I'm stingy with five star ratings of books, but I can't imagine being someone who pours my heart and soul into a novel and then read some snotty lady in Wisconsin's review in which she gives me one star, so I'm much more likely to DNF and just say it's not a book for the likes of me than to give out one and two star reviews. So I thought I would do myself a favor and sort out my thoughts about what criteria I'm using for doling out stars.
5 stars:
This is a book I wholehearted loved. I looked forward to reading it and I would wholeheartedly endorse it to other people. Generally speaking, I would happily reread it. I might acknowledge that the book has flaws, but those flaws don't distract from my sheer enthusiasm of the book.
4.5 stars:
I really liked this book, but I would probably never reread it. I'll recommend this book, but probably not to everyone, but just people who I think will like the genre/message. If it's in a series, I'll definitely read more from the series.
4 stars:
This is a very good book and I liked it. There's probably *something* about the book I can't get over - a writing quirk, an issue with the plot, some sort of topic I don't want to read about - but I would still say it's a good book.
3.5 stars:
A pleasurable reading experience, but this isn't the type of book that will stick with me. If you ask me about the plot the day after I've finished, I'll struggle to come up with a good description.
3 stars:
Readable, but there are major problems. Generally these problems are organizational, particularly in non-fiction, but occasional in fiction, or there's just something glaring that's missing in the plot or characters.
2.5 stars:
Readable, but just barely. Usually I also consider these books to be confusing or boring.
2 stars:
There's something fundamentally wrong with this book, either in the writing or presentation. I rarely get to two stars or lower because at this point, I would typically DNF, but sometimes I will persevere.
1.5 stars:
This is the lowest I've rated in 2022 so far. Consider Fix Her Up, a romance novel I gave 1.5 stars to because the way the gender dynamics was written was sexist and anachronistic. Or The Mister, another romance novel that I wrote had a bad hero, bad action-sequences, and a male gaze about female virginity. These are books with some absolutely unforgivable sin, but I somehow powered through and finished.
1 star:
I am not sure what it would take for me to give something I finish a one star. Ha! I literally can't understand sentences maybe?
I've written before about how I REALLY wish I could do 1/2 star ratings in Goodreads.
ReplyDeleteI think I am a bit stingy with my stars...but like you I also have some DNF that don't get accounted for...
I'm stingy, but not a jerk. I try not to write/say anything about a book that I wouldn't say to an author's face! A DNF indicates it just wasn't a book for me or a book for me at a particular time - it could be just the ticket for another reader.
DeleteI have a problem DNF'ing a book. I call it the "Middlemarch dilemma." Years ago I read Middlemarch, and for at least the first half of the book I didn't like it. I thought about not finishing. But I forged ahead and ended up loving it- as a matter of fact the ending was so moving that I cried. Of course, most books are not quite the same quality as Middlemarch, and I've slogged through some pretty bad ones. The only one in recent memory that I DNF'd was a mystery that involved animals in a lab- I didn't realize that was part of the plot and it turned out to be so upsetting for me that I had to stop reading.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I like you star system! I would love to see a post of all your five star ratings over the past year or so- that would be a great reading list.
I do understand the Middlemarch dilemma, but it's so rare that I regret not finishing a book that I'm not really bothered much by it. I have regretted finishing books, though, because it means I have less time to read the books I like!
Delete^^What Jenny said about a roundup of your 5 star books! I'm am absolutely positively willing to DNF a book at any time for any reason. My theory is that if I'm reading a book that isn't working for me that means that I'm crowding a book that will work for me out of my life. In this season of my life I don't have a lot of reading time so what I do read needs to count.
ReplyDeleteI don't use star ratings, but scale is something like "OMG this blew me away", good, meh, WTF, and DNF.
The star rating thing is new for me this year, so I will probably do a roundup of my five stars at the end of the year, but I can't do one now. It was an interesting exercise for me to really think about what my criteria was for each rating. Sometimes it's more of a gut reaction.
DeleteI used to be more stingy with 5 star ratings but have sort of become more generous in recent years. For me, 5 stars means I adored this book and would recommend to pretty much anymore (unless I put a caveat in the review about it being character-driven - that's usually the main caveat I make about a 5-star book. I love character-driven novels but not everyone does). 4 stars means I really really liked it, but not quite enough to give it 5 stars, but I would probably recommend to many people. 3 stars is my broadest category. It can mean just ok to ok to pretty good. I rarely rate a book 2 stars. If I did, I should have abandoned it, so that means I probably kept reading it because it's a bookclub book. I checked and I've only given 1 2-star review and it was a book I was reading for a 2-person France-themed book club. My friend hadn't started it when I finished so I told her to not bother reading it. I thought she was reading it at the same time so I kept reading. I should have checked in and asked if she was hating it - then I would have known she hadn't started and could have saved myself the trouble of reading it. I am trying to DNF more books.
ReplyDeleteYes to the must read because of book clubs! I guess I should edit this to say I WILL finish a 1 or 2 star book if I'm reading it for some sort of book club. That's a good point.
DeleteYou are well organized and have put much thought into many aspects of your life.
ReplyDeleteHa! You make me sound much more well-organized than I actually am!
DeleteOoh, I so love a discussion of book ratings. They can be so subjective! I know people who ONLY give a book 3 stars or 5 stars, or they won't rate it (publicly, at least) unless it's 5 stars.
ReplyDeleteI think about my rating system all the time. Right now, it's something like this:
- 5 stars: I wholeheartedly love it and it gave me FEELINGS. Usually, it's a book I will recommend to anyone and I couldn't point to a single thing I would fix.
- 4 stars: I really, really liked the novel. There may have been an issue that holds me back from giving it 5 stars, but it's still one I would recommend.
- 3 stars: It was fine, but not outstanding. I'm not falling over myself to recommend it. There were more than a few issues I had with the plot or the characters.
- 2 stars: I didn't like this book but I kept reading it hoping it would get better. Many issues, would not recommend.
- 1 star: I hate-read this book just to post a scathing review. (I try not to do that, of course, because authors are people too and they worked hard on their book, even if it was awful, but sometimes, a book is so bad that I just need to vent about how bad it was.)
I don't have too many 1- and 2-star books these days because I am pro-DNF and I have no problem abandoning a book I'm not enjoying, but they slip in from time to time!
I love this - I think I'd rate books in a similar manner, if only Goodreads would allow half stars!
ReplyDelete