At the risk of piling on, @Kassapa, I’d also like to say that reviews and ratings are two separate things. They’re both tools and I think most of us use both to pick our reading material. They’re not mutually exclusive, and ratings will never replace reviews.
For me, when I see a list of 100 books, I’ll generally do a quick scan if ratings are available to see which I’m most likely to enjoy. Then I’ll do a deeper dive on the top 10 or so, looking at what reviewers I respect have to say about them.
Well said, Anne. I also find it as a tickler when asked about a certain books. Reading as many books as I do whenever a fellow reader asks about a book, it helps me to remember that particular book. When reading anywhere between 60 to 100 books per year, there are times when I need that reminder in order to be truthful to how I felt about that book. As we all know there are only a handful of books that really stays with us as we continue to explore the world of books.
Anne, A friend once asked me if I read Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. I had just finished it a few days before. He then asked me what I liked about it, and I told him that I didn’t remember the content. Now when I finish a book, I write what I liked about the book, sometimes it’s a couple lines, sometimes many lines. It helps me remember what I read and why I felt about it the way I did. I don’t describe books that I don’t like, can’t really see the point in that. I realize the world we currently live in lives in a kind of short handed way, we abbreviate most words, we rank books and movies with numbers or stars. When I read a book, it’s not uncommon for me to read it out loud, keeping me in the book. I’ve never thought of myself as being old fashioned, but more than liking a book and rating it, I’d like to remember why I liked the book I read. I often remember quotes from books I like, or certain characters stick with me for a long time. Some years ago I read a First Impression book here called The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin and those characters felt like friends of mine. Sue Miller wrote a book called Monogamy that I read a year ago and I felt like a member of that family. That’s why I like to write about books that I read, rather than just rate them. But that’s me, you do what works for you.
I do no star if it was just OK, one star if it was a book I would recommend to friends, and two stars means I will tell everybody that I know about the book and tell them they have to read it!
Ratings for books are so subjective. I rate books from 1-5. Recently I read a British mystery that I really enjoyed and recommended it to my friends. It was a 5 for me in the mystery genre. One of my book club friends told me that the book had too much description in it, and she could not even finish it. To each her own, right? I never once thought that the book had too much description in it!
I do not rate books on-line, in my reading journal, or anywhere else. I don’t finish the book
if I don’t like it, enjoy the process of reading stories and figuring out mysteries, and highly recommend books to friends if I truly enjoyed the book (didn’t want it to end).
Yes, 1-5 scale. I rarely give 1 or 2 as they become DNFs. My ratings are very much for myself - 5s jog my memory when someone asks what I’ve read lately that I love. At the same time, I acknowledge that my 5s maybe not be for everyone.
Before Goodreads (GR) and other sites like it existed, I compiled a list of books I read in a database and continue to do so. In one field, I rate them on a grade scale (A+ to F-), similar to how teachers grade students. With sites like GR and such, I utilize their rating system and will write a note to myself if there was something I particularly liked or disliked (notes go into the database as well).
Being an avid reader, ratings help me quickly assess and recall favorites and duds. I’ve found them especially helpful for quickly sussing out favorites from a series, where some are better than the others (I like knowing which ones kept me reading the series!). Quickly determining which ones I may want to re-read in the future, purchase, or recommend without having to read a long text about the book saves me time and energy. I was never fond of writing reviews, and rarely do so as I have trouble with brain fog (due to chronic illness), and it takes away time from reading, so I am content with a rating system for books. I don’t rate other things in life, but I admit I will avoid a one-star hotel, and I am curious about Michelin-starred restaurants.
