Play Book Tag discussion

How do you decide your rating for the books you read? I ask because it was recently stated that people rate books different and especially a 3 star means different things to different people. Then I started thinking, does when you read a book or how you feel about it, or what type of book affect how you rate? This seems pretty straightforward, but it may require a little introspection to analyze your own ratings. I will give some personal examples.

The first is an emotional rating. This is where you read a book and decide if you liked it to didn't like it. Similar to asking someone how they felt about a movie. But then you ask them why they felt that way and they say, “I just liked it” Some rate their books emotiinally. I liked it so 4 or 5 stars. I didn't so 1 or 2 stars. 3 is for an okay book. (Pure example. If you are asking emotional rater, you don't have to follow this formula for the numbers)

Then you have the critical rater. I liked this book because…...and a series of reasons are possible as well as for not liking a work. Rating becomes more complex. Example, wonderful characters and plot, but horrible overall writing. So points are added and subtracted based on different elements of the story and style and skill of the writer. A stupid horrible story could still receive added 3 rating due to the skill of the author and vise versa. A wonderful story receive a 3 rating due to the skill of the author. I do this form of rating.

There is also relative rating. There are many different types of books and style of authors. A 5 star John Grisham book is different from a 5 star Walter Isaacson book, but they are both 5 stars within the relation of the type of book they are. Also, a book or idea may be relatively new to you or old to you, affecting your rating. Astrophysics for people in a hurry received a 3 rating from me. But not because the book was bad, I just learned very little from the book because I have read many similar books before. Missoula received a 5 star rating from me because it completely changed my view. I was the bad example of how to view rape claims until I read this book. If my views were already in line with the book, I might not have rated so high. So this is where rating really differs from person to person, when you rate a book relative to other similar books and authors or relative to experience and knowledge.

So, how do your rate books? What is your method and procedure? You may think of or be a different type of rater than the three I outlined.


I like to think on and book for and while after reading it. My reviews come several days after finishing a book. Sometimes I like to do further research on the book, idea, and/or author. I try not to use emotional ratings but I combine critical and relative ratings, breaking a book down and comparing it to similar works and authors.

Awesome question Jason.

I am definitely not a critical rather — although if someone were to question me, I could probably come up with some rationale.

I think that I’m a relative rather, with the relative part being my own expectations. For example, I have higher expectations on the actual writing of a literary fiction book vs a cozy mystery. Also, if a lot of people love a book and it seems like something I would like, then I have high expectations going in which may actually lower my rating.

Looking forward to seeing the responses on this one.

I think that there’s good writing, and then there’s falling in love with the book, which are two totally different things. I four and five star weed for me would have to have both. And even the emotional just might carry a rating higher than the writing. But there have been books that I haven’t necessarily liked or enjoyed nearly as much as others, but I can really appreciate it, And therefore would be much more likely to rare it higher. I think the book I’m reading now it’s kind of like that. Lillian boxfish. They were books you fall in love with, books that make you think, books that are comfort or our magical or tell a great story, and books you appreciate because they’re different and they’ve elevated you in someway. For me, Threes are a solid read, Maybe not a not to be missed. Five stars swept me away. And fours are sort of in between. I have force that are closer to threes and fours that a closer to fives. It’s a good question because I think we all read these differently. And that’s why think the brilliant part of Goodreads, is that we can get a real sense of what someone actually thought of the book or more deeply then we can from just the numerical rating. I personally skim reviews for books I haven’t read yet, because I don’t want the spoiler to change my experience. So I’m often looking for the basic what did you think? Did you like it? I don’t even want to know more than what the book check ever said. But I look at the reviews and can tell pretty quickly went to book should or shouldn’t enter or leave my shelf. That’s worked for me so far. I hope that’s helpful.

Remind me, that the phone often garbles my words beyond comprehension. Sorry.

Probably the closest from your descriptions for me is "emotional". What I rate it is really based on how much I liked or didn't like the book, literary quality or how well the author writes be damned!

Although, I can (usually, but not always) give some kind of reason as to why I did or didn't like (though often if I didn't like it, it's simply because I was bored with it).

