Leslie's 2017 Book Buddy Challenge

[Anna]

Leslie wrote: "Right Anna??? Too much pressure. Reading is supposed to be fun.
My motto for 2018 is going to be: "Read whatever the *bleep* you want, whenever you *bleeping* want and however much you *bleeping*..."
Sounds pretty good. I like challenges I just got too carried away with them this year.

[Leslie]

Me too Anna. I guess we over-extended ourselves. Leason learned.

[Grey]

I just like you guys more!

[Leslie]

Ok, I just revised my rating system and the following are now bumped up to 5 stars:

Dumplin

Forget

The Ground Rules

The Butterfly Project

[Jan]

Leslie wrote: "Right Anna??? Too much pressure. Reading is supposed to be fun.

My motto for 2018 is going to be: "Read whatever the *bleep* you want, whenever you *bleeping* want and however much you *bleeping* feel like!"

How's that sound? 😉"

That sounds really excellent.

[Jan]

Leslie wrote: "Ok, I just revised my rating system and the following are now bumped up to 5 stars:

Dumplin

Forget

The Ground Rules [bookcover:The Groun..."

Intrigued. What's your new system? I just tend to stick to the GR star descriptors, but it frustrates me sometimes.

[Leslie]

Jan, I added a "5+" for the extra epic ones like Twilight.

My old way was 4.5 * was "loved". My new way is 5* is loved.

[Leslie]

Jan, this is my revised rating scale:

1 - HATED
2 - didn't like
2.5 - not very good
3 - just ok
3.5 - liked/pretty good
4 - very good
4.5 - really, REALLY liked
5 - LOVED
5+ - LOVED TIMES INFINITY

It took me a couple of hours, but I re-rated my shelves.

[Jan]

Wow! Massive effort to rerate your shelves. WTG! I do like your new system. Maybe I need to add a 5.5 or 5+ as well. Sometimes I wanna give a book 5 stars cos I really loved it (like Devil In Spring) but I hold back (gave it 4.5) cos I think the top grade should be reserved for those very few extra special rare super duper books. You've got me rethinking now.

See, 3 stars according to GR means 'I liked it' so I quite often give it. But I think to lots of people it means a book was a bit lame/ just OK. So peeps think I'm bagging out a book when actually I'm not. *sighs* IDK.

[[deleted user]]

Right? To me a 3 is a solid read.

[Melinda]

I loved Ground Rules too, Leslie. That's a def 5 star for me.

[Leslie]

Melinda, Ground Rules was tummy twisting angst fest. I loved it!!

Jan & Bev, 3 stars is the middle of a 5 star scale, so to me that is "average" but I get that everyone has their own interpretation. I dont consider it bad, but its not good either.

[Nay]

I also use 3 stars for average. It's often reserved for pretty good books with crappy editing or those that I finished and just thought were ok, not really anything special. It's definitely not a positive thing. But like Leslie said, everyone has their own interpretation.

When I see a book with an average rating of 3.5 or under, nine times out of ten, I won't even put it on my shelves because I figure it's not that great, or at least, not memorable (unless it's a book that includes something controversial like bdsm or cheating where I see readers are giving it 1 or 2 stars just based on their personal feelings and not how well the book is or isn't written).

[Kooloo]

I totally agree Renee - anything under a 3.5 is a no go for me too

[Jan]

Hmmm. It seems like many GR users are using the amazon star ratings rather than the GR star ratings. In amazon, 3 stars means it was OK but in GR, 3 stars is supposed to mean 'liked it' (2 GR stars means it was OK). Confusing, huh, especially as amazon owns GR LOL. So my (or bev's) 3 stars means we liked it!

I WISH there was more consistency, but, it is what it is...... and I'm still not sure what to do...... I guess for now I'll just stick with what I'm doing. But I do like it when people write reviews. Honest ones that is, not gushing ones. I do read reviews and they do help me decide on whether or not to buy a book.

BTW bev, autocorrect tried to rename you 'bed'. LOL.

[Tessa]

I go by the Amazon rating because 98% of the time, I'm just clicking on the rating at the end of a book.