Top 5… books I'd like to re-review
Good morning bookworms!
Today’s Top 5 Tuesday is a freebie, so I’ll be doing my top 5 books I’d like to re-review. Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by the super lovely Shanah over at the Bionic Bookworm. You can visit her here, and join in for Top 5 Tuesday by checking out all the amazing topics we have coming up!
FYI, this is something I’ve been trying to figure out how to weave into a discussion post for a few weeks now, so this might be exactly the opening I’ve been looking for. I don’t know about you guys, but I sometimes look back at my older reviews and ratings and think “gosh I really want to change the number of stars (hearts, cats, coffee cups, ghosts, whatever you rate books in) because of reason X”. Mostly I think I have overrated books because I get so caught up in the hype of reading it. But there are definitely books that I have spent SO MUCH time thinking about this series since reading it that I thought I had given it a 5 (or 10 back in the day), but I had actually rated it less. (This may still become a bigger discussion post at a later date.)
So, that was a really long-winded way of saying, that these are some books that I would like to change my rating of.
So, let’s start with something relatively recent. In the second half of 2018 (if I wasn’t being lazy I would check which month it was), I read my first Morgan Matson book: Save the Date. It’s a cute coming of age story. I don’t think I’ve written a review for it yet *cough*, but it was fun. I rated that book 5 stars**. Probably a bit excessive. I think if I did decide to go back and re-rate, I would give this one a 3.5 or 4 stars.
I’m going to just go with a blanket author here and talk about James Patterson. I have read about 50(ish) of his books. (He’s not even my most read author.) I enjoy his books, but I wouldn’t call them amazing. In fact, I wouldn’t even call them fantastic, and they certainly don’t make me cry. I’ve actually stopped reading a lot of his series that I used to (Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club) because I kind of got bored with his characters. (I do still read the Private books though.) Most of Patterson’s books I have rated 4 stars, some a 4.5. I think if I went back to re-rate, I would mark most of these as a 3 or 3.5.
Next up is A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J Maas. Now, I’m really sorry if you’re a super keen fan of this series (I was too), but this book broke that love for me. I mean, A Court of Wings and Ruin is on my shit-list as well, but this one in particular. There’s three things going on with this series that I just can’t get over. 1) Alcohol is not a responsible way to deal with PTSD. And basically all they do in ACOFAS is get drunk. Feyre is young, but the others have no excuse and should be teaching better habits. 2) The way that Nesta was slut-shamed and cut off from her family makes me sick. I can’t really talk about this more here or I’ll rant for hours. 3) Maas has this awful habit of pairing off everyone in this series (including a millennia old demon) EXCEPT the only gay character who has been closeted the entire series. Because apparently everyone deserves happiness and love except the gays. Now, I have rated this book 3 stars, but in hindsight, I’d like to change my rating to 2. Or 1.
The last of the negatives – let’s talk about Cloudstreet by Tim Winton. I had to read this book for school and I hated it. I mean, I detested it. Technically I DNF’ed it and then read the study guide (and I’m pretty sure I DNF’ed that too). In my infinite wisdom, I decided to read it again a couple of years ago, to see how much I had changed as a reader. Turns out the answer is “not much” because I think I got about halfway and realised that I still hated this book. So, I still haven’t finished this book, and I rated it 2 stars. I have finished books that I hated less, and rated them 1 star. This book either has to be removed from my “read” pile or dropped to 1 star.
Books that I would increase the rating of include every Holly Black book in existence. Why did I only rate Tithe, Valiant, Ironside and The Darkest Part of the Forest 3.5 and 4 stars? Who knows? These are books that I read in May and July 2018 that I can still tell you intricate details about because these books meant so much to me. They are not only memorable, but they made me have feels and provided me ideas to think about at a later date. These books have come to mean a lot to me and I feel like I should rate them accordingly.
The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater is one of my fave series of all time. Yet, I have MYSTERIOUSLY rated The Dream Thieves and Blue Lily Lily Blue 4 out of 5 stars. Why? I don’t know. They should all be rated 5 (or 12) out of 5.
Finally, the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor. If you asked me what my fave series of 2017 was, I would without question or hesitation, tell you it was the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. If you asked me what my favourite book of that year was, it would be Daughter of Smoke and Bone. In the trilogy, I rated these books 4.5, 4 and 4 respectively. I don’t know why. But I think about these books ALL. THE. TIME. This is one that I definitely need to fix.
So, two questions for you today:
- Would you like to see a broader discussion piece on re-rating books?
- Which books would you re-rate with some hindsight?
Until next time, happy reading ??
** Technically I read this in June, and I gave it 4.5 or 9 stars.
20 Comments
Lea | Zwischen Worten
Hey,
A broader discussion post would be cool!
