How I use Goodreads
I've been trying to post reviews on Goodreads a bit more often lately, because it's nice to have a place to shout about books I've read and enjoyed. But I just wanted to make clear some stuff about how I'm using the service.
In general, if I didn't enjoy a book, I don't bother to review it. I often read the first 50 pages of a book and then decide it's not working for me, but even if I read all the way through to the end, I won't review a book on here if I didn't really love it. I have huge respect for people who warn others about underwhelming or disappointing books, but it's not what I want to do with my platform right now.
If you've read my rants on Twitter and elsewhere, you'll know I don't really like the star-rating system (or letter grades, which are basically the same thing.) In a nutshell, I feel like nobody can agree on what a star rating means — like Uber and Lyft have taught us all that "four stars" means terrible awful no-good drivers. I won't go to a restaurant that's under about 4.2 stars on Google maps, meaning that a 4-star review on there translates to "stay away." I always resisted calls to give star ratings or grades when I reviewed books and movies in my old job, because it made me feel like a teacher grading students on their performance. I sort of feel like the real question about a book is "do you recommend it or not?" which is a yes/no question.
(I could also rant here about how Rotten Tomatoes tries to aggregate all of the different ratings and grades that people gave a movie, and boil them down to "rotten" or "fresh." I know that RT gives the movie a percentage, but that's purely based on taking each individual review and deciding that the review is "fresh" or "rotten." Often the "fresh" reviews come from people who gave a movie three stars out of five. It's weird. But this is obviously a bit of a sidebar.)
Anyway, for a long time, I was just not giving stars to books on here at all — I was just leaving the "star" field blank. But like I said, I'm only reviewing books that I really loved. And I decided if I have an opportunity to nudge the star-average of those books up slightly, I should go ahead and do that. So for the past year or so, I've been giving an automatic five stars to every book I review on here. To me, five stars means "I enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it." If I don't feel willing to say that about a book, I'm not reviewing it on here.
In general, if I didn't enjoy a book, I don't bother to review it. I often read the first 50 pages of a book and then decide it's not working for me, but even if I read all the way through to the end, I won't review a book on here if I didn't really love it. I have huge respect for people who warn others about underwhelming or disappointing books, but it's not what I want to do with my platform right now.
If you've read my rants on Twitter and elsewhere, you'll know I don't really like the star-rating system (or letter grades, which are basically the same thing.) In a nutshell, I feel like nobody can agree on what a star rating means — like Uber and Lyft have taught us all that "four stars" means terrible awful no-good drivers. I won't go to a restaurant that's under about 4.2 stars on Google maps, meaning that a 4-star review on there translates to "stay away." I always resisted calls to give star ratings or grades when I reviewed books and movies in my old job, because it made me feel like a teacher grading students on their performance. I sort of feel like the real question about a book is "do you recommend it or not?" which is a yes/no question.
(I could also rant here about how Rotten Tomatoes tries to aggregate all of the different ratings and grades that people gave a movie, and boil them down to "rotten" or "fresh." I know that RT gives the movie a percentage, but that's purely based on taking each individual review and deciding that the review is "fresh" or "rotten." Often the "fresh" reviews come from people who gave a movie three stars out of five. It's weird. But this is obviously a bit of a sidebar.)
Anyway, for a long time, I was just not giving stars to books on here at all — I was just leaving the "star" field blank. But like I said, I'm only reviewing books that I really loved. And I decided if I have an opportunity to nudge the star-average of those books up slightly, I should go ahead and do that. So for the past year or so, I've been giving an automatic five stars to every book I review on here. To me, five stars means "I enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it." If I don't feel willing to say that about a book, I'm not reviewing it on here.
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James
(new)
Jun 07, 2021 05:51AM
thumbs up or thumbs down is sometimes a better gauge, although there is no middle ground, no shaky hand hover saying it's alright
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Nice thought process, Charlie Jane! :) Thanks for sharing!
Charlie Jane - I’m with you on putting down books that aren’t enjoyable - no need to spend my time on a bad match and no need to give a bad review to a book someone might love! My solution is to only give reviews on Goodreads between 3 and 5 stars - 3 stars being “enjoyable,” 5 stars being “life changing,” with 4 being way above average.
My approach to reviews is similar. Life's too short to waste breath on things that aren't for me, and I don't want to rain on the parades of other authors. If I talk about a book, I recommend it.
