Category: Miscellaneous Ramblings

Here lately I’ve been contemplating my rating system. Currently, I use a numbered system which I have defined on my sidebar as this:

• 5/5 – excellent, loved it, wonderful, etc.
• 4/5 – enjoyed it, really good, recommendable
• 3/5 – okay, nothing too exciting
• 2/5 – eh, could have skipped it
• 1/5 – hated it
• 0/5 – didn’t even finish

I started my book blog in January of 2008 and one of the first things I did was lay out this rating system. I haven’t changed it since the day I started my blog. However, I find myself struggling to put a number rating on the books that I have read. I end up with a lot of 3.5s (which I don’t even have clearly defined, but I consider it as better than okay but not quite really good) and 4s. I find myself holding back on that 5/5. I haven’t rated anything below a 3 since 2008 (I haven’t officially rated anything a 0 because I keep my DNF books separate and don’t actually review them).

Sometimes I feel as if my rating system is a little unfair. I don’t want an author to think that I didn’t like their book just because of a number I have assigned it. If I really hated the book I’m not going to be writing a review of it anyway because I personally don’t want to put a negative review out there for everyone to see, a simple “it wasn’t for me” will suffice in that situation.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this. I just feel as if I really need to re-think the way that I rate books for my reviews.

So let’s start a dialogue, dear readers …. how do YOU rate books in your reviews? Do you have a numbered system? Do you use the standard school system: A-F? Give me a little insight as to what you do and how you feel about your system.

Okay, well, I’ve probably been crazy for quite a while, but that’s beside the point.

I was looking at my bookshelves this morning, absolutely flabbergasted that they have gotten so full so quickly. I have known for some time that I’m a little out of control with bringing books into the house. My husband doesn’t even blink when 10 books come in the mailbox in 1 week. It doesn’t phase him a bit anymore – he’s used to it! The problem with this …. I can’t read as fast as I’m bringing books in!! It really has gotten out of hand.

All this thinking came about because next weekend is my library’s book sale. They have one every January and July. I missed January’s this year because I was out of town that weekend. I’m going to be in town next weekend and really want to go. But as I was looking at my shelves this morning, I realized that there were at least 3 books still there from LAST July’s library book sale! This got me very curious and I had remembered that I had written a post last year about the goodies that I came home with last year. You can find that here. I was browsing the list, I brought home 12 books for $6. Pretty good deal if you ask me. I went on Friday last year, on Saturday’s they have a $2 bag full policy – but if you wait until Saturday, the selection is slimmer – so I paid “full” price, 50 cents per book. Still not bad in my opinion, when you look at brand new books prices or used book store prices.

But that’s beside the point of this post. The point is the fact that of those 12 books from last year’s library book sale, I have not read any of them. Two of them I traded on Paperbackswap, obviously unread.

So the question then becomes, do I really need to go to the book sale next weekend? Absolutely not. Does that mean that I will resist the urge and not go? Highly doubtful.

I know I’m not the only book crazy person in the world … but, how does everyone reel themselves in and control themselves? Any advice would be most welcome 🙂

Favorite book of your favorite series

Roses are Red. To me this was the absolute best in the Alex Cross series. This is the one where The Mastermind is revealed – and it was definitely quite a shock to me. I went back and read my review on it and I can actually still remember how I felt when The Mastermind was finally out in the open, it was definitely a twist that I never would have imagined. And after reading the following books, well The Mastermind is definitely the best villain that James Patterson could have ever come up with, in my opinion.

Your favorite series.

No brainer: Alex Cross. Remember how I said that I didn’t like to re-read books? Well, I think I could re-read this entire series and love them just as much the second time around. Mr. Patterson has really developed a character in Alex Cross, the supporting characters are enjoyable, and the villains are unbelievably psycho! They are quick and easy reads, they are escapism at its best. I do believe that I will shed a tear when this series comes to an end.

A book that you’ve read more than 3 times.

