Of the remaining fiction books, none were actually on my radar to read… mainly because they’re in genres I don’t gravitate toward. As for the two other nonfiction books, I’d simply never come across them before. Now that I’m seeing the History & Biography winner, How to Kill a Witch, I’m intrigued! That’s one I’ll be looking for at my library in 2026.
Even though in many categories I voted for books that didn’t end up winning, I’m a fan of the ones that did win! Although I still question whether The Compound really belongs in the sci-fi category.
Without going back to confirm, my impression is that I’ve read more of the winning books this year than I did in the last few previous years — which doesn’t particularly mean anything, other than that I appeared to have read a bunch of popular books in 2025.
And actually, several of these are likely to make my list of favorites for this past year! I’ve put a little heart next to the books I especially loved. ❤
I do still miss the old approach for these awards, which included more categories/genres, another round of voting (if I recall correctly), and the much loved and lamented option to write-in nominees.
So… how are you all feeling about this year’s batch of winners?
The opening round of this year’s Goodreads Choice Awards is here! I’ve already worked my way through the nominees and cast my votes. Some categories seem to have a lot of very strong choices this year… although I’m still a little bitter about the elimination (a few years ago now) of the write-in option!
Books published in the United States in English, including works in translation and other significant rereleases, between November 13, 2024, and November 11, 2025, are eligible for the 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards. Books published between November 12, 2025, and November 10, 2026, will be eligible for the 2026 awards.
We analyze statistics from the millions of books added, rated, and reviewed on Goodreads to nominate 20 books in each category. For the Audiobook category, nominations are based on the millions of titles added, rated, and reviewed both on Goodreads and Audible.
Opening round official nominees must have an average rating of 3.50 or higher at the time of launch. A book may be nominated in no more than one genre category, but can also be nominated in the Debut Novel and/or Audiobook categories. Only one book in a series may be nominated per category. An author may receive multiple nominations within a single category if they have more than one eligible series or more than one eligible stand-alone book.
So which books are nominated, and which did I vote for?
Let’s take a look at the opening round:
Category: Fiction
Of the 20 books nominated, I’ve read two:
I spy another four books on my to-read list:
… plus a few others that I’d consider maybe-someday books.
On my TBR: As with the previous two categories, quite a few of the other books look good to me, but I haven’t actually added any to my reading lists yet.
I don’t vote in categories where I haven’t actually read any of the books, so this year I skipped:
Debut Novel
Young Adult Fiction
Nonfiction
Memoir
History & Biography
Most of these categories have at least a book or two that I’d like to check out… we’ll see how that works out!
Wrapping it all up:
Did you vote in the opening round yet? Do you see any of your favorite books among the nominees?
I’d love to hear your recommendations for nominated books on my TBR lists or others I haven’t considered!
Overall, how do you feel about this year’s options? Any categories you wish they’d bring back? Any books you loved that really should have been nominated? Please share your thoughts!
Bookshelf Fantasies 