ARE BOOKWORMS UNREASONABLE?
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- ARE BOOKWORMS UNREASONABLE?
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I do not understand why there is even an option to rate and review books that aren't out yet. Sometimes it doesn't even have a tittle and people are already giving bogus ratings. I understand that people get arcs, but that's a small percentage.
Goodreads sucks that’s why 😂
I think it becomes tricky and complicated when it comes to arcs. The whole point of sending out an arc is to get it in readers' hands and have them rate the book before it comes out so it becomes more visible. So when does goodreads make it okay for people to review? That means they'd have to keep up with when every publisher is sending out arcs of every new book.
People who complain about not understanding a book because they haven’t read the previous books (and the same goes for movies) are probably my biggest pet peeve 😂
exactly like go read the other books first what is wrong with you
oh gosh yess
Yeah, this baffles me. Sometimes I read books later in a series, but if I found it hard to follow I dont rate it, as I have clearly missed something.
@@kateg9437 exactly if your gonna do it fine I do it sometimes but if I end up being confused then ill go back and read the books. and if i dont feel like doing that then i wont rate it at all
@@ummm2176 yep, exactly. If I am confused I just dont rate it. Sometimes books in a series do work as stand alone though. If I have a book mid series I am interested in (want to read but dont want to buy the earlier books) I usually ask one or two people on goodreads if it can be read as a standalone
I rate DNFs depending on the reason I put it on my DNF list. Sometimes I’m just not in the mood to read the book I picked up, or it just isn’t my style. For those, I don’t give ratings. If the book is written poorly to the point where I can’t enjoy a story I know I would like, I give it a low rating.
Me too. IMO that's totally reasonable though, because then you are actually pinpointing a thing you didn't like and that thing that made you dnf it.
I think that’s fair if you’ve read enough of a book. I personally try to go anywhere between 50 pages to a quarter of any book. If I’m still uninterested it’s time to let it go, the book had a fair shot at that point.
I try and read 30-50% before I rate my DNFs
I definitely agree that there should be a separate section that allows you to rate and review audiobooks. I know of some people who didn't like the book but the audiobook changed their mind and vice versa, so that'd be good knowledge for people to know before they consume a story.
With some books the audiobook adds so much to the story than the physical book.
I think lots of people forget that Goodreads is also mostly a personal library/recommendations service, so many people rate books with "don't like it" just to let the algorythm and their friends know that they don't like/are not interested in that one, and would like the books they keep getting recommended to reflect that. Many people forget that low stars on GR just mean "don't like, not for me" and don't say anything about objective quality (there are many other sites that attempt the latter). Personally, I have zero problem with 1 star "stop recommending this to me" ratings. GR ratings are meant for expressing your personal taste and getting the right recs for you. If you're interested in more objective ratings, just look at professional review sites or book awards.
OR OR when people rate romance-heavy books low because they’re too romantic HAHAHHAHA like??? that’s the whole point LMAO
dhajdbansjs i hate that
If I read about fantasy, I want to read about fantasy. Not about 50 shades of blades and roses....
@@maude657 Yeah but thats you. I like romance heavy fantasy books and so do a lot of people. So if you know it's not for you, why would you read it?
@@jazsminlyon6884 romance as a sub genre is fine for a lot of people. But when its the main genre, caution needs to be taken. If you havent noticed, modern romance is easily hated because its lack of quality storytelling. Toxic relationships. Creepy to abusive people and creates unrealistic expectations of men irl.
@@Trinity-pd5yz im not sure really what that has to do with what I said! Not trying to be rude lol. All I'm saying is just because they don't enjoy it, doesn't mean that other people can't. I read fiction. So if that stuff happens in fiction novels, I'm old enough to know what is and is not okay in my real life. I am not someone who wants my fiction to conform to my real life society. Everyone has different opinions, and mine is that if you read a synopsis that mentions romance, and you do not like that, then why would you pick it up?
Great conversation on ratings. I purposely dont give stars. My reading experience and enjoyment of a book can sometimes be mood driven. I prefer to summarize the book and my feelings about it and let people decide from there. That's just me tho...
My biggest pet peeve is when reviewers read through a book they know they won’t like and rate it low then make a video review of the book. The reviewer continues to read books by authors they know they don’t like just to post a video about the book.
So true! You can pick up the tone of when they went into a book knowing they weren’t gonna like it straight away.
I disagree with this take. If I know a reviewer is consistent with their taste in books with what I like then it can be a pretty decent guage as to whether or notI should pick it up or not.
Just referring to goodreads reviews specifically, if I see more than 1-2 gifs/memes, I stop reading the review 😅
THIS. I hate that too oh lord, and the memes are always super old too that nobody uses nowadays.
