We’ve had a number of discussions amongst us duckies, as well as with ya’ll out there, about how we grade the books we read. Sybil and some of the other gals here at The Pond feel that a book starts out being an average book, a C grade, and then it either rises or lowers from there during the reading of the book.
I’m the exact opposite.
After spending a fair amount of time browsing at my local Borders, after reading a lot of back-cover blurbs to decide which books to buy during my foraging from shelf to shelf, I go home with a bag of books that I feel are the best of the bunch on display at that point in time. Why then would I consider any of those books to be average? If I wanted average, I would just pick up any old book and hope for the best.
Therefore, time and money spent, when I crack open any book, even a debut author, someone I’ve never heard of before or something new from an old all-time favorite, that book has the potential to be an A+, one the best books I’ve had the pleasure to read. The onus at that point is truly on the author. She is either going to maintain that A+ by blowing me away with her work between those pages or she’s going to go down in grade depending on what she does give me.
I guess the next question is what makes the grade go down for me. Or, conversely, what makes a book maintain that high grade throughout the reading. As I’m sure some of you have noticed since I joined the Pond sometime last year, I’m a very happy reader. I enjoy a good portion of the books I read. Actually, a darned good portion. I suspend belief, thus my love of paranormals; historical accuracy is not important to me; I don’t read between the lines (guess that’s why I’m not fond of the “classics”); I don’t nitpick; I usually don’t think outside the cover of the book; I don’t look for deep-seated meaning in books. I take what the author gives me. I don’t feel it’s my place to question the author, who had a particular goal in mind when she wrote her book. There’s a reason she wrote that heroine a little whiny the first half of the book or why she used the misunderstanding approach between characters or why she didn’t do a million other things readers can come up with after finishing a book. It’s her book, for heaven’s sake. If you don’t care for her book, that’s one thing. But to tell her hey, you screwed up when you didn’t do this, that should never have been done way, why in the world would you make your characters do that, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Why should I be second guessing her and telling what I would have done? I didn’t write the book.
Okay, there are those books you just don’t care for, right? That’s fine. I have those too. You don’t care for the author’s voice or writing style; you don’t like your favorite author trying out a new genre; you don’t care for the time period used in a storyline, that heroine was way too silly for anyone to like. There’s multiple non-generic reasons for you just not taking to a book. I have those moments too, even admist all my happiness when reading. That’s different from flat out hating a book for certain reasons. Read on, please.
I read to be entertained. I read to leave my crappy world behind and live in a fairytale world where men and women are larger than life, where they overcome huge, nearly insurmountable odds to find one another and have the romance and love of a lifetime. I love an alpha hero. I love when he falls hard for the heroine and will do anything, even die, for her. I love when a wolf finds his mate. I do enjoy a kick-ass heroine too. I also don’t mind the aforementioned whiny heroine as long as she gets her act together just as the hero does to deserve that HEA. I want emotion. I want gut-wrenching emotion that pulls tears out of me. I want conflict, believable or not, to make my happy ending all the more pleasurable. I want great and wonderfully impossible love scenes in my books. And with all the great authors out there, I get all this and more every time I open a book.
Now, having said all that, there are those books that even I haven’t been thrilled with, that I can cart off to the UBS in no time flat. There’s relatively few, but they do exist. Although most of my reads are graded highly, I have given some lower grades — even an F. Only one F so far, but it was deserved. I even recently had a DNF. Wonders will never cease it seems. I don’t like a book that gets too silly. I really dislike stupid, inane dialogue. And I hate it when a storyline and characters are totally negative for 299 pages of 300. Bad love scenes give me the willies. And, of course, a book written by someone who should have never put pen to paper really irritates me. Even I can tell when I”ve come across an author like that. These are things that will make a grade drop accordingly for a book from that intial A+. Other than that, most anything else is fair game for me.
So. I don’t expect many of you to agree with me. This is how I look at reading and books and authors. Sometimes because of my job my reading time is cut down to nil. Nada. Zilch. Can’t pick up a book for days. Withdrawals are imminent. Because of that, that’s why, I believe, I look at things a little differently than most of you; that’s why I look at every book so optimistically. Why would I want to pick, pick, pick at my books so that I enjoy so very few? Why would I want to be irritated or frustrated with a book or an author when I can be happy every time I pick a book up, when I go in expecting the impossible, the unbelievable, a man in a million, an unattainable love?
I like everything! Just like Mikey. That’s my new nickname around The Pond now. I gobble up that everything and love it just like Mikey did his Life cereal.
So what are you? Are you a nitpicker? Are you a history sniffer outer? Do you ask “Why?” of the author when you’ve closed the book or thrown it against the wall? Do you sigh over and dream about those alpha heroes? What do you look for when you grade a book?
I’ve nothing to add except I love your attitude! I wouldn’t spend $10 on a book if I didn’t expect to thoroughly enjoy it.
Life’s too short…
Thinking about it, I think that my starting point for grading is probably 4 out of 5 which is probably a bit higher than the C. I expect to enjoy every book I read and that’s the grade for books that I enjoy. If I really enjoy it, then I will give a 4.5, and if it blows me away it gets a 5. And the opposite is also true – if I only enjoy it a bit then it gets a 3.5 working down. It’s not very often that I give a really low grade but it does happen, and I too have had one DNF. I tend to read to the very end just in case it gets better!
