Why We Don't Use Star Ratings Anymore

Topic: Star Ratings

I've actually noticed that a lot of book bloggers don't use star ratings any longer on their blog. This post is weighing the pros and cons of star ratings, and then I'll explain to you why Lindsay and I decided to not use them any longer. 

• Pros
• Feelings on a book at first glance
• Set-in-stone method of reviewing
• Cons
• Doesn't take into account emotions toward a book
• One's opinion may change on a book later on
• Rating scale is tedious
• Sometimes a reader won't read a review if there's a star rating
• Doesn't allow review to really explain what they thought of the book

The list of cons basically says why we won't be using star ratings any longer. I used to freak out over what to rate a book, but now I don't have to. Star ratings will still be on my Goodreads, but I won't post them here. I've thought about this for a while, and it seems to be that not having star ratings will make my reviews more about what I thought rather than supporting a series of stars that say whether a book is good or bad. 

I just want to be able to state what I think about a book without a scale limiting me to what I should put in my review. 

Do you use star ratings? What do you think of the new change? Let me know in the comments!

To Read or Not to Read

This discussion is about picking up a book you've already started!

I'm having a mid-book crisis. I bought Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand over a year ago, and with being caught up in other things and other books, I've only managed to get a quarter of the way through. And if you've picked up the book, you know that's kind of an accomplishment. If you don't know what I'm talking about, the book is 1168 pages. Yes, you read that right. And on top of that, the font is tiny. Tiny, minuscule, so small that your grandma couldn't read a single word with her extra strength reading glasses.

So here is my dilemma. I want to finish the book, but I'm unsure of whether or not to restart the book or continue from where I ended off. Especially with a book that long.

What's your opinion? If you've left a book untouched for a while, do you pick it up and start again, or continue where you've left off? Let me know in the comments!

What Makes or Breaks a Blog

Topic: What makes you want to read a blog and what doesn't

I want to say that this topic really only pertains to book blogs, but honestly it doesn't. It can be any type of blog, to be fair. I'll just base this discussion post off book blogs since those are the main types of blogs that I read, because, you know, I'm a book blogger and all.

The first thing that really bugs be about book blogs is their design. If it isn't readable and if it doesn't load quickly (it'll load slowly if you have a lot of sidebar objects), then I probably won't enjoy your blog as much as I'd like to.

Readability is a big one for me. The font should be readable. I've come across a few blogs with cursive as the font for the body of their posts, and, I'm sorry, but I just can't stand to read that. I can read cursive just fine, but sometimes it's too much for my brain to handle. I like to be able to visit the post directly from the blog rather than on Feedly or an RSS reader, therefore I like readable fonts.

My internet already sucks, therefore a fast loading blog is my best friend. If you've got a million memes with a million gifs and pictures (I have a bunch of gifs in this one post, and I regret it greatly), my internet may not load it as fast as I'd like it to. This one isn't really a big deal since I understand that maybe I should get better internet, and it won't make me not read your blog, but it'll make me not read your blog on the days when my internet is exceptionally slow.

Lastly, design. I love pretty blogs. For example, The Story Siren, Read by the Undead, and Utterly Bookish are tree blogs that I follow that have the most beautiful blog designs I've seen. I don't know if they code them themselves or if they buy their themes, but they're absolutely gorgeous.

I've coded the majority of my blog, mostly the styling. The HTML is just whatever came with the basic layout for Blogger blogs, but other than the HTML, most of it's my own coding. (Basically, this is me accepting the fact that I'm pretty crappy at coding. I'm getting better!) And most of the graphics on this blog are made by me. Since I've coded a lot of my blog, I have respect for all those blogs that code themselves. It's difficult!

There are things that make or break a book blog for me! Readability, load-ability, and design! (Yes, I made up a word there.)

What about you? What are aspects that make or break a book blog for you? Let me know in the comments!



Library Books—Yay or Nay?

This week’s discussion post is about whether you’re for borrowing and reading books from the library or against!

Tori:

I love using the library when I want to read a book that I’m unsure about! It’s a way for me to try a book but not make a commitment like buying the book.

Lindsay:

I agree, but I have two major issues with libraries. One is that they don’t usually have the popular books for quite some time, at least the libraries I’ve been to, and the other is that when I go, I end up getting 15+ books and only reading a small fraction of them.

