My book rating methodology
I’ve been asked a few times lately why I give so many 4-5 star ratings at online book sites like Goodreads and Amazon. “Surely,” goes the thinking, “not all books I read can be ranked among the top 80% of all books.”
Well, actually they can. Here’s how.
Getting rid of the 1 star possibilities:
If a book disappoints me withing the first 50 pages or so, I won’t finish it. And by not finishing it, I don’t feel as though I have the right to give it a ranking. I can’t rate a beer without feeling its hangover, right? This eliminates the majority of 1 star possibilities.
Getting rid of the 2 and 3 star possibilities:
A book, by the time I open it, has already survived multiple filters, and in having done so, is sure to find my favor. My brethren over at The Velvet and The Cult are my taste-makers. Having received praise from those groups of readers, a book has already beaten the 2 star, and possibly the 3 star, level.
Very rarely do I pick up a book without any prior introduction. In fact, the most recent example is Chip Kidd’s novel, The Learners, which I bought based on Kidd’s reputation as a book designer (and the video below). My purchase had nothing to do with his reputation as a writer (I’m not sure he has one, good or bad, having only two novels published). I haven’t read the book yet, so let’s hope my anti-book-by-its-cover reaction proves just.
How much faith do you, as a reader, truly put into ratings book site ratings?
Bah! What’s the point in having a five-star rating system if you only use the last two parts of it? I’m not setting out to read anything I hate either, but it happens. Even with people I have similar tastes with, I still only overlap about 30%. My rating system is low, but at least I use all of it:
One star: Didn’t like, regardless of how much I didn’t like it.
Two stars: Average. Had good things, but enough flaws that I can’t argue it onto your to-read pile.
Three stars: Good. Recommended.
Four stars: Book of the year candidates. Rare.
Five stars: Best books ever (only had a few of these and they deserve the distinction).
With that said, there can be quite a difference in reviews, especially at the two- and three-star level (the most common ratings I give — essentially the dividing line of the thumbs up / thumbs down routine), so a rating, in and of itself, is not enough.
Lately, rating novels, and the thought that I am overtly critiquing them, takes away some of my reading enjoyment. It turns my entertainment into homework. I’ve lost my taste for it, which is maybe a cop-out on some level (certainly with the spirit of Goodreads), but it’s where I’m at. My tastes are too diverse to be anyone’s taste maker. I’m okay with that.
Actually, I don’t know. Sometimes, it’s easy to tell people how good something is.