What Books Did You Most Recently Give Each Star Rating? (3/13/22)

[Marc]

Last book you gave 5 stars?
…. 4 stars?
…. 3 stars?
…. 2 stars?
…. 1 star?

[Marc]

5 stars: In Search of Lost Time, Volume VI: Time Regained (A Modern Library E-Book): Time Regained v. 6 (Proust)
4 stars: Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language (Eco)
3 stars: White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (DiAngelo)
2 stars: Future Feeling (Lake)
1 star: Sharpie Art Workshop: Techniques and Ideas for Transforming Your World (Goodman)

If I stick to fiction only:
4 stars: The Physics of Sorrow (Gospodinov)
3 stars: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Jemisin)
1 star: Truck (Dunn) --- I had to go back to 2019 to find the last 1-star rating I gave any fiction

[Stacia]

5 stars: Kaveena by Boubacar Boris Diop
4 stars: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
3 stars: Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History by Trevor R. Getz and Liz Clarke
2 stars: Assassins from Tomorrow by Peter Heath
1 star: Wil Usdi: Thoughts from the Asylum, a Cherokee Novella by Robert J. Conley

I never give stars to books I dnf. Also, I sometimes don't give stars to books I finish that I feel are too personal to rate (often memoirs because I can't always square the feeling of "rating" someone's life experience and their choice to share their personal story). With that said, the last book I read where I didn't give a star rating (but did write some thoughts about it) was Antiman: A Hybrid Memoir by Rajiv Mohabir.

[Daniel]

5: The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
4: New Kid by Jerry Craft
3: Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge
2: The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
1: Dead Man Running by Steve Hamilton

The first four of these I read in the past month. I only give out a couple of one-stars a year, so that's from last August.

[Kathleen]

5: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
4: Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville
3: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
2: Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett
1: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino

I don't think too much about ratings and am probably inconsistent, but this question is making me realize that generally,
5 stars - favorites, or books with something very special
4 stars - my most frequent rating
3 stars - usually means mixed feelings
2 stars - not for me
1 star - I've only given this three times in 7 yrs on Goodreads. I have to be angry about something. :-)

[Catherine]

Good question. Sticking with fiction:
5 - The Night Watchman
4 - Harlem Shuffle
3 - The Group
2 - Zulu
1 - Mind of Winter

My meanings are like Kathleen's -- 5s are rare, 4s are really good, 3s are just fine but missing something, 2s are not for me, and I almost never give a 1, which means I hated it.

[Tamara]

5 - Deacon King Kong
4 - Pond (my most frequent rating)
3 - The Whale Rider
2 - I can't remember if I've ever given 2 stars
1 - I know I've never given a 1 star. I hate to do that because I know someone has put a lot of time and effort into the work even though I didn't think it was any good. Instead of giving it a 1 star rating, I just say the book wasn't for me and I don't rate it.

[LindaJ^]

5* The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan;
4* Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason (2022 Women's Prize Longlist);
3* After the Sun by Jonas Eika (2022 Republic of Consciousness and Booker International Longlists);
2* Dead Souls by Sam Riviere;
1* The Adventures of Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent by Larry Correia

I'm in line with Kathleen with regards to ratings.

[Hugh]

5* Salt Lick
4* The Girls Of Slender Means
3* The Snares of Memory
(my last three books, and I have not yet written reviews for them)
2* The Daylight Gate
(one of two so far in 2022)
1* The Death of Bunny Munro
(it is very rare for me to use this - there has to be almost no redeeming feature! There are probably loads of books I would rate this low if I read them, but I consider myself discerning enough not to touch real trash)

[Nadine in California]

5* - The Actual Star
4* - Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
3* - Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood
2* - Shit Cassandra Saw
DNF & not rated (my version of a 1 star) - Beasts of a Little Land

[Nadine in California]

And now, in a shameless/shameful loss of self control, I have to blurt out my 5 stars so far this year. 6/19 books read.

Burning Girls and Other Stories
Small Things Like These (on audio)
Wild Seed
Build Your House Around My Body
Learwife (on audio)
Bolla

[Marc]

Seems like a great way to start the year, Nadine! (I've got 4 of 21 so far.)

1 star ratings are rare for me. I think I'm not very risky when it comes to fiction reading. I don't take a chance on random books and usually have a good idea that I'll be drawn to a book before I begin (either because of the publisher, the translator, the author, a friend or another author I like has mentioned it, etc.). I seem to be getting more generous with my 5-star ratings. Prior to this, it was like I felt I had to reserve them or I would somehow be watering my ratings down by giving too many.

[Stacia]

For me,
5 = exceptional
4 = excellent/I was wowed by it
3 = good to very good/enjoyable but probably not memorable long-term
2 = didn't care for it/meh
1 = really didn't like

I rarely have 1- or 2-star ratings because I would usually abandon them before finishing. Most of my ratings are 3 and 4 stars.

[James]

5* A Visit from the Goon Squad(Egan)
4* The Physics of Sorrow(Gospodinov)
3* This Thing of Darkness (Thompson) - really well written - just far too long
2* As I Lay Dying(Faulkner) - 2 stars for my experience of reading this. I plan to re-read and I'm sure it will score more next time
1* Every Dead Thing(Connolly) - way back in 2019- it was just too gross.

I try to be consistent in my scoring, and use modified Goodreads scores

5* Amazing - just swept me up
4* Really liked it - liked it enough to recommend to others
3* Liked it - but probably wouldn't recommend to others
2* It was ok
1* Did not enjoy

[Lark]

Lately my stars are getting less and less meaningful, because I'm trying to think that if I don't care for a book (especially if it's one other readers get a lot from) then I need to look harder for a reason to like it, and to discover why it is indeed the 5-star book other people say it is.

I failed miserably with The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois--I can't see at all why people think it's good.

I succeeded with Shit Cassandra Saw though. Its randomness was genuinely baffling and not my cup of tea but I sort of forced myself to acknowledge the randomness as deliberate and intentional and then the stories began to zing for me.

The sense that I can become a different kind of reader, if I work at it, and that I can honestly find my way to change what I think of a book, has made me want to ditch these stars altogether--to think they are all about my mood and my stamina.

It seems to be true that once I love a book I will love it next time. My bias is to constantly revise upwards, and see more value in something I didn't like to begin with. Love Songs will never happen for me, though. I did my best.

[Bretnie]

I love this thread! My first three probably look familiar to a lot in this group.

5: The Trees, by Percival Everett (which the search function is struggling with)
4: How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
3: Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett
2: Skippy Dies by Paul Murray (despite all the TOB love for it)


I don't typically give books 1 stars, but I often give them no rating, which to me doesn't mean I disliked it, but does usually acknowledge I respect it, but it wasn't for me. Or that I still don't know what to think of it.

Last book that fell in that category was No One Is Talking About This.

[Franky]

This is such a cool idea for a thread:
5 Stars: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
4 Stars: Laura, by Vera Caspary.
3 Stars: Black Rain Falling
2 Stars: The Bone People
1 Star: Diary of an Oxygen Thief

I rarely give one star, so I had to do a little searching for that one.

[Janet]

Great question!

Am limiting my responses to fiction

5 Stars War with the Newts
4 stars The Private Lives of Trees
3 stars L'élixir d'amour
2 stars The Other Black Girl

I don’t recall ever giving one star, possibly because I’ve read so many silly comments from people who give one star to books I’ve liked!