I can’t tell you why you can’t bring yourself to commit to them but there’s a lot of great books under 4 star average rating. And sometimes the greatness from them does come from their cringe or terrible factor. Kinda like watching a shitty horror movie or Hallmark movie where half the fun is complaining about it or reacting to it (especially with friends). Or it’s like a guilty pleasure. Like there was a cute gay fantasy romance (So This is Ever After) I read that was absolutely infuriating because I wanted to scream at the characters to just fucking communicate, but the book itself was full of happy feels that left me smiling and relaxed on my camping trip. I think the book was 3 something stars on Goodreads.
Sometimes the book can also just be weird or an aquired taste. Mexican Gothic, for example, is a great book. But fucking weird. Rated just under 4 stars on Goodreads. And I could see how some people just flat out wouldn’t like it.
wormlieutenant on
The combined rating barely means anything because everyone has different grading systems. Some rate on quality, some on enjoyment, not to mention the genre differences. If I read a book equivalent of an action flick and enjoy it, it could be a 5 (compared to other action flicks). If I then read War and Peace and find it a drag compared to other classics, it could very well be a 2. Doesn’t mean these two books are comparable. I mean, Frankenstein, Moby Dick and Lolita are below four.
Would be good to know what kind of books you’re looking for to rec anything.
LoneLantern2 on
Book taste is personal, the types of people who rate things a) at all and b) highly on good reads maybe don’t share your taste. They don’t share mine!
​
Goodreads loves Fourth Wing and Colleen Hoover right now and gives a decent number of Shakespeare plays less than 4 stars (people who were forced to read them for something other than enjoyment, maybe?) so it’s not like things are rated on the same scale here.
​
What is it that you like and look for in the fiction you read?
IntelligentIce43 on
I completely understand. Here’s my rule: if the number of reviews is greater than 5000 and if the rating is tending towards 4, that is, if it is above 3.7, I pick it up. Here are a few books I rated 4 or 5 out of 5:
1. Pride of Carthage (Goodreads: 3.91/5)
2. She Who Became the Sun (Goodreads: 3.88/5)
3. A Mother and Two Daughters (Goodreads: 3.79/5)
4. Generals Die in Bed (Goodreads: 3.81/5)
5. We have Always Lived in the Castle (Goodreads: 3.94/5)
6. The Woman in Black (Goodreads: 3.74/5)
Informal-Amphibian-4 on
Not all books with low ratings are books you won’t enjoy and not all books with high ratings will be ones you like. There are so many books you could potentially want to read so it’s a way of filtering out your best chances if you go by ratings.
Indifferent_Jackdaw on
Consider looking to NPR’s Book Concierge instead a flawed crowd sourced* rating system. You are not going to enjoy every book but you are far more likely to find good quality books.
*crowd sourcing is not the problem, rather goodreads is.
jcd280 on
What I would be missing is personal subjectiveness…There are probably hundreds of books that have entertained and engaged me many times over the last 50 years that others may not enjoy at all for any number of reasons…
Personally, I give any book that is recommended to me 50 pages…then it’s either…”Alright, you got my attention, let’s see where this goes.” OR “Not the least bit interested in where this is going, next please.”
No clue what these are rated on Goodreads but you might enjoy them…
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (sequel: The Hidden Palace)
Comprehensive_Net11 on
I have the same problem as you do as well. For instance, I have been putting off reading Lessons in Chemistry after it finally came available after a suuuuper long time on Libby- 1) because few of my friends gave it 3 stars and 2- (big mistake for ANY book) I read a few 3 or lower rated reviews. I am currently about half way through Mexican Gothic (3.68 stars on goodreads) and really enjoying it. Lately I’ve been trying to read a more heavy type literary book like Demon Copperhead and then switching it up to something lighter that tend to be rated less than 4. For example I just finished the Paradox series by Rachael Bach which is a lite sci fi series, bit o romance which was a fun, easy, read which would probably not be considered award winning exceptional fiction, but was still enjoyable.
NiobeTonks on
There are some books that are incredibly popular that I don’t get at all. There are others that I love that I don’t recognise from the review.
I haven’t read the books you enjoy, but I recommend Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, a phenomenal book by a British author of colour, inexplicably rated below 4 stars on Goodreads- possibly because Goodreads is an American-dominated site?
ohkaymeow on
Best way I’ve found to use Goodreads to find books I might like (not just related to overall ratings) is to find other people who hate/strongly dislike books I hate/strongly dislike who write reviews about those books and then follow them. This is especially helpful if we also have some positive reviews/books in common, but seeking out the negative is the best way I’ve found to find kindred spirits much more easily, since positive ratings and reviews are a dime a dozen.
Usually this is the way I have found other books I’d like, since knowing those people can and will leave low ratings/scathing reviews of books mean they’ll likely have more nuanced takes on other books and not just rate everything 4 or 5 with no review (or a “this book is the best!” review) like a lot of people do on Goodreads.
Obviously if those people have similar negative feelings, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll have similar positive feelings, but over time it does seem to average out that way, or if I realize their reviews don’t generally align with my views over time I will stop following them.
This has helped me find books I ended up loving that the average rating may not have led me to find.
Also so many popular/new books are rated super highly on Goodreads, especially for the Booktok hits and celebrity book club picks, that it’s hard to take those ratings seriously.
TL;DR: follow like-minded readers on Goodreads by seeking out negative reviews for books you also didn’t like. Use that to find books you will actually like, regardless of their average rating.
rabbitsarepsychotic on
I would never use goodreads as a guide for whether or not to read a book. The reason? {{Empire Falls by Richard Russo}} which won a Pulitzer Prize rates less than *Where the Crawdads Sing* (which is horrible in my opinion) and *Twilight* rates .3 stars below it. Accurate rating system? I think not. Empire Falls is a good read.
