In Defense of 3 Star Reads | Book Discussion

[@Emmareads15]

I'm exactly the same. I love a quick 3 star read, a bit easy going and a nice palette cleanser.

[@MarinaJohan]

Great discussion video! Before watching booktube, I didn’t even realise the “bad side” of 3 stars. I mean, there are some of Agatha Christie’s books that are 3 stars but it definitely doesn’t mean I don’t like it or I don’t enjoy reading it. For me 3 stars are like watching a cozy feel-good romantic comedies.

[@bookslikewhoa]

I agree- a lot of my 3 star reads feel kind of comfy or cozy

[@skovach717]

What a very interesting topic. I love your perspective. I honestly had not given it much thought, but you are so right. You have really made me more aware of my ratings.

[@JimiCanRead]

I like the palate cleaners idea. The micro trope thing is interesting, almost like figuring out all the ingredients of your favourite book

[@rebelbelle995]

I'm only 10 secs into the vid but I habitually filter ratings for everything to 3 stars to get a baseline. 5 stars read as either LIEK OMG BEST EVER stans/or initial endorphin-rush buy feels. 1 stars are sometimes unrelated to the frickin' thing like "arrived damage" or "author hates cats". 3 stars is the sweet spot. Someone level-headed is speaking to me thru this 3 star review lol

[@bookslikewhoa]

I agree -- I actually find 2 star reviews to be especially helpful because they usually are critical without slipping into the "author hates cat" type of criticism

[@kinczyta]

Exactly! Robin Hobb goes even further and says she considers 2 stars a positive rating :) I actively avoid reading more than one 5-star books at the same time. I don't want to feel conflicted deciding which one is better.

[@bookslikewhoa]

Exactly -- I forgot to mention it, but I think if I try to read too many 5 star type books at a time, it makes me rate them lower than I would otherwise

[@lifeinabook839]

Before I found booktube I always thought 3 star books were just books people thought were ok, and then after watching booktube I felt super bad for all the book I gave 3 stars because I thought it was ok, average, in the middle, not a book I would reread. I didn't change the way I rate books, but I think more about why I'm giving it a 3 star review than I did before. Also 3 star reviews tend to be the most honest in their review and discuss both the good and the bad, so if I'm on the fence about a book I usually read the 3 stars review instead of the 5 or 1 stars.

[@bookslikewhoa]

Oh that's interesting! Yeah, these nuances of how people give out ratings is part of what makes me so fascinated by seeing how things get rated on Goodreads. A 3 star can mean so many things depending on who is giving the rating

[@dannigreen7126]

Girl! You and I are like twin readers. I've been on the 3-star reading streak. This is a first for me. Usually people complain about this, but everything I've been reading has been perfectly enjoyable. I rather like this. Something I love about good books-so books not amazing and not shitty-is that they act as yardsticks for other books. They make the lowlights stick out and highlights stick out. I find this to be very important because this keeps me honest and aware of my preferences.

[@bookslikewhoa]

Very true! The ones that are fine/B books make the amazing/A books and terrible/F books a lot clearer to pick out

[@corajohnston22]

I agree with you on this one. If I read too many 4, 5 star books I get into a reading slump. If I read and finish a 1,2 star book I need to ease myself back into reading so I’ll be pick up a book I think I’ll give a 3 stars

[@debralavoie9095]

Excellent video. I love how you explained what 3*meant to you. When I want to see if a book is for me, three stars are what I check. Thanks!

[@lynwebster]

Yes, nothing wrong with a 3-star book. If we're talking about Goodreads, 3 stars means "I liked it" and 2 stars means "It was okay". So if I give a book 3 stars, then I liked it and it was more than just okay. It wasn't life-changing, but there was nothing major wrong with it. I give most of the books I read 3 stars. They're comfortable books, satisfying and not too challenging. Like you, 3 stars only indicates disappointment if the author usually gets 4 or 5 stars from me.

[@bookslikewhoa]

Like Agatha, immaright? :) She's a great example where a 3 star book from her would be great from anyone else.

