Book Trek Rating System

5 Boots not only means that this book is outstanding; it means this book is beautiful, clever, new, embedded into my soul.  I would trek through this book again and again and bring others with me.  I can’t wait to tell everyone about this book, and I may even hound those closest to me until they read it so I can talk about it with them.  I want a hard-cover copy of this book in my library and will always feel a measure of debt toward the author.

A 4-boot book is definitely worth reading.  It is extremely well-written and would be a great addition to any library.  Since I’m always hoping to run into another 5-booter, chances are I won’t read this twice.  I will gladly recommend this book, but not necessarily for all audiences.

3 Boots means that there are a lot of great things about the book, but it’s either: 1) well-written but not extremely engaging, 2) really good, but might only appeal to one certain type of reader, or 3) a good story, but not written well-enough to bring it to life.  I’m glad I read it, but won’t read it again and would only recommend it to select people.

A 2-boot book is not terrible; it’s just that my mind probably wandered a few times while reading it.  I wasn’t fully engaged, parts of it were sluggish, and I checked often to see how many pages I had left to go.  In the end, I probably got something out of it, but I’m not likely to recommend it or read another book by the same author.

There is a good chance I didn’t finish a book that I rated as 1 Boot.  I was too preoccupied with noticing flaws or getting irritated at re-hashed writing to enjoy the story.  Most often, books with story lines that are too familiar will get a 1-boot rating.  There doesn’t seem to be a particular point to this book; it doesn’t offer anything new to the world of literature.