My Rating System: 5 Stars & Gut Reactions

 This was originally posted when I was on Wordpress, but I wanted to have it here also

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I watched this video from Kirsti on her rating system for book reviews, and thought it was a great topic. As she points out, rating systems can vary a LOT between different people and since my blog has revolved around book reviews lately, it makes sense to show exactly what my ratings mean.
Like Kirsti, I use a 5 point system that includes half stars and is mostly based on gut reaction.

I generally have an idea how I will rate a book throughout, but it really depends on the ending.

There may be an extra half a point or so for an amazing cliffhanger, or a full point for a character I just really love (for instance, my love of The Walking Dead grew exponentially when Michonne came into the picture- she is probably my favorite female character on television…ever).

So here we go- my rating system! This is written specifically for books, but roughly translates to TV and movies also.

 

5 Stars usually means it was either a) amazing and so spoke to me and literally everything felt relevant to my life, but more typically b) touched on SO MANY topics or SO DEEPLY that I feel like it’s an amazing stepping stone to deep conversation (I call it my English class theory: my freshman English professor would split us into two teams and assign sides for a debate, then make us switch sides and debate the opposing view during the second half of the class/at the next meeting- 5 star books are books where each side would have a valid argument).

4 stars means I really loved it, or found it interesting or unique. It was a very good book, but not quite mind-blowing or universal.

3 stars equal good, not great. I don’t feel like I wasted my time, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend. Probably my most common rating.

2 star books I pretty much hated it and only finished because I cringe at the thought of not finishing books.

A 1 star book is one that I didn’t finish and it’s a piece of trash and UGH WHY DID ANYONE BOTHER WRITING THIS.

And the half-stars mean I am somewhere in the middle of the categories, but that seems pretty obvious.

I try to review books on Goodreads and add a stared review and add it to my shelves as soon as I finish…or else I never do.

 This is why it says I’ve only read something like 285 books or 2 for the entire year of 2014. I was doing a lot of book reviews on the blog over the past few months, but  the past few I wrote a quick basic review on Goodreads right away.

What is your rating system?