It’s so interesting because I think of 3 star books as solid choices. I wasn’t wild about them but I think they’re often decent reads. Like a good C student, you know? Not a bad student but maybe not A+ lol 2 star reads are my cannot recommend choices. Books I feel like were mostly a waste of time for me. Ratings are interesting!
Yes the 3 stars I still recommend but they don’t stay with me as long. 2 stars I don’t recommend at all. I always think about my friend laughing at my 2 star review of a John Grisham book when my husband’s uncle couldn’t believe I was a lawyer who had never read him. I will not be reading any more John Grisham! I rarely feel like a book is 5 stars so I always rave about those but 3 stars I say I liked it a lot!
I used to love John Grisham years ago, but his more recent books have been DNFs for me. It’s sad to fall out of love with an author that I came of age reading.....
I own a law firm with my dad and he said he really liked some early ones including The Firm. He also liked Bleachers and didn’t mind this book my husbands’ uncle got me The Testament. But my reading that year ground to a halt bc of that book, it took me 4 months to read it.
Ratings sure are interesting! I give a lot of books 5 stars, and I have a colleague who says she only allows herself five 5-star reviews a year! I think that’s why even a tiny bit of a review as context is super helpful. Some people use 3’s as their LOVED, and reserve 5s for ones they deem as high brow literature, but when I read their glowing review, I can realize that I really do want to read the book!
Ah yes I know people like this. I don’t deny myself enthusiasm so I will give anything I loved exceptionally (picture book, chapter book, romance, cozy mystery etc) 5 stars IF I feel like it was amazing and changed me and unforgettable! I don’t have a limit but after reading so much MG I am more critical/have higher expectations. ALSO reviews are so subjective. One person’s 2 stars is another’s 5 stars. 3 star reviews tend to be more balanced. Most of my 3 star books are often either rated 4 or 2 stars or 3 stars by other reviewers I trust too.
“I don’t deny myself enthusiasm” ~ SAME, and I love how you worded that! I find it interesting that when I look at the average rating for books I might want to read, I tend to steer clear of books with an average rating of less than 3.7. However, if a lot of people are rating books they LIKED as 3 stars, then maybe I’m using a faulty threshold! I do tend to dip into the reviews too, but the subjectivity can be dangerous to the poor authors out there!
Also true! That’s why I try to rate higher when possible because people often disregard books rated 3 stars. Something else I do is look at how many ratings there are. If a book has over 100 ratings and a 3.5 star average, I think that’s good!! Vs a 5 star average with 20 ratings. But yes, short reviews help the best! Lol such a nerdy chat 🤓
YAY for nerd chat ~ best way to start my weekend ❤️ my theory is that the more read a book is, the closer to three the average gets because of the masses and their varying opinions. AND the fact that massively hyped books end up in the hands of readers who typically won’t read that genre, predisposing them to a lower rating. Vs a very niche romance story massively hyped by a super enthusiastic fan base - I take those ALL with a grain of salt!
The ‘I don’t really know what to say’ about 3 star reads is SO accurate. You don’t hate it or love it so it’s so hard to write about I feel the exact same! Whenever I’m doing my monthly reads and I get to a 3 star I always think ‘urgh do I have to write about this’ haha.
And Happy Birthday Katy !!! I hope you have the most wonderful day full of books and cake (the cake looks delicious) ❤️❤️
Thanks for the birthday love! When I realize that all I can really say about a book is, “well, I didn’t NOT like it”, that’s a 3 star review for me. And I don’t love recommending books to people when I have a bunch of disclaimers, so that’s another 3-star flag for me.
I always wonder how to talk about books that I'd give three stars to. I end up not talking about them when they might be done else's five star books. This was a great post! And the happiest of birthdays to you!
Thanks for the birthday wishes, Elizabeth! And I hope reading some of my 3 star reviews gave some insight into WHY these weren’t books I wholeheartedly loved
Ratings are so wildly subjective! I've started using the 3.25 to 3.75 stars a lot since I got a Storygraph, when I do rate a book, which basically varies depending on the number and severity of my quibbles. But three stars on their own generally either means it was fine but unmemorable or doing some things I appreciated but others that irked me significantly. (But not enough to give it two stars? Two stars means rant material, haha.) And happy birthday!!!!
Happy Birthday! Hope you have a relaxing day! I also have a hard time writing reviews for 3 star books, they're very middle of the road for me but sometimes I recommend them for the right reader
Rachel, I completely agree ~ will they stick with me or did they change the way I think about something?
It’s so interesting because I think of 3 star books as solid choices. I wasn’t wild about them but I think they’re often decent reads. Like a good C student, you know? Not a bad student but maybe not A+ lol 2 star reads are my cannot recommend choices. Books I feel like were mostly a waste of time for me. Ratings are interesting!
