Goodreads Ireland discussion

I've been on Goodreads for a few years now and something that has been niggling away at the back of my mind has just crystalized.

Most book seems to average out at about 4 stars! Isn't that odd?

To test, I just did a random search for 'anything' and 'love'
http://www.goodreads.com/search?page=...

https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8...

Yep 100s of books all averaging out at about 4 stars. And I mean anything from about 3.t to 4.5 really but mostly close to 4.

If this is true, it seems that a more realistic approach for analysing the data would be to remove the first 3 stars, and then re-apply the ratings to give a much clearer difference between books in the lower ratings and books in the higher ratings. It would probably be easy enough for someone in the know to build a web app to do this.

I mean I generally avoid anything under 4 stars unless I've a special interest or whatever. But when I think about it, I rarely come across any books with less than 3.5 hmmmmm

The fatal flaw with the Goodreads rating system is that people tend to stick to what they like. With any book that's widely read, it'll have its detractors and admirers. On the rare occasions that I use Goodreads, I read the reviews and ignore the ratings. I usually look for people with the same tastes who like it and failing that, I look for people with the same pet peeves as me in the negative reviews.

I've given quite a few 1 and 2 star ratings, but my average rating is still 3.67, for no other reason than I avoid anything that looks like I'd hate it.

I bet your average rating is pretty similar, John.

Yeah I'd never go on rating alone. You couldn't. I think another general flaw with rating systems is that even if 99.99% of people loved a book / movie I could be the 0.01% who would hate it. And vice versa.

A really high or low rating is not a guarantee of anything.

I didn't even notice my average rating until now. It's 3.56 - so yeah maybe most user's average rating also ends up pretty close to 4.

Allan wrote: "I'd have to say, I'm probably pretty generous with my ratings as well-but then, as Declan says, if you know what you like then you'll probably like what you buy! Saying that, both books I'm in the ..."

But those books will affect what you read in the future. I've read books that have turned me completely off certain writers and, in a couple of cases, whole genres.

Allan wrote: "You're right, Declan, in that I won't be reading any more Jim Dodge novels any time soon! The other is on the city of Detroit, but I think with this one I've been more disappointed in the fact that..."

Just finished LeDuff's book. It is worth the read, although I found it a bit depressing, but then I grew up in the city. Left 40 years ago. I think I made the right decision.

Haven't read any of these guys but I did take a pilgrimage to Detroit once, just to visit the homeplace of Detroit techno. It wasn't quite Dublin to Detroit and back, but one leg of a US trip. Was an experience!

Back to the rating discussion :), I concur with Declan. If I like a book, I give it 4 stars. If it's a book I love and want to keep on my shelves, and it's an all time favorite, I give it 5. And I think many of us appreciate Goodreads as a way to find readers with similar tastes, and see what they read and enjoy. Even in this group our likes vary widely. There are those who love sci-fi and/or fantasy, those who like mysteries and thrillers, and those who are readers of more literary stuff. And many of us read a mix of all that and much more.
I have friends who are crafts people and live in rural Maine - he's a potter and she's a weaver. He didn't go to university, but reads a lot of very literary stuff. He is my role model for pushing myself to read more challenging books. For example, he has suggested writers such as Marilynne Robinson , and Thomas Sanchez which are not light reads.

I agree with Declan's and Barbara's comments about the ratings.

Remember that the ratings are basically reflections of each reader's experience of reading the book. As Declan said, people do tend to stay away from books that they doubt they would enjoy. This is perhaps the main reason why the overall "average" rating is as high as it is.

The other reason of course is that many sub-standard books are market-place failures and never fall into most people's hands.

I'm sure that the ratings would fall perceptibly if we all had to read a random selection of books assigned to us, rather than choosing for ourselves (thank goodness) what we read. :)

Ted wrote: "I agree with Declan's and Barbara's comments about the ratings.

Remember that the ratings are basically reflections of each reader's experience of reading the book. As Declan said, people do tend..."