[@maria-aquariusunbound]

3 star for me also means met expectations. There was nothing surprising/standout in it, but I liked it enough to see it through to the end. When you talked about not liking writing quirks my thoughts immediately went to the current issue I'm having with 1st person narration. Out of the blue I'm noticing, particularly in romance books, that the narration portion of the book doesn't match the dialogue. Example, you have a biker MC that basically speaks like a caveman, but then he narrates like he's Shakespeare. LOL Not exactly, but hopefully you get what I mean. I know it's not a new thing and that I've enjoyed books that fell into this bucket before, but now it really rubs me the wrong way.

[@bookslikewhoa]

OMG, now I need this biker romance with a Shakespearean narrator :D

[@maria-aquariusunbound]

@@bookslikewhoa 😂😂

[@elisemoser]

When I first started this video, I was going to come into the comments and say “I usually DNF 3-Star reads,” but then you made a really good argument and I realize I too seek out three star reads. Pretty much every cozy mystery I read is 3-stars, and yet I still read them. Sometimes a book ends up 3-stars because I kept reading in anticipation of the book getting better, and it just never panned out. And that’s fine with me! So I have to agree that 3-Star reads have their place.

[@bookslikewhoa]

Oh yeah, that's a good one to add in -- where you think it may pick up and get a 4 star but never does. Those would be ones I would think of as being more on the disappointing end of 3 star books for me

[@danecobain]

There have been two star reads that I'm glad that I read even though I didn't enjoy them and so I think there's a place for everything really!

[@bookslikewhoa]

Agreed! I think with the right mindset, there's no such thing as a wasted read

[@danecobain]

@@bookslikewhoa Although I mean, The Passage ;D

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

I think this is somewhat specific to your approach to rating books. I think some of the books you rate 3 stars I would probably rate 4 stars just based on enjoyment. That said, I'm all for reading some books that are fun if not exceptional.

[@bookslikewhoa]

Oh yeah, all ratings are inherently subjective. Though I do have the gods of Goodreads on my side since they define a 3 star as "I liked it" ;)

[@Imaginetheday1967]

Yes. This. I read series and authors that I know (assume) will be 3 stars and yet I continue reading them, because sometimes it's just what I need/want. It's 3 stars. I liked it. I would even recommend it. It's all good, people.

[@bookslikewhoa]

Yes, I have some authors year after year who I continue to read even though I've never given them more than 3 stars

[@JashanaC]

Is that the "Oh Hello" rainbow shirt I see?!?! The one I found at Target that made me immediately think of you?! :D Honestly I have SO MANY 3-star reads... ! I'm kind of the same with you -- they're "fine"... good enough... didn't make me feel obsessive, but didn't annoy me either. :D

[@bookslikewhoa]

IT IS! You inspired me to grab it when I saw it in Target :D

[@JashanaC]

bookslikewhoa Yaaayyyy!! It was basically made for you!!!

[@MaryAmongStories]

great video, you have a very interesting perspective! To be honest, a 3 star rating is the one I like to give the least, just because most of the time those books will be forgettable to me. However, it's not a bad rating at all! It's okay, it's fine, and sometimes that's all we need :))

[@bookslikewhoa]

Yeah, forgettable is a good word for those 3 star books :)

[@RememberedReads]

I always use 3 stars as my default rating, so I agree that the average 3 star read is a perfectly acceptable book in general. But I do think there's a certain disappointment in "just" being acceptable in certain genres or styles. Very formulaic novel in the mystery, romance, or pulp-style SF/F categories are quick reads, so I'm satisfied with something that takes virtually no time being nothing more than perfectly acceptable. So I regularly rate books like that 3 stars (or even 2 stars) and consider them to be fun and entertaining/time well spent. That said, when it comes to more complicated literary fiction that slows the reading process, or really lengthy genre fiction like some of the lengthy fantasy series that include a dozen books that are each individually over 800 pages, I do sometimes resent books that are just "good enough" when they require more of a time commitment.

