Thoughts of a Bookworm #4: The Two to Three Star Controversy

There has been a lot plaguing my thoughts for the last few months. Despite having quite a lot of things go off in my real life it seems like I’m still pulled back to the same thoughts about the book community. It is the one thing I keep seeing every time I log back into my social media and if I’m being honest, I’m not pleased.

When did the book community feel so much like a kid's playground?

To put into context it seems like there has been a great divide by what should be considered a good book. let me explain...

If you read a book and think that it is amazing, brilliant, rate it five stars and give a good review. But what about the books that you really didn't like? Surely you should be able to give it one or two stars if you feel like this is required? Nope, this is blasphemy. According to some, this counts you as a coward. You should have stopped reading it as soon as you realised that you hated the book.

Well, I'm sorry but I strongly disagree.

You can't really call yourself a reviewer if all you do is praise books. That is not really reviewing at all. That is stroking the ego of the Author. Or how I like to call it mates rates.

You may think that I’m ranting about something that might sound insignificant but really just think. What would happen if we rate everything as good? No one would know the difference between a good and a really great book that changes your point of view entirely.

The reviews are for the readers. For everyone, whether they like a certain genre, are of a certain age or only have enough to buy only one book at the store. So of course a review has to count. Not be biased.

You wouldn’t ask a film or food critic to give a good rating because it was by a certain director or cooked by a famous chef. What makes books any different?

Comments

Thoughts of a Bookworm #5: Goodreads Choice Award is Fake

Hello! So, I know that it has been some time since I was last writing to you all. But I saw an email the other day and it really got me that I couldn’t not share my thoughts on it. As we all know it’s that time of year again. The fairy lights are beginning to twinkle, the days and nights are getting darker and colder and we are all starting to look ahead to the next year. But what comes before next year? Well, the Goodreads Book Choice Awards of course. One of the biggest events in a bookworm’s calendar. But personally, I think the whole thing is an insult to the whole book community. Obviously, when I was younger I didn’t think any different to most bookworms. However, I have come to realise that it isn’t necessarily what is the best book of the year but rather a popularity contest. More so now than ever with the insurgence of ‘BookTok’. Honestly, I don’t think we will ever get a book worthy of the title ever again. It has become a pure vanity project. Take me back to the T...

What's not to be perfect?

Happy New Year! Like as I have said last week, we are going into something a bit more depressing. To start off this post I have decided that before I do go into specific details, I thought it would be a good idea to look at New Years resolutions. What is yours? I know for a fact what mine will be. It would have to be about how I always leave work until I have to do it. So this coming year my method for to stop making this habit would be to maybe make the habit of doing it earlier than what I once did. Just remember guys, never make a New Years resolution if you can't keep at it. Otherwise what is the point of actually making one? Anyway the book I am going to be focusing on this Tuesday, would be a book called The Perfectionists. It is about how five girls devise a plan against this boy called Nolan Hotchkiss and of course there will be a murder, betrayal and a bit of poison. I have to be completely honest about how i felt about the whole plot, before going onto other re...

A Wedding in the Country by Katie Fforde

SYNOPSIS Lizzie has just arrived in London, determined to make the best of her new life. Her mother may be keen that she should have a nice wedding in the country to a Suitable Man chosen by her. And Lizzie may be going to cookery school to help her become a Good Wife. But she definitely wants to have some fun first. It is 1963 and London is beginning to swing as Lizzie cuts her hair, buys a new dress with a fashionably short hemline, and moves in with two of her best friends, one of whom lives in a grand but rundown house in Belgravia which has plenty of room for a lodger. Soon Lizzie's life is so exciting that she has forgotten all about her mother's marriage plans for her. All she can think about is that the young man she is falling in love with appears to be engaged to someone else...