Tori:

Yes, exactly! Usually, my library has a big selection, and if they don’t have the book I want, I can have my library transfer between branches, or I can put it on hold. As for the 15+ books, I completely agree. Right now I have 3 books checked out, and I haven’t even finished one. I try to only get the books that I’ve put on hold when I visit my local library.

Lindsay:

I never put books on hold. I have no idea why. I think it has to do with how impatient I am. I’m like the toddler who wants something and wants it right now.

Tori:

Same! When I really want a book, I’ll just buy it. Especially with series. If I liked the first book, I’m just going to buy the second unless it’s at the library when I visit. Does the condition of library books bother you at all? I find the “used book” thing to be fun yet irritating because of my bookish OCD habits.

Lindsay:

I actually like reading used, tattered books which is weird because if they’re my own I freak about little bumps and scuffs. But what else bugs me is that if I read a book in a series at the library and have other books in the series at home, it looks empty. But I don’t want to flesh out the money for a book I just read.

Tori:

Yes! For some reason, I have a problem with buying books that I’ve already read if I don’t plan on reading them in the immediate future. I always think that the money could go to a different book that I could be reading. I’m constantly looking for new books to read even though I already have enough.

Lindsay:

You have enough to get you through the year.

Tori:

Or two.

Reviews—Does Size Matter?

In Literary Exploration's discussion post about the art of reviews, she mentioned that she doesn't usually read long reviews because she already has so many to read. This really got me thinking. I looked at all my reviews and realized that 'oh, jeez, my reviews are really, really long.' Ultimately, I'm at a stalemate. I really don't know what to do with my reviews. So I came up with a new reviewing/rating system.


I'm going to use five aspects that I think make up a great novel—plot, characters, writing, world-building, and emotions (emotions meaning how the book made me feel)—and give each aspect 10 points. I'm going to rate the novel that I'm reviewing/rating on a ten-point system for each aspect. Then I'll add together all the points that each aspect gets. For example:

Plot: 7
Characters: 6
Writing: 9
World-Building: 4
Emotions: 10

Add all these points together, and they equal 36, which can be rounded to 35. On my "rating scale", this is three and a half stars. As for the actual review, I'm going to talk about each aspect in turn. The goal is for my review to be no more than 7 paragraphs, at the most. In my opinion, it's fairly easy to read 7, short and to the point paragraphs. I want to be done with elaborating and adding extra information that doesn't necessarily need to added in a review.

The only drawback is now I feel like I'm not explaining what I thought about the book enough for the people that read my reviews. I feel like I'm skimping on the actual review.

But on the other hand, I completely agree with the post. This is my face when I see a review that's 10 or more paragraphs long and to the point that it's more like a 6th grade essay rather than a review.

I'm ashamed to admit that sometimes I will not read a review if I haven't religiously followed the blog for over a year and know I will find said reviewer's review insightful and entertaining. Sometimes the review is simply too long for me to handle. And this makes me feel like a bad person! (I honestly hope I'm not the only one.) Also, if I haven't read the book, I probably won't read the review. I might post about this later. 

Basically, I just made this post to ask you what you prefer, you know, since you guys are the ones who will ultimately be reading my reviews. My recent reviews are written in the format that I talked about above and the ones earlier than Ignite Me are written in my usual rambling and long review format. (Who am I kidding? I didn't have a format. I just sat down for about an hour and wrote an honest review.)

So what do you guys think? Does the size of a review matter or is it the content? Would you like my reviews to be lengthy and in-depth or more to the point? 

 

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Am I Reading Too Much?

 Today's topic will be whether or not I'm reading too much!

 

Honestly, I never thought reading too much would be an issue. That was until I realized that my blog posting schedule is pretty much booked for the rest of March.

 

I only want to post reviews on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but with all the ARC releases this month, I'm packed full. Since I read a lot more than Lindsay does, I usually have more reviews than Lindsay. I give her one day every week for reviews, and she writes them. That only leaves me two reviews per week, and with all these ARC releases on top of the books that I've finished reading and have reviewed, I seriously have no idea when to post my reviews.

 

I've resorted to posting reviews on Saturday as well, since that's the one day that I get to decide what I want to post since Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays are memes/discussion posts.