I am guilty of retrospectively changing my ratings. Generally though its due to memorability and whats stuck with me over time and not from reading subsequent books in the series
I recently did that after I looked at my read books list and questioned why I had rated 3-4 of them how I had. Basically, felt that I just fixed my ratings for them.
See, THIS is a polite way of an author saying something critical about rounding star ratings down on goodreads, without getting mean, petty or calling everyone who does it an a**hole. It can be done, Lauren Hough. 👀
Hmm, I don't quite agree with the half-star thing. Sometimes I round up, other times I round down, and it pretty much comes down to overall "feeling" - and I'm not going to round up just because it's the "positive" thing to do if I don't quite "feel it". 🤷🏻♀️ And to be fair, I highly doubt this really "hurts" the author in any significant way. As an aside, while I'm not enamoured with TheStoryGraph (I think GR's shelving system and overall aesthetics are a thousand times better), I do enjoy the fact you can rate down to the quarter star, which then makes it possible for me to apply my x/10 rating system.
When I see reviews on books which haven't even been published yet, I honestly just report them (not if they're ARC reviews, obviously), because yeah it really bugs me lol. And I do the same with troll reviews (by that I mean reviews where it's clearly stated the person has not in fact read the book).
Retroactively changing a rating? Yeah I have zero problem with that, and have done it several times after re-reads, going up or down.
DNFs are tricky... I mean, it isn't so much a problem for me as I've only DNFed a grand total of three books in my life. 😆 But I guess I'd only feel comfortable rating a DNF if I'd at least read like a solid third to half of it. I agree giving one star to a book after having read like, a couple of pages, is ridiculous.
Also... do people really just pick up the third book in a trilogy without having read the previous entries?! Just... why though? 😆
The DNF conversation is so interesting to me since it seems like movies and books have different rules. I'd never trust someone's opinion on a movie they stopped halfway through, but with books people seem to feel differently? That being said, I've pushed myself to finish books I hated before and at the end, I still hated them 😅 so who knows!
Maybe it's because it's less time investment to just finish the movie than finishing a book? But I agree, now that you mention it I wouldn't listen to someone know who said they dropped a movie halfway.
Idk if someone told me a movie they tried to watch was so boring they couldn’t finish. I’d be inclined to believe them.
But if they start critiquing things like characters and plot without finishing then yea I wouldn’t listen to them.
Off-top, but every time I hear your violin at the end of the video I instantly wanna go and read some fantasy тт
I think it’s from the Witcher 3 soundtrack! look it up it’s amazing :)
The reason I personally tend to round down when I have a half star rating is because rounding up doesn’t feel earned, if that makes sense? A 4.5 read feels closer to a 4 for me because otherwise it would have been a 5 (I’m not stingy with 5 stars personally). There have been a few cases where I did round up, because it gave me the 5 star feeling but had one tiny thing that felt a little off compared to other 5 star reads. But I do get what you said about feeling bad for the author when rating down. I don’t use Goodreads that much so I don’t feel as bad when the rounding down is only for my own yearly/monthly stats.
My brain broke a little when you said some people read books in a series out of order. Why would you DO that? (Unless you did your research and other readers told you that you didn't have to read the series in order). I would ignore a rating by someone if they admitted they didn't read the previous book(s). I agree with you 100% that there needs to be a better way to differentiate your ratings of a book if you listen to the audiobook. I have both experienced where the audiobook decreased my enjoyment of the book (Girl of Fire and Thorns: Audiobook was a 2-star, but when I read it physically it was a 5-star), and where it has increased my enjoyment of the book (Illuminae: Audiobook was a 5-star, but physical book was a 3-star). I do like that on Audible, you can give a separate rating for the performance of the audiobook (c'mon Goodreads, give us something like that!). Really enjoyed this video you put together. You always give me something to think about.
i love changing ratings in retrospect. usually i do it when i read several books by the same author in order to indicate which ones i liked more and which less. also, at the end of the year i look back on all the books i've read and rank them change some ratings. to be fair though i raise them much more often then i lower them. bc i still have this subconscious internalized bias against genres that are considered "less intelectual" often i have to look back on everything i've read that year and honestly answer the question if i really liked this brillinatly written literary fiction book that i haven't spared a single thought to after finishing it but rated 5 stars more than, say, a ya fantasy that i rated 4 stars bc it "had some issues" but which somehow is on my mind almost every day. that's why i compare everything i've read and "weigh" these books against each other and in the end usually just raise the ratings of a bunch of ya books and romances hehe
however, i never dnf. a half-read book is a half-finished love-affair and although it might seem that this doesn't apply to the books you don't like, for me it still feels like a relationship that lacks closure. most people dnf books frequently and i think that's very reasonable, but i still believe that the rating of a person who didn't finish the book is insubstantial. what if the entire point was in the second half, or quarter, or in the last chapter? for me it's much more satisfying to bear with the author till the very end and then give them their well-deserved two stars.
