I’ve been blogging and reviewing for slightly less than a year, so this has never been something I’ve given much thought to, but while tidying up my review archives recently I was struck by how many of the books, plots and characters have stayed with me, and how many of them…
Well, they just haven’t.
I also set up new layouts for my review archives, and one of these orders the books according to the rating I gave them, but in a more visually appealing manner (see my lovely rated review archive here). It was when I saw the covers of the novels side-by-side that it became glaringly obvious to me that some of the books shouldn’t be in the same rating bracket as others…
This got me wondering if it’s time I reconsider and amend some of the ratings I’ve given books. Out of curiosity, I looked through some of my older reviews and questioned if I would rate the book the same now, almost one year later, as I did when I first read it. Mostly, the answer was “yes” – my opinion of it hadn’t changed significantly, but in some cases it was a resounding “no”.
The reason my opinion and rating has changed is due to a number of factors –
- I’ve been exposed to many more books this year than I have in previous years, and when the bar is set particularly high, or raised, by a great book – then the rating of anything I read subsequently will be affected, as will the rating I gave to anything prior
- Because of the above point – I’m becoming a more
fussydiscerning reader, who is less easily pleased and amazed by repetitive themes in books, I love being surprised by a book! So, as time has gone on I’ve probably started being a little less willing to dish out those stars for no good reason… - I’m reading more books from within the same genres – this means I’ll be comparing and contrasting books, figuring out what worked for me and what didn’t
- As Jess from My Reading Dress recently pointed out, I’ve been bad at math – 2.5 stars is half of 5. Not 3. A lot of reviewers (myself included) seem to love the number 3
Now I’m left wondering if I should review my reviews and amend some of my ratings. In most cases the ratings will only move up or down (most likely down) by half a star, perhaps a full star max, but I’m not sure if this is something others do, or if I should just leave it well alone. I’ve come up with the following “definition”, if you will:
A rating is a snap-shot of what I thought of the book in that moment of time, but ratings can be fluid. Ratings and feelings towards a book can change over time, and I’d like my reviews to accurately represent my feelings to my readers, who may use them for recommendations.
So. What do I do? Amend my ratings, or leave them be?
Confessions of a Book Geek 
I think people shy away from rating things as a 2.5 star because it has a 2 in it… 2 is seen as a harsh rating, so it sometimes seems a bit mean to give a otherwise half decent book a lower rating. I felt bad about it too (still do sometimes!) until I remembered that yep, 2.5 is half of 5 and so it’s actually not a terrible thing to rate a book that really is only halfway there.
As for changing ratings, I’ve done it in retrospect, but usually years after I’ve read the book… like when I’ve felt pressured to really like a book so rated it highly, or if I really enjoyed it at first then decided I had major issues with it. The only book I think I’d possibly change my review for on my blog is Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, because it’s stuck with me far more than I thought it would, even with the things I didn’t like. Not sure how to proceed with it either!
I think my feeling is that my initial reaction to a book is probably correct except when I have really strong feelings for or against a book later. I feel some kind of affection towards Burial Rites, so I’ll probably read it again, whereas I feel really meh now about The Princess Bride, though I initially rated it 5 stars and as an all time favourite!
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Yep – I think so too. Though I’d be pissed if my work (exams/coursework etc.) received half marks – so I still feel a teeny bit bad about it, but 2015 is a new year and I’m determined to be more realistic with my ratings going forward (and I did go and amend those 5 reviews that were bugging me!). I’ve heard AMAZING things about that book – there’s one that has done that for me too – I had a lot of problems with it but almost a year later it still plays on my mind. I’m thinking of leaving the review untouched but adding an update at the end of the post with the current date to include my thoughts. R x
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Hey! I sort-of know how you feel. I mean my blog isn’t that old so I haven’t bothered going through and “reviewing my reviews” yet but if I were to think about my opinions of books I may have read a year or two ago, those opinions have often changed in some way or the other. I like you’re “definition.” And to answer your million dollar question – I think it really just depends on whether you want to put that extra-effort in. I think its great if you’re willing to do so but at the same time, if you don’t have the time to do so, you could just leave it as is. 🙂
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It was a mixture of tidying my blog up for the new year, and creating that new layout for my review archive that brought my attention to it! Thanks for commenting, Rachana – I think I will amend the few that are getting on my nerves, most of them I’m happy with, but I think I’ll feel better when I’ve “fixed” the ratings so they sit better with me! R x
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Well if its important enough to you that its keeping you up at night – go for it! 😀
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Haha – thanks, Rachana! R x
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Whenever I read old reviews I wonder why I’ve rated them a certain way. Ideally, I wouldn’t rate them until a few weeks after reading because I think that gives you a better perspective on it, but I don’t think I’d go back and change ratings unless I reread them and completely change my mind.
