LeoIsMyName09 t1_jddda7x wrote on March 23, 2023 at 4:17 PM

Here is how I rate books:

5 stars - A new favourite, I'm obsessed with it, it's likely to stay on my mind for a very long time. I loved it, it's well-written, and I don't have any negative criticism of it.

4 - I really liked it, I found it thoroughly enjoyable, but it's not necessarily a favourite. This might mean I have some slight criticism of it, or that it it didn't leave a strong enough impression on me to rate it 5 stars. But still, really good book.

3 stars - This can mean a variety of things for me. It can mean that it was an average, generic reading experience for me. I didn't hate it, maybe I even liked it, but I didn't find anything that interesting about the book either. Or it can mean that I enjoyed a book and found it interesting but I have a lot of criticism. Thus, I have "mixed opinions". Or maybe I thought the story was interesting but didn't like the writing style, or something about the book didn't quite connect with me. In that case, I would say that it's still a good book and it's worth a read, but it didn't click with me that much, and so I only somewhat enjoyed my reading experience.

2 stars - This one is a very rare rating for me. It usually means I disliked a book but not due to it being problematic. Perhaps I thought it wasn't a very well-written book, but I don't have any beef with the book or the author. It means "I disliked it and I'd like to move on and not talk about it".

1 star - I reserve this for books I despise, especially if the book is problematic, for example by reinforcing misogyny or homophobia. The books I rate 1 star are books that use harmful tropes or normalise unacceptable things.

pensieve64 OP t1_jddjh48 wrote on March 23, 2023 at 4:56 PM

Out of interest with regards to the one star rating, would you ever read books knowing in advance they were heavily problematic, and if so what effect would this have on your rating of the book?

LeoIsMyName09 t1_jddkrwo wrote on March 23, 2023 at 5:04 PM

I have never intentionally read a book with the knowledge that it was problematic and don't see myself doing that in the future. I don't read books I think I won't enjoy.

LeoIsMyName09 t1_jddlrcr wrote on March 23, 2023 at 5:10 PM

But what's interesting is that, as I said, it's rare for me to give 2 stars to a book. That is because I've noticed that often enough, if I don't enjoy a book but can imagine other people enjoying it, I'm likely to up the rating to 3 stars out of kindness, even if, objectively, it would be more of a 2 star for me. If it's not something I passionately hate, I often feel like rating something 2 stars is too mean. On the other hand, if I hate a book, then it's a one star (and usually, if I completely hate a book, it is because it's problematic in some way). That means that I rate very few books 2 stars.