022 Literary Fiction


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