Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and Dini @ DiniPandaReads! In this discussion meme, participants get to talk about certain topics, share opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! Learn more about LTB, past topics and future topics HERE.
The Elusive 5-Star Read
This week’s Let’s Talk Bookish is the Elusive 5-Star Read. Ever since I started blogging, many years ago, there’s been controversy around the rating system, and for good reason. It’s so subjective that book ratings actually don’t really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. My 3-star rating might be so different from someone else’s 3-star rating that parsing the differences from one to the next can be time-consuming and difficult. Heck, there’s no consistency between my own ratings, which can be extremely unhelpful.
In fact, there are lots of bloggers I know who have foregone the star rating entirely, for various reasons. For example, Kal @ Reader Voracious has a very thorough explanation for why she’s done away with star ratings for reviews that I think offers a clear perspective. Many of the things Kal talks about are things I relate to. I’ve found that many of my “favorites” that I enjoy re-reading are actually books I gave 4 stars to, and some books I gave 5 stars to I will likely never read again. Confusing? Very. But I never claimed my rating system made sense.
I’ve discussed ratings previously on this blog, in posts like What Do Ratings Really Mean? I keep using ratings here on The Bookwyrm’s Den because I value them myself when I read reviews. I like to use them at a glance to determine where in the spectrum an individual believes a book falls, before diving deeper into the reviews. I like the concise, summarizing aspect of a star rating, even if I realize that it’s not a perfect system.
What Does A 5-Star Read Look Like For Me
As I’ve said previously, even my own ratings are squishy, meaning they fluctuate based on my moods. A 5-star read might feel like a 3-star on a re-read, and vice versa. For me, a 5-star read is a feeling more than a checklist of techniques and elements that need to be present, which makes it all the harder to pinpoint. For the most part, though, when I’m debating how to rate something, I’m looking for the following to determine that it’s truly a 5-star read for me:
- Re-readability. I don’t generally read books more than once, because who has time? There are so many books still waiting to be read for the first time that it sometimes feels silly to re-read books. But 5-star books? They’re worth bumping a new read to revisit again.
- Book Hangover. When I turn the last page and I’m forced to admit the book is truly well and over . . . how does that make me feel? Am I still desperately clinging to the world I just left behind? Am I feeling forlorn, like I’ll never read anything that will live up to that experience again? Am I at risk of sliding into a reading slump, chasing the high this book left me with?
- Time Distortion. No, not the magic kind (Although, if a book successfully teaches me how to manipulate time, I’ll also give it 5-stars). Rather, when I read the book, do I lose sense of time? Do I forget that I have other responsibilities and have to force myself to put the book down in order to reluctantly rejoin the “real world”?
- Emotional Roller Coaster. How strongly does this book make me feel things? It doesn’t need to be any one way, either. Sometimes a book can just be funny, and if it makes me laugh with reckless abandon, that might be enough. Sometimes a book just absolutely destroys my heart and withers my soul, and that’s also okay. The bottom line is I want to feel something so strongly that I have a physical reaction to it.
- Fascinating Characters. I’m very much a character-driven reader, more than a plot-driven one. I need at least one character that grabs my attention. I don’t need to love this character. I don’t even need to like them. I just need to find them compelling one some way, shape, or form, even if it’s just wishing for their untimely demise.
5-Star Reads That Stand The Test of Time
While I don’t ever change my ratings after the fact, when I go back on my Goodreads ratings, there are some that I wouldn’t rate the same today as I did before. But these? These books are ones I would still consider 5-star reads. Click on the cover to go to the book’s Goodreads page!
I love this topic of conversation because star ratings are highly subjective, although I’ve never considered dropping them personally. I do half star ratings and I hand out a LOT of 4.5 star ratings, meaning I’m pretty stingy when it comes to giving out 5 stars. I just know it’s a 5 star book when I finish it, and if I’m on the fence I know its NOT a 5 star book, but probably 4.5.
Fun post!
It’s always interesting to see what people have to say about this. It’s definitely the feeling while you’re reading and how you leave it – at least for me. Every time I think about ratings I can’t help but think of Who’s Line Is It Anyway specifically this part: “where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter” 😁
That is an absolutely PERFECT way to describe it! Sometimes when I’m really stuck on a rating, that’s exactly what I hear in my head lol. “Everything is made up, and the points don’t matter.” And then I shrug and choose one.
I find it so interesting when people use half star ratings. I’ve considered doing it myself, but I’m already indecisive enough as it is, and I feel like adding that many options will result in decision paralysis. xD If I know it’s not a 5 star, I give it a 4. I feel like if 4.5 was on the table, I would then spend forever trying to determine the difference between 4 and 4.5 lol. That being said, I enjoy seeing reviews that use half stars, as a sort of more “precise” rating (whatever the heck that actually means lol). I can definitely see the benefit of having more options to convey how you feel about a book!
It really is so subjective and no one is going to feel the exact same way about a book, even if they wind up loving it just as much. It’s funny how ratings are always so controversial—it’s one of those cyclical topics that I feel the book community just *has* to recycle every now and again. 🤦🏻♀️ I love the list of what you’re looking for in a 5-star read. The emotional rollercoaster, fascinating characters, and to an extent, the level of book hangover it gives me definitely go a long way in influencing this. And SO MUCH YES to so many of the books you’ve listened here. Nevermoore, Illuminae, Vicious, and Cerulean Sea are defo on my all-time faves as well! Great post and thanks for joining LTB this week 🙂
Mort <3 And a Monster Calls is just so heavy and 5 star worthy. One day, when Merijn is quite a bit older I want to read that book with him. Perhaps the dutch edition though, I think there is one.
I don't add star ratings to my blog reviews anymore but I do on goodreads and my own reading journal. Goodreads and storygraph are quick mediums really where a rating works to see an opinion in a glance, but I feel like my reviews on the blog shouldn't be that. So I cut them out. Also partially because of that discussion. And also my 3 star rated books might end up becoming your favorite books. We all differ so much on what will work for us.
I read A Monster Calls probably once a year, and I can’t figure out why I constantly put myself through it, other than it’s just too good not to.
That’s so interesting! I hadn’t even considered using star ratings vs. not using them on different mediums. Obviously, places like Goodreads are really hinged around star ratings (and they don’t allow half stars, either). That’s so fascinating!