...
I like it. I shall continue this trend.
Anyway, changes. I have become dissatisfied with my current ratings system because a) there's not a lot of room for nuance ("3 cupcakes" has about four different possible meanings right now), and b) I'm bad with numbers. (Seriously, I have to get Google to do the math for the GARS scores, and that's not very difficult.) So after much deliberation, I decided upon a new ratings system, which will be...
Outstanding
Excellent
Acceptable
Fair
Poor
Troll
I'm unlikely to give out any Trolls, since I don't generally finish books that I hate, but I think it will help to divide what would have been 3 cupcakes between Acceptable and Fair. What I give things when I post the reviews on Goodreads will thus vary depending on things like relative merits and whether I've had my coffee yet.
Furthermore, instead of dividing ratings into the categories of plot/characters/style, I'm going to have two separate ratings for overall quality and enjoyability, which I think might be more helpful. I'll still be sure to discuss the former categories in the review so you have an idea of what, specifically, I did or didn't like, but since Twilight demonstrated that it's possible for a story to have low quality and high enjoyability (and the reverse is certainly true), I'm hoping the quality/enjoyability ratings might give you a better idea of what you're looking at.
All ratings systems are by nature arbitrary, but I'm hoping this one will be a little less so that my old one was beginning to feel. However, at the moment I don't plan to make this system retroactive, mostly because that would involve a lot of very tedious work! I appreciate your bearing with me as I try to figure out what I'm doing with this new system, and please let me know in the comments if you have any further suggestions, ideas, complaints, or anything else.
Note: all credit and copyright whatever for the OWL grades goes to the marvelous JK Rowling! My adapting them for ratings is meant entirely as a sign of respect and possibly the inception of an evil magic cult ;)
| Sorry. I was watching Muppet Treasure Island last week. |
Aw, man! I'll have David Bowie stuck in my head all afternoon now. I don't know why, by Changes is the default song to get stuck in my head when it's empty. It randomly pops in there and puts itself on loop XD
ReplyDeleteOMG. Grading = PERFECT! LOVE!
I'm sorry Sarah. If it makes you feel any better, it's stuck in my head too lol
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't help that I only know about two lines of the song, so I keep hearing "turn and face the sun, ch-ch-changes" over and over (if those are even the correct lyrics!).
I'm glad you like the new system though! We'll see how it works out.
Yay for Harry Potter ratings! Love it :)
ReplyDeleteFantastic rating system, and a great point on the quality/enjoyability aspect. Finding a fair rating that will completely show how you felt about a book is a difficult task for me, number grading just doesn't do it.
ReplyDelete