Tuesday Things

Today's question: Do you use a rating system on your blog? How do you feel about using the rating system provided on sites like Library Thing and Amazon? When looking up information on a book you are interested in, do you use the ratings provided by these sites (or similar sites) to help you make the decision on purchasing the book?

On my blog I make a recommendation - sometimes positive as is in "Everyone must read," to the negative as in "could not finish" or "maybe someone will like it, but not me." On LibraryThing, I do select the star ratings for each book that I read and review. But sometimes, I admit to being a tiny bit influenced by the ratings already posted by others...never by much, maybe a half star especially if I sort of liked the book but had a small issue with some parts.

When I am thinking about reading a book, I usually take a look at the reviews on LibraryThing first, and then glance up at the star rating. But I have to tell you that, much like movie reviews, there are some books that I absolutely loved that have very low ratings...and some that I cannot even begin to finish (or review for fear of offending the world) that others have rated highly.

First I am fairly easy to please, don't meet too many books that I hate. But when I don't like a book, I really do not like it. Do any of you do that where you have problems with reviewing a book that you just did not like at all or cannot finish? Sometimes I cannot even verbalize why I don't like it, other times it is the writing style, the characters, the story. Anyway, hints for the faint of heart who are hesitant to post negative reviews.
Happy Week to all,
LibrarysCat