Fickle with Five Star Ratings
I used to hand out five star ratings like candy on Halloween. If a book hit me particularly hard or really entertained the shit out of me, I just slapped it with the best rating. I was kind of under the impression that for a book to be considered a favorite, it needed the full five stars. Since then, though, I’ve kind of rethought my rating process and factors for determining what a favorite is. I talked about this recently with favorite authors and asked what makes an author one of your favorites. Most people agreed that if you LOVE a few of their books and then just LIKE a few others, they can certainly still be a favorite. Maybe a favorite author is just an auto-buy author. That’s generally how I see it. In any case, we all determined that just because they’re a “favorite” they don’t have to be PERFECT. You can love a book, call it a favorite, and still give it 4.5 stars. Conversely, I feel like you can really appreciate a fantastic book and give it five stars, but it doesn’t make it onto an all-time favorite list. Am I alone in this? I don’t know why I think this is true, but lately I just do. Some books I will scream about how much I love them but still have a few lingering ~negative feelings~ about certain aspects. Thus, they don’t get the perfect rating, but become a book I still yell about. This could […]
