The 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards finalists are posted. The second round of voting just concluded eliminated five semifinalists, leaving 10 nominees to choose among in the last round of voting, which is open from November 15-27.
Here are the finalists in the categories of genre interest.
Discover more from File 770
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
I think it was 10 eliminated. Started with 15, added 5 write-ins, now down to 10.
It looks like of ones I was interested in seeing how they did, the unlucky eliminees in SF include Ninefox Gambit, Gentleman Jole, Deaths End, Too Like the Lightning, and A Closed and Common Orbit.
In Fantasy I see The Paper Menagerie, Stiletto, City of Blades, The Obelisk Gate and Every Heart a Doorway going out, and in Horror I’m sorry to see Ballad of Black Tom and The Nightmare Stacks go.
However….Geek Feminist Revolution and View from the Cheap Seats remain in Non Fiction for some SF interest there, and I just spotted Shatner’s book on Nimoy in History & Biography – anyone read it? Also in there is “Rise of the Rocket Girls” which I hadn’t heard of but looks rather interesting.
We are morally allowed to vote without having read everything? Because I think there’s one book on that list I’ve actually read.
It seems the more interesting works are almost completely gone in SF and while fantasy has a few choices I could imagine voting for, most of the more interesting works are also gone.
Under the graphic novel category, I have only read Monstress. But it was very good. And I voted thusly.
Regards,
Dann
Afterthought for Mike, the error message is gone, but now the word “comment” in the comment space remains after I start typing. Not a bit deal on my end of the wire, but thought you might like to know. Using Windows 7 and Chrome 54.0.2840.99 m.
@NickPheas
Your morals are your own 🙂 I don’t feel the need to have read everything on the slate for this award, b/c it’s clearly designed as a populist vote not an evaluation, and ten in multiple categories in 3 days isn’t feasible.
I’ll not be voting in SF because I’ve not read any of the finalists, although 3 are on my tbr and a couple more look worth checking out.
Well almost all my SF choices got the boot.
Dark Matter worth checking out?
Torn between some of the remaining choices from what I’ve read.
I think that in an awards process where you have just one vote, voting without reading (the rejected works) is fine. It’s a ‘vote for what you are a fan of’ thing, not a ‘compare these works and decide which is the best’ thing.
Logically, I suppose All the Birds in the Sky does belong in fantasy – although it is very deliberately Both, the fantasy element wins out in the end. I must admit I had it mentally pigeonholed as SF, though.
I have the sense fewer things are being pointed out as the interesting thing one should read than at this time last year. Does anyone else feel that? (This may to some extent be because a lot of this year’s important works are sequels, so already have an established audience.)
@Andrew M
Do you mean in the goodreads awards or in general?
Those are some pretty safe/dull choices.
But something is wacky when I’ve read the same amount of Horror and Fantasy. I don’t like horror and rarely read it.
I’m sorry to see Too Like The Lightning knocked off, but then, I’m glad it got as far as the semifinals in a popular-choice award like this one.
Mark: In general. The awards just drew my attention to it; the list looks pretty lacklustre, but not because lots of especially lustrous things are missing.
Books I was already interested in before I saw this include Underground Airlines, Sleeping Giants, and maaaaybe Crosstalk from SF; A Gathering of Shadows (I know, how have I not read it yet?!) from fantasy; and Lovecraft Country from horror. I already read and recommended Fellside. Nothing else on these lists interests me, many being sequels in series I haven’t read (or being horror, which I don’t usually read).
@Matt Y: I don’t know if Dark Matter is any good, but it was already on my list to look into. The description intrigued me a while back; eventually I’ll read the sample. I, too, am curious if anyone’s read it and has Thoughts.
@Kendall – Yeah the description sounds interesting, first I’ve heard of it personally.
My wife told me Sleeping Giants as a good read; Gathering of Shadows I really enjoyed along with Lovecraft Country. Last year was such a good year I’ve spent half of this year catching up.
@Matt Y: I’m always catching up, No, scratch that – just perpetually behind. My eyes are bigger than my stomach, that is to say, my interest in books far outstrips my time and focus. 🙂
@Andrew M
In which case: sort of. I was actually thinking the same thing a week or so ago, but since then I’ve organised my longlist a bit more – I tend to leave myself kindle notes and then go back through them in a batch – and I don’t think it’s much worse off than last years, with a few months reading left to go. Specifically on novels you may have a point though – there are some really spectacular standalone or first in a series books on my 2015 list, and maybe less so this year.