[@bookslikewhoa]

Yeah, that's where the whole "B from an A student" thing comes in for me- it's disappointing if I wanted it to be excellent and it was just fine. "Excellent" means different things for me in different genres/categories, but that's the standard I try to work from

[@terryl87]

I use 3 star quite often - the book ‘met my expectations.’ In my personal journal, I give 3.5 stars to books but Goodreads does not have that option. I like having the 3.5 option because it allows me to differentiate a book that I find to be a little better than ok but doesn’t quite reach the ‘really liked’ level - if that makes any sense.

[@Vanitas1131]

Yes, this also works really good for me

[@bookslikewhoa]

How I long for the day when we can have 1/2 star ratings on Goodreads!!

[@kellyroll8108]

Thank you - I occasionally get the "why is this only a three star read for you" type of question, the implication being I hated the book. Most of the books I read are three stars. I enjoy them while I read them and the author kept me entertained. I don't want to 4 or 5 star everything unless something really struck me about the book be it characters, storyline etc. Each reader brings their own expectations, can't please everyone. I love Smart Bitches Trashy books take on ratings - your two star book could be my crazysauce batch of goodness so no need to be so serious about ratings.

[@bookslikewhoa]

100% cosign on the SBTB ratings point of view-- all ratings are subjective, so the best thing I can do is understand where a reviewer is coming from (e.g. Elyse on SBTB has super close taste to me, so I look at her reviews differently than Amanda or Sarah's) OR try to make where I'm coming from clear to people reading/listening to my reviews

[@sephestra.]

Books only get a 5 star rating from me if it is on my all-time-best-ever-would-read-again-right-away-and-probably-have-done-in-some-cases list. These books are the ones I would want with me on a deserted island. Like Coke in it's original form, glass bottle and all. Or orange seltzer water...or better yet, Pellegrino. Mmm, Pellegrino. If it's a 4 star from me then I loved it, but wouldn't necessarily be put out if I didn't read it again. That is not to say that I wouldn't read it again (and honestly, I'm most likely thinking about it). I would put these books in a box to be sent to the deserted island, but would not be shedding tears if the box didn't show up. These are the seltzer waters of the regular variety and possibly those with flavors like raspberry, lime; sufficient but not necessarily the best since Pellegrino exists in this world. 3 stars are perfectly fine books which I liked but have had no thoughts of reading again. This can either be because I had high expectations and they fell really short, or because overall it was like drinking water; I drink it because I need to stay hydrated. But they wouldn't be put in a box for shipment to said deserted island. Now, 2 stars are hard to rate because, hey, if I didn't like it, why didn't I just give it a 1 star? For the most part I had to have MILDLY not liked the book overall, or I thought the plot was intriguing but I really didn't like the characters, or vice versa. I wouldn't consider reading these again (and have probably DNFed them) and they'd be donated before they even got a chance to think about the deserted island library. Unsweetened black tea and plain black coffee are their beverage equivalents. And last are the 1 stars. These are books I aggressively disliked. And by that I mean I finished the book, but actively hate-read it to the end because I had to know if it was awful all the way through. I would purposely put these books in a box, weigh the box down with boulders, seal it with duct tape, speed-boat it out to the south-eastern Pacific Ocean, and drop it into the Mariana Trench. Think room-temperature milk; the margarine of beverages. And that was ridiculously long...sorry? TL;DR I agree with your assessment of the 3 star book.

[@bookslikewhoa]

Haha, alignment! That's pretty bang on to how I rate things. Introducing half stars has been helpful for me being able to nuance things more (e.g. 4.5 star as a yearly fav vs. an all time fav), but overall, this is pretty close to how I do my GR stars

[@sephestra.]

@@bookslikewhoa You having the half star rating is a very helpful barometer. I appreciate that you have those nuances and are able to not only articulate them (which you do better than most) but also put them into a rating that most will be able to pick-up on quickly if they didn't listen to your whole review.