I do prefer to write my reviews as soon as possible when I finish, otherwise, I feel like I'm going to forget what I wanted to say about it.

I'm usually a tough rater - not many books will get 5 stars from me. But, I also don't like to rate really low, so again, very very few books (even fewer than 5 stars) will get a 1 star rating.

My system is something like this;
1 star - hated it
2 stars - didn't like it/bored by it
3 stars - ok
3.5 stars - good
4 stars - really good
5 stars - loved it

But, that 5 stars is tricky. Even though I call it "loved it", there are many I could say that about, but I still give 4.5 stars. I just have a very hard time giving out that "perfect" 5 star rating.

I rate a book depending on how much I enjoyed it. That's quite simplistic, but it works for me. Why? Well, for one thing, because I look back at my list to decide which books to re-read depending on how much I enjoyed them the first time. Secondly, I don't know enough about formal literature critiquing to award marks for how 'good' the book really is. I read for pleasure alone, so my rating reflects the amount of pleasure I took from the book.

I think you've made a very good point though Jason, about how different people use the star system. It can distort the overall rating I suppose, particularly if there aren't many reviews yet for any given book. Could be worse though... Before I found GR I used to look at Amazon to get a sense of how popular a book was. It drove me crazy when people would mark it as 5 stars and then say something like "Bought it for a friend, don't know what he thought of it, but it arrived quickly, thanks!" So the 5 stars are for - what? - the postal service??!!

Talking of re-reading, I do sometimes find that the book is nowhere near as good the second time round! Why is that? Perhaps because I'm a different person and in a different mindset when I read it the second time? Perhaps because some idea in the book will only affect you when it hits you for the first time?

I rate based on emotion for sure.

I rarely give 1 or 5 stars, because I like to reserve those for the truly exceptional books. For a book to be a 5, it has to pack a really strong emotional punch for me, or instill in me some kind of awe at its creativity or imagination or writing. I have few 1s because when I truly detest a book, I usually drop it, and I don't review or rate books that I don't finish.

For me a book that is just ok is 3 stars. So most of the books I like are 4, those that would be a 5 except for the final punch are 4.5, and depending on my mood or the comparison to another book it can go up or down. Books I disliked but finished are rated 2. Books that I was forced to finish, usually due to a challenge or game, and that I truly detested are the only ones that get a 1.

All I can say is that I hate the 5 star rating system on here. I wish it would let us rate 1/2 stars, instead of me clicking on 3 stars and then having to state in my review that it's actually 3 1/2 stars. But I hate a 5 star reading system period. A 10 star system would work so much better for me, not just in rating my own books, but in understanding how much another person enjoyed or didn't enjoy a particular book also.

I rate on Good Reads differently than I did in Shelfari because Shelfari allowed for the heart, the "loved it" icon.

Mine are mostly emotional ratings and they follow the label that comes with the stars when you go to put them on the book.
1. I hated it. I rarely use a 1 but have on a few occasions.
2. I didn't like it but I didn't hate it either - it was OK
3. It was good - didn't knock me over but good.
4. I really liked it a lot. I'd read more by the author for sure but it didn't strike me as something I'd remember every nuance about in the future.
5. I loved it - I will definitely remember these characters, this situation, etc. It really moved me.
I will occasionally still add the "favorite" with the rating if it was over the top. As I said, I used to do more 5s because I could add the heart for those that I use just the the 5 for now.

Tessa (FutureAuthor23) wrote: "All I can say is that I hate the 5 star rating system on here. I wish it would let us rate 1/2 stars, instead of me clicking on 3 stars and then having to state in my review that it's actually 3 1/..."

Agreed! Lucky for me, LibraryThing does allow 1/2 stars, so - at least for me - it's a bit more accurate over there. Also affects the average star ratings.

I just go with my gut. A 5 from me means that it was outstanding and also memorable, a 4 means really good, a 3 ok but nothing special, a 2 not so good, and a 1 abysmal. I try not to rate books that I did not finish as I don’t think it’s fair, but if I read at least 50% then I might give it a one.