I always try to look up my reviews from the first book or look at other people’s reviews. I totally agree it’s not fair to rate low just because YOU don’t remember
"take a shot every time I say strongly in this video." Well I guess I'm going to be drunk at work today.
If I change rating, it's usually a case of raising it because it has really stuck with me. I have lowered a rating upon reread, but it's usually a case of it being a book I read years and years ago and now I find it very problematic. I don't rate DNFs. I don't think it's fair for a book I haven't finished.
I’m glad your talking about what is fair. I remember watching some of your videos last year, I enjoyed your commentary on the way of kings. I also remember watching a video of you expressing worry about Kaladin, a time when he almost died in the book. I’m reading through Words of Radiance now, I’m about a third the way through.
I round down on goodreads. I understand the argument for rounding up. I round down because I feel like the book met the threshold for the lower rating but not for the higher rating. I feel more honest rounding down but I will agree if the author is new or struggling it may be better to round up to help them out.
I always rate up on Goodreads except when its a 4.5. If it's a 2.5 I''ll give it a 3 but if it's a 4.5 I'll give it a 4 because I feel like 5 stars should be saved for those amazing books that leave you needing more
I never understood why people rate books low because they didn't like the translation. I've seen reviews that commented on the sentence structure and how bad it was and that the author was not a good writer, but the reviewers read a translation of the book. Doesn't make any sense to me.
Underrated comment. I think quite a few English-speaking readers pick up translated works and then are surprised to find writing conventions and short hand they are used to from English-speaking authors are absent from these works
There are a few authors that do a previously on like Mark Lawrence and K.S. and I LOVE THEM for it!! It's so incredibly useful! A really takes out the pain of rereading all that when binge-reading the series.
Oooh, I definitely round up with my star rating!!
I am one of those people who rate down instead of up when I give something X.5 stars. And I do it for a simple reason: the book was not good enough in my opinion. If I do the X.5 thing I want to emphasize that it is better than what I usually rate X stars. But it is not good enough to be a X+1 star read either. I cannot rate up with a good conscience because it is simply not how I feel about the book
I feel the same way and I was about to comment this. I remember seeing someone on Booktube saying that and ever since I’ve agreed. If a book gets 3.5 it’s good enough to be a 3 but not good enough to be a 4 so why should I rate it a 4?
Agreed!
@@michellesmirnova4471 agree to disagree.
Everybody has their own rating systems and scales. I try to keep mine consistent but I don't know if I always succeed. So other peoples' rating systems don't really bother me- two things that do, though, are when people rate a book before it comes out, and those who give a lower rating to a sequel when they haven't read the prior book(s). That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard of, lol.
I completely agree with all your points!
There's a very famous classic French series (Rougon-Macquart by Emile Zola), unfortunately not very hyped outside of France (but I think it's because most books in the series hadn't been translated into English for so long - there's 20 books). Most people say you can read them out of order, but the stubborn person that I am didn't want to do that, so I read the first five books chronologically... And I'm so glad I did! You at least have to read the first book for context, and even more so since some characters come back later on, and how in the world could you understand their motivations?? We're following two branches of one family tree and the generational trauma/family feud resulting from the events happening in the first book... And you would just skip that one? Some important characters come back in the fourth book and their motivations are not explained because the author assumed you read the first book. So what people say is actually misinformation in my opinion, and that's why I never, never read a series out of order, even if most people say it's fine.
Also, I can relate to what you said about Vin and how you saw yourself in her. The series I just talked about explores the consequences of toxic family traits being passed on to later generations + the choices your parents and their parents before them made, and it was the first time I felt seen in literature, and that's why Zola is my favourite author. His understanding of the ugliness of humanity (and its glimpses of beauty sometimes) moved me deeply.
And yeah the .5 star rating thing is weird to me too. I always round up if I do half stars.
I find all these really interesting because I often have conflicting feelings on them. I personally really don't like it when people rate books before they're released. I feel like doing that is dishonest because you can never be 100% sure of a rating until you've actually read the book, and it also messes with the average rating, which bothers me. If people really want to say something about a book before it's out, Goodreads does give you the option to write in your review space without rating it.
I always rate my DNFs, mostly because my DNFs can be wide-ranging. I don't always rate them 1 star. Sometimes they're 2 stars and the reasons I DNFed that book are different from the reasons I will DNF and give a 1 star rating. I mostly just do it for myself so I can keep track of my thoughts.
I agree with you about retroactively rating books. I don't see the point because I would always be doing that. There are so many books I read and loved when I was younger that I now see huge problems with and would rate considerably lower if I were to re-read it now. I tend to just leave the ratings as they are because they're a reflection of how I felt at the time.
