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Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Heidi at Rainy Day Ramblings in order to discuss a wide range of topics from books to blogging (and some slightly more personal matters thrown in for good measure). While Heidi is on an extended hiatus, there are five of us who are hosting it and providing the questions. The current team is composed of Berls at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen at That's What I'm Talking About, Karen at For What It's Worth, Linda at Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell and Roberta at Offbeat YA. This week's question is...
DO YOU REREAD? AND ARE YOU EVER TEMPTED TO CHANGE YOUR RATINGS WHEN YOU DO?
I've been a rereader all my life. In my pre-blog days, the main reason was that I couldn't afford new books often and/or I was out of the loop about what was coming out and when. I didn't even have a favourite genre (though even then I ruled out romance). So...I just went on rereading old favourites (or even books I was lukewarm about). Since 2012 - when I started my blog - I've been a rereader with a purpose. I know what I like, I even buy my small (for budget reasons) stack of books per year, I sometimes get blessed with an eARC...but I still don't own tons of books, nor I harbour the desire to. I'm very picky with the ones I buy, and even with the free ones! And admittedly, even that isn't always enough to save me from bad fits, but at least they are in the minority. And I still reread all the time, because to me, books are made to be enjoyed times and times again 💚.
As for ratings...I know one isn't supposed to change them, especially for books provided by the very author/publisher, but sometimes I've found myself adding or detracting the odd half star after rereading (and VERY RARELY adding a whole one...I think? Well, I know it happened at least once). I've also learned that, in order to give a completely honest rating, I need to read my review books at least twice (unless I'm pressed for time, that is), because sometimes I enjoy them slightly better the second time around. And to me, half stars are important.
Well, that's it for now. Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to participate in the meme on a regular or semi-regular basis, and get emailed the prompt list? Just head over here and fill in Jen's form! (Of course, you can jump in anytime you like - you are under no obligation to actually do all the posts, or even most of them, just because you signed up, and you can remove yourself from the list at any time). And if you're interested in participating in a more casual manner, or only in commenting, here is the TMST prompt list for the months of February and March (I swear there's a reason for that):
- February 2nd: Share some of your favorite books written by POC authors
- February 9th: How has your reading changed since the pandemic started?
- February 16th: Share some of your favorite romantic stories/books
- February 23rd: What books are you looking forward to reading in Spring 2021 (March - May)?
- March 2nd: What are your favorite tips and/or tools to help keep your blogging (or real life) organized?
- March 9th: Social media: love them or hate them?
- March 16th: Does blogging cut into your other hobbies/chores?
- March 23rd: How do you organize your bookshelves (real and virtual)?
- March 30th: Have you ever thought of quitting blogging? What made you reconsider the idea?
I'll be back on March 2nd - that's why I included the prompt list for that month. In February I plan on focusing on my ARC reviews, but I'll visit your blogs and comment on your TMST posts, if you have any 🙂.
Now tell me something...are you a rereader? and in that case, does your appreciation of the book ever change - and your rating with it?
I guess I have always been lucky to have access to so many books, that I honestly have not really re-read (other than children's books when me and the kid were young).
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised, given the amount of books you read every year LOL. But don't you ever wish you had the time?
DeleteAre you more of a picky rereader now that you got to have more books? These days there are more books than we can read in a lifetime and yet, people still choose to reread their favorites.
ReplyDeleteI reread my favorite books when I don't like the books I'm currently reading but it's still the same books because I don't have that many. There are certain books that I find I can't read a second or a third time. For instant, mystery books are not great for rereading because you know who did it. But maybe after a time when I don't remember the book, it would be better for reread.
I do like it when reviewers amend their ratings but the part I like would probably be when a reviewer update/add to their review which I rarely see happen. Readers are allowed to change their minds and I'm okay with that.
Have a lovely day.
"Are you more of a picky rereader now that you got to have more books?"
DeleteNope...I seem to reread all my books equally. Even mystery books! Then again, I have a few favourite authors in the genre I never tire of reading, and they're all from a long time ago (like Agatha Christie), so it's not like they can have a new book out LOL. But I understand how you wouldn't feel like rereading a mystery book, unless you've forgotten who the culprit is.
"but the part I like would probably be when a reviewer update/add to their review which I rarely see happen".
