So I've been thinking about how I rate books
ever since I watched Kelly on whatkellyreads
talk about it on her channel. I've been on
Goodreads since 2011 and in that time I've
read, rated and reviewed 254 books and I've
written a review for every single one of them.
It's something I enjoy doing and I think booktube
is a natural extension of that. Goodreads
is also a great way of keeping track of all
the books that I've read now that they're
disseminated across ebooks, physical copies
as well as books I've borrowed from the library.
That's it. I don't announce books that I'm
reading, or keep track of books I'm currently
reading and I don't make use of the to be
read bookshelf on Goodreads. For that I have
a secret Pinterest board that way I can monitor
the book, who recommended it and why. And
I know it's a little crazy but I don't like
people knowing what's on my TBR list. Really
it's just about two dozen books that I closely
monitor over time. If there's a title there
that's languished for the past six months,
that's it. It's expunged, expired, deleted
and I move on. What's really great is that
I'm surrounded by bookish people with fantastic
recommendations and I know that you love the
latest Jonathan Franzen and you think I would
love it too, especially considering how much
Iiked his Corrections and Freedom.
But that's really not something I plan on getting to 
in the next six months so it's not going to
get added to the list. It's not like I don't
value your tastes or your judgement, although
frankly for some of you that is the case.
I just know where my head is at and so it
doesn't get added to the TBR. And so... super
double-secret Pinterest board.
For the most part, Goodreads is just used
to rate my books. I have an accumulative average
of 3.67 stars for all my books. Frankly I'm
a little rubbish at giving out stars to books
but, you know I've been doing it this way
for so long it'd be impossible to change now.
So apropos of nothing this is how I rate books.
5 stars. I've rated 28 books out of all the books
that I've read 5 stars so that means about
10% of my reads have achieved magical rainbow
unicorn status. These are books I love, love,
love unequivocally - would happily reread
again in a heartbeat. And whether it is the
fantastic writing of Americanah or A Constellation
of Vital Phenomena, all the feels of Tiny
Beautiful Things and I Kill Giants or the
storytelling of The Rook or Where'd You Go
Bernadette these are all fantastic reads.
Now 4 stars. 4 stars are my bread and butter.
This is where the majority of my books fall
into and I know does seem a little like I'm
indiscriminate about handing out 4 stars like
"You get a 4 star, you get a 4 star, everybody
gets a 4 star" but the thing is I'm not one
of those free spirits that can wander into
a bookstore and get taken in by a pretty cover
or a back page blurb. If I'm going to spend
a couple days reading this book I'm going
to need some reassurances. And that can mean
a recommendation or a best of list from a
booktuber or a literary publication. Even
a literary review in a dead tree print media
actually gives me some reassurance. And then
there's the accumulative weight of social
mentions. For example take Tony Tulathimutte's
latest book Private Citizens. I hear about
it first on All The Books podcast. It gets
a mention and a recommendation from Liberty
Hardy. Check. She makes references to David
Foster Wallace. Check. I see that he's being
interviewed at Electric Lit later in the week.
Check. Find out that he's Asian American.
Check. Now despite all these social proofs,
at no point have I actually found out what
the book's about. I don't know, frankly I
don't even care. Some of my most favorite
books don't exactly come with the most compelling
of book synopsis. I mean "aging newfie refuses
to leave island"... So it gets added to the
TBR list. And there it will sit. And maybe
things will conspire so that it becomes my
next read. It just feels like the right book.
Or I see it on sale at the bookstore, it shows
up at the library. But it could just as easily
languish on the TBR pile for months without
another boost say and interview from Seth
Myers or, I don't know, a booktube review
it could languish and eventually just get
turfed. And that's just how it goes. All I'm
saying there's already a lot of weight behind
that book so 4 stars is not that uncommon.
And sometimes I wish there were half stars.
And I know you're probably thinking "well,
if you'd used your star rating system correctly
you wouldn't need half stars" Well screw you
and your rational arguments. 4.5 star books
just aren't quite the magical rainbow unicorns
status of a 5 star but are still at the very
least multicolored llama. They're still great
books, just not fantastic books. Then there's
3 stars. 3 stars I can still recommend. Still
enjoy. There may have just been a slight problem.
A hastily put together finale, or a long plodding
middle section, or unnecessary character tangents.
Just minor things. And I'm the first to admit
that the problem could have been me. Maybe
this is a book that required huge swaths of
reading at a time, someone who could take
big gulps as opposed to the tiny sips I could
afford it. Maybe it requires a little effort
on the part of the reader that I wasn't able
to give. Nothing wrong with the book, it's
me. Maybe it just needed a better editor.
3.5 stars is like well, I really enjoyed the
book, I just couldn't pinpoint exactly what
was wrong with it. 2 star reviews. I used
to have 2 star reviews. But now I just DNF
them, and I do not rate books I don't finish.
And before I DNF it I give it a good chance,
I'm at least 100 pages in although I've DNF'd
books 400 pages in. It's just not worth it
anymore. I drop books. It is so tough, when
you're dragging your ass through a 2 star
book and suddenly you're finding excuses not
to read and then it's like you're back in
highschool and it's assigned reading and suddenly
it feels prescriptive. In the time it takes
you crawl through that 2 star book you probably
could have read 2 maybe 3 great books. And
once you're done, reading slump. And suddenly
subsequent books are effected by that. That's
it, it's not worth it. Kick it to the curb,
drop it and run. Just explain, it's me not
you. 1 star. Now a smart person would probably
utilize all the stars afforded to them. I'm
already not using 2 stars for DNFs, 1 star
is like this dry and arid wasteland of all
the fucks I give. I mean who the heck would
subject themselves to a 1 star book. Do people
actually hateread books? 1 star, dead to me.
So there you have it, my probably incorrect
way of rating books. But how do you guys rate
books. And do ratings even matter? Do you
utilize the rating system for some sort of
bookish algorithm like you don't read a book
unless it has an accumulative rating of 4
stars or better with over 5 thousand reviews.
And all you power Goodreads users out there,
how are you using Goodreads. I know I could
probably be squeezing a lot more functionality
out of this webpage. How do I do it? Offer
your suggestions in the comments below, otherwise
I hope you're having a great reading week.
Talk to you later.
