We are doing some clean up around here. Picking Winners for all closed contests. Getting new contests set to post. Catching up on reviews and even putting together a ‘coming soon’ review page (I think, maybe)
Most of the stuff you won’t notice… tagging things, adding tags to old Guest Author Days so they can be found quicker. Getting posts categorized correctly and making sure everything is published. As well as deleting posts that were drafts that posted in one of my many moves, updates and upgrades.
And we will be adding an ‘About Us’ page… prolly second spot on top next to reviews. So you can find info about us, how to request a review if you like and a contact email.
This lead me to two questions…
Do you rate your books?
How do you rate your books?
To me a C review is still a good review. It is a book I might have read and really liked at the time but once it was closed it was out of sight out of mind. Or a book I enjoyed, think others would but would never read again. Doesn’t send me hunting for books by the author or make me go wow.
Often times for me the ‘C’s are the hardest reviews to write. It is easier to love or hate something.
So what about you?
**how sad is it this post was first done over a year ago and yet… I am STILL cleaning up things. I swear there are days I think of just throwing my hands in the air and deleting it all**
I don’t review books, but I have a “Keepers”, “Wall Bangers”, “TBR” & “Donate to Charity” book sorting method.
I have a breakdown of how I grade at my blog, but in a nutshell:
A = OMG! Stop whatever you are doing and find this book now!
B = Very good and recommended
C = Average. The good and bad even out.
D = I pretty much hated it and am so glad to have finished it. There were one or two redeeming qualities though.
F = It made my eyes bleed.
I add + and – as I see fit. An A- will still be a keeper, but there was a little something keeping it from being perfect. I’m notoriously stingy with my grading. A’s and F’s are pretty rare. B’s and C’s are more common.
I don’t rate books like school grades because I think there is an automatic negative connotation to them. *g* I guess mentally I put them into one of four different categories: Keeper, Good, Average, and Not Able to Finish.
I tried changing to a rating system at the beginning of this year and started putting grades to the books I read. I HATED doing that! It tortured me LOL! I’d much rather say what I liked about a book and what I didn’t like – throw it out there and let my buddies make up their own minds based on what I had to say. A keeper for me is one that makes me go back again and again to reread. Otherwise, they all get farmed out to friends in our lending loop, or donated to the library.
I rate out of 5, and have to agree that the average ones (which for me are probably 3.5) are definitely hardest to write. Having said that the lowest grade I have ever given is a 2.5, so maybe I need to revise my grading structure! The grade is always just a gut feeling, and doesn’t really make a lot of sense a lot of the time – even to me. I sit there and think, well if that book is a 3.5, how can that book be as well!
I rate them 1 to 10 with 10 being the “ultimate-everlasting-story” keeper. Some of my keepers I re-read them to re-evaluate them,bc, as you said, maybe they are keepers bc they were closer to my feelings then, when I first read them , than now.
I rate 1-5 on my “Books I Read This Year” list, with 3 being the rating I give the most. I also rate things DNF. I have a section where I put short notes–just enough to remind myself of the plot of the book and what I liked or didn’t like about it. I have to keep this list so I won’t reread things :). I try to give away or donate as many books as possible because our house is too small.
I get a DNF on that whole “getting rid of books” project, btw….
I place books and series in CATEGORIES. But since those categories DO NOT correspond to grades, I made sure to have 6 different categories so that it would not be confused with the 5 (ABCDF) grades. I basically decide where a book/series falls in relation to my Peanut M&M addiction.
*Crème Brûlée – My All-Time Moan-Out-Loud Favorites
*Lava Cake – reads like warm Chocolate Lava Cake… la Mode… sprinkled with nuts
*Peanut M&Ms – mmmm…devour… sigh… then reach for the next one. My daily dose of Insanity-B-Gone. Most books fall in this category.
*M&Ms – a bit lighter and/or not quite as satisfying as Peanut M&Ms, but still Oh-So-Enjoyable!
*Dark Chocolate – loved by some, just “meh” to me
*Coconut Truffles – SO not for me!
Yeah, I know… I went over the top with my confections theme. But, what the hell… it’s FUN!
