Rethinking the Stars

I've been rating books on Story Graph since the start of 2023 and I've realized something - despite the fact I feel like I've read literally hundreds of books - my average rating of a book I've finished is rather high. What's up with this? I've got a couple theories but let's look at my actual numbers first.

The Numbers

Here's how the numbers break down:

• No rating: 11
• 2.5 stars: 2
• 3.0 stars: 5
• 3.25 stars: 2
• 3.5 stars: 22
• 3.75 stars: 14
• 4.0 stars: 92
• 4.25 stars: 88
• 4.5 stars: 73
• 4.75 stars: 15
• 5.0 stars: 5

My Theories

Let's take a look at the theories I've come up with as to why I may be rating most books highly.

Theory 1: Approach to DNFing Books

Explained: I do not finish books I'm not enjoying at least at some level. I will mark a book in the system as "did not finish" ONLY if I get more than 30% or so through it because, well, I may not be into a given book on a given day so may give up on it after only a few chapters. This means the 11 books that I didn't rate were real tries to complete them.

Examination: If I had to guess off the top of my head, I probably start and don't finish a dozen books a year that I never go back and read later. They just aren't books for me. If I add in those 30 books (12 for 2023 and 2024, 6 for 2025 so far)... the average doesn't change because, well, Story Graph ignores your DNF. If they did, it goes from an average of 4.16 to 4.02 - still rather high. Probably not part of my rating issues.

Summary: Probably not a factor

Theory 2: Hard to Put Down

Explained: I rate my books based on how much I wanted to continue reading them. The story pulled me in so much that I did whatever I could to get back to reading.

Examination: I don't have any way of countering this using statistics at all but can admit that I often will throw a 4.0 star rating at a minimum on a book that I couldn't put down. Like you somehow earn that as a base score if you keep me interested.

Summary: Certainly a factor

Theory 3: Afraid to Hurt Feelings

Explained: I like to think I'm a very empathetic person and I know that authors often check out at least their ratings, if not also the comments on those ratings. I choose ratings higher than I would if I was confident the author would never find out. I wouldn't be mean, but more honest about my enjoyment of a book.

Examination: We've all seen authors lament online about how much getting a low rating hurts (or, in rare cases, enrages) them. Makes sense, right? They've put at least a few months of time into creating a story, writing it, editing, marketing, touring, etc..only for someone to crap on their work. Thing is, I only personally know one author and I don't feel as if I have that sort of dedication to a given author that I feel like we're truly friends on the real world. I'm just a random stranger. While I hate to hurt people, I can't imagine that I worry about what my rating will do to someone's self-esteem. My rating is about me and how much I enjoy a given book.

Summary: Don't think this is really it.

Theory 4: Rating Inflation

Explained: Like Harvard and most students earning high grades at "elite" institutions, I'm too easy in assigning grades relative to the goodness of a book.

Examination: If you read that linked story, you'll see that the reason behind grade inflation is often that it's a rating of an individual's grasp of the information and isn't relative to other students unless the professor/school has switched to something like a uniform distribution for their grading. (As an aside, my physics 3 class in college graded us on that sort of a system, but only for our labs, as a way of evening out the differences in grading but the varied lab TAs. I may be a little store still about getting a slightly lower grade because I had a really good teacher as a TA who did all he could to help us learn so we were given pretty high grades prior to the evening-out.) Maybe this is part of my problem? I love books and I do find myself trying to find the good in most books. Is the writing garbage but has interested characters? Fine with me! Crazy plot holes but I love the world the author created? Still reading!

Summary: Probably part of the problem

Theory 5: Ratings are Feelings

Explained: I rate based on my feelings and not on a real rubric taking into account the quality of the writing, how much I was excited to continue reading, how much I liked the characters, whether the plot was believable, whether diverse characters were treated, if I agreed with the ending, etc.

Examination: I can't pretend this is part of my problem. If the book makes me feel warm and happy, I rate it high. If it makes me depressed or bothered (like Call Me By Your Name), it gets a super low rating.

Summary: Yep. Totally an issue.

What's the Reason?

In short, my system is flawed. I'm all over the place in the how and the why of my rating "system." When I really think about it, I've got a few reasons I've rated things highly in the past.

• The characters were interesting (but not all insufferable) (Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - current rating: 5).
• The plot kept me wanting to continue (Deep End - current rating: 4.5)
• There was good smut (sometime that's what I'm going for, why not be honest about it?) (the Marriage Auction novellas - current rating across them all: 4)
• I was made to examine the big questions about life (Sea of Tranquility - current rating: 5).
• I still think about the book months or years later (Cloud Cuckoo Land and Out on a Limb - both with a current rating: 4.75)

Should I go back and reassess per some formal rubric or at least think about each of the reasons above? I think I will, at least for 2025. I can't promise going back in the history of things will result in ratings that are at all "accurate" for any new system. I've gone through far too many books to hold them all in my head, other than a generic vibes check. If I do, I'll post again at my new average for 2025, currently sitting at 4.28 stars.

If you want to create your own system and want other ideas, hundreds of bloggers have crafted their own systems. Here's a few I found interesting: Emma's Shelf, Drizzle & Hurricane Books, Samantha in Secondary.

(In case you're curious, my only 5 star reads are Sea of Tranquility, Don't Forget to Write, Pas de Don't, The Eden Test, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Those 2.5 and 3 star reads are Page Boy and Call Me By Your Name, Ugly Love, Yellow Face, Twisted Hate, Below Zero, and A Court of Mist and Fury.)

Happy reading!