Criteria for rating books

[5peasinapod]

I'm running into the dilemma of reading a wonderful book but it's not the caliber of my other 5 stars. Do I go ahead and give it a 5 since it was a brilliant book in it's own rather rather than look at the other 5's as a bench mark. Does this make sense? Any thoughts?

Happy Reading!
Heather

[5peasinapod]

I agree with you completely on too many good books not enough time! If I'm not into it by the end of the third chapter, I'm outta there! Which leaves me with either 4 or 5 star books. I feel that my average makes me look like I'm an easy rater but actually I am a harder critic on what I even pick up.

I have left my "did not finish pile" without reviews as I have previously felt that I might have left them due to my short attention span. But then on second thought how do I plow through those delicious ones without a moments hesitation. Only about 10% of the books that I put down get picked back up. One of those being Chronicles of Narnia as I didn't feel like plowing through that cover to cover but I did enjoy the stories individually. I should probably revisit those ones I put down and ask that question as to if I will ever look at it again.

Thanks for your reply!

[Toni]

I follow this way also and in the review I will describe my likes and dislike. All my reviews are based on my personal feelings.

[Lex Cutamora]

Agree! All my ratings on my reviews are based on how I feel about them. What if it has a good writing and good story but it didn't just really get me because I'm not an "angst-y" person? I believe it should all depend on how you like the book.

[Lex Cutamora]

Agree! All the ratings on my reviews are based on my personal feelings on the books too. What if the book has good writing, won an award, good plot but still I didn't like it because I'm not an "angst-y" person, for example? I believe it all depends on how you like the book.

http://cutlex.wordpress.com/

[Judith Loue]

if it's not up to the caliber of your "usual" 5 stars...give it 4 1/2.....and explain why (if you're going to review it). Sometimes i love certain aspects of a book...but not others...the book is not Bad...but i have doubts..and i always say as much in my review...being Very Careful to review The Book and not The Author..if you know what i mean...some books do end up being a "tightrope walk", don't they?

[Greg Zimmerman]

One strategy you might consider is writing your review for your book before assigning the star rating. Once you've fleshed out your thoughts about the book by writing about it, you're usually in a better position to rate it more accurately. At that point, I agree with the other comments - it's just up to your own rating system whether it fits the 5-star category, or if it's not quite up to that level....

[AnimeGirl]

Well, what I do is that I give part points when I'm not sure if it's going to be a 4 or a 5, for a book like you describe I would probably give it a 4.5, also I have a category I call Personal Favorites, which can be 4 or 5 that I enjoyed tons and I re-read a lot (that's the category requirement, that it's a book I'm going to keep with me forever and re-read often) not all my 4 and 5 fall here.

I don't give one star because that usually means I didn't finish or hated the book, but since I recon this is all a matter of personal taste and I don't believe in book bashing, I simply don't review the book and call it a day.

[Alana Whitman]

Ah rating... the eternal dilemma for those of us who are compelled to blog and rate books! I tend not to provide a star rating on my blog... after all, it is often hard to numerically reconcile the literary merit of the book with one's opinions about it. Of course, I also insert my reviews into GoodReads and LibraryThing and they request a rating, which might not always end up being the same number in each system. GoodReads relies on a full star rating system, but LibraryThing allows for half stars. I understand their reasoning... the half star might allow one to give a bit of nuance to one's rating, or perhaps soften the blow of a lower rating, but ultimately it's the full star that matters.

Despite my issues with star rating, most people can generally agree on rating systems for novels or certain non-fiction, but it's other genres that might give one pause and provoke some commentary. This is a slightly different topic, I suppose, but it still falls under the heading of criteria for rating a book. After all, to sort by rating in one's library will certainly provide some strange bedfellows if you rate as I do.

To review a children's book obviously requires the consideration of different criteria than a great work of literary fiction... but what about mysteries or fluff novels? Books that have no literary pretension, but simply provide a creative and entertaining story can still merit five stars. It all depends on what the book is setting out to do. Of course, this then can lead to my "five star" books being works that I'd never place on the same bookshelf, let alone compare in terms of quality. Thus, the rating system often reminds me that you need to compare the book to its proper compatriots rather than the entirety of your starred library.

[Keith Schoch]

Heather, I think your instinct to judge its book on its own merits versus comparison to others is a good one. One summer I read an awesome middle school novel which I couldn't wait to go back and introduce in my class, and every other student-level text I read immedaitely after it just paled by comparison. Someday I need to go back and read those others that I so easily dimissed.

I'm also with Alana on choosing to not use a concrete grading system. Different books for different tastes and purposes.

[Joseph Arellano]

I stay away from numbered or starred ratings as I think they're both too subjective and objective (it's only one person's opinion, right?). Instead, I try to let my readers know whether I liked the book or not and - more importantly - why. Over time, people will decide to either trust in your judgement or else decide that their tastes are much different than yours. Such is the way of the world.

I will say that for many years I followed rock music critics whose tastes I never agreed with but whom I respected due to their honesty. In the end, that's all we can offer - our honest opinions. Joseph from http://josephsreviews.wordpress.com/

[Lori]

I absolutely agree with Joseph. I don't assign numbered or lettered "grades" to the books I read. I simply state what I liked or loved about the book, the strong points, the weak points (if any) and what really impressed me (positively and negatively) about the book. I will state whether or not I recommend it and let the reader of my reviews go from there.

Reviews are indeed highly subjective. What one person may consider a five star book, another may consider a three star - - and both people could have absolutely loved it.

Personally, I would rather read the reviewer's thoughts and judge from there, versus a simple grading scale.

Just my opinion, though! :)

[Seak]

I think this makes sense. :) I have a rating scale that I use that has pretty much remedied this situation (for me at least). I consider a 5 something that is mind-blowingly awesome, a 4 something that I loved, a 3 something I liked, and so on. (it's on my blog if you want to see seaks.blogspot.com). Because there are a lot of books I've loved, but that maybe aren't the best of the best.

Hope this helps a little. :)