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I was tempted to do that once, give myself some breathing space, but as I don’t make notes when I read (something I am considering starting – the only true perk of eBooks I feel!) I’m afraid I’ll forget all of the key and important things I want to say! I’m looking at this at the minute – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reading-Journal-Potter-Style/dp/0307591662/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421355777&sr=8-1&keywords=reading+journal which I think could definitely help give me that time to reflect and then come to the review. R x
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I feel like if it will bother you that they’re different, then you should change them. I’ve been contemplating going back and changing mine so they’re more accurate with what I think now, but honestly it’s just too much work that I don’t have time for right now haha. On the other hand, it sort of lets the reader know what you felt about the book at the time that you read it. Our opinions are always changing, and I don’t think anyone will hold you to a rating that you gave a book years ago.
This probably hasn’t been much help, sorry! I guess it’s really up to what you feel more comfortable with and are willing to do, and I think that whatever you decide we’ll be more than happy to support as readers of your blog. 🙂
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It does bother me! Lol I’m odd like that sometimes! Luckily, there’s only a couple I really want to change, I’m not editing the review, just amending the final rating. Aww, thanks Holly! That’s a lovely thing to say 😀 R x
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I have actually went back and updated my review ratings. Obviously, if I am still thinking about it, even using it as comparison to books I am currently reading, the book got under my skin. Those books probably need more attention. I don’t usually go back and rate down.
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Thanks for commenting! 🙂 There’s one or two I’d like to rate up a little, because they have stayed with me. One in particular, Tease, has stayed with me for a long time, even though it was an uncomfortable read, and I didn’t find it to be amazing while I was reading it, I think about it regularly. Then there’s one or two reads that I think I inflated a little at the time, either because I felt under pressure to rate it, or because I didn’t have much to compare it to within the genre and it was very new for me, but a new benchmark has been set now and it’s niggling at me to lower the rating! R x
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I’d leave them be. Is there an advantage or usefullness to adjusting the rating? Especially if it’s by a half star? Would that effort be effective to anyone? I guess if you answer yes to these questions, than maybe. Do readers go to your old posts and read those reviews on a regular enough basis to justify the work you would do? As for me, it’s the words of a book review that matter, not the stars. If a reviewer talks about things in a review that give me insight into whether I would like the book, whether they liked it is irrelevant.
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Only to my bookish OCD, Jennifer! Lol I wouldn’t do it regularly, and out of the 62 books I read last year only 5 were affected. I guess I was thinking about and reflecting on my reads of 2014 going into the new year, and felt there was a few ratings that needed bumped up or down. Now that it is done (I did go ahead and amend), I feel they’ll not need changed again. The ratings they now have are much more indicative of how I felt/feel about them, and I subsequently feel that anyone who reads my blogs or reviews will be given a more accurate view of my feelings towards the books. I have a feeling this will become a sort of annual review – to make sure I’m happy with my ratings before embracing the new year. I have to say – the body of the review itself didn’t change in any of the cases, that would indeed take far too much time! Though, for blog maintenance purposes, I am going through a lot of them soon to standardise the layout – you don’t need to tell me, I have some strange quirks!! 😀 Thanks for commenting! R x
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Makes sense. I’m rather structured about how I do things myself and sometimes it is important for the order of my mind to just do things that may seem strange to others, but increase the serenity of my brain. In my chaotic life, sonetimes a little bit of order can go a long way to calming my stress.