I’m more of a Mikey like you, Sandy. I do pretty good at picking what I’m apt to like by reading blurbs and excerpts, and go in expecting to like it. As you said, if you go in expecting ho-hum, why bother buying it. It doesn’t have to blow me away to be a happy reader, though I do end up with a few I didn’t really care for and would grade lower. I, too, am not nitpicky about the historical accuracy if the characters and emotions engage me; it’s all fiction, I don’t mind a bit of creative license. Paranormals, anything goes, why does it have to be “believable” if the author makes it interesting.
I’m a bit more discerning. I expect to be wowed. There is only so much disbelief to suspend and there is only so many misunderstandings I can tolerate and my wallet cannot and will not support mediocre work. So, no “Mikey” in me at all. I’m a consumer and not a critique partner. I want a good story for my hard earned money.
I don’t feel it’s my place to question any author, but it is most definitely my place–when reviewing or simply talking about a book I’ve read–to say what did or didn’t work for me.
As a reader, I think it behooves me to give every single book I crack open a fair chance to wow me, but it’s the writing that will make me suspend my disbelief, that will pull me into this world and will make me care about these characters.
True, despite being a bit Mikey, it is the writing and how the author makes you care about the characters that makes it a story you want to recommend or rave about it. Everyone has their own thinking about it, rightly so.
Oh, I agree, azteclady and Pam, very much. And I believe I pretty much said that, about an author who shouldn’t have put pen to paper. But I know there are those whose voice just isn’t for you. Or me either sometimes. But there aren’t even that many of those for me that I don’t like. One here and there and that’s it.
And, Keishon, I expect to be wowed too. 99% of the time I am. That’s why I’m razzed like I am here about my grading! LOL, and Mikey has stuck.
Sandy, I agree. Sometimes you can see how the writing is good and what not, and yet it leaves you cold. Which sucks, frankly 😀
I think is what lets me see how some of the classics are excellent pieces of writing, yet I couldn’t care less for them… they just don’t call me, or grip me.
So true, azteclady. Recently my DNF review was by an author I had heard so much about, people just love her work. I was bored while reading it — and that never happens to me when I read! Now, granted, it’s my only book by her so far and when the opportunity presents itself, I will give her a second chance. But I was just so surprised that I didn’t care for her work after hearing such raves.
Oh, the classics. They may be great pieces of literature, but I’m a very literal reader. I don’t read between the lines, never have. I remember in college — I’m an English major — an instructor wanted us to write a paper on whatever epiphany we got from Moby Dick. I was stuck. Literally. My epiphany? Moby Dick’s a whale. Ain’t what he was looking for, but it was all I had to give! LOL. He even read a paper in class that he though was perfect for the lesson. One small paragraph about the white underbelly of that damned whale chosen out of that book and this gal writes several pages. I still have no idea how she got all of that out of that paragraph. And I’ll be stumped until the day I die!
LOL I agree with you to a point…
Very true. I expect every book I want to read to be an A . The difference is just because that is what I want doesn’t mean I believe I will get it.
There are no gimme grades and the author has to earn an A . Where as you are saying pretty much the same thing only you are more along the lines of ‘the author has to keep the A ‘. And are easy to please ;). I also enjoy average reads. A ‘C’ grade, as everyone should know by now, is NOT a bad grade to me.. so it isn’t here.
And no… authors may not email me and request which reviewer gets to review their book. Just saying 🙂
I enjoy average reads too and a C isn’t a bad grade. I agree with you. Folks look at that C almost like everyone looks at the Silver Medal at the Olympics anymore. If they don’t get the Gold, they don’t want the Silver. I’d kill to have a Silver Medal, and I’ll never have one until reading becomes an Olympic sport! Some authors aren’t happy with C grades, even B grades, as we know.
It’s up to the author to keep that A grade for me. If she goes down from there it just means she’s not blowing me away this time but she still has a very nice book that I enjoyed. But I hardly ever see anything “wrong” with a book like some of ya’ll here. LOL, it has to be a glaring wrong for me to pick up on it. I’m too into the story to be drawn out by things like that, I guess.
As long as I’m in love with the characters while I’m reading and have a great storyline to go along with it, I’m a happy reader!
I generally enjoy most books I read. While there are a few that I finish just to know what happened, those are rare. Rarer still are the very very few I have to stop reading they are so bad. But by and large, I pick fairly carefully, books are expensive and I read very quickly, but I usually enjoy a book and many of them I love! As always, some are more enthralling than others, but in general I enjoy my reads.
Becky
It’s important to note that even though a book didn’t get an A, that doesn’t mean you didn’t enjoy it. I enjoy B books, and I enjoy C or C+ books as well. I just enjoyed them despite the issues. The heroine may have been annoying, but the plot was great. There may have been slow parts, but the romance was hot! Etc. Etc. I just want other readers to know what I enjoyed and what I didn’t, to help them make their decisions.
My biggest bugaboos are cardboard characters with no discernable personality, no chemistry or mental lusting in place of relationship development, and world building that makes little sense or isn’t fleshed out.