We have so many ways these days to find and assess which books make it into our hands and in front of our eyes and minds. In the days of yore (i.e. my teen and twenties—and even into my thirties!), I had nothing but a book cover and the jacket or back cover copy by which to evaluate my reading choices, with occasional magazine or newspaper reviews. But those were from professional reviewers, not everyday readers. These days, we have multiple ways in which to access reader reviews and/or reader ratings of a book.
Overall, I think this is a good thing. Especially if we connect with another reader whose tastes and tolerances are similar to our own. I’ve found so many books this way—recommendations from those who have liked other books that I have liked. But so often all I have to go on are reviews or ratings from strangers.
I confess, I don’t like reading reviews. I really don’t care about the particulars of why or why not someone liked or didn’t like a book. I just want to know how much they liked it. So ratings tend to influence me in my book choices more than reviews. I think it’s why I find it hard to write book reviews. In fact, I don’t write them on review sites.
If you’ve read my monthly reading recap posts, you’ll know I don’t really delineate my reasons for liking (or not) a book, though I will give “big picture” reasons—good character development, good writing, etc. But if you notice my language in my “mini reviews”, it’s pretty clear when I love a book and when I just like it—and sometimes I’ll note that when it’s part of a series.
Ratings are a whole different story for me. I do look at ratings! If a book has an average under 4 stars, I hesitate—especially if the number of reviews is way up there. I might not like what everyone else likes, but if most people are so-so about the book, it makes me pause.
That said, I have issues giving my own ratings to books, mostly because I know so many authors personally! Long ago, I decided that if I finished the book, I’d give it 5 stars. (There have been a couple of extenuating circumstances, but those I left blank.) Why do I do this? The reason is two-fold. First is the subjective nature of reading. I might not have loved the book, but another person will, so I don’t want my rating to bring down the average and keep someone else who might like it more than I did from reading it. Second is that some people rate books weirdly! I’ve seen people who never give 5 stars, even giving only a 3 when they love a book, which I don’t think helps others get a good perspective on how many others found it a compelling read. So I figure my 5 stars balance out their lack of 5 stars.
It’s not ideal. In a perfect world, I’d give the number of stars that corresponds to what I really think of the book. But again, my perspective isn’t always everyone else’s! I’ve been known to hate books that “everyone” loved, and vice versa.
All of this leads to the point of this post:
I’d love to hear how you pick the books you read!