Friday, June 25, 2010

Thoughts on my 3 star ratings & Abandoned Books



My June reading has not been good and it made me look at my ratings and the books.  All different categories, so that was good not like all YA or something.  I definitely don’t think dystopian genre is for me though.
3 = More Sugar Please
To be clear now, 3 really means I could have done without reading it, just wasn’t my cup of tea.  But that Not my Cup of Tea rating is only a 2 on my blog and I realize I abandon those books and consider trying to complete them.  I also feel a 2 is really low if I completed the book so will continue with rating 3.  I want my readers to understand it is my opinion and taste not that the book was terrible and I wouldn’t recommend to others, the 1’s and 2’s would be in that category.
What I will do is if I abandon a book for more than a month I will rate it and move on. 
This is what I need opinions on please….
I am wondering if I should give up ½ ratings.  Amazon doesn’t allow ½ ratings and LibraryThing does.  Some 3 ½’s will become 3’s and others 4’s.   I need more time to think about this, what do you think?
These are the books that weren’t my cup of tea but I know others will enjoy and if they are on your TBR list I say give them a try.  I can honestly say I probably won’t read another book by the author either.
  1. Sexaholics by Pynk  (note – I abandoned for a few days then completed it)
  2. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
  3. Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher
  4. The Prisoner's Wife by Asha Bandele
  5. Uglies, Scott Westerfield
These are my 3 ½ rated books, I will put in order of my enjoyment.  They get 3 ½ because there was parts of the book I LOVED in some way.  I will definitely read more books by them.
  1.  Happiness Sold Separately, Lolly Winston 3 1/2 stars
  2. Such a Pretty Girl, Laura Wiess 3 1/2 stars
  3. Heartsick by Chelsea Cain 3 1/2 stars
  4. Push by Sapphire 3 1/2 stars
  5. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk 3 1/2 stars
  6. Gone by Lisa McMann 3 1/2 stars
  7. The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers 3 1/2 stars
  8. Halo Effect by M J Rose 3 1/2 stars
If not completed by end of year, I will rate accordingly, this is what I think will be best.  I may do a 1 year abandoned books post at the end of each year. These are the 2 books I have abandoned so far and may or may not complete.  If you have read them and feel the ending was great I should read it, please post your review in the comments.
The Pleasure Was Mine by Tommy Hays
&
The Splendor Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore

So my questions are:
Should I give up ½ ratings?
How do you do reviews on books you have abandoned?

Thanks for visiting Tea Time with Marce

12 comments:

  1. Keep 1/2 ratings! I wish amazon would allow them. I haven't abandoned any books since I started my blog.

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  2. I love 1/2 ratings. I depend on them SO much for my own reviews, so I would definitely say, stick with them.

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  3. I also like 1/2 ratings. They're very useful.

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  4. If I do a review on an abandoned book, I call it Unfinished Friday and I don't rate it. I don't use 1/2 star ratings (I have a very idiosyncratic system) but sometimes you need the extra subtle distinctions. I would keep them!

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  5. I am one of those that wishes Amazon had 1/2 ratings. Sometimes there are some books that aren't really 4 stars, but above 3 stars. I end up giving them 4 because there is not 1/2 mark.

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  6. I guess I'm one of the few who isn't a fan of the 1/2 rating. I try to keep my ratings as simple as possible, and the half rating would just complicate things for me. While I have reviewed unfinished books before, I try to explain why I chose to abandon the book as well as mentioning any good points, since others may enjoy it.

    Good luck with your decision!

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  7. i wish amazon/goodreads etc would allow 1/2 rating. I have them on my blog. for DNF (did not finish) i give them zero star but also specify that they are DNF.

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  8. Forgot to mention - I like Shutter Island, 13 reasons why and Uglies, but haven't read any of the other books you mentioned! :)

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  9. I do not review a book that I abandoned, but I do mention it in a weekly or monthly wrap-up. I had a hard time getting into Uglies but once I did, I enjoyed it.

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  10. If I have abandoned a book, I don't do a review, technically speaking. But I plan to do a single post, listing all the books I abandoned and why I did so. I won't be rating them, however.

    As for the 1/2 thing, I don't think it matters much, unless you really want to have more thresholds to judge the books you read. If you can handle 10 bars fine, then you should be good. On the other hand, if you think it's too much, then you could drop it. Whatever you are comfy with. I don't think a reader would worry about that. Maybe I am too thick or sthg, but I somehow don't see much difference between a 4 and a 4-1/2.

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  11. I think you should do whatever feels right for you. As a blog reader, it doesn't matter to me as long as I know what the scale is. I like using half stars myself because I have such a hard time choosing sometimes! I don't use my half stars often, but I like knowing they're there.

    It's very rare that I don't finish a book. The last one was at the end of last year. I didn't mention it on my blog at all since it wasn't for review or anything. I did rate what I had read and write a little bit about it on GoodReads. It also went on my "could not finish" shelf.

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