Introducing a New Rating System

In light of my 8th anniversary earlier this week, I've decided to implement a new feature I've been kicking around for awhile: a new rating system.

At the time I set up my blog, my out of 10 rating system was one that made the most sense to me, since I really don't like giving half stars on the 5 star scale that is common on Amazon and Goodreads reviews.  I was mostly trying to give an objective view of the book's merit overall, not necessarily how I felt about it.

Now I find my perspective about how I focus on the books I read is changing, and I really look first at how much I enjoyed the book, and then on how much merit it has.

Therefore, I am introducing a new system to how I rate reviews: the Leaf System.  Details about the ratings will be shown below and added to the About Ratings page of the blog.  Reviews completed before this date will still be show in the old style, so I don't expect to convert old reviews to the new system.

So here's the details on the new system.  Books will be given a rating from 1 to 5 leaves:

5 leaves: I Really Enjoyed It

These books are books that I would easily recommend to others and/or think about often.

4 leaves: I Liked It

These are books that are good, recommended, and worth reading, but have something missing that make them not worthy of 5 leaves.  These books are good, but probably not re-reads.

3 leaves: It Was Okay

These are books that are just okay, and have both good and bad qualities to them.  I don't regret reading these books, but am not necessarily excited about them.

2 leaves: I Didn't Like It, But You Might

These are books that that I did not enjoy, but you as a reader might like them more than I did.  This is the rating that I reserve for books where I can see the merit of a book, and how it might be enjoyable to a certain type of reader, but it just wasn't my thing.

1 leaf: Not Recommended

I expect these reviews will not show up here very often, just because if I didn't enjoy the book that much, I usually won't take the time to write a review for it.  But in the case that I do write a review for these books, that's what the 1 leaf rating is reserved for.  These are books that I do not recommend in any way.


In addition to a leaf rating, there are 3 additional "awards" a book can earn based on the following criteria:

The Gold Leaf Award

These are books that are rated 5 leaves and have something else about them that just makes them super spectacular, the best of the best.  A gold leaf award is similar to the old 10/10 rating.  These are books that probably will end up being on my Favorites list for awhile to come.

The Sprinkle Award

Sprinkles remind me of cupcakes, and like many cupcakes, these books are all sugar and fluff.  Not much substance there, but it was fun to consume it anyway.  The sprinkle award is granted to books that are not necessarily literary substantial or great, but more for pure entertainment purposes.

The Up All Night Award

This award is given to books that are what I like to call "compulsively readable"; those books you tear through, edge-of-your-seat suspense, can't put down, etc.  In the end, books with this award may only get a 3 leaf rating, but they definitely kept me going all night while I was in the middle of them.  

So there you have it, a (hopefully) simplified version of the rating system.  Or it seems simplified to me at least, so that's why I'm going to try it out for awhile.