Fourth-annual Goodreads.com Choice Awards announced today

Goodreads.com, one of the biggest and most popular book-related Web sites in the world, announced earlier today the winners of the 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards.

Over 1,156,800 votes were cast by booklovers in three rounds of fan voting in what Goodreads claims is the “only major book awards decided by readers.” The Goodreads Choice Awards were first given in 2009, and it allows readers to nominate and vote for books released during the previous year.

This year, awards for “best book” were given in 20 categories, and this year’s slate of winners in those categories were as follows:

Best Fiction – “The Casual Vacancy” by J.K. Rowling

Best Nonfiction – “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain

Best Goodreads Author - Veronica Roth

Best Mystery – “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn

Best Historical Fiction – “The Light Between Oceans” by M.L. Stedman

Best Memoir – “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” by Cheryl Strayed

Best History & Biography – “Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch” by Sally Bedell Smith

Best Fantasy – “The Wind Through the Keyhole” by Stephen King

Best Paranormal Fantasy – “Shadow of Night” by Deborah Harkness

Best Romance – “Fifty Shades Freed” by E.L. James

Best Science Fiction – “The Long Earth” by Terry Pratchett

Best Horror – “The Twelve” by Justin Cronin

Best Young Adult Fiction – “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green

Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction – “Insurgent” by Veronica Roth

Best Humor – “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir” by Jenny Lawson

Best Poetry – “A Thousand Mornings” by Mary Oliver

Best Food & Cookbook – “The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl” by Ree Drummond

Best Graphic Novel & Comic – “The Walking Dead, Vol 16: A Larger World” by Robert Kirkman, Illustrated by Charlie Adlard

Best Children’s Book – “The Mark of Athena” by Rick Riordan

Best Picture Book – “Olivia and the Fairy Princesses” by Ian Falconer

For more information about the books and authors mentioned above as well as the Goodreads Readers Choice Awards, visit http://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2012.

This year marked the fourth consecutive year in which the Goodreads Choice Awards have been named. The past three years, Goodreads has named a “Favorite Book of the Year,” but for whatever reason, they didn’t name one this year. Favorite Book of 2011 award went to “Divergent” by Veronica Roth, and the winner of the Favorite Book of 2010 was “Mockingjay” by Suzanne Collins. The winner of the Favorite Book of 2009 was “Catching Fire” by Suzanne Collins.

In the end, how many of the books mentioned above have you had the chance to read? Which did you like or dislike? Why? Which would you recommend and why? Let us know in the comments section below.