To go along with u/Uh_I_Say - having been in Catholic school for 12 years, it's a process to unfuck your head. Especially if you, like me, were bisexual and wrestled with that throughout high school and college until finally having it hit you at 25 that the reason you got flustered when a certain boy flirted with you is because you really kinda wanted him to kiss you. Bonus points if your coming of age was, again like me, during the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. Cuz then, you got to watch all the people you knew and loved go on about how Islam was a violent religion (sarcastic "religion of peace" jokes abound) and that Christianity was a religion with a "loving god", and then turn right around and banshee scree about how we really just needed to carpet bomb the Middle East, that poor people should suffer more because it'd motivate them, etc.

It's a very ... difficult experience, coming out of all that. For me, it happened because I very much bought into the idea that Jesus taught us to love and be kind to one another, but instead I got a front row seat to people around me waving a book around to justify hate and war, all while demanding complete adherence to that notion lest you be branded "unpatriotic", "unAmerican", or a "sympathizer".

I use that too. 3 stars is a pretty good book for me.

Edit: I wish Goodreads had a bigger range because just 5 options seems too limiting. (Storygraph is better, yes, it's just that most people haven't made the switch yet.)

I rate based on how good a book I think it is, not how much I enjoyed it. I can enjoy a book and know it's not redefining the genre. Sort of like "yes, I enjoyed this trilogy about superpowered magical werewolves and devoured it in a week but is it actually as good as Pride and Prejudice? Should I really be putting it on the same shelf?"

5*: It's a masterpiece in its own way. The themes are on point, the prose is amazing, the plotlines are all superb.

4*: Wow. This book did something so well that I keep coming back to it. Will/have reread. Not quite a masterpiece but wow.

3*: It's a good book. The plotlines tie up nicely, the pacing is good. It's a well-crafted book. (Most books I read end up in this category)

2*: It's an alright book. Some of the plotlines didn't quite get resolved well, the pacing felt off, the characters are mostly cardboard cutouts. It was just interesting enough to keep reading. I'll most likely give the book away but won't encourage people to read it.

1*: DNF, not even planning to get back to it. Or I managed to finish (hoping it'd get better with the ending) but I wish I hadn't. What a waste of time.

I mostly rate books based on personal enjoyment but I try to be a little technical too. 1 and 5 stars are ratings I only give if I have some sort of bias, it's hard to be objective because I either found the book personally offensive or emotionally validating. I rate with my feelings anyway but in the middle of the scale I often manage to put some of them aside.

1 star - I actively hated it, and I wish I'd DNFed it or DNFed sooner (I rate books and write a review if I drop a book past the halfway point, because I think "this book was so bad I couldn't finish it" is still valuable information). (examples: Light From Uncommon Stars, The Midnight Library)

2 stars - I didn't like it but it wasn't necessarily bad. To me it was boring, forgettable. (examples: Bonds of Brass, She Who Became the Sun)

3 stars - I liked it but it was just okay. I may have a couple of major complaints or the book wasn't "for me" for whatever reason. (examples: Dune, They Both Die at the End)

4 stars - I liked it a lot and have no real complaints, might reread one day, but it lacked that little extra "something" that would make me love it and feel emotionally attached. (examples: The Blade Itself, Mort, 11.22.63)

5 stars - I loved it and really connected with it, it was the right book at the right time, I'll be talking about it for weeks and years to come and almost definitely reread it at least once. (examples: The Martian, Assassin's Apprentice, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Nimona)

I usually write at least a small review to explain my feelings, so that if anyone is looking to ratings/reviews for guidance they can get a sense of whether or not they should take my rating seriously. While I agree that it sometimes feels unfair to rate a book low based on gut feeling alone (like you said, it's hardly the book's fault if it doesn't connect), it's also how I and many others read. A lot of books that for me were 1-3 star books are very highly rated on goodreads and some of my favourites have received bad reviews, so at least for me ratings are just not a good guide.

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I give books to people I know will appreciate them. I think last Christmas I gave A Humument to my friend whose an artist because I knew he'd appreciate the style of it.

I use StoryGraph as well because I like the data side of things. Do you change the grade based on how much you liked it vs how good a book it is? For example, a book that was well written but not your thing vs a book that you loved that had some issues?

I’m so done. This is getting out of hand. The government won’t do anything about it either and I’m just fucking DONE

I like this way of doing it :)

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This is why I don't like to rate books on public forums. My emotions and personal preference always intertwine in my rating. And I'm afraid someone else who the books style is more their cuppa won't read it and enjoy it, because it wasn't my personal taste.

Trying to squeeze one or two more elections out of the old fucks before Gen Z and the millennials become the majority of the voting base

Protecting children by threatening their lives.