When it comes to half stars, I usually round down, especially when it's 4.5 stars, because I feel like it's dishonest to myself to round up. With 4.5 star ratings, I don't feel like I can round it up because 4.5 means that, as much as I may have loved the book, there was something key missing, even if it's just a minor thing, that means I can't make myself rate it 5 stars even if I wanted to. With lower ratings, I might round up if I'm feeling kind, or if it's just closer to the higher rating. But with 4.5, I always round down.
Yeah, people DNFing after such a small amount of pages bugs me. I think after a certain amount, you can just tell if it's not for you, but I believe in always giving a book a chance and I'll never completely tear apart a book in a review if I don't feel like I've read enough to justify those negative opinions. I personally think giving a book around 50-100 pages should be the minimum, but that may just be me. I've noticed a trend for myself where I tend to DNF around the 200-250 page mark.
I have no idea why people would knowingly read a later book in a series and then b***h about it. Like, what did you expect? As a writer myself (unpublished as of yet), it annoys me so much because I feel like what is the point?
Sorry, this comment got really long! Haha.
If I change my rating I only do it if it benefits the book, so if I enjoy it more after rereading, ill change my rating. But if I enjoy it less now, I won't change it because that'd would be quite unfair to a book I really liked when I was younger.
Regarding DNFs I think if you are 1/4 - 1/3 of the way through that’s fair to rate it, because there might be others that are bothered by the same things as you that might not want to invest in it because of that. Just disclose the DNF at the start of the review.
I think you should review and state that it was DNF'd at the beginning but i disagree with rating it. I feel like 1/3 or 1/4 doesnt give you much insight on how the thing or trope you dislike will play out. It doesn't give you enough information to tell you if there is a purpose for what has happened in the beginning of the book.
@@RuthieDR89 that’s fair
I love how Holly Jackson recapped what happened in Book one (A Good Girls Guide to Murder) in book two (Good Girl, Bad Blood). I’ve never seen it done but she snuck it in their as part of the story and I loved it especially since I read book one over a year ago and book two a few days ago. I wish more books did it like in tv and movies but I don’t take it out on book two or three for sure.
My husband is an audiobook narrator, the authors usually do not know who narrates the book. He did one last year and the author didn't even know there was an audiobook being done until it came out. He worked with the publisher the whole time.
I feel like so much of what you discussed here is what I like to think of as 'reviewing etiquette'. I don't even post reviews on Goodreads but I do read them and I get annoyed with all of this stuff too 😂 some people just don't seem to use their common sense, like how can you properly judge a book after 2 pages? I do appreciate a lot dnf reviews, especially when they state when they put the book down, because sometimes it's good to know what it was about a book that made someone want to stop reading, but I do think there's a difference between dnfing and just not even reading and if you haven't read much of it, it's probably fairer to just leave a review without a star rating. The half star/rounding down thing especially bugs me, i feel like out of courtesy you should just round up but specify the half star in the review, authors really rely on star ratings and reviews, so i think it's just nicer to round up. I think a lot of readers/reviewers just aren't good at realising that just because a book wasn't for you or you didn't like certain aspects, it doesn't mean it was bad, and I think it would be nice if their reviews reflected that rather than just bashing the book. But I think the majority of reviewers are good at reviewing etiquette, there are just a few annoying people 😂
I round my rating up and down. What I mean is it depends. If I rate something a half star but it’s leaning towards the lower number then I rate it down. If I rate it and it’s definitely in the middle (or higher) then I round up.
The ratings thing is the reason why I like using The StoryGraph over Goodreads. They allow quarter stars. Makes ratings more accurate to how you actually feel about a book. They also allow you to add content warnings and properly DNF books, too.
I don't usually rate DNFs unless they're so bad they make me mad, lol. But I do read 100 pages of every book, and my Goodreads dnf shelf is called "hundred page graveyard."
Yea I think 100 pages is a fair number
This is great! On your last point, I will say that I will DNF an audiobook if I don’t like the narrator, though I won’t rate it and may try it in physical form instead. An amazing narrator can add to the book and my experience in reading it, though, and I will bump up a book with a fantastic narration. ❤️
Half ratings should be rounded up because that’s how rounding works
I hate when people DNF a book and act like it’s trash for everyone.
I definitely bump down. I need to give the extra half star more often. I might go back to my Goodreads and do some up-ticking.
"No, no, that is not how it works" 🤣 I can't believe people do any of these things 🤦♀️🤷♀️
I totally understand the changing past ratings thing. Agree
When I rate a book .5 between I rate up OR down on Goodreads depending on how i feel about the book. It's rare that I feel like it's slap bang in the middle.
I round down only so when I look at the books on my goodreads shelves I don't get the impression I liked it more than I did. I pretty much use goodreads as a record for myself, maybe if I wanted to write reviews and influence people I wouldn't do that but my ratings are for myself not others.
