Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Book Review Star Rating System (Updated)

I've decided to update my previous star-rating system to match more directly with Goodreads to make my job of rating the books I read easier and more streamlined. Essentially all I've done is remove my previous one star rating completely:
★: did not finish the book due to its lame-ness. It got printed, but that's all I can say for it. Usually there's some fundamental perspective barrier between the author and myself that prevents me from connecting to what's going on in the story. (examples: When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa; Eat, Pray, Love--the movie is better)
I wanted to include this though so I could have a way of reporting on books I thought were inappropriate, like Water for Elephants...not a good use of anyone's time. It's basically a pornographic novel under a circus tent. 

Now I realize that I can still rate those types of books as one-star and make better use of the entire star-rating system as a whole. Here is how Goodreads does it:

☆ ☆ ☆ :   Did not like it
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆:       It was okay
★ ★ ★:             Liked it
★ ★ ★ ★ :   Really liked it
★ ★ ★ ★ ★: It was amazing

I'll be using these guidelines more strictly in the future. As I rate books in this fashion I'll give examples of which books fit each section.

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