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Here’s my thought – you’re rating a book based on how you feel at that moment in time, and I think that’s an accurate portrayal of your feelings. And if it’s only going to go up or down a half a star, I don’t think it’s worth it. I agree with you saying, “I’m becoming a more fussy discerning reader, who is less easily pleased and amazed by repetitive themes in books, I love being surprised by a book!”, because I’m finding the same thing happening with myself lately. Previous books I read and loved, I don’t think I would have the same feelings for if I re-read them today. And that is the main reason I am not a re-reader. I don’t want to ruin those amazing feelings I remember having because my taste in books has changed since then. And the problem is that our tastes do tend to change a lot over time. Where I was REALLY into NA novels 2 years ago, I’m being a lot more picky about them now. I’m more interested in books that are going to knock my socks off.
I don’t know if any of that made sense. LOL.
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I thought that too, B. That it’s a snapshot of how you felt when you finished, so of course it’s bound to change over time. I think that’s why I’m happy to leave so many of my reviews alone – there’s just a handful that are niggling at me because I know 100% it shouldn’t be rated as highly as it is. I’ll never reread them, and if someone asked for a genre recommendation I’d likely never recommend them, so they shouldn’t be in the 3 category to me, they should be lower. I’m petrified of rereading 50 Shades before the movie now, because I’ve been exposed to so much negativity to do with them, and I’ve had a couple of years to stew it over, I’m bound to think slightly less of them. I think I’m still going to enjoy them, but perhaps not as much as I first did. It made perfect sense!! There are some books I will always reread, because I think when you find a really, really great book that stays with you like that you’re on to a winner, and I love being able to read deeper into the stories, picking up on things I missed the first time round. R x
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I’m scared to read 50 again, too. And with the movie so close, I don’t think I’m going to have time now.
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I’m going to try and find the time. Lord knows I could do with a (fictional) sexy fix soon… 😉 R x
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I do this to my Goodreads reviews after awhile. Like you i’ve been blogging for less than a year so I hadn’t thought about my reviews on my blog yet but I will probable update them sometime in the future as well.
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Glad I’m not the only one who has thought about it! I guess it can be tricky because 1-5 scales mean different things on different platforms too – NetGalley, Goodreads, Amazon and my own personal rating scale are all different meanings per number, and you can’t always use the same rating on them all. That being said, there’s only a handful of books that with some reflection aren’t sitting right with me because of their score – it’s not all of my reviews, so I think I might go for it, it’ll settle my bookish OCD lol that and on my review page I bundle 4 and 4.5 together, 3 and 3.5 together, and I think I’m going to separate them out – the distinction will help make it more obvious to me where books are on my rating scale! Thanks for commenting, Arya! R x
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The fact that reading scales are so different does make it a harder process for me too! I don’t currently have a review page that is listed by ranking but by book title so I don’t have that problem right now! I’m glad i’m not the only one who feels the same way about ratings. I’ve changed since I read the books meaning I could feel different and I think its important to share that with the people who read my reviews.
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It really does make it tricky! My personal scale, Goodreads, NetGalley and Amazon all technically mean different things, so I have to “translate” my rating across sometimes. I could rate a book 3 or 4, but on NetGalley 5 means you would recommend it to someone, I would totally recommend 3/4 star reads depending on the book! I decided to go crazy one day, so I have review archives by title, author surname and rating – it wasn’t too bad to set up once I got going lol. R x
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Ooooooh this has me intrigued. And also has me wanting to go back and look through mine. And also to organise by rating, as well as by title. Hmmm, options.
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I DID IT! I DEBATED IT AND THEN I WENT AND DID IT! One book moved up half a star, and 4 I think moved down half a star. AND I separated my rating galleries out on that new archive page into half star categories to better differentiate between them (those half stars are important to me – so many books aren’t neatly a 3 or a 4!) and it looks much better now, or at least it makes me happier. I’ll sleep easier knowing I bumped Tease by Amanda Maciel up frm 3 to 3.5. I read that book when I first started blogging in March, and I STILL think about it regularly. As for the ones I pushed down half a star, I’m afraid to say it was due to pressure (everyone loves it, it must be a good book, yea maybe I do think this is good, ohhh I don’t know) that I gave them a slightly inflated score. It’s rectified, I have learned, I am happy lol R x
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This is something I occasionally think on because our tastes change as we explore books more and sometimes just with age and discovering more books. I don’t know if I would ever be willing to amend my ratings, but sometimes I find a book, I didn’t adore at first, then it grows on me as I think back on it and I think I was too harsh. Other times a book, that filled me with the warm and fuzzies, gets an over inflated rating because it made me happy, but the story itself may not have been great.