Yes. Imagine if you had a list of books you had to read for high school or university. I'm sure the ratings would go down, even among the works considered classic or canonical. I read one woman's rating scale on Good Reads, and I though it was clever (too bad I can't remember her name) but she classified her rating scales according to things like, if the book would keep her interest on a long plane flight, if it was a 'comfort read,' or if it challenged her thinking/perspectives. I though that was an interesting way to think about the moods or purposes we have at any given time for reading a book.

Out of interest, has anyone ever a read a book you disliked so much it turned you completely off a writer or maybe even a genre? I know that there have been books I've read that made me swear off ever reading that author again.

I read Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis, and I can safely say I won't be reading him again any time soon. It was one of the most dull pieces of drivel I've ever read in my life. For the group I read Anne Enright's The Forgotten Waltz and I hated it. I had intended to read The Gathering but since then I just can't stand the thought of picking it up.

When I was at school I read Ernest Hemingway's the Old Man and the Sea which bored me to tears. I wouldn't read Hemingway for another twelve years, when I decided to try Across the River and into the Trees which I loved. So maybe I'll give Enright another chance.

Another book which bored me to tears was Titus Groan, the first book in the Gormenghast trilogy. I've read quite a lot of fantasy novels and I expected to really enjoy it, but I had to force myself to finish it and since then I can't bring myself to continue the series. I remember watching a TV programme about the rise of the fantasy genre and quite a lot of writers stated that Lord of the Rings is Academia and Gormenghast is art. So many of them said it in those exact words that it must be almost a cliché.

I recently tried reading The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington. It's one of the few books I've ever quit reading and probably the only one I have absolutely no intention of returning to. And if Bullington ever releases another book, I won't be reading it.

What an interesting thread! This has happened to me with Tana French. I recall having a so-so response to In The Woods but continued to read her as she was a new Irish mystery/thriller writer. I thought The Likeness was far fetched when I read it but loved Faithful Place and reread it a year later. But it was her last one that totally turned me off - Harbour Place. This was the culmination of what was wrong in other books but magnified - absurd plots, impossible happenings, and way way too long with too much surplus text. Then I listened to the audiobook of The Likeness for my book club as I was traveling and had already read it. That was when it all "clicked" for me. I am done with her. And it surprises me that there hasn't been more of a reaction to her failure to get to the point. I suppose my annoyance is showing.
I also have always thought Hemingway is boring, but I am somewhat open to trying to understand why he is seen as such a great writer. I suppose being a fan of Joyce's Ulysses due to the influence of friends and the fact that my birthday is on Bloomsday, I am trying to be a bit more flexible with some authors who are generally recognized as great literature.

Broken Harbour didn't quite deter me from ever picking up another Tana French novel in the future, but I won't be rushing out to read her again in the future.

Speaking of literary greats, I recently read The Great Gatsby, and although I enjoyed very much I wasn't blown away by it. I can't understand how it has risen to such great heights.

These comments highlight how very personal our reactions are to literature. Not surprising really.

Everyone brings a personal history, personal memories, personal relationships with others (to say nothing of the personal list of everything we've ever read before) to the table when they pick up a book.

Almost the same thing can be said about the same person reading the same book at two quite different ages. Though perhaps this applies particularly to "classic" reads that have a bit more to them than the average book that will be totally forgotten in ten, twenty, fifty or a hundred years.

I must revisit some of my old favourites. I've hardly ever read the same book more than once and it's been quite a while since I've done so, so this would be quite a new experience for me. I wouldn't know where to begin choosing one, though.

Thanks, Allan. I'll download that tonight. I've listened to some of the other stuff you recommended, and it was really enjoyable. It'll help make for a more interesting discussion when I attended the cinema book club.

Declan wrote: "Out of interest, has anyone ever a read a book you disliked so much it turned you completely off a writer or maybe even a genre?


Absolutely. If it's my first time with an author and I hated it, they're banished for life.

Seconded on Jacobson. ( In general, I find Booker winners of a certain ilk to be extremely hit and miss. )

Genres:
Historical fiction. Y/A. (Though I have had exceptions to all these to some degree).

I've had several bad encounters with translated Spanish / Mexican authors.