Hearding Cats got a 4 from me, but I still think it was pretty good for what it was and would be better if you can relate to the author/comic strips. Which I can a lot! (Her first two books got a 5.)
I'd frankly settle for "quality" ... it doesn't have to be "high quality" (whichever way one wants to define that term). But quality / good writing seems to be more of an accidental attribute of some of the winners ... not the guiding characteristics in the candidates' selection from the outset.
I use Goodreads for 2 things: (1) cataloging my books and (2) reading a wide selection of reviews for books I'm considering that don't have any recommendations from friends.
I stay away from all the hype/sales driven features and I've never been able to make sense of the social features.
Also, I don't read many current releases, either, unless they are by an author that I especially like or I've otherwise heard something intriguing about. Since my goal has been to whittle down my TBR, most of what I read is something I bought several years ago and was probably used when I bought it.
I rate, review, sort books I own/want to read. I use the social features to join some groups and do buddy reads, talk with people/friends I would otherwise never talk to. If I wasn't the least bit social online, I would not be social at all. :)
I do my book socializing here on BL. I've tried the GR social features, but for me they are just not user-friendly. The timeline is a direct assault on my senses and peace of mind. Most of the groups are invaded by people flogging their self-published books. I just don't like it. What I do like is the ease of use for cataloging books and especially the export feature.
I still find it quite jarring how socialising on GR is actually difficult. On top of that, there seems to be this weird trend on GR that people tend to just tell readers that they read the book wrong. Erm, ...
It really is strange, since the social aspect was the original intent. But for the half-year or whatever that I was inactive here, because I'd given up on dealing with all the technical bugs, I made a real effort to interact over there, and I just literally could not deal with it. The little bit of control over the timeline they give you isn't anything that helps me. I found it impossible to sort out the relevant information about what my friends were up to from the irrelevant stuff like every review they liked and every time they shelved a book.
If you have to nominate only books from the current/most recent year, I wouldn't have much to nominate. I'm so out of the loop of what is considered popular (which I'm fine with!) and I try not to listen to hype.
I’m like you, I wonder if people vote based on what they read or what the hype is. I vote based on what I read and leave some categories blank if I haven’t read the books nominated. I guess it would be interesting to look at the books in one category and see their “read” status and their “ TBR” status and see if that matters.
I stay away from all the hype/sales driven features and I've never been able to make sense of the social features.
It is such a weird place.
And the community... dysfunctional.