This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at McMaster chapter.
If you read a book but didn’t rate it, did you actually read it?
I’ve had a Goodreads account since I was 14 years old. Which means that you can find my ratings on all the books I have read in the last 8 years. From popular titles like The Hunger Games, to obscure non-fiction, I’ve read and talked about it all.
Last month, I published an article about reading challenges and my complicated feelings surrounding them. This got me thinking about public ratings and led me to reflect on why I felt so compelled to share my opinions. Whether I rated a book 3 stars or 5, it started to feel less like an honest review and more like a way to curate my persona. It was as if I was ranking books strategically to prove a point.
To understand this, let’s take a look at Sally Rooney. A revered Irish writer, Rooney has quickly become a favourite author for cool, hot, and socially conscious people. I think this podcast does a great job at explaining how the Sally Rooney effect came to be, and how it characterized a whole genre of people. It’s definitely worth a listen! Now, full disclaimer: I love Sally Rooney. However, after listening to this podcast, I had to ask myself– did I really love her work or, did I just want to be perceived in a certain way?
By rating the books I read, I could probably give you a lot more insight into my personality than a quick conversation could. If you knew I loved Sylvia Plath, Sally Rooney and Joan Didion, could you tell I appreciate vulnerability and exploring art surrounding the human condition? Or do you think I’m overly introspective? Or would it just be a persona I have crafted?
By publicly announcing what I think about the books I read, I’ve been shaping an image of myself, whether I meant to or not. By withholding my ratings, I am free to read eclectically without worrying about how my choices reflect on me. This allows my reading experience to be dictated by curiosity rather than perception.
Keeping my rankings private has also relieved some pressure. I’ve always been the go-to person for my friends and family when it comes to a book recommendation, which I truly enjoy. However, since I also shared my rankings publicly, people were free to take my 5-star books as recommendations. While I’m flattered that they trust my opinions, it’s worth mentioning that not every book I rate 5-stars is necessarily good. I’ve given objectively bad books 5 stars, purely because of the experience and the feelings they evoked. Similarly, I’ve given objectively good books a lower rating because they didn’t resonate with me. There is also no consistency between my ratings. What I may consider a 5-star book on one day, may be a 4-star read on another. Since a number can’t capture the complexity of a book, is it really necessary to put it out there for public scrutiny where it can influence another individual’s decision whether or not to read the book?
Now, I’m well aware that my ratings are not influential enough to impact the success of a book. Nevertheless, I can’t help but wonder how withholding my ratings will impact my reading in the long run. By holding back my opinions online, I am hoping to ultimately read more out of my comfort zone, free from the concern of others’ ideas of me. After a long time, reading has become a personal activity again. With the rise of BookTok and BookTube, keeping your readings private can seem radical. We see people ranting about books before they’ve even finished reading them, and people rating books in a certain way just to spark debate. Seeing these trends has influenced me to take a step back. As such, for the next little while, I am not going to rate any of the books I read on social media. I may rank them in my own journal, but I won’t publicly assign a number to my experience reading a book. Hopefully, this shift inspires more nuanced conversation about literature and reduces performative reading.
Reading is meant to be a personal activity, an opportunity to learn more about yourself, and the world around you. The number of books you read and what you rate them are always secondary ideas. Giving yourself the opportunity to engage with literature is about giving yourself the opportunity to learn and explore. Who cares whether you think it’s worth 5 stars or 50 000 000?
So, the question remains: if you read a book but don’t rate it, did you read it? The answer is yes, of course you have.
PS. If you’re interested in understanding literature and the act of reading through a more critical lens, I would highly recommend the According to Alina YouTube channel for some thought-provoking discussions.