Yes the 3 stars I still recommend but they don’t stay with me as long. 2 stars I don’t recommend at all. I always think about my friend laughing at my 2 star review of a John Grisham book when my husband’s uncle couldn’t believe I was a lawyer who had never read him. I will not be reading any more John Grisham! I rarely feel like a book is 5 stars so I always rave about those but 3 stars I say I liked it a lot!
😂😂😂 @ John Grisham. Yeah 3 stars is for JUST FINE. It was fairly enjoyable but not rave worthy.
I remember liking The Firm when I was just out of law school, but my recent attempts to read his books just made me cringe.
I used to love John Grisham years ago, but his more recent books have been DNFs for me. It’s sad to fall out of love with an author that I came of age reading.....
I own a law firm with my dad and he said he really liked some early ones including The Firm. He also liked Bleachers and didn’t mind this book my husbands’ uncle got me The Testament. But my reading that year ground to a halt bc of that book, it took me 4 months to read it.
Ratings sure are interesting! I give a lot of books 5 stars, and I have a colleague who says she only allows herself five 5-star reviews a year! I think that’s why even a tiny bit of a review as context is super helpful. Some people use 3’s as their LOVED, and reserve 5s for ones they deem as high brow literature, but when I read their glowing review, I can realize that I really do want to read the book!
Ah yes I know people like this. I don’t deny myself enthusiasm so I will give anything I loved exceptionally (picture book, chapter book, romance, cozy mystery etc) 5 stars IF I feel like it was amazing and changed me and unforgettable! I don’t have a limit but after reading so much MG I am more critical/have higher expectations. ALSO reviews are so subjective. One person’s 2 stars is another’s 5 stars. 3 star reviews tend to be more balanced. Most of my 3 star books are often either rated 4 or 2 stars or 3 stars by other reviewers I trust too.
“I don’t deny myself enthusiasm” ~ SAME, and I love how you worded that! I find it interesting that when I look at the average rating for books I might want to read, I tend to steer clear of books with an average rating of less than 3.7. However, if a lot of people are rating books they LIKED as 3 stars, then maybe I’m using a faulty threshold! I do tend to dip into the reviews too, but the subjectivity can be dangerous to the poor authors out there!
Also true! That’s why I try to rate higher when possible because people often disregard books rated 3 stars. Something else I do is look at how many ratings there are. If a book has over 100 ratings and a 3.5 star average, I think that’s good!! Vs a 5 star average with 20 ratings. But yes, short reviews help the best! Lol such a nerdy chat 🤓
YAY for nerd chat ~ best way to start my weekend ❤️ my theory is that the more read a book is, the closer to three the average gets because of the masses and their varying opinions. AND the fact that massively hyped books end up in the hands of readers who typically won’t read that genre, predisposing them to a lower rating. Vs a very niche romance story massively hyped by a super enthusiastic fan base - I take those ALL with a grain of salt!
Happy early birthday. :).
The ‘I don’t really know what to say’ about 3 star reads is SO accurate. You don’t hate it or love it so it’s so hard to write about I feel the exact same! Whenever I’m doing my monthly reads and I get to a 3 star I always think ‘urgh do I have to write about this’ haha.
And Happy Birthday Katy !!! I hope you have the most wonderful day full of books and cake (the cake looks delicious) ❤️❤️
Thanks for the birthday love! When I realize that all I can really say about a book is, “well, I didn’t NOT like it”, that’s a 3 star review for me. And I don’t love recommending books to people when I have a bunch of disclaimers, so that’s another 3-star flag for me.
I always wonder how to talk about books that I'd give three stars to. I end up not talking about them when they might be done else's five star books. This was a great post! And the happiest of birthdays to you!
Thanks for the birthday wishes, Elizabeth! And I hope reading some of my 3 star reviews gave some insight into WHY these weren’t books I wholeheartedly loved
Ratings are so wildly subjective! I've started using the 3.25 to 3.75 stars a lot since I got a Storygraph, when I do rate a book, which basically varies depending on the number and severity of my quibbles. But three stars on their own generally either means it was fine but unmemorable or doing some things I appreciated but others that irked me significantly. (But not enough to give it two stars? Two stars means rant material, haha.) And happy birthday!!!!
I love the option of being able to do partial stars ~ yet another reason to try Storygraph sometime!
Happy birthday!! That Popsugar list of romance books is exactly what I needed 🥰 the icing on the cake of this whole newsletter. Thank you!
Oh yay! I’m happy I can help keep your TBR stocked ;-)
Happy Birthday weekend, Katy! I hope it’s full of all your favorite things and people 🎈
Happy Birthday! Hope you have a relaxing day! I also have a hard time writing reviews for 3 star books, they're very middle of the road for me but sometimes I recommend them for the right reader
Happy Birthday! 🎉