Books are super duper important in our Fandom obsessed life. We generally fall prey to almost every single book series out there: Outlander, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, True Blood, The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Fever Series, Dark Hunters, Divergent, etc, etc, etc… (God, we are easy!).
Books are the perfect experience: you take them with you, they are the permanent company. You can live in the world the book creates while you are reading it, instead of being stuck in real life (Yay for long series!). The give you your book boyfriends. You obsess over them. Come on. I know all of you have stayed at least once, up to 4 in the morning reading. If you say you haven’t, you are lying. Please exit this Blog. Me? I’m the kinda gal that can’t leave my characters in peril. I continue until they’ve reached a safe haven (so I was basically screwed while reading LOTR).
Thank the Lord of Bookworms, we are surfing the waves of a YA and NA literature frenzy and loving every minute of it (for you guys not-in-the-know, is actually a thing). But I’m not a target 16-year-old girl with lots of free time and spare brain cells to devote to every series out there (and there are a hell of a lot). I’m 31 (ancient, by YA standards), with no free time whatsoever and the few remaining brain cells that are still in working order are employed in work problems, making ends meet and doctor appointments (Real Life sucks, btw).
So, comes in like a Knight in shinning armor to save us all. I’m anal. So listing every book I’ve read, being able to catalog, rate, rank, review and shelve them all, is an OCD dream come true. And listing the “want to read” books is the best app E-V-E-R! My cell phone had more alarms set to publication dates than to work meetings.
Another amazing this is that it features Discovereads, a book recommendation engine that analyzes which books people might like, based on books they’ve liked in the past and books that people with similar tastes have liked. So the site will begin making recommendations to its users. OMG you guys!!! It’s like your own Personal Shopper!!!
But things aren’t always perfect and there’s always trouble in paradise. In my case, there are 2 problems.
THE RATING SYSTEM
At first, all was well. A 5 star system ranking from: did not like it - it was ok - liked it - really liked it - it was amazing. Ok, I can work with this. So I started handing stars left and right. But you can’t compare oranges to apples. A 5 star rating for The Great Gatsby is not the same as a 5 star rating for 50 Shades of Grey. The first is a stellar work of literature. The second is addictive and has you gushing with your girlfriends about the leading male. A 2 star rating (it was ok) for The Night Circus is not the same as a 2 stars for Beautiful Disaster. The first one was disappointing, the second got 2 stars just for the mere fact that I was able to actually finish it.
There should be different categories for the rating system, and then the final grade would be the average. Something like this:
A/ Literary Greatness
5 stars – is / will be a classic
4 stars – I can quote it and look smart
3 stars – not embarrassed to admit I’ve read it
2 stars – summer read
1 star – deny, deny, deny
B/ Movie Adaptation Quality
5 stars – they make 5 movies out of this one book
4 stars – generates hundreds of Pinterest boards dedicated to Fan Castings
3 stars – will get only B-list actors
2 stars – straight to DVD
1 star – really? they turned this into a movie staring Steven Seagal?
C/ Obsessive Factor
5 stars – I’ll name my first born as the protagonist
4 stars – I have a tattoo with my favorite quote
3 stars – my phone case, wallpaper and ringtone are theme-related
2 stars – I’ll get a keychain
1 star – No even worth a sticker
D/ Book Boyfriend Material
5 stars – it has ruined me for all men
4 stars - the movie casting will either ruin my life or make the happiest woman alive
3 stars - gave me unrealistic expectations
2 stars – he is cute!
1 star – shoot that bastard!
E/ Sex Scenes
5 stars – cold shower ASAP
4 stars – can’t be read in public
3 stars – steamy
2 stars – PG13
1 star – come onnnnn!!! do it already!!!
NO RE-READ FOR YOU
Really Goodreads? I can’t mark a book as re-read or update my status when re-reading a book? Are you serious? Do you actually know who your users are? People crazy enough to have a profile for the sole purpose of listing the books they’ve read and rating them are going to read those books more than once. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease let me do it!!! I’m begging you!!!
So, do you use Goodreads? We do! Check out our profile:
I just discovered Goodreads a fews weeks ago. Love it so far, but I hear ya on the rating system. I like what you are suggesting….