Stars Are Hard

I keep going back and forth about giving books I read a star rating. This is especially challenging now that I’ve started keeping track of what I read on Goodreads. I like to see the books I read throughout the year, and I like the idea of remembering what I thought of it. But now, having been on the other side of some, shall we say, less than stellar star ratings…I feel bad when I don’t just give a book 5 stars and move on.

Part of me really wants to just default to 5 stars unless there was something terribly wrong with the book. I mean, who doesn’t love to give a glowing review? Who doesn’t love the idea of getting 5 stars? On the other hand, if everything is an A+, then really, what’s the purpose of the stars?

Goodreads suggests little phrases to go with their stars. If you’re not a Goodreads user, they suggest:

• 1 star = Did not like it
• 2 stars = It was OK
• 3 stars = Liked it
• 4 stars = Really liked it
• 5 stars = It was amazing

So I’ve been striving to use that – because really, it’s pretty fair. But it means that a lot of books that I enjoy are getting 3 stars, because I liked it, but I can’t say I really liked it or that it was amazing. And that means I feel bad about giving stars at all, because, really…3 stars just feels mean.

Maybe I’m over thinking things. (Probably.) Do you give stars to books you read? What’s your scale?