 

I hate reading a book and reviewing it but not being able to post the review that I wrote until a month after I've read and reviewed it. It seems like a waste. I want people to know what I thought of the book immediately after I finish the book. But if that was how I posted, then I'd have 5-6 reviews each week, and I don't want to spam you readers with reviews.

 

Despite the fact that this is a book blog, I realize that not everyone wants to read book reviews all day every day. (I know I don't.) That's why I created a strict schedule for each day, which I'm clearly having trouble following.

 

So what do you think? Do I read too much? Does it matter when my review goes up? Are four reviews a week too much? Let me know! 

Do You Do Series or Do You Do Standalones?

This week’s topic is based on reading series versus reading standalones. While Tori loves series, Lindsay loves standalones.

(For you grammar people (such as Tori), just know that we can't decide how to use 'series' as a plural. Research has shown to not be fruitful whatsoever. The same goes for the word 'standalone.' We've seen it both ways, and we prefer it as one word, therefore that's how it's going to be.)

Tori:

I love reading series because they’re full of information (usually), and most of the time they’re way more complex than standalones. With series, authors have more time to build the world that they want. When standalones need complex world building, authors have less pages while series have multiple books.

Lindsay:

I think you just basically summed up exactly why I don’t read series very often before I even had time to realize it. Standalones aren’t necessarily easy reads, but I find myself more invested in their characters and plots. As a writer, I find myself enjoying writing standalones as well. I think something about it just seems like I can relax and read or write instead of worrying about plots making sense or putting things together.

Tori:

I think that—just like the plots for series—authors have more books and pages to create characters with more complexity and that seem more realistic. As for your stories, Lindsay, I think you create realistic characters, because you put yourself into each and every one. Some standalone authors don’t do this, and that’s when I almost give up on standalones altogether. It’s harder for me to connect to a character on a personal level with just 300 pages.

Lindsay:

I also think series are usually using another aspect such as paranormal or fantasy, from what I’ve seen. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than a few series that have just plain teen fiction or something along those lines. For example, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare is based around fantasy, Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick is about paranormal, and Asylum by Madeleine Roux is based on horror. Honestly, I think I’m just a simple, contemporary or romance girl while, though you like it, I tend to see you lean much more towards fantasy as of late.

Tori:

Yeah, I just feel more comfortable with series, because the author can be more free. And I've found that I'm less harsh when reviewing fantasy novels for some reason. But as for contemporaries, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins is contemporary and a series, but each book is about a different girl, and the author has to start all over with characterization (I have no read this book. It shall happen eventually). I think for me characters are just a big deal when I read a book, and that’s why I’d prefer to spend more than one book with a character to really get used to them. To be fair, Divergent and Angelfall are two books where I’ve honestly really enjoyed the main character right off the bat.

Lindsay:

Speaking of Angelfall, I think the character situation is exactly why I love the series so much, rather than just reading the first book and dreading the second. Also, the love interest was a good character, inside and out, and I think that I really have to connect with the characters in order to love a series.

Tori:

Exactly! Me too, but I just find that it takes me longer to really connect with a character. I really enjoy the Shatter Me trilogy because of Warner and Juliette together. But by reading just the first book, I wouldn’t have ever imagined those two together. It really took the second book to change my opinion. This is why I like series. I can learn to love the characters as the series progresses, which I love doing! And I love it when the author manages to change my opinion on a specific character, showing me that it's possible for people to change.

How do you feel about reading series? Or are you more of a standalone novel type of person?

 

Why I Hate Lending Out My Books

I am honestly such a neurotic freak about the condition of my books. Ironically, I'm totally okay with purchasing used books. I don't care if a used book that I buy is, well, used. What I hate though is when I buy a book brand new, let my friend borrow it, and then they return it unread and ruined.

Like, no, reading my book in the shower is not okay.

I am not even exaggerating when I say this. In fourth grade, I let my teacher's high school (!) girl borrow my book. Three months later (this deserves another !) she returned it. Yeah, it was all wrinkled like it had gone swimming and not dried off properly. There was water paint colors on the inside pages. She ANNOTATED and HIGHLIGHTED some of the text. I can't EVEN begin to describe how angry I was.

I understand annotating and highlighting text in your own book but when you start annotating and highlighting text in a book that isn't yours, we have a problem. And don't forget the shower thing! I asked her why my book was like that and she said, "Oh, yeah. It was getting really good but my mom said I had to take a shower so..." 

