Time Travel discussion

Ratings?

Do you strictly use GR's suggested scale? Or tweak it up or down? Or do you adapt it significantly? Do you rate for yourself, about how much you, personally, appreciated the book, or do you try to be more objective? Do you rate books you don't finish, or books you don't like?

I have written reviews for years on Amazon, IMDB, etc. so I am used to the 5 star scale, but for me 3 stars is only Okay. I rate everything I finish on Goodreads but I don’t rate anything I DNF so I don’t often give single stars.

I write reviews based on my reading experience, and usually just write for myself, to remind myself what I liked or didnt like about a book. I don't do what would be considered formal reviews

Same as Gibby - my reviews are mostly intended for personal reference. For me, a 5-star book is either highly re-readable or changed me in some way. As a completionist, its rare for me to leave something unfinished. Even if the book isn't my jam, there's usually a little joy to be had in criticizing it or re-imagining a better plot.

I have grown to read a wide variety of books now throughout the year, and using the same scale to rate a graphic novel I read in 3 days, followed by an Astronaut biography, then jump into a tech or history book that take me a full year to casually read while also reading a science fiction or horror novel feels tough to maintain a consistent rating system, even for myself. Anyone else have that problem?

I think I rate mostly on my subjective experience of the book but if I don't like it and it is well written I will give it an extra star, if that makes any sense.

I didn't even know that Goodreads had a suggested scoring structure, but I score for myself so will use my own anyway. On a scale of 1 to 5, I think 3 has to be 'It was OK and I don't regrt reading it, but maybe if I could turn the clock back I would pick something else up!'

My reviews are definitely more for myself, as I don't have the time or ability to write long entertaining reviews for the benefit of others. My memory is very poor so I often use the review as a memory jogger i.e. never read this author again lol.

I have no problem rating a book I didn't finish a 1 if I really didn't like it and thought it ridiculous for some reason. The exception would be where I felt it was just a genre that wasn't really my thing, so it was more that the book wasn't for me, rather than it was a bad book. In these cases I will usually not score it to be fair.

As an aside, Robin Hobb has always been one of my favourite authors, but her scoring system she lists in her profile seems a bit daft to me. Apparently a score of 2 means 'I liked it', but where does that leave you to go, as every book you didn't like so much would get scored a 1.

I would rarely give 1 star - if someone has taken the time and considerable effort to write a book then I would not want to dismiss it so completely. But I’ll give a 2 star to a really badly written DNF book, especially if it’s clear it has not been beta-read or edited before publication. Any book that has kept me reading, and has made me excited to pick it up each time gets 4 or 5 stars. I will always want to write a review; as an author myself, objective feedback is welcome at any level!

I write at least a sentence or two for almost every book that I pick up, even some I don't, and especially for ones that I don't finish. I have plenty of followers who like my pithy comments... and I prefer concise and personal reviews myself.

I don't like or usually write long or formal reviews, but I do write with other readers in mind mainly (and somewhat for my own memory). I rate at a balance (of my opinion and what I guess to be an objective evaluation). However, sometimes I leave things unrated if the fact is that I am just not at all the right audience.

I don't rate what I don't finish. And I dnf a lot, as my perspective is that there are so many wonderful books left to read and not enough lifetime in which to do so, so if a book and I don't click, I move along.

I try to save 5 stars for books I would very widely recommend, books that I think everyone would enjoy and benefit from reading.

But I'd really prefer just a binary choice in the rating, Yes read it/No don't bother. Nuances can be explained in the text as to which audiences would be more interested, just how strong a Yes that is, or just how strong a No that is.

Glynn wrote: "I think I rate mostly on my subjective experience of the book but if I don't like it and it is well written I will give it an extra star, if that makes any sense."

I totally get that!

I really hate giving lower ratings to books that are valuable for other reasons or other audiences, just because I didn't like them personally.

Dean I really like 'if I could turn back the clock.' I've read a lot of books lately that were fine, that I guess I'm glad I read, but honestly I'm not sure were worth my time compared to others still on to-read shelf.

Everyone has such interesting thoughts on this question. I've seen it discussed in other groups, and the consensus always seems to be, that there is no consensus. Ratings (and reviews) are always very personal! So thank you, all, for your fascinating thoughts.

I have been told I rate too high but unless there are major flaws with the writing or storyline I will give a 3 or higher. I try to rate fairly for books I didn't like but it was more of an issue with my preferences. For instance I hate that Sally Rooney does not use quotation marks. She thinks helps the reader stay in the moment but I was not sure if the character was talking out loud or in his head. It was a big pet peeve of mine while reading the book but the story was okay and I tried to be fair with my rating. I seldom give up on a book but if I don't finish, I don't rate it. I don't think it is fair to the author.

One thing that really cracks me up is when people rate books that aren't even released yet - not even as ARCs! Patrick Rothfuss' 3rd installation of the Kingkiller Chronicles for instance. He hasn't completed it yet and there are 798 reviews and 4,391 ratings. What are they rating? The title? If you look up Patrick Rothfuss The Doors of Stone on Goodreads you will find his appreciation for time travelers since that is the only way anyone could have read, reviewed and rated the book. His response is rather witty.

Will wishing make it so, for those anticipatory readers? Maybe someday we'll find out!