Ratings and Crossed-the-Line Books

Have you ever gone to a movie and said, "That was a good movie--except for that one part?" Maybe there was too much violence or a sexual scene that went too far. It doesn't even matter what level your standards are; a line was crossed beyond personal comfort. I keep running into this same problem with books.

I used to listen to the radio more, but I've switched to audio books, especially when I'm working in the kitchen. If I come to a scene that crosses my moral standards, I can fast forward or skip ahead. Lots of skipping ahead means replacing it with another book. The problem with relying on library books is that there comes a point when we exhaust the supply of authors we trust, and need to venture into unknown territory. I hate it when they've hooked me into a story, and then they throw in the undesirable stuff. 

How do I rate these books? Sometimes I omit them from my list of read books, ignoring the fact that I read ninety-something percent of it. But that doesn't help anyone else. I advocate reviewing all new (within first year of publication) books. Those reviews are the most helpful to both author and readers. When I do rate a crossed-the-line book, I make sure to put what bothered me into the comments. 

I'm curious to know if you even look at ratings. Do you go by word-of-mouth, favorite authors, or what? The two just mentioned are my preferences, but when I see a list from a reader I trust, I grab it. Back-cover blurbs can also pique interest. Please put your top ways to choose a book in the blog comments.

Best wishes to those participating in National Novel Writing Month! You can do it! I still haven't participated in NaNoWriMo. My editor gave me three weeks to make any corrections/give feedback to her edits, so that's what I've been working on. I'm ahead of schedule and feeling great! Whatever your project, make it a good week!

Book Ratings and Values

I honestly would like to know what you think. How much do your values figure into the rating system for ranking books? 

Let me give an example of what I mean. I finished an audio book that was well-written, interesting plot and characters, and kept me wanting to read on . . . until the author threw in the parts that offend my standards. I knew these spots including sex and foul language would be short-lived and I was already caught up in the story, so I skipped what I didn't like and finished the book. If they had thrown this stuff into the first chapter, I would have moved on to another story. But I finished it and wonder how to rate it.

Some readers may scoff at my skipping those parts because they don't get offended by it or simply tough it out. We all have some level of values. Yours and mine are not the issue here. At some point you may be offended by something you read but still need to rate it. How do you do figure that out? This is the question I would like feedback on.

The Goodreads star ratings go like this: 1 star = did not like it, 2 star = it was ok, 3 stars = liked it, 4 stars = really liked it, 5 stars = it was amazing. Well, for this book I liked or really liked most of it and did not like some of it. Do I take an average of those? If someone who follows my reviews or knows my values sees that I liked it, will that give them the wrong impression and consider it a 'safe' read? What would you do?

Perhaps my rating is just a drop in the bucket. After all, this book has had 135,570 ratings and 10,626 reviews at my last checking. But what if all the people with mixed feelings on the book skipped rating it? Then the scoring would truly be lopsided. Every opinion should count. And I guess our values figure into those opinions, but I'd like to hear what you think about this scenario.