Do you change your ratings of books?
08:00
Is it bad to change your original rating of a book? I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely guilty of this. When I come to review a book a couple of months later, my opinions have often changed, so I would change my original rating on Goodreads. This usually happens if it was book I didn’t love, or didn’t feel very strongly about - I know when I love a book!
This happened today (as of writing). I came to write my review of a book that I didn’t love (but didn’t hate either) - I didn’t have very strong opinions on it, so I didn’t think about it at all in the period of time from finishing it, and writing my review. I come to rate it, but I deduct a start from what I originally rated it on Goodreads. Is this bad? *whispers* Especially if it’s an ARC?On the one hand, it can be really unfair to the book to lower the rating months after initially reading. If I’d just stopped being so lazy (and written my review when I should have!), it would have been rated higher! It doesn’t seem right to me - I can’t remember the book as much as I could, so I’m not in a position to change my opinion.
Though, I have had longer to think about my opinions. I always rate the book almost immediately after finishing (who doesn’t head straight to Goodreads after finishing a book?), so my judgement will always be pretty rash. After having a while to muse over my thoughts, wouldn’t my opinions be more truthful, anyway?
We’ve got to take the other end of the spectrum into account too. Sometimes I add a star to my original rating! Is that better? After having time to think about the qualities of the book, I often realise more of the good things. My rating is mainly influenced by the ending, so after having time to consider the whole book, I often realise that I enjoyed it more than I thought.
I think the main reason changing ratings is unfair is because I don’t do it for all books. Some I review straight away, and my rating stays the same forever *gasp*, whereas in others it takes me months to finally write a review (let’s just ignore this fact, okay? I’m not a bad blogger, I swear...).
If I reviewed them all immediately, there wouldn’t be any rating changes, and all my reviews would be exactly how I thought about the book. It would be a lot more of how the book made me feel! If I waited a couple of months to review them all, I think a lot more ratings would be changed. My reviews would be much more balanced too!
But, I like the balance of reviews on my blog! (Or I like being lazy!) I like the way that some of my reviews are my immediate reactions, and are buzzing with exactly how I felt about the book. The others are more reasonable and logical, and I like that too!
The thing I need to do to make my ratings fairer is to not rate books straight away, unless I’m completely sure (ie a definite favourite). It’s hard to resist Goodreads though! I think I’ll still be feeling a little guilty (I always do if I rate a book badly) for changing the rating, but I am entitled to my own opinions - that includes changing what I think, too!
If I reviewed them all immediately, there wouldn’t be any rating changes, and all my reviews would be exactly how I thought about the book. It would be a lot more of how the book made me feel! If I waited a couple of months to review them all, I think a lot more ratings would be changed. My reviews would be much more balanced too!
But, I like the balance of reviews on my blog! (Or I like being lazy!) I like the way that some of my reviews are my immediate reactions, and are buzzing with exactly how I felt about the book. The others are more reasonable and logical, and I like that too!
The thing I need to do to make my ratings fairer is to not rate books straight away, unless I’m completely sure (ie a definite favourite). It’s hard to resist Goodreads though! I think I’ll still be feeling a little guilty (I always do if I rate a book badly) for changing the rating, but I am entitled to my own opinions - that includes changing what I think, too!
Do you ever change your ratings? Do you think it's bad to change the ratings of books after you've read them?
Hello! I'm D - a dog-loving feminist from the UK. You'll probably find me with my nose in a book or playing my clarinet
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