Let’s talk bookish is a weekly meme, created and hosted by J.R. @Eternity Books , here different topics will be discussed.
I couldn’t make last weeks topic is ‘star ratings – are they fair or necessary’, but I thought it was very interesting, so I will just discuss it this week!
First I wanted to tell you the meaning of my ratings:
5 stars – Loved it! Probably a new favourite!
4 stars – I really liked it, but there was just something small missing!
3 stars – I enjoyed it, but nothing to special.
2 stars – Not a fan, there was not much I liked but there was something that kept my attention.
1 star – I really disliked it, might even be a DNF (don’t give this often).
Then I do give half stars, if I really can’t choose between two of them mainly 4.5 and 3.5!
Now onto the actual topic.
Star ratings are of course very personal, since the above list is how I see the ratings, but it can be different for others! I mainly give 3 or 4 stars, and quite easily give 5 stars. But there are readers who barely give 5 stars. So I would say no, star ratings are not very fair, since it is so objective!
And also, no it is not necessary, but it is very helpful. But even without star rating, if you read someone’s review you could easily find out of that reader loved or hated the book.
BUT I really like star ratings, it quickly tells you if someone did or did not enjoy the book. Especially if you’re familiar with someone’s reading tastes, it immediately can give you an idea if the book is something for you!
I definitely like star ratings on GoodReads, I generally don’t feel like reading the reviews there, but it does give you a very quick ‘summary’ of someone’s thoughts. What I don’t really like on GoodReads though is the average rating.. So often just give books 5 stars, without reading, because they love the author, or 1 star, because they dislike the author. This gives such unfair star ratings..!
I feel like this discussion was a bit all over the place haha!
Haha, we have the same opinion! Stars are definitely not necessary, but they are pretty convenient and give a quick summary. It also annoys me when people rate books without reading them-it’s just super unfair. I also pretty much use the same rating system! Anyways lol, thank you so much for participating!
P.S. I’m sorry for missing your post, but for some reason, I’m not getting pingbacks when you link to the page for LTB on my blog, so I’d really appreciate it if you linked to a post so that I’ll be sure to see it
Thanks for reading!
(Will do that next time!)
To star, or not to star. I know a lot of folks have stopped rating books alongside their reviews. I still give out ratings because I do feel like they’re helpful–especially to me when I’m doing my year end roundup and looking back at how I’ve rated things. No system is perfect because everything will be personal to the reviewer anyway and I think thaat we have to keep that in mind when looking at how books are rated by others. 🙂
Yeah both sides have good reasoning!
Yeah reviews will be personal in any case, so keeping that in mind is definitely the best way to go!
I like star ratings but they can lead to snap decisions of what they mean if you don’t read the review too, especially with 3 star books. I always get disheartened if a book I’m desperate to read gets 3 stars from someone but for some people that’s still a pretty good rating. Plus I sometimes feel that I give 5 stars too easily but if I can’t find a fault in a book and really enjoyed it I feel like it deserves 5 stars. I do kind of wish I had like a five star plus for absolute favourites like HP though.
yeah 3 star ratings are defintiely the hardest!
I also feel like I give 5 stars quite easily, less easily lately though!
haha 5 stars plus! I like that idea!
I believe that star ratings are subjective, and really, they’re for the reader. I use it as my marker for if I go back to reread something I do a check to see if I loved it or liked it before. If I loved it goes onto a reread pile, if I only liked it I tend to then go check on my review (if I wrote one) to remind myself why it was only ok.
I hate that you can rate books on Goodreads before you’ve read them – that makes absolutely zero sense to me. I also wish they had a DNF option (I normally don’t give them any rating if I DNF) and that’s mostly because the book might be good but I”m just not feeling it or it isn’t right for me.
Yeah it is hard for others to understand ratings since it’s so personal!
Yeah I never rate books if I dnf them! I just made a separate shelf for dnf books!
I love star ratings as well! Most of the time I try to be strict about my ratings (because Nen and Jen has two people we try to keep things consistent) but occasionally I rate a book higher just for the emotions it stirred up. We have very similar ratings processes 😀 Jen
Ooh yeah would be confusing of you use different meanings for the ratings!
I think emotions definitely play a role in my rating off a book!
I refer to Goodreads ratings a lot when I spot books that piqued my interest at a bookshop or library. It certainly helps especially when it’s a well-read book and has at least a few hundred ratings. Totally agree with the unfair ratings of people who give ratings before reading the book or those who didn’t like the author. Same thing in Amazon too when I’ve seen 1-star ratings because they received a book that was damaged. It annoys the hell out of me when that happens especially for newer authors or debuts who have so few ratings to begin with and those will skew the average unnecessarily.
Indeed if s book has a few hundred ratings, than those fake ratings don’t matter!
Yeah for big authors it’s not really a problem because people will read the book anyway. But it can be hard for new authors!
I totally get the arguments against star ratings, especially since they are subjective. I still like them as a short hand, but I’ve started writing a quick note next to my rating for what it means to me (ie. 4/5 Stars – Really Liked It). I did this in part because I was tired of getting notes on my 3 Star reviews saying “sorry you didn’t like it!” 3 stars for me (like you) mean I enjoyed it, I just wasn’t over the moon with it. It was fun, but not life-changing. I try to be very stingy with my five stars, those are for THE books of the year for me. I will unreservedly throw those books in anyone’s face.
Caitlin G. recently posted…Review: THE THRONE OF THE FIVE WINDS by S.C. Emmett
Yeah I like them to quickly see what someone thought!
The small note is smart!
Especially the 3 star rating is one that is very different for people haha!
I mean, that’s what five stars are for right? Making everyone read it haah!
I hate when people rate on goodreads without reading the book! It is super unfair and can be misleading. Luckily though I think most books have enough people who actually did read it that it kind of makes those rating irrelevant. Great post!
Brittany recently posted…Friday Face Off: Inn/Hotel
Indeed! Yeah that is true! I think it is mainly annoying for books that haven’t released yet.. I mean some people actually have read it by then, but I guess you will just have to look for the actual reviews than!