I Am Arbitrary

There. I admit it.

Let me explain...

I was reading Shannon Hale's blog the other day. (Have I said this before? I think I've said this before.) She posted a very thought provoking entry entitled How to be a reader: book evaluation vs. self-evaluation. I'd like to invite my bookwormy friends to pop on over there and give it and the comments that follow a read. (Some of the comments I make here might not make sense without reading the article first.) I found the entry really interesting. It gave me a lot to think about. I still don't know all of what I think. But, I'd love to discuss it with you all.

Here's what I've come up with so far...

1) I like Goodreads because it gives me a chance to get book recomendations from my friends. I like to know what they are reading more than I like to know how they rated something. I love the "To-read" feature so I don't forget the titles of things I want to read but may be too busy for at a given time.

2) I'm always surprised when a friend rates a book radically different than from how I rated it. I have a couple of friends who surprise me regularly. They often seem "difficult to please". I think they demand more from the books they read than I do, though this may not have always been the case. I was a pretty critical reader in college and I suspect I need to become a more critical reader as a writer.

3) How I hand out stars is rather arbitrary. I have given some childrens' picture books and some classics the same number of stars. Do they have equal literary merit, certainly not. It doesn't mean that each isn't great in its own way, ie. "Five stars because it's great fun for my 10 year old" or "Five stars because it was so beautifully written it is haunting my waking thoughts and some of my dreams." A few times I have caught myself rating a book by comparing it to other books in the same series, ie. "I liked this one more than the first one, but not as much as the third one." Occasionally, I'll compare one series to another and realize that although I've given individual books the same number of stars, I much prefer one series to the other. I think I'm okay with being irratic in my rating system.

4) If I have recently read or listened to the book I am much more likely to leave a review as well as a rating. If I remember that I've read a book and add it to my "Read" list in passing, it's not likely to get a review to go with it because the details have become fuzzy. Perhaps I should cease this practice? Someone commented on the article referencing this quote by Bertrand Russel, "There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it." Maybe when I rate without reviewing I am merely bragging that I have read it?

5) Self-evaluation...I have to agree that what we bring to a book as a reader radically affects how we respond that book. For instance, a few years ago I read Memoirs of a Geisha. Chalk it up to naivete, but I didn't know what I was getting into when I picked it up. I remember thinking at the time that it was incredibly well written. However, because of personal issues, I found it a very difficult, often extremely uncomfortable read. I think I'd probably rate it 4 or 5 stars. Would I recommend it to my friends or let my teenaged daughter read it? Hmm...

I fear I'm becoming long winded. If I have anymore deep thoughts, I'll share. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts. :D