I personally think that we would all rate books different if we read them again after a few years because our opinions and life experience change. For example, there are children‘s books (and YA books) that I absolutely loved years ago but that i would probably rate different nowadays.
Best example would probably be Twilight which I loved as a teen but don‘t really like anymore today because I can see all the faults now that i could not see in the past.
Meeghan reads
Yeah, I remember loving Twlight when it first came out. I think it was more to do with it being some of the first ‘recognised’ YA novels that I had read and I was enamoured with the idea of the age group and the fast paced story. That’s a great example!! Thanks ?
seeliepages
While I totally agree with you about alcoholism not being a healthy solution for PTSD, I don’t necessarily see it as problematic here because it’s a very accurate portrayal of a real life issue that people deal with in situations like Nesta’s! And knowing that the next book will be about Cassian means we’ll likely see an arc for Nesta healing a bit and moving away from alcoholism which will be good rep of people struggling with this I believe! But she has to go down before she can come back up. Really liked this idea for a post! ?
Meeghan reads
Thanks love!! I just really like Nesta as a character and I don’t agree with how Maas has portrayed her. I also don’t like how Feyre and Cassian sat around getting drunk a lot as well… I just feel like these characters deserved more after everything they’ve been through.
J R Lynn
I’d love to have a broader discussion post on this! I also agree about James Patterson’s books. They’ve gotten stale both the plot and characters, and I just don’t care for his books anymore. A book I might possibly re-rate is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I read it for school and hated it probably because of that. Maybe if I read it just for myself, I might enjoy it better. Great post Meeghan ❤
Meeghan reads
Thanks love!! Yes, school books are always hard to rerate!! There was really only 1 school book I had that I loved, but I had read it before being in my final year anyway. (I totally recommend Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta if you get a chance!!)
Beware Of The Reader
Oooh this was a fantastic idea for your Top 5 Meeghan!!!! I often wonder how I would react re reading old favorites.
Meeghan reads
I recently reread an old fave, and I still gave it a 5. You might even like it, it’s a bit romance-y!! ?
bookishluna
I really enjoyed reading this, I would love a more broader discussion in the future. I will be honest I go into good reads a rerate books all the time. Mainly a month or so after I first read them depending on how they stay with me or if I realize something after the fact. A book I raised my rating of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
Meeghan reads
Thank you!! I always feel like I need to change the ratings in too many places, and I don’t like having different ratings in different forums so I haven’t gone back and changed many. But yes, it does tend to be a month afterwards that I think “hmm, maybe I rated that one too high/low…” ??
bookishluna
You’re welcome! Glad I am not the only one who things like that about a month later. It is very interesting though.
Lori @ The Inky Saga
I LOVE this idea for a freebie topic! I sooo want to participate next time there’s a freebie or just a week I’m not feeling the official theme. Some of my early reviews are sources of embarrassment and I do wish I had shown certain books even more love in hindsight ^_^ I also hated ACOFAS for the most part, and not even for reasons you listed. Now that you mention them, I agree! So annoying.
Meeghan reads
Oooooh, tell me your reasons!!! I love having discussions about how bad this series got!!! ?
Lori @ The Inky Saga
Nothing happened in the novella! It was mostly info dump and felt like fan fiction. It should’ve been a free digital release or had illustrations or something of actual value to fans. Also it’s recycled “hero regrets destruction” blah blah blah. I think I wrote a review last year. Can’t remember everything I said lol
Meeghan reads
OMIGOD, that is so true!! Wasn’t it supposed to be a novella (but because she’s so famous now Bloomsbury basically don’t edit her books and so it became an actual book)? And it did feel like fanfic. Like, fanfic where everyone got wasted and Nesta was slut-shamed and Feyre just learnt how to throw money at problems instead of actually dealing with them?
Shanah - Bionic Book Worm
Oh now this is an amazing topic!! Would you mind if I used it for a top 5 one of these months?? There are so many books that I might change my rating now that I’ve had time to think about it
Meeghan reads
Go for it!!! ?
Shanah - Bionic Book Worm
Perfect! I’ll add it to my list of upcoming topics ?
Malka @ Paper Procrastinators
This is such a great post! There are SO many books I’d change my rating on at this point. I think it’s really tough rating books right after reading them because you don’t know how well they’ll stick with you or if your opinions will change after some discussion. I also think that there were some books that I just wanted to love so much that I gave them a higher rating than they deserved, but with some distance I’ve been able to sort out my true feelings.
Meeghan reads
Absolutely!! I sometimes get caught up in the happy ending and rate them higher than I should as well. It’s hard because while I try to write objective reviews, I think if I wrote them weeks afterwards instead of straight away, my scoring would be lower as well.