Readers’ Hit New Books of the Year (So Far)

Each year, right around this time, we like to crunch the numbers on which new releases are resonating with readers at the halfway point of the year. It’s always fascinating, and this year is no exception.

It works like this: We gather up the year’s new titles already on shelves—books published between January and June—and note the ones that Goodreads members have clicked as “Read,” “Currently Reading,” or “Want to Read,” and then we include only books that have at least a 3.5-star average rating. This provides a kind of high-altitude perspective on which books are hitting the mark with Goodreads readers.

This year, we’ve sorted the books into genre stacks and listed the 12 most popular titles in each category. As always, genre designations can get a little blurry sometimes, but we did our best. You can scan the results below.

There are a couple of interesting developments to note. Well, a couple of interesting books, actually. Of all this year’s new releases, two breakout titles in particular have made a significant splash. Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear and Belle Burden’s Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage have both very quickly rocketed to the top of our data charts, based on reviews, average ratings, and shelvings. That’s some good buzz.

We’ve provided some synopsis and context for the year’s top new books in each genre category. You can click on the cover art images to get more details about each book.. See the list at the Goodreads.