I would LOVE a separate section for audiobooks. It would make my reviewing so much easier. I had to think of Knife of never letting go entirely too hard because I disliked the book and the narrator and I had to really make sure it was both before I said anything.
Agreed! And: I always note in my reviews if it's the audio version I'm reviewing, because I suspect that even if I don't have any problem with the reader or production, audiobooks can still change how I feel about a book. I recently read a super-hyped book and hated it, noting in my review that the way the narrator read the main character may have influenced how I "read" the character (i.e., the reader interpreted the character as humorless and stiff, but if you read the book yourself, you might "hear" her differently in your head--sarcastic, etc.).
I really hate it when books are rated before they are actually released. Goodreads needs to fix that flaw asap.
The book rating should definitely not be affected by the audio book narration, or by the condition the book arrives in from Amazon. So many negative reviews are out there because the book was damaged in the mail, and that is completely outside of the author's control.
When I DNF a book I normally write a review (I use Goodreads) and say when I was reading it (for myself to know, because I take the date out so it doesn’t show up in my books read list for that year) and why I stopped. I don’t always give a star rating though, especially if I’m stopping early on due to content I don’t like to read (lots of language/sex) If I made it 1/4 or further, I will often give a star rating along with my review. I used to automatically give 1 star reviews to books that I didn’t finish, but I have since changed my personal rating system.
I am one of those who rate dnf's 1 star simply because the book wasn't good enough for me to even finish it and I picked it up for a reason... but to be fair I usually read at least 25 percent before dnf'ing
Me too. I read as much as I can stand. I usually won't rate a book if I don't get up to at least the 10% mark, unless it's really, really bad. I agree that if a book isn't good enough to finish, then it shouldn't get more than one star. And I always write a review and explain why I didn't finish it (usually because the spelling, grammar and punctuation are atrocious, or the characters are completely one dimensional).
This isn't a counterargument or anything, just a funny story, and i was too young to be rating things, but I once picked up the *11th* book in a series first and didn't realize until after I was done. Imagine how confused I was
I read Series of Unfortunate Events that way, they never had the first few books in my library and I just kept picking up the ones they did. Still ended up as one of my favourite series. 😄
😂😂
I’m extremely annoyed when authors insert reminders of previous books’ events into sequels; it feels very unnatural (and that’s coming from someone with very little memory capacity!). I wish they’d just add a little summary at the beginning of a new book, like TV shows do (“Previously in the Stormlight Archive!”)
EXACTLY!!! Like, put a little summary so people who don't need a reminder can skip it but don't put little reminders in the first 5 chapters of the books of things that happened!!
For DNFs rather than pass judgement using a star rating I just leave a review saying I DNFed it, how far I made it through the book, and why I stopped it. 🤷🏽♀️ I don't like rating a thing I didn't finish but I share my thoughts so others can have a better chance of deciding if it's right for them. as for rating audiobooks, again I try to talk about how I felt about the narrator's performance in my review. Or for some book something about the format or pacing just doesn't work well. For instance while Gideon the 9th narrator was fantastic I didn't have the best experience reading that audiobook because so many of the character names sounded similar I ended up being very confused. So I specified that issue in my review. And I appreciate how Audible has you rate a book in 3 categories: story, performance, & overall. That helps distinguish a narrator issue from a author issue.
Btw 🥃🥃🥃 Shots all around!
I literally left goodreads because the front page of reviews is ALWAYS fake 5 stars from people before the book came out. You have to dig so far to find any valuable reviews that aren't just blind praise
I use the Storygraph now and it doesn't have this issue, plus it solves that half star issue
I try to stick with whole stars because damn GR! But when I do half stars I do tend to round up but sometimes it's like but I didn't actually think it was great so it's doesn't feel right rating it 4 instead of 3 when it was 3.5 lol. Idk if that makes sense! I haven't come across ppl that rate books low because they forgot what happened but I'd be pissed that has nothing to do with the book and everything to do with the reader. As far as changing ratings...I have done it sometimes when I feel strongly about the change but for the most part I try to leave it alone because as you said the rating and enjoyment of the book is heavily dependent on the time/mood/person you were when you read it.
Hmm, as far as DNFs go, I agree it's tricky. I'm a huuuuge mood reader and sometimes I'll just drop a book pretty quick simply cause it's just not doing it for me at the time, but I don't bother rating those because it's a me thing, not the book's fault. But yeah I hate it when ppl rate it and didn't read a good chunk of it (more than 50%).
As for the last 2 things, I'm gonna be honest. I come across them and I just immediately dismiss them because what the hell even?? It's almost become a non issue because I just don't bother with those ratings/reviews anymore.
