If you are on Goodreads you probably know that the Goodreads Choice Awards were announced a few weeks ago. These are the best books in many different genres, as voted on by the reading community of Goodreads. They have to have been published within this year.
I have a confession to make. Just skimming through the awards, I hadn't read a single one. Not even in some of my favorite categories, like middle grade fiction, or memoirs/biographies. Several are on my "to-read" list, but I just haven't gotten to them yet. (I added a few more to my list as I went through, though!)
Why would that be the case?
Maybe it's because most of my reading choices come from recommendations of others. Not just any others though; others whom I trust. It can be fraught, at times. Suzanne from Such Stuff, and Amy from Sunlit Pages did a Book Blab episode on this very topic. Check it out if you haven't yet. It's good stuff!
Part of it could also be the Big Life Events we had going on this year: move, new baby, and now fire. I have gravitated toward tried and true comfort fare, more so than untested new books. It's okay. I can own it. I have needed an escape at times. Thank you, reading.
Only being able to check out 5 books at a time for the first 3 months we lived here played a big part, as well.
I think another part of it has to do with a contrary streak I have that tends to manifest itself when a thousand people are all talking about the same book. I never have read The Lovely Bones, but I remember when it was the hot new book that everyone was talking about. I even picked it up more than once and read the blurb, but it just wasn't a subject matter I wanted to dive into. No regrets here. (Sidenote: I have never seen the movie Titanic, either. Three hours of my life that I can spend on other things, thank you.)
Is this a big deal? I'm trying to decide how much I care. The truth is, mostly I don't, except the librarian part of me that feels like I should be keeping up with the new releases. I most definitely am not doing that. I have read some books published this year, just not any on any of those award lists. I prefer to think that I'm offering a different perspective than the mainstream, but that could be all in my mind!
As I'm thinking about Reading Goals for next year, perhaps this would be fertile ground.
What about you? Do you seek out new releases? Stick to highly recommended options? Or a mix of both?
Of all the new releases from 2017, which should I be sure to catch sooner rather than later?
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