2019’s Goodreads Award Winners Wrap-Up

It’s official! The end of the year is here, because we have our official 2019 Goodreads Award Winners. I voted every step of the way, and I loved seeing so many books I’d actually read (even if I didn’t necessarily vote for them) win their categories.

Here’s a look at who won what. I’ll put an asterisk by all the titles I’ve read this year!

FICTION: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood*

MYSTERY & THRILLER: The Silent Patient by Alex Michelides*

HISTORICAL FICTION: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

FANTASY: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo*

ROMANCE: Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston*

SCIENCE FICTION: Recursion by Blake Crouch

HORROR: The Institute by Stephen King

HUMOR: Dear Girls by Ali Wong

NONFICTION: Girl Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis

MEMOIR & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Over the Top by Jonathan Van Ness*

HISTORY & BIOGRAPHY: The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? by Caitlin Doughty

FOOD & COOKBOOKS: Antoni in the Kitchen by Antoni Porowski

GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS: Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell & Faith Ann Hicks*

POETRY: Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson*

DEBUT NOVEL: Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston*

YOUNG ADULT FICTION: Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott

YOUNG ADULT FANTASY: The Wicked King by Holly Black

MIDDLE GRADE & CHILDREN’S: The Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan

PICTURE BOOKS: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood by Fred Rogers

My thoughts?

Christina Lauren robbed, but loved Red White and Royal Blue. Was The Testaments good? Yes. Was it the BEST fiction of the year? Probably not. I know Five Feet Apart was a NYT #1 bestseller for weeks and a good movie…but I swear to you I have never heard anyone in real life talk about having read this book. Never. And I am a librarian and a book blogger and just…me. And NO ONE I know has actually read this book. Also, no surprise Holly Black won. I do think VE Schwab & Raina Telegemeir were robbed in the MG category, but whatever. Pumpkinheads really is SO Good and so beautifully done. I loved Ninth House. IDK if Daisy Jones really reads as historical fiction but…sure. The Silent Patient was good, but that whole category had some great contenders. Also…a Fred Rogers reconstituted songs into picture book winning feels mildly offensive to the living, breathing, creators of picture books like Sulwe and Hair Love and The Proudest Blue, but people often just vote for something they vaguely recognize.