I rate dnfs that I dnfd because of the actual writing/content. If I hated it so much I couldn’t finish, then hell yeah I’m rating. I don’t rate if it just isn’t my style or it’s a me problem though.
I do rate DNFs, but only if I have read more than 25%. If I have read less than that, I do not rate the book. Sometimes I will also not rate the book because it wasnt bad, it just wasnt for me, and with more research I would have known that before hand.
I only rate books publicly when I have very clear feelings about them negatively or postively. On Goodreads I leave ratings blank most of the time.
It would be cool to be able to tick a DNF box, like a separate stat like your audiobook rating. Otherwise if there's enough ppl like me who don't bother finishing a book they don't like, the ratings might be inflated if they only reflect people who liked it enough to finish it.
My other hot take is that we don't even need half and quarter stars. 5 levels is enough lol.
I rate DNFs if I get a certain amount into a book. For me a two star dnf and a one star dnf are entirely different things. Two stars is "not for me" where one star is "actively bad/problematic." I'll specify that if I review it, plus I will put "you may like this if..." when I rate two stars but see the appeal for others.
For clarity, I rate DNFs if I've gotten a minimum 100 pages or two hours in
I think that’s very fair! 100 pages is def better to rate a book than that person who DNF’d mistborn 3 pages in and rated it lol
I don't understand how someone who is so lost that they'd give it a two star would actually finish the book without rereading the first or doing a quick Google search.
Mm I feel like there's nothing wrong with changing your mind about reviews. And there's no reason to think we'd be changing everything bc that's just a slippery slope fallacy. So where do you draw the line? Whenever you want. You'll make the changes that stick out to you and not change the ones you don't think about.
If a series' books are not intended to standalone, skipping the firsts books is just ridiculous (and that's putting it kindly).
In some cases the audiobook saves the book. If it wasn't for audio there is no way I could get through Cassandra Clare books. I do not know what it is but I hate reading them however the people that narrate her books make them enjoyable.
Ive heard so many times especially with The Fifth Season so I'm wondering if that means the book (any book) is bad. phrases like "I couldn't read the book, but the audiobook i loved" I just don't get it
@@ninjablack4347 With Cassandra Clare in general I think its her writing style that I have a hard time reading. So the audio helps
@@thea.studies Hisssss don't mention that author to me lol
@@ninjablack4347 lmao
I completely agreed with your list. I a fan of audiobooks but if the narrator of the audiobook is not doing it for me then I will stop listening to the audiobook and read the book myself. I do not think it is fair to blame the author for the voice of the narrator.
The "bumping it down" point reminds me of my high school teachers 😒😕
I'm sorry your teachers did that. As a teacher, I always rounded up because grading for English classes always had a subjective element involved. If a kid was between a C+ and a B-, I would look at those things that don't really have a grade, like class participation and turning in assignments. Most of those kids got the B-.
Personally, I don't rate books I DNF cause I didn't finish the book so I feel that rating it isn't fair. I usually decide to DNF around 25% if at all.
It depends on rounding up- sometimes I will, and other times when I’m going to rate it I really think no. But usually if I round down, I explain why in a review.
And I actually don’t rate DNF unless I have read about 70% of the book and just can’t bare any more- usually I DNF after either 50 pages or 15 chapters, but only rate if I got further than that.
I do think goodreads needs to be better about not allowing people to rate a book (good or bad) until it actually is published bc then it’s more fair for the author.
The audiobook point.
I usually go to audible to check the reviews on whether the book is well narrated or not.
A good narration can either make or break an audiobook, and it is also very personal which narrators work for each person.
So rating a book low on Goodreads where you point out the bad narration is iffy. You might have really liked the book if it was a narrator that you enjoyed, so it’s not really the books fault. (or the narrator really, it’s all very personal).
But I feel that maybe narrator criticism should be kept on audiobook sites. Or like you said, have a different section for it on goodreads.
I don't think you're overthinking the retroactive rating. I feel like there are some books that I just can't make up my mind on. I usually just end up giving them five stars because if its so complicated that it takes me a while to figure out whether its four or five, it deserves five. On rating DNFs, I think that the ending shouldn't be what makes a book. Yes, some books are mediocre and then the ending is very very good, but the book overall has to be good enough to keep the MAJORITY of readers reading toward that excellent ending. Personally, I just won't rate books I haven't finished.
I am very specific on all these things. I round the stars up if it's a half rating (because thats what you do in math) except in five-star cases. A five-star book is a five-star book; four-and-a-half ain't five. If I DNF, I don't rate it, often because I plan to come back. If a narrator sucks (audiobooks), I either switch to physical or try to focus on the words (much harder, for me, with translated works, spec. from Japanese; the names wash together in my brain a lot of times). I'm almost OCD about starting series at the beginning, and I try to weigh controversy in with the book as a whole as opposed to having it define the whole thing. So, my average is pretty high, in part because I don't rate DNF's, and partly because I don't read books that don't interest me.