I agree with you that it’s hard to interpret the ratings of others. For me a 3 means don’t bother. Why would you waste your time on something that isn’t special? But to others a 3 is perfectly acceptable. You can never really know unless you dive in!

I am not necessarily consistent in my ratings over time--it can fluctuate with where I am in my reading life (book slump not a book slump, etc). BUT

3 usually means I liked a book but it was nothing special for me (even if it was a lot of fun). However, it can be a 2 or a 2.5 star rounded up for some stellar writing. AND, many times I give 3 stars to strongly written books, so don't ignore my 3 stars as always just so-so or don't bother books. Sometimes, especially lately, I try to make a comment to that effect. Same with 2 star satires sometimes.

1--hated it, but finished it for a reading challenge or some other reason. There would be many more of these on my list if I still finished every book I started like I did when I was younger. However, I have given 1 star to brilliantly written books because I hated them and/or they just made me feel bad.

2--didn't like it, or hated it but there was something so spectacular about the level of writing or something that I felt I really needed to give it a 2 and not a 1 (or a 1.5 rounded up)

4. 3.5 rounded up OR good but not best for some reason (emotional, kind of story, just not stellar writing even if strong, or even, sometimes, I really liked it a lot even if the writing is so-so

5 stars 4.5 rounded up OR EXCELLENT WRITING AND LIKED IT or LOVED IT for any of a number of reasons, but never for badly written or so-so written books even if they made me feel really good while reading it.

So here are my 1-5 rating meaning

1 - I don't see how the book was ever published. The writing and story was horrible. I found no lessons to be learned. 8 book are rated 1 star.

2 - I did not like this book, but I understand how someone else might enjoy it. This is a book that I would give a negative recommendation to. I didn't enjoy this book, don't waste your time.

3 - Good entertainment. Light fun reads. Or, they are book that have a good premise but poor execution. Or good execution but poor premise. Basically, something is lacking from this book or it is a good read but you are likely to forget about it down the road.

4 - These books are really good. I normally learn something or the writing is fantastic, or the idea is original, or all of the above.

5 - This level gets complex. But this is extraordinary, sticks with me, creates emotion, awes me. I have to walk away from the book thinking or feeling different than when I started. Also, if a book would normally be a category 3, but the writing and story telling is exceptional, then it gets a bump.

Overtime, after thinking about a book over the years, it may get bumped up or down. Example, I might think a book was 4 at the time of reading it. 6 months down the road I find that it has affected me stonger than I realized, I will bump it up. Likewise, I may rate a book as 5, but then found I no longer have thought of it. It didn't deserve a 5 then and I will bump it down.

An example of the thought process of my rating.

The Divine Comedy. Dante's Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

Did I like the book. Well, no, I could not even understand the book just picking it up and reading it. After learning the style and structure of the book though, it deserved a 5 just based on the difficulty level. Then after studying the text and references, the book is a masterpiece that left me in awe. But this was not really an enjoyable read. It was a lot of work. So I rated it 4 stars. Now I also see all the references to The Divine Comedy everywhere. This work has stuck with me because of the references made to all the time in so many different places. So I just bumped it up to a 5.

I also find it interesting at the end of the year to look back at my ratings. I agree that some stick with me and I might bump it up ( although rare). I generally don’t bump something down though.

Susie wrote: "For me a 3 means don’t bother. Why would you waste your time on something that isn’t special? But to others a 3 is perfectly acceptable. ..."

I do think 3 stars is the trickiest to interpret! It's tricky, with a 5 star scale to have something for "ok" vs. "good", which is why I originally (way back!) added in 3.5 stars for good.

Tessa, I feel the same way! I wish we had a 10 star rating too. In my early days I would use a 10-star system when I kept track of my books, but have had to switch to the 5 star since it seems to be what everyone uses.

It's a great question, Jason, particularly as 3 stars is apparently seen as a negative review on GR (though why, when the official description is "liked it" I have never been clear).

I'm fairly impressionistic, I guess. I try hard to be fair, but don't angst about a rating too much (it comes out in the statistical wash).

