5-Star Reads
I participated (via chat) in my friend Suey’s live book discussion about 5-star reads on Sunday. She and her daughter Tori talked about why they rate books with 5 stars. It was really interesting.
In the chat, I said I reserve 5 stars for books I consider my favorites. Suey, Tori, and other chat members then said they don’t necessarily rate their favorite books with 5 stars. Because of that comment, I feel like I need to go into more detail by what I mean by a book being my favorite. My favorite books are books:
- I want to reread every few years,
- I couldn’t put down,
- I wanted to last forever,
- I wish I could read again for the first time, and
- I’ll rush out and buy (and may have more that one edition in my library).
All other books I read get another rating. This includes books I love but something doesn’t resonate with me in some way. I have recently started giving half-star ratings to some books because I couldn’t decide where the book fit. Here’s the breakdown of my ratings:
In the chat, I also mentioned that I’ve ranked my 5-star reads and people were a bit surprised by that information. Am I the only one who does this? I’m really curious, lol. If you’d like to see what my favorites books are and how I rank them, click here.
What about you? What kinds of books get 5-star ratings from you?
I give out 5 star ratings very rarely. For me, a 5 star book is not just every book that I enjoyed a lot. A 5 star read is a step above – a story that made a real impact, elicited an emotional response, made me feel, I didn’t want it to end, and thought about it long after it was over. Kind of like you, I think. Interesting that you rank within your 5 star books! I’m not sure I could pick favorites within my 5 star reads… that would be hard!
Most of my 5-star books are books that I feel are a step above as well. That’s what makes them a favorite instead of something I just loved. There are some books I’ve rated only 1 or 2 stars that elicited strong emotional responses so that’s not necessarily something I reserve for 5-star reads.
Yeah, I get that picking a favorite within your 5-star books is hard. Since I’ve only been reading for about 17 years now, I don’t have thousands of books I’ve read. I’ve always considered certain books (Dune, Harry Potter, Twilight, etc.) as my favorite books / series. I don’t think any book will ever top them.
It takes a lot for me to rate a book 5 stars; if I love a book but I have any criticisms at all (too long, not the best characters, a dissatisfying ending), I will hedge with 4 1/2 stars.
Yeah, I get that. I’m the same way. If there are any criticisms that I can’t get around, then I’ll rate them lower than 5 stars. I say “can’t get around” because my most recent 5-star read had me thinking a couple of negative comments about the MC. When I really thought about it, though, my negative comments weren’t warranted so they didn’t affect my rating.
I think book ranking is an interesting thing. I rank my books and mostly stand by what I choose. But, I realize that the ranking I give a book can depend on my mood, if the book was the right one at the right time, etc.
I do agree that my mood can affect how I rate books. Though, I can usually tell if I may enjoy a book better a different time. In those cases, I try to read something else so my mood doesn’t affect what I think. 😀
I’m very stingy with my 5 star rating.
I think my reasons for giving 5 stars have changed over the years – reviewing made me more picky but now that I rarely review it’s a book that I was fully absorbed in, enough that I don’t want to go pick it over for flaws (helpful when you don’t need to review), and where I think about the characters/plot long after I put the book down.
That last one is newer for me because it’s allowed me to include books that kind of made me uncomfortable or weren’t fun but still resonated long after.
That makes sense. Blogging and reviewing hasn’t changed how I read books. I rate books the same way I would if I didn’t post reviews on my blog or Goodreads. I don’t care about content unless it affects me negatively. I very much focus on how I feel when I read a book.
My 5 star ratings mean I really liked the book a lot and it kept me totally reading. Like you said it is probably one I would want to reread if I ever had time to do that these days! It is often the book I’ll buy a physical copy of even if I read an ebook or audiobook of it, because I want it to sit on my shelf where I can pet it and look at it, lol. Fun post!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2024/03/02/arc-review-the-no-girlfriend-rule-by-christen-randall/
I totally get not having time to reread. I try to make the time because I’d be really sad if I couldn’t experience my favorite stories again and again. 😀
I think those are good criteria you mention for what qualifies a 5 star read. I need to qualify my rating more — so I think I might think about these … when I’m trying to rate a read. thanks
I’m glad this was helpful. 😀 It was a good exercise to think about it.