“I’m bumping this up to a 4-star because, well, it’s better than three.
I just read an article by someone who said she doesn’t do star ratings anymore.
Let’s look at the reasons and why I disagree:
Star Ratings are Subjective
I mean, duh. But…the rating of anything is subjective. In fact, the publication of things, what gets published and what doesn’t, is also 100% subjective.
Subjectivity in micro is bad, but when a single book has thousands of reviews, it does tell you something about its quality. I mean…if we get deep into it, wouldn’t the best thing, the closest thing to objective rating, be to have everyone who can read the book in its original language read it, then rate it, and then we’d see where books fall on that spectrum?
Star Ratings Are Reductive
The idea here is that someone should read the review, not just look at the stars. However, I think Goodreads has a decent system for dealing with this in promoting more popular reviews. It’s not always good, sometimes it’s shitty and dumb, but if you look at the top 5 reviews for a book, you can get some idea.
The Personal Philosophy of the Writer of the Article is to Put The Right Book in a Reader’s Hands
Okay, if that’s your life goal, then yes, your usage of something like Goodreads is different.
Working as a librarian, of course, I have recommended many a book to someone that I personally did not enjoy. I did this because I thought THEY would enjoy it.
And that’s the thing, I don’t judge people for enjoying books that I think are sucky. Especially the oft-used example of kids and teens, who do not give a fuck that I gave a low rating to The Limit and thought it was stupid. Yeah, I thought it was stupid, but on the other hand, I’m not the intended audience.
I always rate books as me, not as the intended audience. Sometimes that’s unfair because it’s pretty unlikely I’ll rate a picture book or a Choose Your Own Adventure as a 5, but that’s fine! It’s not like kids who are in the picture book phase of life are combing Goodreads to find their next book. You go to the library, pick out some shit, and see what happens.
Nobody HAS to use stars. I’m a big advocate of everyone using Goodreads as it works for them.
I like using stars because it helps me remember. Also because half the time, I don’t even review the book at all. Liiiiiike I’m doing here. “