I’m glad to see the BSFA long-lists are out, always a fun start to one’s reading year (except that at present I am overwhelmed by Clarke submissions).
But these long-lists are long. 18 for Best Book for Younger Readers; 32 for Best Non-Fiction; 36 for Best Artwork; 68 for Best Novel (down from 74 last year); and a stonking 77 for Best Short Fiction. I have to wonder how useful any long-lists as long as this can really be. I also wonder to what extent such an open nominations process can be exploited for marketing purposes. There is still some desirable kudos to being a BSFA long-listed author, even if the barrier to achieving that status is rather low.
As I have done before, I’ve looked at the Goodreads and LibraryThing statistics for the two most relevant categories, Best Book for Younger Readers and Best Novel, ranked by the geometrical average of the number of Goodreads users who have rated each book, and the number of LibraryThing users who have recorded owning it.
For Best Book for Younger Readers, I have bolded the top five in each column. The only book to get all four numbers in bold is All That’s Left in the World, by Erik J. Brown.
Goodreads | LibraryThing | ||||
raters | av rating | owners | av rating | ||
Only A Monster, by Vanessa Len | 15707 | 3.91 | 443 | 3.67 | |
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, by Juno Dawson | 7948 | 3.89 | 377 | 3.78 | |
Violet Made of Thorns, by Gina Chen | 9189 | 3.65 | 304 | 4 | |
All That’s Left in the World, by Erik J. Brown | 11720 | 4.3 | 187 | 4.12 | |
This Vicious Grace, by Emily Thiede | 6483 | 4.1 | 225 | 4.11 | |
Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor, by Xiran Jay Zhao | 2324 | 4.19 | 89 | 4.22 | |
The Kindred, by Alechia Dow | 1206 | 3.68 | 63 | 4.17 | |
Beasts of Ruin, by Ayana Gray | 859 | 4.2 | 59 | 4 | |
Unraveller, by Frances Hardinge | 564 | 4.22 | 47 | 4.2 | |
Illuminations, by T Kingfisher | 721 | 4.19 | 29 | 4.06 | |
Mindwalker, by Kate Dylan | 584 | 4.23 | 34 | 4 | |
Survive the Dome, by Kosoko Jackson | 616 | 3.62 | 30 | 4 | |
Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods, by Catherynne M. Valente | 233 | 4.36 | 33 | 4.5 | |
Secret of the Stormforest, by L.D. Lapinski | 278 | 4.36 | 9 | – | |
The Comet, by Joe Todd-Stanton | 163 | 4.48 | 11 | 4 | |
Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Taking The Blame, by Louie Stowell | 89 | 4.36 | 6 | 4 | |
Born Andromeda, by K.M. Watts | 25 | 3.68 | 5 | 3 | |
The Fox’s Tower, by Sam Thompson | 0 | – | 0 | – |
And here’s the Best Novel long-list, with the top quintile in each column in bold. Again only one book manages this in all four columns: Babel, by R. F. Kuang.
Goodreads | LibraryThing | ||||
raters | av rating | owners | av rating | ||
Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel | 112106 | 4.15 | 1573 | 4.07 | |
Babel, by R. F. Kuang | 45330 | 4.36 | 1310 | 4.24 | |
The Cartographers, by Peng Shepherd | 42599 | 3.67 | 938 | 3.52 | |
Daughter of the Moon Goddess, by Sue Lynn Tan | 37840 | 4.18 | 861 | 3.95 | |
Upgrade, by Blake Crouch | 52560 | 3.84 | 580 | 3.78 | |
To Paradise, by Hanya Yanagihara | 27583 | 3.79 | 536 | 3.86 | |
Nettle & Bone, by T Kingfisher | 21893 | 4.24 | 604 | 4.29 | |
How High We Go in the Dark, by Sequoia Nagamatsu | 24853 | 3.89 | 525 | 3.83 | |
What Moves the Dead, by T. Kingfisher | 20260 | 3.98 | 441 | 4.07 | |
Lapvona, by Otessa Moshfegh | 22200 | 3.59 | 325 | 3.36 | |
The Book Eaters, by Sunyi Dean | 14568 | 3.72 | 466 | 3.98 | |
Amongst Our Weapons, by Ben Aaronovitch | 10384 | 4.35 | 394 | 3.99 | |
Sundial, by Catriona Ward | 9641 | 3.81 | 241 | 3.86 | |
Spear, by Nicola Griffith | 3196 | 4.14 | 246 | 4.02 | |
