NOT TAKING BAD REVIEWS SO PERSONALLY, MY RATING SYSTEM & OTHER OPINIONS

How many times did we change our decision of reading certain books due to some mixed reviews? I've been through that countless times. I read the synopsis, I think "wow this could be interesting" and then go through GoodReads reviews and get confused in the moment I see a 1star rated review.

I can't help it. But I've came to learn that you can't base your reading decisions based on mixed reviews. Reviews are no other thing that certain person personal experience, therefore is full of subjectivity. Because that's what I do in my own reviews. And I always try to highlight that my review or rating is influenced by my own experience, feelings and reaction to what I was reading.

I can read a flawed writing but if the story moved me or made me feel something, I can still rate it with a 5star review. Or the other way, if the writing is perfect but I didn't enjoy it. Literature for me is like any other form of expression. It's meant to make us feel something. And as those other forms of expression, it can produce different reactions as different type of human beings exist.

Each one of us have our own experiences with books and stories. Not all of us enjoy the same things. I've read so many reviews that were criticizing the exact same things I find exciting in my reading experience.

So, I've came to the point that I don't get disuade to read one book due to some bad reviews. If I find a lot of 1/2 stars reviews BUT I can find 1 or 2 people who actually liked it, I will give that book a chance if the synopsis worked for me. It seemed important to me to be clear about my own rating system, specially as this blog is still something new and fresh to me.

My rating system follows up one that I found very easy to use, which is the Scribd rating system. Basically, it consists in this;

1 STAR    I didn't like it.

Here are the books that either I hate them or I didn't like it. I wouldn't re read them and I wouldn't mind giving them away. The books that didn't work for me in the end. I wouldn't recommend.

2 STARS I didn't like it that much.

I find that "that much" part very important. These are the books that I didn't like but I can't rate them with a 1star punctuation. Either because there was some small parts/aspects/scenes/characters that I liked or because they're part of a saga I love and that general thread works for me but this particularly book set up didn't. Usually, I know when a book is 2star rated when I'm considering giving the 1star but something inside of me says "no, you can't do that".

3 STARS It was ok.

These are the books that I enjoy. Plainly as that. The books that I wouldn't re read but that one time read worked and it was enough. I would recommend but I wouldn't say that this could be amongst my favorite. 

4 STARS I liked it.

The books that I liked, not only enjoyed, and I would will re read for sure. I would really recommend, and some of my favorites could be in this group. What's setting them apart from the 5stars one? Either something was missing or there was some aspect of it that I didn't like or could not forgive. 

5 STARS I loved it.

This is the most subjective punctuation in my rating system. These are the books that made me FEEL. That I couldn't stop reading. I couldn't find things that I didn't like. Will re read, will recommend, and will love them for some long time forever.

DISCLAIMER THIS IS MY RATING SYSTEM. COULD DIFFER FROM OTHER PEOPLE'S. WILL DIFFER FROM OTHER PEOPLE. AND IT IS BASED IN MY OWN READING EXPERIENCE. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND TO ALWAYS FIND YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE, NO MATTER WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAY. 

Lu.