Living With B

When you enter the world of reviewing, either on an app like Letterboxd or Goodreads or even on your own blog (lol me), there is a pressure online to rate media like you are a professional critic. You’re supposed to know about plot structure, prose, pacing, symbolism, and whatever else is required to review a book (or other type of media).

After trying to be philosophical and deep with my reviews, I realized that just wasn’t me. It’s not how I watch movies and it most definitely is not how I read!

When I give a three star review, it doesn’t mean it’s inherently bad! It just coexists peacefully. I finished it. I understood what the author was trying to do. Shoot, I might even recommend it to the right person. I finish it, set it down, and move on.

A five star read though… now that is something that I can’t just move on from.

Without further ado, this is how I personally decide between a three-star and five-star read.

What a 3-Star Read Feels Like

For me, a three star read is solid; enjoyable; nothing to really write home about. I’ll highlight quotes, maybe even make a few comments, but I’m not thinking about it for more than 24 hours.

These books:

• keep me entertained
• make sense while I’m reading them
• fade pretty quickly once I’m done

I don’t think about the “what if’s”. I don’t look into the author. I don’t even feel the urge to tell someone that they have to read it! It’s just… okay.

And that is fine!

Three star books are the ones that I am happy that I had picked up, but it’s not making me question life. It is the equivalent to having a pleasant conversation with someone you’ll never talk to again.

What Pushes a Book to Five-Stars

One thing about a five-star read, is that it doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, most of my favorite five-stars aren’t!

A five-star read meets me where I am. Emotionally, mentally, spiritually and leaves a mark. Sometimes its soft. Other times it’s a punch in the face.

These books hit one (or more) of the following:

• keep me up late
• refuse to let me read passively
• haunt me after I finish

I begin thinking about the characters as if they’re real. I slow down and take in the content or, on the contrary, I speed up because I need to know what is happening next!

A five star book doesn’t leave me, and makes me want to talk about it!

It’s Not About Genre or “Quality”

There are many five-star reads that are objectively messy, or too flawed. Personally, I don’t care.

A book isn’t a five star only because it’s important or well written in an academic sense. I’ve read enough academically, it’s my turn to just enjoy! It earns it because it did something for me!

The things that matter:

• timing
• mood
• who I am when I’m reading it

A book I rated five stars at 22 might be a three star at 26. This isn’t because the book changed, instead I did.

Why I’m Okay With Giving Fewer Five-Star Ratings

Listen, I don’t want to rate a book five-stars just because I liked it. I want it to mean that the book is apart of me now in a way.

Every book I read doesn’t need to be life-altering; art doesn’t have to see you every time. A three star read still has it’s value, and they keep me company and still mattered to me in the moment.

A five star read is the book that stays with me long after I finish them, and makes me want to rant and rave about it.

And those moments can be rare. I want to celebrate those rare moments rather than celebrating every book that enters my hands.