That's true. I have updated my old reviews where I've changed the ratings a little, but I don't think most readers do that. It's fun when someone revisits a book and talks about having a different experience with it, but I guess most don't bother, maybe because they don't feel like invalidating their first impression.
I re-read at times but not a lot because I don't have time with all the other books that I want to read. I have a few books that are older that I like to revisit and I do at times.
ReplyDeleteI assume they're comfort books? Almost everyone has comfort books 😉.
DeleteWhen I was younger I did re-read a lot. And then when my kids were reading middle grade and YA, I re-read some of the classics like Wrinkle in Time, Narnia, etc. I also re-read the Harry Potter series as each new book came out. But now I really only re-read certain series and authors - and even then, it's usually only the "previous" book and not the entire series.
ReplyDeleteI always treat each read as a new experience, so I rate the book each time I read it - it may stay the same or may be different - I don't change the original rating, but just add a second or third rating.
You have a very professional approach!
DeleteI always reread my favourite books. I've been doing it more and more since the pandemic. It's partly because I don't have access to a library and also of course because I like to revisit comfort reads. And I am always willing to change my reviews when I do reread. Every reading experience is different!
ReplyDeleteThat one is the most valid reason for rereading - not having access to new books, or all the new books one would like to read - but then again, not everyone is necessarily interested in rereading just because they lack new books, and some people are even scared to revisit an old favourite and find that their perception of it has changed! So it sounds like you're like me - a rereader with a purpose 😄. I also like how you're not afraid to revisit a book and point out the things that you might have missed the first time around! I don't think of it as "cancel culture", but as an acquired perspective, one that doesn't necessarily mean you don't like the book anymore.
DeleteI've always considered myself a re-reader, but I've realised I've being doing it a lot less often in the last few years. Also, I actually have changed my rating for a book by a whole star once! It was for A Court of Thorns and Roses, and I took it from 4 stars down to 3.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine reading a book twice in a short amount of time unless it was one I really loved, it takes too much time! You are super dedicated!
I think everyone tends to reread less and less the more they blog and are exposed to new releases. And ouch! how unfortunate about ACOTAR. Maybe the hype influenced your first rating a bit?
DeleteHaha, thank you!
I don't think there's any rule that you're not supposed to change ratings. Though I do feel kind of guilty lowering a rating if I know the author has seen my original one lol. I've started now including at the end of each review the date and rating, so when I read a book more than once, people can see my rating for each time. And I too often find myself liking books more upon rereads :-)
ReplyDelete"Though I do feel kind of guilty lowering a rating if I know the author has seen my original one lol."
DeleteExactly! I feel like I wanted to please them until I couldn't fake it anymore (which wasn't actually "fake", but still).
I've read some of your "revised reviews", and they're super helpful!
"And I too often find myself liking books more upon rereads :-)"
Yay!
I reread less since I started blogging. I'm constantly encountering new books so that the TBR seems never-ending, but I still make time to reread favorites when I can, or when I need them. Rereading is a comfort, like having a conversation with old but beloved friends.
ReplyDeleteI actually don't mind changing my ratings at all on a reread, since my tastes have shifted over time, I learned new things, or I came to appreciate different things about books. I'm not the same person I was ten years ago, and publishing is a very different thing than it was ten years ago, so my ratings are going to reflect those changes.
I occasionally have to stop myself from changing them on a whim after time has passed and no reread though. Sometimes a book doesn't age well in my memory, and I'm like really, I gave that four stars? 😂 It's unfair though, so I never change it without a reread. I just have to trust that there were things I appreciated about it when I read it, even if those aren't the things that stand out in the long term.
"I'm not the same person I was ten years ago, and publishing is a very different thing than it was ten years ago, so my ratings are going to reflect those changes."
DeleteVery true. But I'm sure that publishing has changed more in ten years than any one of us ever has or would! We simply weren't trained to see some things (or look for other ones), and now we can't unsee them anymore. We can still love a book but we are more alert to its faults now - and as I said above, that doesn't necessarily mean we need to make a 180° about it. We are still allowed to love our "old friends" even if we finally are able to see their faults.
"Sometimes a book doesn't age well in my memory, and I'm like really, I gave that four stars? 😂"
Ouch! 😂 But it's great that you can resist that whim. The funny thing is, almost everyone seems to like books less when they reread them (unless they are old faves)...I must be the only one who appreciates them more the second (or sometimes third) time around LOL.