This seems more suitable for r/politics or something

I read this really gross book once as a kid. There was this part with incest where the daughter was going to bang her father when he was drunk. There was also this part where a father offered up his daughter to a bunch of horny men to rape. There was a part about women being ripped open and their babies killed by being beaten against the ground, and another part where this soldier guy burns his own daughter to death. Actually there was a bunch of talk about babies being smashed against stuff, and a ton of stuff about virgin girls being raped. And these two kids laughed at a guy and then got torn apart by bears?

I forget the name of this book. I wonder what it was. I sure hope nobody's advocating for that book to be put in any schools because frankly that shit is not okay for kids.

Omg! Thought I was was the only one to do this 😂 I feel sometimes if I don’t like the ending I emotionally rate the book lower than it deserves. Then I go back to change it.

The Hunger Games isn’t my favorite, but it is odd in that it is seen as exemplifying the “YA Dystopia” tropes associated with the genre but sort of doesn’t live up to most of them? Katniss by the last book is more a broken protagonist than a wish fulfillment hero. She isn’t much of an actual “chosen one” except by happenstance and was used, for good or for ill, as a symbol for the rebellion and wasn’t the one who defeated the Capital, and who knows whether the peace will last. The love triangle was barely even there for me as I read it. For me, it’s a bit of an unusual series to reflect upon, which isn’t bad.

Possibly most controversially, I think the movies were better.

>I do however believe I would have some type of feelings if a school wanted to distribute books to my elementary aged child about any sex straight gay or otherwise

Does every child read every single book in the library? Is reading every single book present in the school library a requirement for children to graduate elementary school?

I was a voracious reader as a kid. I read dozens and dozens of books. I read books at recess. I read books under my desk in class. I read books at home. I read books on the bus. I didn't come close to reading every book in the library, and I honestly didn't even bother with the nonfiction section unless it was for an assigned project or if I wanted to look at cute pictures of animals in instructional books about pet care.

The word "distribute" implies that every child is being handed a copy of this book. That isn't what happened.

⭐ Hated it

⭐⭐ Didn't like it.

⭐⭐⭐ Wouldn't recommend it

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pretty good

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved it!

Oh, please. If someone wanted to remove the book, there's easier ways of doing it than a bomb threat. I'd lay odds this is a fake threat so people can beat their chests and scream about bigotry. Modern humans are so completely dominated by the news/noise/outrage cycle it's risible.

5 stars = Worth reading multiple times

4 stars = Worth recommending

3 stars = Worth reading once

2 stars = Would discourage others from reading

1 stars = Waste of time

I had no idea they were making it a series! Very cool.

I rate them like your friend. I don't go by a book's rating on goodreads to determine if I want to read it / will like it or not.

I only use the rating to remind MYSELF what I liked or didn't like - and I suspect quite a large number of other goodreads users do the same.

Personally I don't give a 1 ever because that would be a DNF - and you're right, if it's that bad, then it's probably on me selecting a book that's not my taste. Those I simply shelve as DNF, don't rate and move on.

Yeah, I think I'd say similar.

5 stars - absolutely adored it. Was interesting, fascinating and educational. Would re-read and recommend to others.

4 stars - loved it. Was interesting or educational. Wouldn't re-read but would recommend to others.

3 stars - relatively enjoyed it. A decent, pleasurable read but nothing that stood out. Wouldn't re-read and probably wouldn't recommend to others.

2 stars - didn't enjoy it. Was boring, too flawed or unmemorable. Barely had any redeemable qualities and I'm glad to finish it. Wouldn't re-read or recommend to others.

1 stars - hated it. A book that I not only didn't enjoy, but actively hated and the reading experience was ruined for me.

I tend to not have too many 1s as I'll just quit while I'm ahead but sometimes required reading for my uni course ends up in this category. Additionally, hating a book doesn't necessarily mean it has no value - I really didn't enjoy Paradise Lost because I thought it was way too long, hard to understand and I didn't enjoy the subject material, but my seminar had some interesting discussions about religious doctrine, the sexism against Eve and whether Satan was a villain or a hero.

5 is I absolutely loved it and want to reread (if I find time).

4 is great book, really enjoyed it, and would probably reread but only if I was really in the mood/it's part of a series/I have nothing else I'm clamoring to start.

3 is I liked it but it may not have stood out in any way as really good.

2. I really did not like it and it was a struggle to finish.

1 is I DNF. Since starting a Goodreads (4-5 years ago) I have never DNFed, but I came close a few times.

Goodreads ratings are not holy to me and my baseline rating is like a 3.5 (jesus christ i wish half stars were possible). But what i mean is I give nearly everything a 3 or a 4 (and honestly probably more 4s than 3s). I give a healthy amount of 5s. All of my ratings are (obviously) subjective, and a book that maybe is a 4 can become a 5 merely by me being pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. Similarly a 4 could become a 3 if I had higher hopes.

Because of the good people here on /r/books and /r/fantasy I generally find that by and large I really do enjoy the things that I start. People give good recommendations. And there are a lot of excellent books to read. Too many.