I can’t stand when ppl rate a book poorly Bc they weren’t in the mood for it. Make it make sense
I always round up...because that's what you do in math. And I get the consumer perspective of rating a book low because of the narrator (which has happened to books of mine), but yeah, it's not my favorite thing. At least some places let you rate different parts of an audiobook.
I don't rate DNFs, but I'll usually give a book at least halfway before I DNF. Usually. Unless it's something that I REALLY don't like to read (which, you know, everybody has their own likes and dislikes), then I know the book isn't for me.
Example: a friend gifted me Mysery, by Stephen King. I read three chapters and I knew that I was NOT going to continue reading it because I couldn't get past the graphic disturbing scenes and I knew they would only get worse.
On the other hand, I struggled through the beginning of a lot of books that I love, Mistborn included! If I had given up just because I "wasn't feeling it", I would have missed out on a great story, so that's why I try to read at least halfway before I DNF a book.
Agree, I feel like you can rate the book lower because they didn't like the narrator on platforms like audible ... where they specifically ask about the performance and you generally rate the audiobook version of the book and not the book. On I feel like it shouldn't make a huge difference at least. Like maybe a difference or something, but yeah
There should be a separate DNF option for ratings. If a ton of people are not finishing a book, I think that would be useful to know but I don't think it's particularly fair for people who didn't finish to have a rating weighted the same as someone who read everything. Or maybe even a DNF separate rating entirely instead of just an option. I DNF'd a book recently because I couldn't get past the military propaganda in it and have no opinion on the actual writing
I don't automatically round down or round up for my half-stars, it entirely depends on the individual book. If it wasn't perfect technically but I had a strong emotional connection to it, I'll probably give it five stars. If there's nothing technically wrong with it, but I didn't connect to the story as much, I'll probably give it four. There are factors outside this, obviously, but those are the main ones.
Thank you 😊 for good video.. it makes sense... 📖📽💜
The first and last are some of the ones that bother me the most (not remembering and audiobook). For the dnf, I think is fair to rate it or not depending on why you dnf it. If you were bored, wasn't for you and you have too little pacience to finnish, don't rate it, act as if it never happened. If you hated something very specific and know that couldn't be fix by any plot twist or character, then your negative star is fair if you can say why. It's very depended on each case 😅 (3 or 20 pages is not even a dnf, you didn't rven start the book lol 😂)
People rate DNF's? As in a star rating? Like, this DNF was a 1 star DNF?
Than again, I didn't know people rated books before they read them so 😂😂😂
Oooh, yeah, I will play:
1. I think it's definitely on the author to strike a balance when it comes to not rehashing the entire story but incorporating the past book into the writing. I think it's okay for reviewers to have an opinion on that (unless it's egregious and what they wanted instead was a recap - they are available elsewhere).
2. Personal rating scales are so utterly confusing and different from one another, I can't really comment on what is fair or makes sense. But in general, I think too much emphasis is put on the overall GR rating ("I won't read books below a 4.0/3.8/3.5 rating" as if GR is the only review platform that matters and you have the most average-joe generic tastes in the world). I've started not rating Arcs for that reason - read my review if you want to know if you like it, not extrapolate why I gave it 3 stars.
3. Yeah, I think it's such a stupid thing to rate things in reaction to other people doing it. I really wished GR would not allow ratings before publications. People could still write their reviews and people would need to, wait for it, read them! to figure out whether they are interested.
4. I think it's fair to retroactively change a rating but I would love for an explanation to accompany that. I've been binge-reading a bunch of series this year and having more info on how the author writes tropes, themes, and characters does inform how I view future installments and the overall series. I think it's hard to judge whether an author will fufilll promises and hints made in a first book (with manga especially), so looking back whether the payoff was worth it seems reasonable. And you kind of made the argument yourself when you said you can't just start in the middle of a series - the past books influence your view on that current book and vice versa.
I do change my rating to reflect my most current feelings.
5. I don't want a rating but an explanation why; if that comes with a rating I don't mind. If it doesn't, it's just useless to me. [ONYX Pages only recently made a video why DNFs does not work for her, worth a watch!]
6. I didn't know people actually rate those instances? That's wid to me. I gotta say though that it can be hard to tell whether it's a "read it in order" book, a "companion novel" book, "part of a series but also functions as a new entry" book, "kind of but not really spin-off" book, etc. I get confused with those as well.
7. I think it's hard to know when you hate a book because of the audio or ALSO hated the audio. Just how it takes time to figure out what writing styles you like and what doesn't work for you. I don't judge people who can't separate that I still struggle with at times. And for people who can for whatever reason only consume audiobooks, I don't think it's fair to say to just switch the medium. It reminds me of judging a book by its typos, spelling mistakes, and formatting. I don't let that influence my review but for other people, that's part of the experience.
