Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Ratings

I seem to be particularly gabby today.

I’ll be away from home for a few days. Taking a little trip with my family. Should be fun. I’ll have my laptop with me but doubt I will visit every site I usually visit. Have to have some time for the actual trip (Sin City).

I signed up for the reader sites Library Thing and Goodreads last year. I remember finding Library Thing because of Elisa Rolle’s reviews and I think I found Goodreads because Ava March mentioned it to me.

Anyway, as I think anyone who writes ought to also read, especially in the genre they write if they are an author, I find the sites quite fascinating.

If anything it has been my experience those that are on Library Thing are a bit harsher with their ratings than those that are on Goodreads. Don’t know why that is, but that’s what I have found with the genre I read and rate there, M/M romance. But even on Goodreads I am amazed when a book that I absolutely loved didn’t appeal at all to someone else. I wonder what they didn’t see that I did. But such is life. We are individuals with differing tastes. Much the same way I love lobster and someone else hates it. Sure, I can think they are a bit insane.

But it also makes me wonder about ratings. On Goodreads, if you pause your cursor over an unrated book it will tell you that one star means you didn’t like it, two means it was okay, three means you liked it, four means you really liked it, and five stars means you thought it was amazing.

Now see I think this causes a lot of people who really liked a book that might have normally given it five stars to give it four simply because “amazing” is pretty damn subjective. So I ignore what Goodreads says what the stars mean and go with my own.

1 star – hated it (reserved for books I really, really didn’t like)
2 stars – didn’t like it (reserved for books not for me but someone else might like it)
3 stars – average (probably most people who read the genre would like it, some more than others)
4 stars – liked it a lot but there were one or two things preventing me from giving it a 5 star rating)
5 stars – really enjoyed it, would recommend it to readers of the genre, very well written in my opinion
5 stars –books-i-really-loved – these are the books I could gush over and read again and again.

There are books I give really high ratings to and then my jaw drops when someone else gives it 1-3 stars. Say what? I’m learning to deal with it though. Just because I am a gushing fangirl over the book doesn’t mean everyone else has to be.

What prompted this post? Well, there was a book I loved. I’ve already read it a few times. It’s part of a series in fact and I loved both books. Someone else I know on Goodreads gave it a three and this person has loved books I probably would give twos to and someone else didn’t finish the book (this person rarely likes any books though so it’s not surprising and even less likes books I do, we obviously just disagree).

There are millions of people who love the Harry Potter books and millions too who probably wonder what the fuss is all about. Ah, well, such is human nature, I suppose.

1 comment:

  1. You have made some really great points.
    I have noticed some people pick books to death, too. I am not one for that. For one thing, I am not a professional by any means, but I am an avid reader and a huge lover of the M/M romance genre. Some Typos doesn't bother me. I have noticed people rating books lower because of that. I don't think it's the authors fault, so why punish them by rating the book lower?
    Also, I think some people are just more negative than others. It's the whole glass is half full/empty thing.
    It's hard to rate a book. One day I might love it and the next time read it and wonder what I saw in it. It's all in the mood I think.

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