It occurred to me while cataloguing some books in Library Thing that a system of rating books 1 through 5 is very limiting. Most of the books that I’ve catalogued so far have been a 4 or a 5. Imgaine that. The books that I can remember to put in Library Thing (i.e. books I’ve actually enjoyed) are all rated fairly high.

Then, a couple of days later, a co-worker was asking about a holiday party that a few of us in my department attended (our department piggybacked on to another department’s holiday party). He asked me to rate it because we were thinking of possibly teaming up with the other department in their holiday party, rather than honing in on what they’ve already planned. I said that if I rate it that I would have to use 1 through 100 as opposed to 1 through 5 or 1 through 10. Because it would be easy to say that the party was a 3, but wouldn’t you get a little more information if I said it was a 76? It’s like the difference between a B+, B, and B-. Subtle, but it’s there.

So my rating system will be 1 through 100. I will explain why the book rates where it does (for me), and I think ultimately potential readers will have a better idea of what I thought of the book.

Okay, maybe I’ve put way too much thought into this, but if I can’t obsess over my books and how I review them, then what can I obsess over?