Not Acting My Age: The Ratings

I started reading YA books (as an adult) about eight years ago and my tastes tend to be a bit peculiar. I tend to like books about relationships and love and coming of age, and that generally translates to books for teen girls. I think that is rather unfortunate, but I guess I wouldn't have read these sorts of books when I was a teen boy (even though I was writing stuff like that back then).

Anyway, back in March 2005, I decided to start writing reviews of the books I was reading, mostly to keep track of what I read and liked. But after a while, all those reviews get a bit overwhelming, so I decided I should summarize it all with a rating system. The problem with a rating system is that it is an awfully harsh way to evaluate books, so if you really want to learn about these books, you should read the full reviews (for each book, I've included the date of the review so you can find it) – just go to my special book review BLOG.

As of May 2, 2008, I have reviewed 460 books, and I'll update this from time to time as I go.

A word about the rating schema: unless the book got no stars at all, I don't regret reading it. Even a single star indicates a pretty decent book. And you'll notice a lot of classics down at the one star level (most of the Judy Blumes and no small number of Newbery Award winners). But to get more than a star, the book has to be pretty incredible. And once we're up to four stars, we're talking about extra special magic.

**** (I loved it so much, I'm going out and buying my own copy)

*** (I loved the book, but not enough to buy a copy)

** (A good read)

* (A flawed book, but with some redeeming qualities)

[no stars] (Complete waste of time!)

Go to Not Acting My Age (Paul's BLOG of the Books)

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