What Do the Star Ratings Actually Mean? Re-defining How I Rate My Books!
Goodreads is one of my favourite ways to keep track of all the books I've read, how fast I read them, when I read them, and how I rated them when I was finished. When I was looking back over the books I have read this year, I realised I have only one book I have rated 5 stars, and even that was a re-read. And when I scrolled through all the books which I rated 4 stars (there are a lot of these) some of them I thought I would have rated them higher, and some a lot lower. Which got me thinking as to why I give books the rating I give and is it really better to wait a few weeks to see how to book sticks with you before deciding on which star to give it.
Three-star and down,
I think are pretty solid and all the books I give those rates, normally stay
the same. But I am wondering if I am too picky when I first finish a book on
whether to give it 4 or 5 stars. A few of my 4-star ratings like Strange the
Dreamer and Children of Blood and Bone I would say are now some of my favourite
books, but they aren't five stars. They are definitely more highly rated than
some of my other 4 star books like Empire of Storms or The Wrath and the Dawn,
but those two are definitely 4-star books.
And there are a few I
also think need to be lowered. Leah on the Offbeat for example, especially
after reviewing it, and Turtles All the Way Down, are books I thought were ok,
but I didn't enjoy as much as I hoped. So really they should be 3 stars,
not 4? I think these were definitely influenced by what I wanted to rate
them, as many other people love them, not by what I actually thought.
I think I need a
better definition of what I think each category means and what a book
should do/have to be in them.
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5 STARS: This has an
amazing book that as soon as I finish, I want to read it again or move straight
onto the sequel. I loved the characters (especially) and the plot with very few
faults in the entire book. I very very very rarely give a book 5 stars as I
feel this is reserved for my absolute favourite books of all time. I have thought
about them a lot even a while after finished them.
4 STARS: This is a
book I really loved, really loved, but I didn't have the same level of
excitement needed when reading to give it a 5th star. The characters are
amazing but there are a few more faults. These books are what I think most
people would rate 5 stars unless they're as harsh as me!
3 STARS: These are
good books. I enjoyed reading about them but will probably not pick them up
again and I'm not too bothered to continue on with the series. Most of the time
I probably will because I don't like not reading the ending but it wouldn't be
a priority.
2 STARS: Yeah, I do
not like these books. I most likely found them dull, had real issues with the
characters or plot and would not recommend. I probably did finish it as I could
still get through it but I wish I had picked up another book instead.
1 STAR: I have never
given a one star on all the books I have on good reads but that probably
because if it was this bad, I would not have kept on reading. I can't think of
a book that I have read that I think warrants only one star but if there
was not, I would warn everyone to never, ever, ever go near this book as it is
that bad.
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Hopefully, by
expanding what is needed to get a 5
star rating and having clearer categories for me to follow,, when I
give a book a star rating, it should have these qualities and reflect more
accurately what I thought both whilst reading, as well as after.
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How do you group your
ratings? Is there anything you think is essential to a particular star that
I've missed? If so, let me know and I'll update my definitions to suit!
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