How I Rate My Books
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How I Rate My Books
There are so many different ways to rate books, aren’t there?! Some people rate 1-10, some 1-5, some with halves or three-quarters, and some don’t rate at all. It’s a beautiful, varied book-rating world! I thought it would be fun to share how I rate books, and I would absolutely love to know your way of rating.
To begin, I only rate books on Goodreads. I don’t put my ratings on Instagram (@the.willow.wood), or here on my blog – and there is literally no reason for this, other than I just haven’t! Because of this, I rate my books in whole numbers, 0-5. What’s interesting about this is that I am very consistent, but not 100% so. When I was looking back to see some examples, I was like, “I really gave that 3 (or 4 or 5) stars!” I was surprised because for some of them, I remembered them differently – I thought I would have given them more or less than what was on Goodreads. So, take my ratings with a grain of salt – ha! Without further ado, here are my general guidelines for how I rate my books:
0 stars – DNF (did not finish). If I don’t finish a book, I don’t feel comfortable giving it any stars, so I mark it ‘read,’ mostly to remember that I started it, and I tag it ‘dnf,’ which is one of my custom shelves. For example, “This Is Where I Leave You” by Jonathan Tropper – I didn’t like the tone and couldn’t get into this one.
1 star – I finished the book, but I didn’t like it, and I LIKELY skimmed parts. I do have a hard time giving one stars, but I feel like if I was able to muscle through it (for whatever reason), and I really disliked it, then 1 star is what it gets! For example, “American Dirt” by Jeanine Cummins. I read this one because it was a gift from the publisher, but I really didn’t enjoy it.
2 stars – I didn’t enjoy this book, but I didn’t outright hate it. Something compelled me to keep reading, even if I wasn’t happy about it. For example, “The Bookshop” by Penelope Fitzgerald. I didn’t love the writing or plot, but the story was compelling in it’s misery and I just had to find out what happened. Spoiler: it has a very unsatisfactory ending.
3 stars – Meh. I didn’t like or dislike this book. I may have enjoyed parts, but overall, it wasn’t amazing. For example, “Normal People” by Sally Rooney. I really liked parts of this book, but I didn’t love it.
4 stars – I loved this book! These are the books that I will talk about, recommend, and the ones that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I probably won’t reread a 4 star book, but I’ll talk your ear off about it and recommend it! For example, “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. I loved this book and remember saving quotes and feeling a huge impact from this book. As I’m typing this, I actually probably would reread it, but at the time of rating, I think I was satisfied. I’ve also definitely recommended it more than once.
5 stars – I loved this book so much and everyone should read it and I will reread it and I just adored it and so on and so on! These are the books I can’t get enough of and the ones that stay with me long past finishing the book. These are also the books I want other people to read and then talk about with me. For example, “Rebecca” by Daphne Du Maurier. I loved this book so much and can’t wait to come back to it. I really think everyone should read it. When I was early dating my now finace, I suggested this one, and he read it (and enjoyed it)!
Summing it up: Ratings are never perfect – what is?! But they are fun and a good way to keep track of your thoughts and how you communicate about the books you read. How about you? Are we similar or totally different or somewhere in-between?!
Best, Abbey
