Ratings
I would hate to flout convention – so books will be ranked out of 5. So 5 is top of the pile – buy this book and make room on your shelf to keep it. An example of a 5 for me would be Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood”.
4 is both a good read, something I would recommend, but is also memorable, whereas 3 is fine but I probably won’t remember the story for much more than a week or two (especially true of books within series!).
2 is something I wouldn’t recommend and for books given a 1 – well I read it so you don’t have to. Or perhaps I just gave up. I would say “Kafka on the Shore” would fit the bill.
Of course – these are just my opinions.
Spoilers
I have to confess that I have a slightly odd opinion about the blurb you get on the back of books – I just don’t believe in reading it. Apologies to all those publishing people out there agonising over what to write – but I just don’t want to know. To me the whole thing is a spoiler & I want the author to tell me the story in their own words. OK, so not a great start for someone who wants to write book reviews, but I do realise that we readers aren’t all the same & other people do appreciate that blurb.
So, back to spoilers. If the review you are reading is of crime fiction / murder mystery / detective then I think it inevitable that in reading a review there will some element of a spoiler present – but unless a key element of a story is really relevant to the review I will try to keep it to a minimum. Don’t you just hate people who tell you that you’ll really love the twist at the end of a book or film – well I do? I spend all my time trying to figure out the twist & that’s not what the twist is for – so I shall try to tread carefully.
Novel Heights 