I was looking at the books I’ve read on Goodreads the other day, and I realized that my feed is a sea of 3, 4, and 5 star ratings. It gave me pause as I wondered if I’m too easily entertained.
Goodreads suggests the following ratings:
5 stars: It was amazing.
4 stars: I really liked it.
3 stars: I liked it.
2 stars: It was okay.
1 stars: Did not like it.
And then it hit me… if I’ve finished a book, I at least liked it enough to give it 2.5 stars, which rounds up to 3. Anything below that, I don’t finish. In rare cases, I may hold out hope that the book will improve, or if I really like the author, I may give them way more of a chance than I would a relatively unknown.
That being said, I most often read two and one star reviews on Goodreads to see if I think I’ll like the book. Often, the negative reviews are more helpful for me in choosing a book than the positive ones.
If the flaws are something I can live with, I go for it. If I think those flaws will irritate me as much as the rater, I’m out.
Do you follow a rating system for books? Is it different than the one Goodread’s suggests?
Doree Weller 
I love that you quit books as much as I do. I generally still give them a star rating and write a brief review as to why I didn’t finish it. I have seen others write reviews that start with DNF at X% and find that useful so I’ve started doing the same.