It’s such an interesting thing to think about but then it’s a decision only you can make. I don’t think I could ever review my reviews because I want my initial rating to stick, I can reread a book and change it, but not just change it a year after the fact because my memories have faded of the story, although that should probably say something about the book.
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That’s exactly it, Becky! Particularly the warm and fuzzy sentiment, where when I look back I realise it wasn’t a great story and I don’t want to reread it (rereadability comes into my rating), so while it was a decent fluffy read that perked me up, it wasn’t a high-ranking book. Lots to think about! R x
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Ratings are getting tougher and tougher for me. I feel that there are some books that deserve the same ratings but for entirely different reasons. For example, I read STATION ELEVEN and have given it a four-star rating. I also just finished reading a book that’s more for guilty pleasure read that I rated four stars. While Station Eleven is more like a literary work with almost perfect technical and lyrical writing, Worth the Risk was something that I’ve enjoyed immensely to pass the time. Does that make sense? In any case, the only thing I can do in the future if I want this to change is to forgo rating altogether. But where’s the fun in that?
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Yes, I totally get that. There are books with literary merit that I rate the same as the books that blew-my-socks-off entertain me, but they are very, very different reads. I think that’s OK, it’s personal preference and what a book does for you, how it meets your expectations. I don’t expect a fluffy or fun book to be full of lyrical prose, so it doesn’t have to do that for me to rate it highly if I enjoy it. I’m finding it hard to review some books because if it’s a three star read or so, I don’t have HUGE amounts to say about it… I’m thinking of only reviewing books where I feel I have something to add to the conversation, and doing mini-review round ups of everything else. I see the merit in not doing ratings, but I have to admit I love them. I like to categorise things – and when I read other people’s reviews sometimes I skim and check out the rating, sometimes I read the whole thing, but I still check out the final rating – I know which bloggers have similar tastes to me, so that final number is the difference between instant TBR and “meh, I’ll think about it”. I just got Station Eleven this week (paperback, meh cover) and I’m so excited to read it!! R x
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I know one blogger who does this every now and again (I just can’t remember who) and she does a post about it. So she includes maybe 6 or so that she is rerating and explains why. It makes an interesting post.
And I have a few that I consider changing. In particular FanGirl which I gave 3.5 stars to and I start to wonder was that too harsh as I loved the characters and they have just stayed so memorable. But then I read my review and remember the issues I had also and I let the rating stay. So I often think about it and just never do it. I nearly think I’d have to reread the book to do it fairly and I doubt I’ll take the time to do that, especially for books that are less than 4 stars.
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I have a feeling this will be a bit of an annual review for me, though thanks to everyone who responded I was able to work through what was going on in my head and realised the problem was more that when I first started blogging I wasn’t brave enough to rate books lower, so I’ve rectified those reviews and I hope going forward I’ll be able to rate them more accurately. I’ll probably still check myself every now and then to ensure I haven’t gotten carried away! An update post also sounds like a great idea! R x
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I know, it’s hard when you start reviewing and I think we all make that mistake. But then we just get more confident in our ratings and don’t over think them. I know I did exactly the same at the start but nowadays I don’t think twice about low ratings.
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That’s good to know, Trish. Hopefully I’ll be a little bit braver this year! R x
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I may amend the rating if ii reread a book, but otherwise the first rating was what I felt at the time i finished it. It’s like a time capsule then
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I like that idea! I guess for the ones I’m thinking of in particular, my issue is more that I feel I gave it an unfair or biased rating to begin with more than my opinion of the book changing over time. From putting this post out in the open and reading through all the responses, that’s what I realised. I wasn’t brave enough to give it a lower score when I first started blogging, so I automatically went to the 3-area, when really it should have been lower. The only exception was one book I raised the rating of – it has stuck with me almost a year later, so I felt it was truly due a bump up. It’s amazing how talking with you guys makes things clearer in my head! R x
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I was really self-conscious when I first started review books, but I feel like I’ve become a more discerning reader too, AND a more confident reviewer, so my ratings of books have definitely changed. I recently went through and made changes to the star ratings on my blog. Pretty much anything that I rated five stars dropped to four stars and three stars. The only ratings that stayed the same were three stars or less.