I don't rate books that I don't finish. I probably should, particularly if I don't finish them because they're catastrophically awful, but it feels fairer to rate on the finished product. Consequently, I give very few 1*s. But if I do it's because I saw the book as a waste of my time.

2* Didn't particularly like it, and wouldn't recommend it, but not the worst.
3* Fine but not memorable. I can see why some people would like it more than me. Maybe the writing annoyed me though the story was ok. Or maybe the writing was fine but the characters didn't click for me. My light summer reads (when I had them, lol) would usually fall into this bracket. For non-fiction a 3 tends to be for "useful and reasonably interesting but a bit hard going".
4* A real quality read. Very glad I picked it up. Would recommend it to others without hesitation. Must be well written with no significant character, construction or plot annoyances.
5* I'd re-read it as soon as I have time. Expert storytelling (whether fiction or non fiction). Generally reserved for books with startlingly interesting ideas, or extraordinary language; clever construction; vivid characters. Needs to be a complete package.

My average is a 4*, but that's thanks to the fab recommendations from this group!

Late, love your new picture!

Kate, love your new picture!

As most of you seem to do, I have my own star rating and ignore GR’s guidelines, which I find are too skewed towards liking books (you only have one option if you didn’t like a book, and that doesn’t work, since there are as many ways to dislike a book as there are to like it. So for me 3 is the perfect middle, for okay books which I neither liked nor disliked; 2 and 4 are for those that fall just above or below, so those I liked but had a few criticisms about, or disliked but had some redeeming qualities; and 1 and 5 for the extremes, either those I hated or those I loved.

If there was the ability to give .5 ratings on Goodreads, my ratings would probably be more accurate, since so many fall in-between actual ratings, but we do what we can, I guess.

I’m probably an easy rater, in that I give 4s and 5s more easily than 1s and 2s. Actually, 1s are really rare, I really have to hate a book to give it a 1 rating, but 5s aren’t reserved for only my favourites. Sometimes a book I loved while reading it gets a 5, and when I look back a few months later I think it probably should have been a 4.

Often it also depends on the book I read just before it. If Book A was a great 5 stars, and Book B is awesome too but I feel it wasn’t as good as Book A, it’ll get 4 stars. But if Book A was a disappointing 2 stars, then Book B might get 3 stars.

So my rating system is in no way scientific, or even very objective. It’s just fun to look back at the ratings I gave and try to remember why I felt that way. Now I write actual reviews, since I joined this group a couple of years ago, so I have a better record of my reading. But the rating stays more of a subjective guideline, and a way to add to the overall rating of a book by the GR community.

Kate, love your new picture!

Are you all watching my phone go wonky again? I swear these things have a mind of their own!

Hmmm, so your question got me curious what my distribution of star ratings actually looked like because I feel like I'm not terribly consistent on how I rate books. Emotion counts highly for sure; if I feel something, I'm definitely more likely to give a better rating. I also really value great character development. I'll nudge up books I enjoy less but where I feel the writing itself is especially good. Same goes if a book is uniquely original. But I feel I start with a core emotional reaction and then adjust the rating from there.

Here's what I learned though about my own rating. Out of 617 books for which I had a rating, I doled out stars as follows:

20% - 5 star ratings
41% - 4 star ratings
32% - 3 star ratings
6% - 2 star ratings
1% - 1 star ratings

So it takes a lot for me to really hate a book, but I am more generous with five star ratings than I actually thought I was. Given I'm rating 60% of my reads with 4 or 5 stars, I think that makes a 3 star rating from me equivalent to an "acceptable, but mediocre" read, but one with some redeeming qualities.

I guess I'm not terribly surprised because I don't take a ton of chances with my reading. I read reviews here and tackle books I really think I have a good shot at liking, or that have received accolades from professional reviewers. I'm not picking up random books, and I read very little genre type fiction where I expect there might be a wider span of quality than in literary fiction.

Denizen wrote: "Anita wrote: "Hmmm, so your question got me curious what my distribution of star ratings actually looked like because I feel like I'm not terribly consistent on how I rate books. Emotion counts hig..."

