My GR Choice Awards TBR(long list edition)!

It’s that time of year when book lovers both cheer and lament over the Goodreads Choice Awards, which opened up the voting last week for the long list of categories such as Best Fiction, Best Romance and Best Romantasy(looks like that one here to stay).

The final round of voting, which cuts down the number of contenders, begins on November 25 and the winners to b announced on December 4. While the GR awards are mostly the literary version of the People’s Choice Awards (if you know, you know), they still are useful as a way to go over your current reading for the year.

To that end, I decided to set up a TBR based on the long list of books I need to catch up on by the end of 2025 into the early part of 2026. 

Two of these books are Book of the Month club and the other two are Aardvark selections. These are not the only GRCA nominees I have in the unread category but if those others make it to the finals, I might add them in(even one of my Cozy November reads is on the long list!)later. For now, this should be a good starting point:

Aardvark 

In the Debut Nivel category, I was thrilled to see Venessa Vida Kelley’s When the Tides Held the Moon and yes, I voted for it right away!

It will be read, I promise. This gorgeously illustrated novel tells the tale of Benny, who used his blacksmith skills  in the 1910s to create a unique cage for the sideshow in Luna Park that holds Rio, a merman captured in the East River.

While Benny finds friendship among his new coworkers, his feelings for Rio grow much stronger, leading him to choose between freeing his beloved or becoming another cynical human doing what he can to survive a harsh world.

This book is such a gem to behold in and of itself yet ultimately a book is made to be opened and appreciated for its words as well. Perhaps saving the best for last isn’t such a bad idea after all:

In the Fantasy section,  The Devils by Joe Abercrombie was still among the unread on my shelf so I clearly needed to add it here.

I’ve heard nothing but praise about Abercrombie’s offbeat take on the genre and this book certainly sounds like fun. Set in an alternate medieval universe, Brother Diaz is tasked by the female Pope to claim an ancient crown with the help of a motley crew of mystical misfits before her political rivals can get to it first. Adventures, bloody action and a touch of romance follows along the perilous pages.

I don’t know if this is the best book to start reading of this author’s but since this does have The Suicide Squad(James Gunn.version) vibes, it sounds like the ideal one to me:

Book of the Month Club

In Historical Fiction, the latest by Fiona Davis, The Stolen Queen, was to be found and I wonder if being chosen by the Calvi Book Club earlier this season didn’t give this one an extra boost of reader attention.

Set in New York of 1978, museum curator Charlotte Cross must enlist the aid of Anne Jenkins when an Egyptian artifact is discovered missing during the iconic Met Gala, which Anne was organizing.

 Charlotte is very familiar with the stolen item as she was on the archaeological team that found it in 1936, with dire consequences that came along with it. Having no other choice, the pair must go to Egypt to reclaim what was once owned by a female Pharaoh whose curse may doom them both.

I’ve enjoyed Davis’ work before, with her solid New York centric settings and well crafted characters. This book might benefit from the recent buzz around the Lourve heist but I prefer the focus on untold feminine rulers all the more:

The Horror section was pretty strong this time around and among the ones that I haven’t gotten to yet, The Posession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Canas stood out strongly to me.

Fleeing from a plague in 1865, Alba and her family take refuge at the home of her fiancé near a remote mine. This proximity to such a haunted place causes a slow yet steady series of changes in Alba that only her future cousin in law Elias seems to notice.

With a demonic force taking over, Alba finds that Elias is her strongest ally in fighting off this particular evil and perhaps their true chance at some form of salvation.

Having read Canas before, it’s great to see her get more recognition for her increasingly good and sinister storytelling that ought to make her the next big thing in this field indeed:

Having a reading plan in motion for this time of yearly transition is good, especially since I will need room for the books I’m hoping to get this Christmas! Also, this gives me a nice focus for my page turning future.

While the Goodreads Choice Awards are far from perfect (having one author with multiple books in one category is way too much) and does need to showcase better diversity in books and authors, it can be a boon to highlighting many titles that could benefit from an extra spotlight here.

At the very least, it’s a worthwhile distraction from the real world chaos we’re dealing with right now and that’s not an excuse for the awards being less than fully representative of their entire audience. All I am saying is that for now, this can be both a rallying cry for change and a welcome relief from our collective anxiety. The two goals are not mutually exclusive.

Think of the Goodreads Choice Awards as akin to the Dundies given out on various seasons of The Office; somewhat well meaning yet awkwardly presented and at the best of times, enduringly amusing. Just don’t get too overwrought about it, find that Pam Beasley balance if you can!: