Matilda by Roald DahlThe Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodThe Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Best Female Lead Characters
4,874 books — 5,919 voters

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Books About Paris
720 books — 573 voters
Chocolat by Joanne HarrisThe Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann ShafferUnder the Tuscan Sun by Frances MayesMemoirs of a Geisha by Arthur GoldenA Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Best Traveling Vicariously
2,141 books — 1,868 voters

Little Bee by Chris CleaveChocolat by Joanne Harris
Best Feminist Fiction
1,502 books — 2,672 voters

Paris by Edward Rutherfurd
Historical Fiction 2013
395 books — 2,118 voters
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodThe Thirteenth Tale by Diane SetterfieldThe Glass Castle by Jeannette WallsMiddlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Books That Exceeded Your Expectations
15,232 books — 16,862 voters

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia WoolfAdeline by Norah Vincent
From Virginia's Room
85 books — 60 voters
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Best Woman-Authored Books
8,374 books — 5,322 voters

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodThe Purity Myth by Jessica ValentiCat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
Best Feminist Books
2,650 books — 3,617 voters
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Frenchwoman Writers
109 books — 19 voters

A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cossé
Europa Edition Books
126 books — 140 voters
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Best Books of the Decade: 2000s
7,187 books — 28,371 voters

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa DiffenbaughThe Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
Best for Book Clubs
15,057 books — 18,970 voters
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Stories For Book Lovers
8,413 books — 8,504 voters

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
Best Non-Fiction (no biographies)
6,237 books — 8,067 voters
The Book Thief by Markus ZusakThe Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Books That Everyone Should Read At Least Once
32,013 books — 121,509 voters

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne FadimanLittle Bee by Chris Cleave
Immigrant Experience Literature
1,015 books — 1,457 voters