Sadly, I don't think GR provides the data. Here's how I did it. It took me about 10 minutes.

I sorted my Read shelf by star rating. My settings have 20 books on each page. I basically counted how many books I had for each star rating by looking at the total number of pages of each star level I had. I just had to be careful on the pages that had a mix, but that was very few. Then, I calculated the percentage by dividing the number of say 5 star ratings by the total books rated.

Needless to say, I love data.

I looked at my stats (what a time I had finding the info) and was puzzled by the percentage of books -27%- rated five star. I don't think I'm that free with them but then realized when I first built my shelf on GR, that I only rated the books that I thought were 5 star - those books I remembered loving when I read them many years before. The ones that stuck with me so to speak.

Edit: After sometime spent rediscovering the features of GR, I discovered I gave 5 stars 11%, 14%, and 15% of the time consecutively in the last 3 years.

Denizen wrote: "I looked at my stats (what a time I had finding the info) and was puzzled by the percentage of books -27%- rated five star. I don't think I'm that free with them but then realized when I first buil..."

That seems like a good average to me! I should look at the last three years like you did and see how I do. That might be a more accurate assessment. BRB.

Denizen wrote: "I looked at my stats (what a time I had finding the info) and was puzzled by the percentage of books -27%- rated five star. I don't think I'm that free with them but then realized when I first buil..."

Hmmm, apparently I'm pretty consistent with the 5 star ratings - 17% (2017), 19% (2016), 18% (2015). Also confirming that last year was a relatively bad one . . .which was how I felt about it.

Amy wrote: "Kate, love your new picture!"

Thanks Amy :) About time I had one of me, not just an avatar - particularly a dragon avatar, huh, Jason? ;)

Amy wrote: "Are you all watching my phone go wonky again? I swear these things have a mind of their own!"

LOL! So, that's what's going on! :-)

KateNZ wrote: "Amy wrote: "Kate, love your new picture!"

Thanks Amy :) About time I had one of me, not just an avatar - particularly a dragon avatar, huh, Jason? ;)"

I love the SF hat so much more than a dragon. Side note, I went to school with Buster Posey. We didnt hang in the same circle, but we knew who each other was. My claim to fame.

Anita wrote: "Denizen wrote: "Anita wrote: "Hmmm, so your question got me curious what my distribution of star ratings actually looked like because I feel like I'm not terribly consistent on how I rate books. Em..."

Of course you love data. Its a requirement of a true baseball fan. I love numbers. I plan on posting my percentages soonly.

All Time

19% 5 Stars
32% 4 Stars
33% 3 Stars
13% 2 Stars
2% 1 Star

Interesting to see 3 and 4 stars almost the same.

Jason wrote: "All Time

19% 5 Stars
32% 4 Stars
33% 3 Stars
13% 2 Stars
2% 1 Star

Interesting to see 3 and 4 stars almost the same."

Thinking back to when shelfari showed us some lovely stats, this sounds similar to me, I think. At least, with how close the 3 and 4 star ratings are. That's going on memory. I might be able to check LT for some stats without having to figure it out myself, as well.

Never thought to do this before, but here are my stats for 2017:
Total books read: 123

3.25% 5 stars
6.50% 4.5 stars
56.10% 4 stars
10.57% 3.5 stars
21.95% 3 stars
1.63% 2 stars
0.00% 1 star

Jason wrote: "I love the SF hat so much more than a dragon. Side note, I went to school with Buster Posey. We didnt hang in the same circle, but we knew who each other was. My claim to fame...."

One degree of separation from greatness!!

Amy, you only use the copy and paste when you want to share a link. haha. With great power comes great responsibility.

Haven’t you all see my great new prowess with being able to link to my reviews on the listopia challenge? I may be resistant to learn things in certain areas, but once I got it, I got it! Jason, that was a great tip! I never knew how to do that. Slowly joining the times.

Amy, I was joking that your phone going crazy was you going crazy with copy and paste. haha. just a joke.

Now I read you. Jason, you are ever on my mind. I’m going to have to catch up with you literally and figuratively.