I agree with everything you said in this video. Your last point about audiobooks I totally agree because if I’m listening to a book and I don’t think the narrator is doing a good job I put the book on hold until I get the ebook or physical copy. I won’t rate it until I’ve finished it.
I have only recently incorporated audio books into my TBR's and I am super super picky about narrators. If I have to concentrate really hard to understand it, or ... well, a number of reasons, I simply don't read that book in that format. There are books I have read and adored that I wouldn't have listened to by audio book. I agree, the narration of a book and the writing of a book are two different experiences/skills.
No Shadow and Bone adaption review?
I almost always bump up for half stars and if I bump down its because I didn’t like it enough to bump it up that halfway. I do this mainly with 4.5 stars. I have a couple books that I bumped up and one that I bumped down for good reads.
Rounding down half-stars
I don't get why people have an issue with rounding down. From my point of view the book hasn't reached the next tier, so it shouldn't get it. I know there's talk of people not wanting to negatively impact the author's goodreads rating, but to me I just want to rate honestly. Now, there's been a small handful of times where I do round up, possibly because I'm reading a self-published book that doesn't have many ratings, or I see a lot of potential in where a series could go, but it takes an extra something to convince me.
Changing your rating later (after reading more books in the series)
For me, this point is often linked to the above point. I may have rounded up a star, and then reading more books I no longer feel the need to be nice, so rounding down it is (or the reverse). :P
I always enjoy your opinion videos. 😆♥️🌿
DNFs for me absolutely depend on how much I read and why I DNFed a book. If I only got about 50 pages or less and DNFed because I realized the book just wasn't for me, I will just quietly DNF and not give any star rating at all. However, if I read at least 50-100 pages and I'm DNFing because of issues I had with a book, I will give a star rating and explain why.
I only change my rating on a book that I've already read if I've actually read it again and liked it more. I try not to lower my rating, but I am willing to increase it if I enjoyed it more the second time around. There are exceptions to that, but that's the rule I try to follow. I do, however, note my different ratings in my reviews (I don't change the actual stars on GR). Also, I have rounded down on ratings. Sometimes I think a book is better than a 3 star, but not a 4 star. That was before I started doing Book Roast's CAWPILE rating system though. That has definitely helped me just pick a star rating and stick with it and it's more about scores instead of feelings.
I have only left a rating on maybe a handful of DNFs, but I can understand both sides of the argument.
I use CAWPILE - which is really good because it gives a rating out of 10 then works out for you what the star rating is. Never gives a half star.
I don’t believe in them either I always bump up as well if I don’t use CAWPILE.
i once saw an adult reviewer rate my favorite YA low because the characters were too immature 💀💀 and it was a DNF too
Most of my ratings are 3 or 4, with the rare 5 thrown in. If I would give a book a 1 or 2 star rating, I usually won't finish it.
I enjoy 90% of my stories in audio form and I find it silly when I see a bad rating on a story because of the voice actor.I just finished a book this morning and I gave the story 5 stars but the narrating 3 stars, I did not enjoy the accents but that didn't take away from the story. I think that you can still enjoy a good story even the person telling is not the best. Also, the other way around is possible too, there are voice actors that are brilliant but they can't save a mediocre story.
if you forgot everything in Book 1, I think you should really at least watch/read a Summery of what has happned, or reread the book...
My biggest issue is books I read I end up loving. So star ratings is difficult for me because everything I read in my head should be 5 star lmao. On audiobooks...I actually read along with the audiobooks I can get. It helps me fully digest the story and I love it. I also speed it up to 2x+ and I don't want to stop lol
"Smelly Hot Garbage" was my high school band name...
Rating books retroactively is a hard one, I often don't do it goodreads but I do it mentally. I feel when there's a series and it ends in a way that ruins some character development, doesn't close out certain arcs, ends with plot holes that it does take away from the rest of the series. I don't think each book can live in a vacuum. You can't recommend Book #3 out of a 5 book series by itself- someone going to read all 5 and by then a lot of that world building and character growth may be undone by a crappy sequel.
It's the same thing with Game of Thrones! Its final season especially sucked and was widely deemed to be terrible for all of its characters and because of that love for the show has completely died. The way the show ended makes it impossible to say that "XXX has a great arc/journey"/ "the plot is amazing" even when talking about the middle seasons because you know that it's going NO WHERE.
I don't think I can have an opinion on rating dnfs because all my problems with it are kind of my problems with rating books in general. I don't do it. I understand wanting to express your feelings about it, I just don't think that this system works that well with this and it goes a little bit beyond just expressing emotions and opinions