12 Comments
The Lonely Polygamist
Hollow Kingdom
An American Marriage
I can’t tell you why you can’t bring yourself to commit to them but there’s a lot of great books under 4 star average rating. And sometimes the greatness from them does come from their cringe or terrible factor. Kinda like watching a shitty horror movie or Hallmark movie where half the fun is complaining about it or reacting to it (especially with friends). Or it’s like a guilty pleasure. Like there was a cute gay fantasy romance (So This is Ever After) I read that was absolutely infuriating because I wanted to scream at the characters to just fucking communicate, but the book itself was full of happy feels that left me smiling and relaxed on my camping trip. I think the book was 3 something stars on Goodreads.
Sometimes the book can also just be weird or an aquired taste. Mexican Gothic, for example, is a great book. But fucking weird. Rated just under 4 stars on Goodreads. And I could see how some people just flat out wouldn’t like it.
The combined rating barely means anything because everyone has different grading systems. Some rate on quality, some on enjoyment, not to mention the genre differences. If I read a book equivalent of an action flick and enjoy it, it could be a 5 (compared to other action flicks). If I then read War and Peace and find it a drag compared to other classics, it could very well be a 2. Doesn’t mean these two books are comparable. I mean, Frankenstein, Moby Dick and Lolita are below four.
Would be good to know what kind of books you’re looking for to rec anything.
Book taste is personal, the types of people who rate things a) at all and b) highly on good reads maybe don’t share your taste. They don’t share mine!
​
Goodreads loves Fourth Wing and Colleen Hoover right now and gives a decent number of Shakespeare plays less than 4 stars (people who were forced to read them for something other than enjoyment, maybe?) so it’s not like things are rated on the same scale here.
​
What is it that you like and look for in the fiction you read?
I completely understand. Here’s my rule: if the number of reviews is greater than 5000 and if the rating is tending towards 4, that is, if it is above 3.7, I pick it up. Here are a few books I rated 4 or 5 out of 5:
1. Pride of Carthage (Goodreads: 3.91/5)
2. She Who Became the Sun (Goodreads: 3.88/5)
3. A Mother and Two Daughters (Goodreads: 3.79/5)
4. Generals Die in Bed (Goodreads: 3.81/5)
5. We have Always Lived in the Castle (Goodreads: 3.94/5)
6. The Woman in Black (Goodreads: 3.74/5)
Not all books with low ratings are books you won’t enjoy and not all books with high ratings will be ones you like. There are so many books you could potentially want to read so it’s a way of filtering out your best chances if you go by ratings.
Consider looking to NPR’s Book Concierge instead a flawed crowd sourced* rating system. You are not going to enjoy every book but you are far more likely to find good quality books.
*crowd sourcing is not the problem, rather goodreads is.
What I would be missing is personal subjectiveness…There are probably hundreds of books that have entertained and engaged me many times over the last 50 years that others may not enjoy at all for any number of reasons…
Personally, I give any book that is recommended to me 50 pages…then it’s either…”Alright, you got my attention, let’s see where this goes.” OR “Not the least bit interested in where this is going, next please.”
No clue what these are rated on Goodreads but you might enjoy them…
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (sequel: The Hidden Palace)
I have the same problem as you do as well. For instance, I have been putting off reading Lessons in Chemistry after it finally came available after a suuuuper long time on Libby- 1) because few of my friends gave it 3 stars and 2- (big mistake for ANY book) I read a few 3 or lower rated reviews. I am currently about half way through Mexican Gothic (3.68 stars on goodreads) and really enjoying it. Lately I’ve been trying to read a more heavy type literary book like Demon Copperhead and then switching it up to something lighter that tend to be rated less than 4. For example I just finished the Paradox series by Rachael Bach which is a lite sci fi series, bit o romance which was a fun, easy, read which would probably not be considered award winning exceptional fiction, but was still enjoyable.
There are some books that are incredibly popular that I don’t get at all. There are others that I love that I don’t recognise from the review.
I haven’t read the books you enjoy, but I recommend Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, a phenomenal book by a British author of colour, inexplicably rated below 4 stars on Goodreads- possibly because Goodreads is an American-dominated site?
Best way I’ve found to use Goodreads to find books I might like (not just related to overall ratings) is to find other people who hate/strongly dislike books I hate/strongly dislike who write reviews about those books and then follow them. This is especially helpful if we also have some positive reviews/books in common, but seeking out the negative is the best way I’ve found to find kindred spirits much more easily, since positive ratings and reviews are a dime a dozen.
Usually this is the way I have found other books I’d like, since knowing those people can and will leave low ratings/scathing reviews of books mean they’ll likely have more nuanced takes on other books and not just rate everything 4 or 5 with no review (or a “this book is the best!” review) like a lot of people do on Goodreads.
Obviously if those people have similar negative feelings, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll have similar positive feelings, but over time it does seem to average out that way, or if I realize their reviews don’t generally align with my views over time I will stop following them.
This has helped me find books I ended up loving that the average rating may not have led me to find.
Also so many popular/new books are rated super highly on Goodreads, especially for the Booktok hits and celebrity book club picks, that it’s hard to take those ratings seriously.
TL;DR: follow like-minded readers on Goodreads by seeking out negative reviews for books you also didn’t like. Use that to find books you will actually like, regardless of their average rating.
I would never use goodreads as a guide for whether or not to read a book. The reason? {{Empire Falls by Richard Russo}} which won a Pulitzer Prize rates less than *Where the Crawdads Sing* (which is horrible in my opinion) and *Twilight* rates .3 stars below it. Accurate rating system? I think not. Empire Falls is a good read.