5 10% (100)
4 34% (343)
3 33% (330)
2 15% (156)
1 6% (66)

This has been interesting. The reason that there aren't more 1 and 2 star ratings is because I quit reading those unless I'm reading them for a challenge or discussion or game and really want to be involved in the discussion or get the points.

That said, if I kept my own records there would be half star ratings among those, but I don't and don't plan to keep that sort of record. My husband is the one who likes to keep records of things (he's the one who wrote down when each of our kids lost a tooth, etc.)

Karin wrote: "This has been interesting. The reason that there aren't more 1 and 2 star ratings is because I quit reading those unless..."

Karin I do the same thing....

My rating scale is:
5 star: I loved it! It was outstanding! Exceptional!
4 star: I liked it a lot, only one or two minor quibbles
3 star: Overall I liked it but didn't care for certain somewhat important aspects
2 star: Overall I didn't like it but it had some redeeming qualities
1 star: I really didn't like anything about it (this is rare for me, as I tend to screen books pretty carefully before reading them)

From 2017:
* - # - %
5 - 12 - 10.9 %
4 - 59 - 53.6
3 - 33 - 30.0
2 - 4 - 3.6
1 - 2 - 1.8

I will say that I tend to be pretty nerdy when assigning ratings and stars. I grade a book from 1 to 5 stars in 6 different categories, then take an average. If it falls on the half-way point, I may move it up or down depending on my overall enjoyment of the book.

My six categories are:
-Engrossment
-Structure
-Plot
-Characters
-Writing
-Originality

I also rank the books I've read against each other and keep a list of all the books I've read since joining Goodreads in late 2015. At the end of the year, I review the rankings and sometimes bump a book up or down a star based on how it compares to everything else.

By the way, like Anita, I also love data. :-)

Joy D wrote: "My rating scale is:
5 star: I loved it! It was outstanding! Exceptional!
4 star: I liked it a lot, only one or two minor quibbles
3 star: Overall I liked it but didn't care for certain somewhat imp..."

I love your categories! For a short time (very) I had a book blog, and I think I used those exact same ones. I kinda want to see your ranking . . .anyway to share the top 10 at least? That's super cool. I definitely see we have a shared love of data . . .wish Goodreads let us do more with it right here.

Jason wrote: " Of course you love data. Its a requirement of a true baseball fan. I love numbers. I plan on posting my percentages soonly. ..."

Ha! I didn't think of that, but so true.

Joy D. You expressed my own thoughts so much better.

Thanks, Jason.

Anita, My personal top 10, read since December 2015 are:
The Nix by Nathan Hill
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
The Orenda by Joseph Boyden
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

@Joy D, I like your 6 categories. I think that your star ratings are similar to mine.

As I stated in the beginning, I'm an emotional rater that might adjust for expectations. I do tend to round up for great writing. I'm a sucker for an interesting plot device (as long as it's not too much work to understand). I have also noticed that if I can't like, root for or at least find really interesting one character, I will round down.

I also like data and am not a baseball fan. As a Canadian coming from a birth/adopted family (I almost said birth family to differentiate from my husband and kids but then remembered that 2 of my brothers were adopted) with 3 - no, 4 because I forgot my sister picked it up when she was about 40 - hockey players who rarely watches sports, my quip is, if it doesn't have a puck is it really a sport? BUT, I hate to watch fighting, so believe me, I don't watch hockey, either.

Liking baseball is not prerequisite to liking data. But liking data is Isa prerequisite to being an avid baseball fan. It's the sport of numbers. Baseball calculates anything and everything. How often a pitcher picks his nose between pitches during day games on Sundays of even days of the month during a sell out crowd. and we will argue if this Stat effects the outcome of the game, is an arguectual individual stat, or is influenced by other factors in the game. whole new level of baseball Fandom.

Jason wrote: "Liking baseball is not prerequisite to liking data. But liking data is Isa prerequisite to being an avid baseball fan. It's the sport of numbers. Baseball calculates anything and everything. How of..."

Yes, it most certainly is a game about numbers! I was just going on a tangent :).