The results from Goodreads Choice Award 2012 arrived about a week ago. The winners are chosen by readers voting on Goodreads. Here is the top 5 in the fiction category with a small synopsis from Goodreads and my opinion.
Note: I haven’t read these books (apart from one, which I’m currently reading). I usually wait for the paperback and I’m therefore often hopelessly behind. But I think that will be part of my reading challenge for 2013: to read more ‘new’ books. If anyone’s read any of these books, please let me know what you think in the comment section below!
Her er resultaterne fra Goodreads Choice Award 2012 – stemt ind af læsere på Goodreads. Her er top 5 i kategorien Fiktion med en lille synopsis fra Goodreads og min mening.
Bemærk: Jeg har ikke læst disse bøger (bortset fra en, som jeg er igang med). Jeg plejer at vente på paperback-udgaven og jeg er derfor ofte håbløst bagud. Men jeg tror, at det skal være en del af min læse-challenge for 2013: at læse flere ‘nye’ bøger. Hvis du har læst nogle af disse bøger, så fortæl endelig hvad du synes i kommentarfeltet nedenfor!
1: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling 11,525 votes
From Goodreads:
When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.
My thoughts:
I was quite thrilled to read what Rowling can do besides Harry Potter. I’ve now read the first 100 pages and so far I think she’s done well. I like this book. But voting it the best book of 2012? I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s that good. But maybe I’ll change my mind along the way.
2: Where We Belong by Emily Giffin 7,841 votes
From Goodreads:
Marian Caldwell is a thirty-six year old television producer, living her dream in New York City. With a fulfilling career and satisfying relationship, she has convinced everyone, including herself, that her life is just as she wants it to be. But one night, Marian answers a knock on the door . . . only to find Kirby Rose, an eighteen-year-old girl with a key to a past that Marian thought she had sealed off forever.
My thoughts:
I haven’t read this one and don’t know if I will. It could be a really interesting story about a woman’s journey in life, and it could be a cheesy and cliched love story about how true love is more important than success. And the fact that the ‘o’ in ‘belong’ is a heart, makes me want to skip it. Yuk!
3: Home Front by Kristin Hannah 6,072 votes
From Goodreads:
Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life—children, careers, bills, chores—even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then an unexpected deployment sends Jolene deep into harm’s way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls.
My thoughts:
This one could be interesting. I’m worried that it might be a bit cliched – but with the gender roles turned upside down. But it could be brilliant. The reviews scares me a bit though; there’s a lot about how much they cried whilst reading it. That makes me fear the book might be too Susanne Bier-ish. But I think I’ll give it a go!
4: The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker 5,531 votes
From Goodreads:
On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, the environment is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life …
My thoughts:
This one sounds sort of fun … but maybe also a bit silly. And if I’m to read a novel ’just for fun’ it has to be really funny – laugh out loud-funny! So I’ll skip this.
5: This is How You Lose Her by Junot Días 4,913 votes
From Goodreads:
On a beach in the Dominican Republic, a doomed relationship flounders. In the heat of a hospital laundry room in New Jersey, a woman does her lover’s washing and thinks about his wife. In Boston, a man buys his love child, his only son, a first baseball bat and glove. At the heart of these stories is the irrepressible, irresistible Yunior, a young hardhead whose longing for love is equaled only by his recklessness–and by the extraordinary women he loves and loses: artistic Alma …
My thoughts:
I won’t be reading this one. I read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao this summer, and didn’t like Días’ style. It’s just not for me.