Book Rating Systems

FICTION

• Enjoyability: This system is highly subjective and is based on how much I personally enjoyed the piece.
• 5 = I found myself completely immersed in the work, didn't want to put it down, will probably read again.
• 4 = I was aware that I was reading but still had fun with it and still got lost in the story a few times.
• 3 = I had to labour through a few pages or chapters but found some parts of the book that I could fly through in interest.
• 2 = I finished the book for the sake of finishing what I started, and was probably offended by some of the material in it.
• 1 = I didn't finish the book.
• Readability: This system is based on the ease of reading the book.
• E = Elementary: an elementary school student could read this book with ease.
• H = High School: a high school student could easily read this book.
• C = College: college-level reading.
• S- = Science (light): the book is filled with explained scientific jargon.
• S+ = Science (heavy): the book is filled with scientific jargon that may be difficult for people in the mainstream to read without picking up a dictionary or web-searching some words.
• M- = Medical (light): the book contains a lot of medical jargon but explains the terms understandably either directly or by context.
• M+ = Medical (heavy): the book contains a lot of medical jargon that the author assumes the reader understands.
• Characterization: This system is based on how believable and dimensional the characters were.
• 4 = Almost all of the characters could almost be part of my family.  They act and exist like real people, even if a completely mythical and impossible creature.
• 3 = There were some archetypal supporting characters, but the majority of the main characters could have existed.
• 2 = The main character(s) carried the story, but they didn't really have any interesting characters off of which to work or respond.
• 1 = I had little to no empathy for the main character(s) or any of the supporting characters.  These could not be real people at all.
• Overall Impression: This system takes into consideration the above systems plus a factor of how likely I am to recommend the book.
• A+ = Exemplary.  A must-read for everyone.
• A- = A very enjoyable book, especially for its target audience.
• B+ = An enjoyable book, but probably not for all audiences.
• B- = A book you should at least have on your shelf.
• C+ = An ok book, good for a rainy day.
• C- = An ok book, good for a snowed-in day.
• D+ = If the library is closed and you can't find anything on the Internet to read.
• D- = If the Internet's down and your house is clean and you've read everything else on your shelf twice.
• F = If you were the victim of a Bradburyesque fireman and this was the only book hidden behind the portrait in your bedroom.

As I incorporate this system into the reviews, it will be denoted at the top underneath the book information in a format similar to this:

| Enjoyability: 5 | Readability: S+ | Characterization: 4 | Overall A- |