Rating System
I was looking through
my list and just about every book on there has a fairly high rating.
It occurred to me that some people may not trust my ratings, thinking that
I am just a high grader. This is not the case-- for the most part,
these are all very good books. Why no bad books? When I read
a book that I just plain don't like, I usually give it 100 pages or so
(perhaps 200 for a "classic") and then give up. If it has shown no
flashes of being interesting and worthwhile by that point, I think it's
had a fair chance. My theory is that there are thousands (tens of
thousands?) of great books out there which I'd probably love, of which
I'll end up reading only a small percentage. Why waste my time on
a book I can already tell I won't like. Nonetheless, I don't think
its fair to rate a book without completing it. Consequently, all
the books on the list have pretty good ratings. I've read some 1
and 0-star books, I just never finish them. The lesser-rated books
that made it to the least are invariable short enough that by the time
I'm ready to give up on them, it doesn't seem like that much more to read.
Jeremy Long was
kind enough to point out to me that others might be interested in just
what these unlisted books are (ostensibly to stay away from them).
Consequently, I have created a new page listing these rejected
books with a few brief comments upon why I decided not to read further.
As for the actual
ratings of books, I don't have much of an objective scale. I do think
a book should be truly special to merit the full four stars. I think
that means that it should be 1) very readable (can't put it down, or close)
and 2) thought-provoking in a meaningful way. There's some excellent
books that are very well done with fine characters and plot, but I feel
that to be a truly great book they should engage the reader to think beyond
the story. I also love great, real characters (I haven't found
anybody who does that better than Richard Russo) and a good sense of humor.
For fiction, a compelling plot doesn't hurt, either. Finally, I love
great prose-- a great writing style is probably worth an extra half-star
from me. These are roughly the factors that I consider in my ratings.
If you look for other things in a book, my ratings probably won't mean
much to you. Either way, happy reading.
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