Rethought: To Rate or Not to Rate? (A.k.a. a Shout-out for Help!)

Rethought is a weekly feature here, on Rebook424, where I discuss bookish and not so bookish topics.

Let me tell you a short story.

Once upon a time, there was a blogger. She, along with bazillions of other bloggers, used a rating system in her reviews. She found it useful as she could easily keep track of her preferences and was convinced that the readers required it, too, because it allowed them to see the outcome without gleaning through the details. 

The spark of doubt flared up in her about a week ago, when she looked back on her earlier reviews and realized she didn't agree with the ratings she had given anymore. This revalation led to a bunch of other question then, such as "That review wasn't all that positive. Why have I given the book 5 stars?" "Are all the five star books the same?" "Rating system is so inaccurate and confusing. Do I need it?"

I don't know. No. And not really. I used to think, I could not review without ratings. I considered them the best was to show people how much a book impressed me. But I realized, it's just an often misleading number. It's more important to state what I liked and disliked and what bothered you because something might bug me, but doesn't influence other people at all. Still, I give it a low rating and people will think it's not worth their time and that's not okay. So now, looking at it this way, ratings are utterly irritating me. I would like to get rid of them and I have an idea that perhaps would express what I want to let people know better.

(Cue drumroll) 

I would like to use GIFs in order to portray my feelings about a book. I imagine something like this:

If I really love that book and go all fan-girl mode at only the hear/sight of it:

When I'm in love with the story head to toe:

or

If I like it:

If not so much:

If disappointed:

If it made me roll my eyes:

And you all know this one:

The point is, the possibilities are endless. Well, almost. But that's not the point now. At any rate, I could express what I feel about a book a lot more efficiently than via numbers and I believe it would be more fun.

Please, PLEASE, let me know what you think in comments. I really want to know what you guys think, since as much as I would love it, I'm absolutely unsure about the idea. So please, comment and share so that more people can speak up about their views on the matter. Thanks for reading!