What my GoodReads ratings mean
The conventional wisdom is that working (or aspiring) fiction writers should not rate books on GoodReads. I’ve rated and reviewed every book that I have read since signing up back in July 2007. I don’t intend to stop even now that I’m actively submitting work to the pro market. That may be a mistake.
I also write about work that I think are interesting and worthy of critical attention here on my blog. For the most part, the books I talk about are ones that I have positive things to say about. The only exception is works that I find interesting even when I think that they are flawed or that I don’t connect with them fully. That may also be a mistake.
But mistake or not, I find that I often want to write about what I read. Even as I ramp up the amount of writing time I devote to fiction, I can’t stop also writing criticism (even if it’s of a generally positive not super-academic sort).
Since this is the case, I thought I’d share a few things about my readerly/critical activity:
- There is a perception that anything less than a 4-star rating on GoodReads is bad. I disagree and take their ratings at face value. GoodReads prompts for stars say that 5 = “it was amazing”; 4 = “really liked it”; 3 = “liked it”; 2 = “it was ok”; 1 = “didn’t like it”. That’s exactly how I rate books. That means that most of the books I read get 3 or 4 stars.
- Since GoodReads is a social site, I also like to think of it this way: any book that I give 3, 4 or 5 stars to is one that you should read if it looks interesting to you. If I give it 2, that means you should still consider it if it looks super interesting or very much within your tastes. If I give it 1 or zero stars, then you might want to skip it. Which means that the vast majority of the books that I have rated over the years are books I recommend.
- I’ve sometimes thought about why the vast majority of the books I rate get 3 or 4 stars. Is it because I’m too soft? Perhaps. But I also am usually rather picky about the titles I pick up. Almost always, I’ve read several reviews or received recommendations from friends which means there’s a lot of screening that goes on (which means I never pick up many of the 2 and 1 star books). In fact, most of the 2- and 1-star books I’ve read are titles that I just grabbed from the library shelf because it kinda looked interesting. I also kind of think of it as 1-4 are the equivalent of letters grades D through A. And 5 is an A+. That explains why 5 star ratings are rare with me. This analogy breaks down, of course, because of the stupidity of grade inflation here in the U.S. But just as a C should be a good grade in college, a 3 is a good grade when I give it.
- The reviews I write on GoodReads are meant to be readerly — not critical — reactions. I try to write them within a day or two (or just a few hours) of finishing the book. I don’t attempt to capture everything I thought or felt about the book. Just a capsule. Or I’ll point out something specific I liked (or didn’t liked).
- On the other hand, when I post about a specific book here, I will almost always dive back into the text (even if it’s just to re-sample a few brief passages) to help me crystallize or confirm the points I make. This puts it slightly more in the realm of literary criticism.
- Although I always try to write a GoodReads review, I’m not able to write lit crit blog posts about all the books that I would like to. This means that I offer more readerly reactions than critical reactions. I wish I had more time to write in depth about some of the books I read.
Comments
A Book I Edited
What I’m currently reading:
I use a similar method, except I also look at the book’s review average and consider whether I would prefer to see it go up or down.
Interesting. I do sometimes wish I could give half stars and would likely use them based on the same metric. But I also realize that half stars would just drag the averages up (like what happened with grade inflation and GPAs).
Wm,
FYI: In your system, a 3 is actually a B (5=A+, 4=A, 3=B, 2=C, 1=D). Which actually puts it pretty close to college grades in the U.S. today: high As are quite rare, low As and Bs are quite common, Cs usually mean someone slacked off or really struggled, and D typically means that you failed but still turned most stuff in and showed up more often than not. In college, failing typically means one or more major things didn’t get done. Most “zero” novels, presumably, never get finished.