Agreed! I'm really not a fan of cancel culture. We don't love books or authors because they're flawless. There is no perfect work out there, and thinking critically about books doesn't mean we have to stop liking them if they're flawed.
DeleteThat definitely depends on the book for me! Sometimes I do appreciate a book more on a second read, like The Walls Around Us. Most of my ratings that have gone down are books I read when I was a teenager and then reread as an adult. I wasn't quite as critical then, and YA has developed in all kinds of exciting ways since then.
"We don't love books or authors because they're flawless."
DeleteAbsolutely! I love vintage mysteries, but sometimes they make me cringe so hard when it comes to certain kinds of representation LOL.
"Most of my ratings that have gone down are books I read when I was a teenager and then reread as an adult. I wasn't quite as critical then, and YA has developed in all kinds of exciting ways since then."
That's an experience that I can't have, since I started reading YA as an adult...but the "genre" has changed a lot, and maybe in a few years I'll revisit old favourites with a different mind as well...
I have a shelf set aside with my favorite/keeper books that I would love to re-read. I'm a little afraid to because my tastes have changed so much but this is the year that I have time to do it!
ReplyDeleteKaren @ For What It's Worth
I'm curious to know if they stood the test of time! Maybe you could do a bunch of short posts about them 😉.
DeleteI'll admit that I almost never reread, mostly because there are SO many books I want to read that I feel like I don't have time to revisit old favorites.
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
That's the problem with loving books, isn't it? And with having a lot of great stuff coming out every year 😉.
DeleteI've just typed out a long-ass comment and clicked sent when my internet crashed, so if you got that just ignore this, lmao. Anyhow! I think you know by now how much I love rereading, though I've been doing less of it since I started reading fanfiction. For me, rereading is a massive comfort, so I mostly reread the books I love the most and that make me happy. Fanfiction, for me, is the same in that it also gives me comfort and allows me to revisit my favorite worlds and characters. (Even if, obviously, they aren't written by the original author.) Like you, rereading used to be a necessity for me, both for financial reasons, as well as because the Hungarian publishing industry isn't massive; before I started to read in English, I didn't have tons of books to choose from.
ReplyDeleteAs for ratings, recently I've reread Grave Mercy, a book I'd first read back in 2017. Even then, it was a weaker five star read for me, though I enjoyed it very much. Now that I've read it again, I ended up lowering my rating to four stars - especially with all the fantastic books I read (and reread, actually!) during January, I knew that's the rating that fits it best. Great discussion, Roberta! :)
"I've just typed out a long-ass comment and clicked sent when my internet crashed".
DeleteUgh, nooooo! So frustrating. Thank you for trying again!
Even now that I have access to more books thanks to NG/EW or generous authors/publishers, I could never think not to revisit the ones I've already read! It's nice to know I'm not alone LOL. I saw from GR that you were rereading old faves this month - like Nalini Singh 😉.
I think that publishing has been growing tremendously these latest...ten years maybe? or more like five? and we're bound to find problems in some older books. Or simply find them a tad less appealing because the new ones are more daring and complex. Of course, there are still a bunch that stand the test of time, or that we simply loved unconditionally the first time around and can't seem to look at with more critical eyes - and that's OK!
To review honestly, read it twice, I like that, it makes so much sense
ReplyDeleteThanks - it's hard to make the time though! And when I have review commitments and I can't reread a book in time, I feel guilty...
DeleteSurprisingly I wasn't really a rereader but ever since the whole pandemic... LOL I've become an entire 180 and I've been rereading A LOT, especially with books I read way back in the day (kind of interesting to see what adult me feels compared to what teen me felt, haha). Not only that, but I think it's just been a comfort considering the universe. Generally I try for a different format though - most of my rereading now is in audiobook form since I can get away with half listening and still know what's going on, haha.
ReplyDeleteAlso GOOD MORNING ROBERTA
It's weird how for some people it's been hard to read at all since the pandemic started, while others, like you, have turned to rereading (and maybe even read more). I can relate to the comfort though.
Delete"most of my rereading now is in audiobook form since I can get away with half listening and still know what's going on, haha."
😂
Also, GOOD MORNING SOPHIA 😉. (I missed it LOL).