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I had the opposite problem, Jackie. It wasn’t so much that my 4 and 5 star reads were too high, it was that I was giving 3 stars to a book that should really have been 2 because 2 seems like such a negative score… to be fair, it wasn’t a good book… but still, I was reluctant to do it. New Year inspired me to just double check my reviews before starting this year with a clean slate. I think it can be difficult to give a book 2 stars, or even less, because we’re judging an authors work harshly, and even when we feel it’s deserving of it, I kind of feel bad doing it, because it’s still someone’s work and their baby. I need to get tougher this year! R x
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I totally just asked myself this. Seriously! I even wrote a half post about it but abandoned it. You said it sooo well. xD A lot of the time my standards have also risen and I look back at books I gave 4-stars and think, “No no no.” It feels weird to change them without rereading them, but sometimes I WILL. Because hey! They’re my reviews and I can if I want, right?!
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Haha – I agree! I was lucky in the sense that most of my reviews still held true for me, but these few irked me because I felt like I wasn’t being true to my real feelings of the book and had inflated the rating when I first gave it, out of fear of rating a book lower. I’m over that now and wanted to fix it to reflect what I really thought. I’ve done it, and now I feel so much better! I’m taking part in the reread challenge this year, it’ll be interesting to see if my thoughts on any books have changed much over time or if they stay the same!! R x
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[…] Rachel asks: do you review your reviews? […]
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[…] Rachel polls readers for reviewing our reviews […]
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[…] month I also interviewed the author of Before I Go, Colleen Oakley, took part in the TBR Tag, reviewed my reviews, discussed buying books as cheap as possible, and asked you how much do you spend on […]
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Personally I don’t think it’s fair to change the ratings now since at the time you read them you enjoyed them to that level. If you reread them and wanted to change the rating and write a new review I think that would be fair. But back then that is how you felt so changing it now and judging it against New books fluffed read doesn’t seem fair to me. But ultimately it’s totally up to you.
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Hey, thanks for commenting. I definitely see your point, but through writing this post and organising my thoughts I realised that two of the three books I wanted to review the rating of were books I didn’t enjoy that much, but I was part of the blog tour for them and at the time felt obligated to rate it reasonably (the fear of the newbie blogger) but upon reflection they weren’t deserving of it. The third book (Tease) was a challenging read for me, and I had conflicting feelings, but a year later it has stayed with me and I think about it a lot, so I thought it deserved to be rated up a little. It wasn’t so much that I wanted to review all of my ratings, just the ones that weren’t sitting right with me. I think I’ll check over my reviews at the end of each year just to check my feelings and make sure I’m reviewing fairly. R x
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I have this in my list of discussion ideas as well because I really do think that I want to go back and revisit some of my older reviews and adjust them slightly – especially my five star reviews. I feel like, if a five star book hasn’t held up to the test of time, then it really wasn’t a five star book. I wouldn’t adjust anything by more than a half star, but I’m definitely thinking of doing it at some point.
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
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I do think your opinions can change over time, and while I think there is value in sticking by your first opinions, I think equally there is value in amending your views where necessary to better reflect how you feel. My adjustments were basically half a star, but I’m OCD so that matters to me lol R x
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[…] Do You Review Your Reviews? […]
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Last year during my first year of blogging, I didn’t add any stars on GoodReads until the year was over. I felt for the first time, I was taking all the books I had read into consideration when I finally selected the rating. When I cross post during the year, I really take the pop up text next to the stars to heart before selecting an option. And on my blog it’s either a thumbs or thumbs down which works for me.
Terri M., the Director
Second Run Reviews
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When I first started blogging I wasn’t confident giving ratings either for the same reason, and I’m the same when it comes to cross posting because on different websites the ratings mean different things, so I try to adjust accordingly! Thumbs up or down is a much simpler system, but in that case 95% of what I read would be thumbs up lol I quite like making a difference between the 5, 4 and 3 star reads etc. R x
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