Eyes of the Void, by Adrian Tchaikovsky | 5887 | 4.22 | 131 | 4.02 | |
Stone Blind, by Natalie Haynes | 4024 | 4.03 | 173 | 3.82 | |
The Grief of Stones, by Katherine Addison | 3207 | 4.33 | 212 | 4.16 | |
Eversion, by Alistair Reynolds | 3565 | 4.04 | 168 | 3.96 | |
Ocean’s Echo, by Everina Maxwell | 2735 | 4.23 | 142 | 3.91 | |
Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments, by Tendai Huchu | 2115 | 3.97 | 159 | 4.06 | |
Leech, by Hiron Ennes | 2254 | 3.7 | 124 | 3.57 | |
Goliath, by Tochi Onyebuchi | 1094 | 3.31 | 150 | 3.57 | |
Time Shelter, by Georgi Gospodinov | 2712 | 4.08 | 56 | 3.64 | |
Light Years From Home, by Mike Chenn | 1797 | 3.57 | 66 | 4.1 | |
A Half-Built Garden, by Ruthanna Emrys | 841 | 3.71 | 120 | 3.4 | |
The Spear Cuts Through Water, by Simon Jimenez | 1000 | 4.27 | 96 | 4.21 | |
Children of Memory, by Adrian Tchaikovsky | 1617 | 4.16 | 57 | 4.58 | |
The Moonday Letters, by Emma Itaranta | 1162 | 3.82 | 69 | 3.63 | |
The Path of Thorns, by Angela Slatter | 1162 | 4.09 | 58 | 4.06 | |
Stars and Bones, by Gareth Powell | 974 | 3.7 | 59 | 3.29 | |
The Men, by Sandra Newman | 974 | 3 | 49 | 2.54 | |
Under Fortunate Stars, by Ren Hutchings | 843 | 4.01 | 55 | 4.05 | |
Braking Day, by Adam Oyebanji | 854 | 4.02 | 52 | 3.84 | |
Venomous Lumpsucker, by Ned Beauman | 810 | 3.88 | 50 | 3.88 | |
The Red Scholar’s Wake, by Aliette de Bodard | 465 | 3.65 | 60 | 4.18 | |
Unraveller, by Frances Hardinge | 564 | 4.22 | 47 | 4.2 | |
The Circus Infinite, by Khan Wong | 393 | 3.62 | 45 | 3.5 | |
City of Last Chances, by Adrian Tchaikovsky | 332 | 4.04 | 41 | 4.25 | |
The Immortality Thief, by Taran Hunt | 372 | 4.23 | 34 | 4 | |
The This, by Adam Roberts | 257 | 3.92 | 45 | 3.9 | |
Echoes of Eternity, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden | 605 | 4.53 | 15 | 5 | |
Mischief Acts, by Zoe Gilbert | 240 | 3.98 | 32 | 3.75 | |
Picard: Second Self, by Una McCormack | 239 | 4.26 | 17 | 5 | |
Beyond the Burn Line, by Paul McAuley | 145 | 3.66 | 28 | 3.5 | |
Flight of the Aphrodite, by Simon Morden | 198 | 3.99 | 16 | 3.83 | |
Glitterati, by Oliver K. Langmead | 144 | 3.73 | 19 | 3.92 | |
Plutoshine, by Lucy Kissick | 112 | 4.1 | 16 | 3.5 | |
Expect Me Tomorrow, by Christopher Priest | 74 | 3.65 | 23 | 4 | |
A Fractured Infinity, by Nathan Tavares | 74 | 3.76 | 15 | 3.5 | |
Cold Water, by Dave Hutchinson | 65 | 4.37 | 17 | 4.75 | |
The Green Man’s Gift, by Juliet E. Mckenna | 135 | 4.45 | 6 | 4 | |
HellSans, by Ever Dundas | 89 | 3.84 | 8 | 3 | |
Mage of Fools, by Eugen Bacon | 32 | 4.03 | 22 | 3.22 | |
Embertide, by Liz Williams | 48 | 4.46 | 9 | 4.25 | |
Jackdaw, by Tade Thompson | 47 | 4.11 | 5 | – | |
In the Heart of Hidden Things, by Kit Whitfield | 43 | 4.21 | 4 | – | |
The Way the Light Bends, by Lorraine Wilson | 27 | 4.41 | 4 | 4 | |
Resilient, by Allen Stroud | 23 | 4.17 | 4 | – | |
Night Ivy, by E. D. E. Bell | 17 | 4.29 | 3 | – | |
Celestial, by M. D. Lachlan | 21 | 3.19 | 2 | – | |
The Coral Bones, by EJ Swift | 9 | 4.78 | 4 | – | |
On the Brink, by R. B. Kelly | 4 | 4.75 | 5 | – | |
Ocean of Stars, by John Dodd | 12 | 3.92 | 1 | – | |
Empathy, by Hoa Pham | 1 | 4 | 1 | – | |
It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way, by Alistair Mackay | 67 | 4.64 | 0 | – | |
From Death to Dawn, by Chele Cook | 13 | 4.54 | 0 | – | |
Cast Long Shadows, by Cat Hellisen | 16 | 3.88 | 0 | – | |
Harpan’s Worlds, by Terry Jackman | 1 | 3 | 0 | – |
It is interesting to note that some of these books have had more nominators for the BSFA awards than they have registered owners on Goodreads or LibraryThing. Not pointing any fingers, but I think there may be a couple of cases of friends and family helping out here.