book lists

2022 Goodreads Choice Awards Winners

Posted on by AmandaKay

Happy Thursday, book friends! The Goodreads Choice Awards winners have been announced. I always enjoy looking at the winners for the genres I read to see how many of them I’ve read. Even though the awards are really more of a popularity contest than anything, that’s sort of why I find them so interesting. I like to see what people were hearing about and reading the most in any given year, even if I don’t think that always equates to the “best” books of the year.

Let’s take a stroll through the winners from genres that are commonly covered here on Your Book Friend.

Fiction

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow took this category, which I found 0% surprising. It’s actually the only nominee from this category that I’ve read (though a few others are on my TBR), which is one of the reasons I always feel a bit silly voting for the Goodreads Choice Awards.

Romance

Emily Henry’s Book Lovers snagged the win in this spot, which is also not that surprising. I’ve read a good handful of the nominees for this category, and I definitely think Book Lovers is up there. It isn’t my favorite of hers, but it still delivers on the bookish love story front.

Memoir & Autobiography

I’m Glad My Mom Died took the top spot here, and I am so pleased to see it. This book surprised the heck out of me and it’s truly such a well-written and raw memoir.

Debut Novel

My favorite book of the year, Lessons in Chemistry, snagged the win and it is so very deserved in my opinion. This book has such a unique humor and storytelling mode to it. I’ll be thinking about this reading experience for a while.

Nonfiction

This is the only commonly-read category this year where I haven’t read the winner, which is kind of impressive if I’m being honest. I usually have a much lower hit rate for what’s popular. Brené  Brown’s Atlas of the Heart took the win here, which makes sense, because people do adore Brené  Brown.

Since these are the only genres I reliably read this year, my commentary on the rest won’t be that interesting. I’m pretty happy that many of my favorities wound up winners, even if I’m not that surprised to see them there. If you want to know who won the other categories this year, the full list of winners is available here.

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Top 5 Tuesday: Books Set at School

Posted on by AmandaKay

Hello and happy Tuesday, book friends! I had a three day weekend thanks to the July 4th holiday here in the states, and I very much needed some rest after my pain flare and my COVID-19 vaccine booster shot, from which I had some mild (and harmless) side effects like achiness and a rash on my arm.

Am I still arriving at the workweek mildly exhausted? Yes, yes I am. But, here we are with another Top 5 Tuesday post! Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Bionic Bookworm, now hosted by Meeghan Reads. If you’re interested in participating, check out their blog to get the details and the prompts for each week!

Edited to add: I accidentally hopped in my TARDIS and skipped ahead to the prompt for the week of July 12th, which is “books that take place in schools.” Check back next week for the July 5th prompt I was supposed to do today, most anticipated reads for the second half of the year!

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl takes place during the protagonist’s first year of college and, while it was frustrating to read at times, is a realistic look at how challenging the transition can be. It has also been made into a series of graphic novels, which I haven’t read yet.

The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin

Schools for magic are my preferred sorts of schools to read about, it seems. This one takes place at a training facility for witches who, in this universe, have weather-related powers.

Erotic Stories by Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Adult learning classes at the local community center totally count as schools, right? Well, I’m counting them, because a great deal of the plot of Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows takes place during or around an adult writing course.

The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith

This book is a bit darker than what I usually go for, but I loved it. Our main character winds up at a school for young witches, but of course, not all is as it appears.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

The Love Hypothesis takes place at a university, in case you didn’t encounter this information already through the book’s massive popularity on the bookish internet.

This was a really fun topic to think about, since I haven’t really considered how many books take place in a school or classroom setting before! Have you read any good books lately that are set in school? Let me know!