I
have been thinking about writing this for a long time. I feel like my reading
taste and the way I rate books has changed so much over time, and the
ratings I give to books depends so much on my mood, that sometimes I feel bad
when I rate them. I feel bad because sometimes books I like so much more than
others end up with the same rating or with a lower rating, because I read them
at different points of my life or because I read one of them when I was in a
reading slump and the other when I was not, or because I rate genres
differently. It's just that there
are so many things that affect the rating of a book that have nothing to do with
the book, and sometimes I feel like I'm being unfair.
Ratings
get harsher as time goes by
I
feel like I'm more critical when I rate books now, than, let's say, when I
started to rate books on Goodreads. Being older has come with changes in the
way I see the world, the things I consider important, I have also had time to
read more and learn what I like and what I don't. The change in the ratings has
to do with a lot of things, and sometimes I feel like it's not fair to some
books. This situation has got to the point were I have been tempted to go back
and change the rating I gave a book I read years ago. The thing is I think
that's not fair either, because even if now my reading taste has change or I
have read more and I can see that maybe that book wasn't as good as I though it
was back when I first rated it, I think it's not fair to the book that I
change the rating after years, when I don't even remember the book so well, and
I don't remember how I felt when I read it or what I thought when I read it.
Ratings
are different for different genres
Also,
I feel like sometimes I ask more of some genres and I go easy on some
others. Fantasy is my favorite genre, and I have read some amazing fantasy
books and I even have some categories that I rate when I'm read this genre.
Sometimes, I'm really harsh with some fantasy book, simply because I have read
great fantasy! On the other hand, I read YA contemporary and new adult, and I
rate them mostly based on the level of entreteinment they provided. Sometimes,
fantasy books that I liked more than some contemporary or new adult book, get
the same rating.
For
example, I read Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes and I gave it a 3 or a 3,5
stars. I felt like it wasn't as good and I had a lot of little problems
with it. Nonetheless, I still feel like I liked it more and it gave me more
than a lot of the new adult books I have read and that have the exact same
rating. Nonetheless, I also know that books from one genre and from the other
are trying to accomplish different things, and that's why sometimes I'm more
critical with some book than others.
Ratings
depend of other things as well
The
thing is, in the example of Falling Kingdoms, I didn't rate the book only
thinking about the genre it belong to. When I read the book, I was in the
middle of a reading slump, so that affected the way I felt towards the books
and it affected the rating it got. And that's my last point, there are other
factors, like mood and life situations, that affect the way I rate books and
there's not really anything I can do about that. Sometimes I use reading as an
escape and I read when I'm in a bad place with my family or with school, and
that affects the rating the book gets, but I'm not gonna stop reading because
of that. And this can go both ways, sometimes my life isn't in a good place,
and a book helps through that and it makes me feel better, so it gets a higher
rating.
So...
That's why sometimes I feel bad rating books. After thinking about
it, I feel like I need to rate books based on what they intended to do
(entertain, make you think, confront you with something, make you believe in
the impossible), and that includes rating books according to the genre they
belong to (because the authors have to do different things depending on what
genre they are writing). I have not found a definitive solution to this
problems I found while rating books. Nonetheless, what I have been doing lately
is trying to give books more especific ratings, not only giving 3/ 3.5/4,
but also 3.7 /4.2/4.7. It just something I'm doing to try and say more with my
rating, and it actually has help me calm my anxiety over this issue. I don't if
it would work for anyone else, but for me it has help a little.
Let
me know your thoughts about this, I really woud like to know! how do you rate books? what external factors affect your ratings? If you have made blog post discussing how you rate books or anything related to the subject, let me a link!
