The results are in and The Casual Vacancy, by J. K. Rowling won best fiction. This choice originally shocked me, aside from personally disliking the book it got a lukewarm reception (at best) from fans and reviewers alike. I think this is probably a case of Harry Potter fans, and Rowling’s name recognition, coming together to give this book the win.
I love the Goodreads Choice Awards for many reasons. (1) They are the largest awards for books that are voted on solely by readers. Some may lament the end of academics and book reviewers setting literary standards in their ivy covered ivory towers, but not me. More than a million people voted this year. Power to the people! (2) The site shows the rank and number of votes for all the runners up. (3) The awards have always favored Young Adult books and Young Adult authors.
In fact here are the winners since the award’s beginning:
- 2011 – Divergent, by Veronica Roth
- 2010 – Mocking Jay, by Suzanne Collins
- 2009: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
While The Casual Vacancy isn’t strictly a Young Adult novel. It does center around the actions and emotions of high school aged children, and Rowling is famous for the most famous children’s book series of at least my generation. You can see the other categories’ winners right here – pretty exciting stuff. What was your favorite book published in 2012?
Alison Doherty 
Don’t you just love the steam Goodreads awards are building? Those are the people’s choices, not the critics or booksellers. I love them.
I know! Voting is so much fun, although it makes me wish I’d read more books published this year.