The critics have had their say regarding the best books of the year, and now the readers of the world have had theirs.
The winners of the annual Goodreads Choice Awards, voted on by book fans, were announced on Tuesday, with Margaret Atwood and Stephen King among readers’ favorites.
Atwood took home the Best Fiction prize for The Testaments, her bestselling sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. Atwood’s novel was also one of the two winners of this year’s Booker Prize, along with Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. The fiction category wasn’t close this year—The Testaments garnered more than twice the votes of its runner-up, Sally Rooney’s Normal People.
The nonfiction prize went to Rachel Hollis’ popular self-help book Girl, Stop Apologizing, which beat out a host of critics’ favorites including Lisa Taddeo’s Three Womenand Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror.
Stephen King was named the winner in the horror category for The Institute, chosen by readers over his son, Joe Hill (Full Throttle) and YouTube comedy duo Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek).
Alex Michaelides won in the mystery and thriller category for The Silent Patient, and Leigh Bardugo was named the fantasy winner for Ninth House. Blake Crouch’s Recursiontopped the science fiction category.
Two of the stars of the hit Netflix show Queer Eye were named winners: Jonathan Van Ness won the memoir and autobiography category for Over the Top, and Antoni Porowski’s Antoni in the Kitchen took home the food and cookbooks prize.
Michael Schaub is an Austin, Texas–based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