ONCE AGAIN. 

Clearly, as you can see I have issues with letting people borrow my books. And I am not the only person with this problem! I was talking to Utterly Books on Twitter, and she told me a story about her friend. 

@Tori_Gory it's okay, I lent over 50 books to a friend a year ago and she gave them all to good will.
— Sydney (@utterlybookish) February 6, 2014

Let me just rage some more.

This just frustrates me so much. I don't understand how some people—especially your friends!—can't get it through their skulls that ruining other people's books is not okay.

As another example, I lent my friend a copy of one of my ARC's for him to read. Yes, he didn't even finish it because he thought it was boring, so he gave it back to me, and the corner was bent. I didn't even bother saying anything to him. The fact that he's my best friend and he still didn't respect my high regard that I have for schools says a lot about our friendship.

I just...can't. I'm sorry. This was more of a rant post, but...

How do you feel about the condition of your books? How do you feel about lending your books to friends? Tell me about your experiences in the comments! I'd love to hear.

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Preordering Books—My Love/Hate Relationship With Online Shopping

I honestly don't think I'll be preordering anymore. At least not highly anticipated books that I want to have right on the release date. Want to know why? Because from my experience the books don't get there on time.

I preordered Unremembered by Jessica Brody (the paperback) so that I could read it as soon as possible so I could read my ARC of Unforgotten so I could have reviews posted before Unforgotten's release date. The paperback of Unremembered was scheduled to release on January 28th. It did. Was my book at my house? No... Barnes & Noble hadn't even shipped it yet.

(I'm not specifically calling out Barnes & Noble. I believe other preordering systems work this as well. I've learned from talking to several people that there's a 50/50 chance you'll get your preordered book on the book's release date.)

I didn't even get the 'Your Books Are On Their Way!' until January 31st. Three days doesn't seem like a lot, but when Barnes & Noble promises three day shipping to members and doesn't even ship the book until three days after the release, I'm not example happy. I wasn't too put out by the delay in this order, because I wasn't dying to read the book. Yes, it would've been nice to get the book on the scheduled release date, but what happens, happens.

But then I preordered Cress and Ignite Me, which came out today, and not only are they not on my doorstep, but I haven't even gotten the 'Your Books Are On Their Way!' email yet. I am not willing to pay another ten dollars for the ebooks version when I could be getting my hardbacks any time soon. If I did that, I could've just saved money by going to Barnes & Noble in person.

The reason I preordered was because it was convenient for me, and it was cheaper. I guess the buyer has to sacrifice having their book on the release day in exchange for the convenience and the cheaper price.

Yeah, hopefully I'll get my books soon. (As of writing this post on February 4th, the books have still not arrived. I have no idea if they'll arrive on Thursday, February 7th when this discussion is scheduled to post.)

So what's your take on preordering? Love it? Hate it? What are your experiences? Tell me in the comments! NOTE: Do not spoil Cress or Ignite Me in the comments below. I will most likely hurt you if you do.

Confession Time - Tori Hasn't Read Harry Potter...

I am ashamed to admit that I haven't read the Harry Potter series.

 

Okay, I'm really not that ashamed of it...but you know. I think that's pretty much equivalent to saying, "I've never read a John Green book." Okay, maybe not. Maybe, "I've never read Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit." No? I know a lot of people who haven't read that book series. But I mean, guys...

Just let this sentence sink in: Tori, a young adult book blogger, has not read the Harry Potter series.



If it makes you Potterheads feel better, I've read the first three books in the series.



Yes, okay, I'm sort of done with gifs now. Anyway, back onto the main point. I, Tori Davis, have not read Harry Potter. I stopped after Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Why, you ask? Well, because I lost my copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I had found it at Goodwill and bought it but then I lost it and I just never bought another copy after I finished Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

You Harry Potter people know that the book series doesn't get interesting until the fourth book (or so I've heard...). The first three are just fun. There aren't any major cliffhangers or anything.

Yeah so I just haven't picked up another Harry Potter book since 2010. #noshame

Maybe it will be a Summer 2014 goal of mine. You know, to read--or at least finish--the Harry Potter series. How does that sound? I can make it a big deal on this blog and have a whole segment where I talk about reading Harry Potter.

I think that sounds good.