I'm off to a much better start this year......
I've never been a huge fan of Goodreads' rating system. I felt similarly when I had Netflix. There are books I want to rate five stars because of the nostalgia I feel for them, not because they are shining examples of literary greatness. As it stands there is nothing to distinguish my five star rating of Corduroy from Patti Smith's Just Kids. Similarly giving a five star rating to The Seventh Seal AND Willow is pretty unsatisfying. I want to be able to look back and see what I liked and didn't like about a book/film not just some arbitaray stars. As a result, I've come up with a much more complicated but far more accurate rating system below.....
1. Prozac Nation
I would have really loved and connected with this book when I was 18-21. As it stands now, I am 26 and have no time for it. I literally would read this on my break at work and go back to work angry. Therefore I am giving it two Wish I Would Have Met You Sooner and one Please Stop Wasting My Time.
2. A Discovery of Witches
This list is a little heavy on the paranormal and YA. While I don't exclusively read those genres, they've definitely been dominating my reading list lately. I felt like two different authors penned this book. The first half is slow-moving, detail oriented and kind of refreshing and different from other books I've read lately. I was really enjoying myself there for a while. The second half felt like I was reading a cheap, thrown-together paranormal romance. Not sure if the author was running up against a deadline or if the publisher decided to make such sweeping changes. I give this book 3 I Like Where You're Going With This and 2 You Lost Me There....
3. Delirium
I'm not quite sure what kept me reading this book. Its just one in another rash of "plague-apocalypse-YA" types that seem to be flooding the stacks these days. Its intriguing in that it borrows from classic sci-fi (highly medicated population, Big Brother type surveliance) but disappointing in the world-building department. The premise would fall apart with a few well-aimed criticisms from the most forgiving Lit major. The only thing that kept my disbelief willfully suspended was that I'm a sucker for finding out if the protagonists get together in the end. 2 I'm A Little Embarrassed To Be Reading This and 3 Thanks For Avoiding A Cliche Ending
4. Birthmarked
I got this book off a list from another blogger and was pretty entertained despite the YA factor. I actually kept wishing that the author would have written it for adults instead. Then I realized it borrowed pretty heavily from Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Then I got angry that I hadn't thought to write it first. All in all I read the book in about three days. Its fast paced, interesting and doesn't succumb to the usual YA pitfalls. 3 I Like Where You're Going With This and 2 Thanks For Avoiding A Cliche Ending
5. Girl, Interrupted
I actually have not read this recently, but due to seeing it on Goodreads and remembering how much I enjoyed it, I rated it after the fact. About ten years after the fact. At 16 I would have given this five stars; I'm giving myself the benefit of the doubt and assuming I will identify less with the protagonist this time around and more with the protagonist's mother. 4 This Book Makes Me Feel Old and 1 Its Time to Re-read An Old Friend
How about all of you? What have you been reading (and enjoying) lately?
