Rabid Reads

*Please note that although Julie is no longer blogging, I have permission to recycle some of her old questions. You can see her previous answers by clicking on the post graphic.

This happens to me on a fairly regular basis; it’s not usually a MASSIVE change, like say from 2-stars to 5, but I tend to rate my books on GoodReads immediately after I have finished reading them, write a couple of lines about my initial thoughts, and then will type up my review a few days (weeks… months…) later. I often find that I’ll forget parts of a story, especially if it’s a novel that’s taken me more than 48 hours to complete, or I had several titles on the go simultaneously, only to have the pieces fall back into place while I’m in the process of drafting my post.

My preliminary rating is based on my opinion of a book at that point in time, and the ending can play a huge role in that. I try to take notes while I’m reading for precisely this reason because although a strong finish can squeeze an extra star out of me on the spot; I like giving my followers the full picture, and think that it’s important to not let a mind blowing conclusion eclipse the elements that didn’t jive quite as well. The reverse is of course true as well, if the final pages sucked the big one, but the rest of the novel was A+, that should be taken into account too.

For those of you who follow me on GoodReads, you’ve probably noticed that sometimes I’ll flat out say that my rating may change once I write my review. That’s my way of saying that even though I enjoyed a title, my overall feelings are a bit of a jumbled mess, so I need to let the story sink in for a couple of days. Once I’ve posted my feedback though, I don’t go back on my star count; the only exceptions to this rule are re-reads. When a series wraps-up, I’ll occasionally start from the beginning just to get a feel for the whole picture, and that can have a dramatic impact on my rating because it allows me to catch stuff I missed the first time around, or I’ve since gained a better appreciation of what the author was trying to accomplish now that I have a better understanding of what the end goal is.

Have a bookish question you’d like Rabid Reads to weigh-in on? E-mail me, and be sure you include your blog URL (if you have one), so we can give you credit!