Day: August 28, 2010

I\’m considering doing away with my rating scale. For several reasons.

Too often, it is difficult for me to pin a number on a book. Many that I stick in the same rating category are really so different from each other; others I feel strongly about at one point but when I read them again don\’t find quite as good. Another reason is that although I\’ve noted that the middle rating \”3/5\” is a good book, several times I\’ve had readers make remarks like this in the comments: oh, I wanted to read this but you only gave it a 3, or: didn\’t you like this book? all it got was a 3. But on my scale a \”3\” is a good book! I don\’t know why this wasn\’t coming across more clearly.

Another reason is that it\’s just one more thing for me to do when I write up reviews; think of what to assign a book, and type it in. And does anyone even use it? I\’m sure some readers click on the category labels in my sidebar, but I\’m not sure if anyone ever uses the rating labels. I\’m thinking of keeping the \”Abandoned\” category and turning the 5/5 into \”Favorites\” because those are both ones I feel strongly about, and think other readers might be interested in seeing together: all the books I didn\’t finish, or all the ones I really love. But perhaps it doesn\’t make much sense to have favorites and DNFs and nothing in between….

So I\’m asking you, my readers. Do you use the rating labels? do you find them helpful at all? If I do away with rating books, should I keep the \”Abandoned\” and \”Favorites\” categories, or just ditch it altogether?