I do a “Grade System”, but I sometimes wonder why I bother with it. I stick the grades at the end in a clever attempt to get people to read the entirety of my (usually)long-ass reviews. By then I’ve said what I have to say, so I don’t know if the summation grade is necessary. The choice of letter grades was pretty arbitrary, and the explanation is on my sidebar. Not all that different from you guys. After finishing a book, the letter grade I would assign is usually pretty clear to me. A lot of books fall into that C+/C range, my average grade. It’s definitely the toughest to review them, make them sound somewhat interesting while expressing my reservations. I also find really good reviews hard to write, being specific about why I loved it, without just gushing incoherently.
*G* I liked Wendy’s list.
A = OMG! Stop whatever you are doing and find this book now!
B = Very good and recommended
C = Average. The good and bad even out.
D = I pretty much hated it and am so glad to have finished it. There were one or two redeeming qualities though.
F = It made my eyes bleed.
I don’t really rate books. But if a book sucks, it goes into a box for good will. If I enjoy it, I keep it cuz I’ll want to read it again. And if I really, really love it, I might do a blog about it.
Of course, I havn’t been doing as much reading as i’d like so i don’t blog about books too much.
First: Sybil, take all the time you need–this is supposed to be fun, right? Don’t stress over it.
Srsly, don’t.
Second: I agree, meh books’ reviews are the hardest to write for me–particularly when I liked the premise and/or when the writing is good/competent, but there is something (usually characters) that drive me batty.
I totally agree, the “C” reviews are the hardest to write. It wasn’t good, wasn’t bad. It was just okay. The worst is when the plot is really good but the characters are just blah.
I don’t do letter grades, but my breakdown is:
Excellent (A)
Very Good (B)
Good (C)
Okay (D)
DNF (F)
I’ve tried rating with letters and rating with numbers and neither one worked for me. My current system is OMG Awesome, Loved It, Liked It, It Was Okay, Not Very Good, Really Bad, DNF. My ratings are just for me – or used as reference, if someone asks an opinion – since I’m not really a reviewer.
Most fall into the Liked It range (equating to a B or a 7 or so). An It Was Okay book would equate to a C and generally, for me, isn’t something I would recommend to others unless I really know their tastes and think it would work for them.
A: Awesome, loved it, will re-read it for sure
B: Pretty good, but no wow factor, and most likely won’t re-read
C: Okay, hard to finish, not a re-read. A lot of books with blah characterization fall here.
D: Disliked it. I don’t often finish these, and when I do, I usually regret wasting my time.
F: Hated it/DNF
I don’t grade books either. They fall into categories: Keeper. This group is subjective and based purely on will I read this book again. So, it could actually be a problemic read (ie-plot holes) but there’s something about it I love and want to revisit (ie characters, or prose, etc).
Then there are Really Good reads (only difference between keepers and this group is for whatever reason, I know I won’t re-read. But this might very well be an auto-buy.)
Good–I read it. Liked it for the most part. But I was able to put it down for long lengths of times.
Everything else is either a skim/read ‘meh’ or a DNF.
The Grading system from the old blog:
A=I love, love, love it. I would definitely re-read it. I want to hug it and kiss it and be its best friend.
B=I enjoyed it. It was definitely worth my time, and worth other’s time too.
C=I liked it. I don’t have anything too great to say about it, but I don’t have anything too bad to say about it either.
D=I wish I could say I liked it, but there was just too much lame stuff.
F=Oh the pain, the pain. Stay far, far away.
DNF=Did not finish.
Books will be given a plus or minus if they eke their way closer to the higher or lower category. I don’t grade DNFs,but I will comment on them because someone may find something of interest, for good or bad. As grades are subjective and mood based, they should be taken with a grain of salt.
I don’t rate books either. I have the books I’ll read again and again and the other books which I’ll pack away and never seen again.
I only review books on a yahoogroup for a few friends, but a grade is the first thing I try to determine because it reflects my overall opinion of the book. I rate out of 5 and depending on the book, I often go down to quarter points, especially between three and four. In my mind the gap between 3 and 4 is so much larger than between any two other grades. 3 is “average”, except for me average means it wasn’t very good. I don’t think I’ve ever recommended something I considered to be under 3.5. A book that I thought was good enough but that I don’t find much to say about would be at least 3.25 or 3.5.
If I had to write it down, my inner rating system goes about like this:
5- OMGOMGOMG !!!
4- Excellent
3- Meh
2- Waste of time
1- Should never have been written (I’ve never read a one :-D)