Wednesday, March 4, 2009

rating books

I'm dropping the number ratings for awhile. I will continue to note if the book is very highly recommended, highly recommended, recommended, so-so, not recommended, or if I did not finish it, so the idea of the 5 point scale is there but not the numbers. What I am pondering right now is some special notation of books that I would previously have given a 5, a very best award (like Bethany's Happy Chicken Award) and maybe a stinker award for the very bottom. I've always struggled with the idea of rating a book, but began doing it for a book group which required a rating. Since I'm no longer a member of that group, I really don't have to continue doing something that makes me uneasy.

I'm uncomfortable with a rating system simply because sometimes I read a certain kind of book for the escapism - and that's ok. After reading (and really liking) John Updike's rules for reviewing, I decided that a number rating system makes me too uncomfortable. I don't want to make any author an example, but let's take Alten's Meg books as an example simply because they are exciting escapism. I know they are not fine literature, but they were never intended to be fine literature. The pleasure my nephew and I had in reading Meg met Alten's purpose in writing it.

2 comments:

Lisa said...

I stopped rating my books the second year I had the blog. I do occasionally say something like "I'd recommend skipping this one unless you like...." or the positive equivalent. I do like the idea of an award for something outstanding though.

Lori L said...

I think I'm going to be much more comfortable just saying whether or not I'd recommend a book. The number rating of a book always felt so arbitrary. I'm still thinking about what my award will be for a very highly recommended book...