There is a quote that floats around often in the book community that “reviews are for the readers.” From Goodreads to personal blogs, book reviews are essential for readers to consider the merits of a book before they read. But with almost anything, reviews are subjective. Especially in the book community, everyone reviews books based on their own system. And since I read and rate so many books, I thought I would give a breakdown of my personal rating system: what I look for when I rate books, my scale, and examples from each.

I alternate between using a five-star system and rating out of 10, so I included both below.

When I am reviewing a book, I consider:

1. Did I enjoy reading this book?

2. Did the author accomplish what they were trying to do?

I first reflect on whether I liked reading the book. Things like if the characters were engaging and interesting, good writing style, and good pacing are aspects that contribute to whether I enoyed reading the book or if I was slogging through it. The second aspect focuses on the author’s intent and purpose for the book. Every story has a theme or an idea that the author is trying to present in a creative way. So once I finish a book, I analyze if the author succeeded in portraying this idea or theme to the reader, or if it was muddled along the way.

5 stars (9/10 – 10/10)

            These are 5/5 for a reason. The favorites. The books that get proudly displayed on my bookshelf at eye level. The ones I will recommend to friends forever. These books not only have great characters, great writing, and an interesting story, but they fundamentally change the way I think or feel. A lot of my five-star books are ones that defined a certain time in my life; books that I needed to read at that particular moment in time. Or ones that fundamentally changed my worldview. When considering whether a book is a 4 or a 5, I think about if I will be able to reread over and over again.

Examples:

• Beloved by Toni Morrison

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

• My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

4 stars (8/10)

A four-star book is an amazing book. A book with fantastic writing, great storytelling, and a message that resonates with me. I probably won’t reread a four-star book, but I will definitely recommend it to friends. These are great books that I enjoyed reading the whole way through. The only difference that keeps a four-star from being a five-star is this certain feeling that I get when I read a five-star. A four-star book might not dramatically alter my worldview, but it was a pleasure to read.

Examples:

• The Secret History by Donna Tartt

• Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

3 stars (5/10 – 7/10)

A three-star book accomplished what the author set out to do, but maybe just wasn’t written the best. It could be annoying characters, weird wording, or awkward pacing. Or it could have amazing writing, but it just didn’t stick to me as much. A three-star book is okey: Not the worst, but not the absolute best I have ever read. It’s a “glad I read it, but it did not knock my socks off” kind of read.

Examples:

• Never Trust a Gemini by Nicole Woolf

• Pageboy by Elliot Page

• The Millionaire and the Bard: Henry Folger’s Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare’s First Folio by Andrea Mays

2 stars (3/10 – 4/10)

I did not like this book. Unlikeable characters, cliched writing, or the author getting so far away from their original intent. If I don’t like a book, I usually end up DNF-ing it after the first few pages. In two-star books, I am aware that I am not the right audience for the book. But nonetheless, there was something off about these books that was not fun to read.

Examples:

• I am Princess X by Cherie Priest

• The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

1 star (0/10 – 2/10)

I actively hated this book or did not even finish it. These are books that I hated the entire time I read it, and probably only finished it out of spite. I do not have many, because I usually stop reading a book if I hate it too much, because life is too short for crummy books.

Examples:

• On the Road with Jack Kerouac

• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway