Bookstooge’s Star Ratings

~ Bookstooge

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Since I did a re-post of my About Me post a little bit ago, I figured it was probably time to re-post my Star Rating Explanation post as well. It’s also good for me to re-calibrate myself and make sure I’m not rating things randomly. I originally wrote this in ’16 and it hasn’t changed since. So without further ado …..

Since Star Ratings can by mysterious beasts to some, I thought I would explain what each Star Rating means, roughly, to me.

Will be placing this post as a Page on my WordPress Blog Page.

5 Stars:

An Epic read that I will buy in hardcover and read again and again or a book that has profoundly changed my life.

4 Stars:

A book that I thoroughly enjoyed but am not sure I will read again. It ‘might’ not hold up to the Me I’ll be in 10 years.

3 Stars:

A completely average book that I enjoyed. Nothing really special but nothing bad to note either.

The majority of what I read falls into this category.

2 Stars:

Did not enjoy this book. It might have been grammar, editing or plot issues. It might also have been Religious and Philosophical in nature.

1 Star:

Crap. Probably could not finish. Most likely Blasphemous in one way or another. Could also be that the skillz of the writer were of a 3rd grade level.

Half Stars:

Whenever a book is a Strong or Weak X Star Book, I tend to go for the half stars. They make my life so much easier!

65 thoughts on “Bookstooge’s Star Ratings”

                1. About that Constitution thingy.

                  This month is almost already filled up, post wise. I was wondering, much like our Congress here in the States, maybe we should “discuss this further” and actually write it up another month? I mean, I wouldn’t want to rush The New Constitution (do you know how to add the cool little trademark thingy? I’d love to add that).

                  We’ve put way too much effort into getting this whole idea off the ground and I wouldn’t want us to crash because we forgot to strap on a wing or something!

                  But “edumacated” in the New Constitution is a definite GO for me. I’m thinking our werewolf army has to consist of ONLY highly edumacated werewolves. High standards and all that you know.

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                    1. Ohhh, you’ve written Constitutions before? Crap, this is my first one. Suddenly I’m feeling a bit under-qualified.

                      I’m wondering if I know any bloggers who are into necromancy and could resurrect the corpse of Benjamin Franklin. He could help me a lot. Any good dead guys you know over there? I’m not a deadaphobic, so I’m ok with talking to 1000year old corpses. But NO ghosts. My ghostbuster license ran out last year so I can’t trust ghosts any more.

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                    2. I’ve been badly burned ressurecting the corpse of Benjamin Franklin before, so I’ll pass on that. If you’ve got access to a corpse, I’d suggest plugging a car-battery into them and then juicing them up a bit before trying to get any actual writing from them. Normally takes a bit to warm them up…

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                    3. Thanks for that pro-tip.

                      I’m not much of a handy-necromancer though, so I’d really rather pay a professional, or at least someone I know. If another blogger knows, I figure I might be able to weasel a free “promotional” resurrection out of them 😉

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                    4. You get what you pay for, it’s better to pay upfront and get a decent re-animation done that make a bodge of it yourself. I think you get two trial re-animations with the new WordPress business plan, so maybe give that a shot…

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                    5. See, see, I KNEW wordpress was going for the money with this new block editor.

                      Pay money, get to use the classic editor AND get 2 re-animations. But then they’ve got you hook, line and sinker. Thank goodness I’ve got my full supply of tin foil hats here to keep me safe!

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                    6. On the business plan, they send you a car battery, jump leads and give you a choice of two historical figures to bring back to life. Who else would be good at writing a constitution? Is Abraham Lincoln still alive?

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                    7. I don’t know if I could get ahold of Old Abe’s corpse though. What most people don’t know is that John Wilkes Booth, the guy who assassinated him, was actually working for a proto-CIA style government agency at the time. I think they stole Lincoln’s body and have let the aliens do their experiments on it. Probably not much left to re-animate.

                      What about that guy who wrote your Magna Carta? I’d be willing to use one of my free re-animates on him.

                      And they send me a car battery you say? Suddenly, this business plan is looking better!

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                    8. Think Magna Carta is written by the Archbish of Canterbury, think he has a blog here on WordPress. It’s quite dull stuff through, we could do better than that. Ther’s not a werewolf in it!

                      I studied American history and don’t remember aliens stealing Lincoln’s body. I believe you are telling the truth, but why would they hush something like that up?

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                    9. Not even a mention of a werewolf in the magna carta? well, he’s out then. Good thing you know your history!

                      They covered up the corpse abduction because it made them look bad. If the government couldn’t even protect a corpse, well then, could you expect it to run the country? It would have totally shaken the people’s faith in the whole system. And since we’d just come out of our Civil War stronger and more unified than ever, they didn’t want anything to introduce cracks into our newfound solidarity…

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                    11. I figured it was for whatever country we decided to take over? Did I forget to mention that?
                      *slaps forehead*

                      See, this is what happens when you rush things. Good thing I’m working with a pro like you.

                      Personally, I’ve always been in favor of being King of Australia, but if you like some other country I’m definitely open to suggestions.

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                    12. Let’s take over Australia for starters and see if it’s a good fit for you. Bet they’ll be thrilled to get a new constitution, hand-made by us! Their werewolf problem will vanish overnight! We’ll be heroes, like the mice in Rescuers Down Under!

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                    13. Whoooaaaa, I didn’t even THINK of their werewolf problem! It’s almost like we’ve been planning for this our whole lives without even realizing it. I wonder if we’re like the Bill & Ted of New Constitutions?

                      You are right. We’ll be hailed as Greatest Thing Since Sliced Marmite! We need a National Movie however. Rescuers Down Under definitely is in the running. Also, Crocodile Dundee. THAT was a serious movie filled with deep thoughts and pathos.

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                    14. That is very much the benchmark for thoughtful movies, but I think we should use Rescuers Down Under as a template. Two little mice that use a leaf as a speedboat, that’s the kind of thing a constitution needs! Cute and ingenious!

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                    15. Yeah, I keep forgetting about the “cute” factor. Considering the world is made up of 60% of a species that likes “cute” you’d think I’d factor that in. Well, better late than never.

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                    17. Exactly. She’s not a werewolf person.
                      I am wondering about having some sort of Mouse Body Guard thing though. Werewolf armies are great and all, but an army of werewolves in our personal palaces might seem a bit gauche and the last thing I want to be accused of is being gauche!

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                    18. It would be a personal nightmare for me if either of us were accused of being gauche. Like the Mouse Body Guards, let’s put that in! What kind of carryon creatures are in the old constitution? Could we have a loveable bear called Andy?

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                    19. Our old constitution is pretty boring actually, filled with nothing but rights and responsibilities, not an animal to be seen anywhere!

                      Didn’t you review a movie where the main character had some animals in his pockets or something?

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                    20. That sounds like the kind of thing I’d review. OK, so we scrap all this stuff about rights and replace them with cute cartoon mice and werewolves. Ben Franklin will be totally up for this! Didn’t he invent lightning?

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                    21. He did invent lightning! I’ve always wondered how they had thunderstorms before he invented it. Wouldn’t surprise me if Al Gore (our former Vice-President who invented the internet) re-animated ol’ Franklin and got HIM to invent the internet…

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                    22. Right, so we keep the car battery and jump leads for emergencies, attach lighting rods to the graves of the founding fathers, and bring them back to endorse out All-New Constitution featuring Bernard and Bianca! It sounds so much better already…do what’s all this about you getting up at 5.45am in the morning?

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                    23. Good idea about the car battery. Always good to have a backup plan.
                      And if any of the Founders won’t cooperate, I say we threaten to give them back their wooden dentures!

                      Eh, I get up every morning very early. My body won’t let me sleep in. Since I have to be up at 5 for work during the week, I’ve just got in the habit and my body doesn’t realize it is ok to sleep in until 6am.

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                    25. Nah, wooden one passed out of style back in the 60’s. I think they’re using that new fangled metal that Wolverine’s claws are made of, adamantium I think? Never need sharpening and man, can they tear through a steak! No more blender steaks at retirement homes!

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                    28. I scaled my werewolf army down, and made it part-time, because they’re just normal people during the day, so they just get paid by the hour, when they are actually working. No complaints, just a bit of snarling…

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                    29. Hmmmm, good thinking. I’ll have to look into these exo-teeth thingies too. Can’t be too prepared.

                      Especially if a sharknado overwhelms Australia and we have to fight back. I want to be able to bite with the best of them.

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                    31. Yeah, leading by example is hard work though. How do you feel about switching off every other week? One week I’m king, next week you’re king. That way we can take vacations easily.

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                    32. I hasn’t really thought much about being King of Australia, but willing to give it a shot. If we’re writing a constitution, we can make the rules, so yes, I’m in, we shall rule fairly but firmly, and no flying sharks allowed!

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  5. I’ve come to realize that even though I user a five star rating system, my system really only has three tiers. 2 stars are for the bad reads, 3 stars are for the mediocre-to-good reads, and 4 stars for the good-to-great reads…and of course the half-stars for everything in between. 5 stars is on the rare occasion where a book was not only a great read, it blew me away or touched me on a deeper level somehow. Even rarer are the 1 star ratings, and those are reserved for the truly awful, practically unreadable which I’ve been fortunate not to come across too often. But yeah most of my books seem to be falling within the 2-4 range.

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  6. A very sensible system! I’m not that consistent, and usually more generous. A book I really liked can get 8/10 quite easily, 7/10 means it was good but somehow lacking. So, I’d say I give about half a star more than you… but sometimes I get angry at a book I rate it even harsher that I would after calming down 🙂

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    1. Everyone’s rating system is slightly different and how they apply it is slightly different. At this point in time I’ve come to realize that just a star rating isn’t enough, but it helps in the big picture.

      Is Angry Piotre kind of like Angry Hulk? 😉

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  7. I should probably do something like this for my page too sometime. Thanks for clearing up on how you rate your reads Stooge, I shall now endeavor to polish me writing skeeeelz to that of a fourth grader hahahaha! Man that 1 star comment cracked a smile on me.

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    1. I like the half stars for those vague “in between” feelings you sometimes get about a book. If I were to define a 10star system, I’d probably break it in no time 😀

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  9. I tend to think of my star ratings as a rough guide to my overall feelings on a book. I have so many that are 3 star and they are such a wide range that half stars on sites would be more helpful to define my thoughts better! Still, I try to do that in my reviews if I can!

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    1. I do the same, which is why I put my rating in the title of my review. That way someone can see quickly what I felt about the book. the review is for a more nuanced version 🙂

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  11. Pingback: September ’20 Roundup & Ramblings | Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road

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