Honestly – I have never read any book more than 3 times. In fact, I can only think of one book that I have read twice: the first Harry Potter book. No wait, I have to take that back; I re-read a Harlan Coben book once by accident, I realized about 100 pages into it that I had read it before, but by then I had to know what happened since I could not remember. But generally I am not a re-reader. I just don’t like to do it. I know some people re-read books all the time, I just can’t seem to bring myself to doing it. There are too many books on my TBR … between the ones that I own and the ones that are on my virtual wishlist/reminder list, I don’t have the time to re-read.

Best book you read last year

Wowzers, that is a toughie to answer! I’m simply going to answer based on the first book that came to my mind: 31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan. For whatever reason, this book really stood out to me. I don’t read a lot of historical fiction, sometimes I find myself struggling to follow along, especially if it is set in an era that I’m not familiar with. However this book took two of my favorite things: crime fiction and history and blended them together so perfectly that I had an absolute blast reading it. As someone who reads a lot of books (like most of the other book bloggers out there) to have a book stick out in your mind 8 months after you read it, well then it must have been one heck of a book! I highly recommend this book if you haven’t read it (or even heard about it).

So I found this over at Lost in Books and thought I would copy it and participate myself 🙂 My plan is to pre-schedule some of these so that I will have something to post every day while I’m gone on vacation (countdown: 11 days til sailing and it cannot come soon enough! Words cannot express how much I need this 10 day vacation) I will start to pre-schedule these for next week.

Day 01 – Best book you read last year
Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 times
Day 03 – Your favorite series
Day 04 – Favorite book of your favorite series
Day 05 – A book that makes you happy
Day 06 – A book that makes you sad
Day 07 – Most underrated book
Day 08 – Most overrated book
Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 10 – Favorite classic book
Day 11 – A book you hated
Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore
Day 13 – Your favorite writer
Day 14 – Favorite book of your favorite writer
Day 15 – Favorite male character
Day 16 – Favorite female character
Day 17 – Favorite quote from your favorite book
Day 18 – A book that disappointed you
Day 19 – Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 – Favorite romance book
Day 21 – Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 – Favorite book you own
Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read
Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 – Favorite title
Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 – Your favorite book of all time

Hello, my name is Tara, and I am a book-aholic.

Why am I just now admitting that, you may ask? Well, besides the fact that it is common knowledge: it’s because I am going to be completely embarrassed by this coming Monday’s post for Mailbox Monday. Why, you may once again ask? Well …*ducking head in shame* … it’s because in the past two weeks alone I have been a busy little bee on the PBS Box-of-Books page. I have 24 books coming to me because of 4 transactions. Oh, and then there’s the two wishlist books…… (Of course this also means that I was able to get 24 books to new homes). But really, 24 – er, actually 26? I am thoroughly embarrassed. I have to hide these big box trades from my husband – not because he cares, but because he just shakes his head in astonishment and it makes me feel guilty. This week (not counting Friday and Saturday’s possible mail) I have already received 12 books. Now, 7 of the books won’t be delivered to me for a while because of a emergency on the other person’s end, but still. It’s just the fact of the matter.

So, dear readers:

• Do I have a problem? Yes.
• Do I care? Not really.
• Will I change? Highly doubtful.

So there it is. My admission. In all it’s glory posted on the internet for all the world to see 🙂

On a side note – I got my iPhone! YAY! I am a happy girl! And tonight is more March Madness! GO BUTLER!!! (Why Butler? Because that’s who I got in the office pool). Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I can’t not say something. There’s been rumblings about a certain blog post on a certain author’s blog about certain “unprofessional” bloggers. I don’t want to get too involved in this entire thing, however, I think that the name calling and royalty check reference might have been slightly unprofessional. Just sayin’. Now, this particular author does not write books that I am necessarily interested in, so I can’t say anything about her books. However, I can say that I now know her name and will never give her any of my money.

I think that’s all I intend to write about this whole topic.

Tara – who is off to write her grocery list (oh, and a book review, too).