This blog started as a way for me to keep track of the books I read, but already has become so much more! Unfortunately there are times that life is busy and all I can do is post my thoughts on the books I read, but at least this is a place I can do that.
My book taste is quite diverse and I am certainly not a book snob. I just like what I like. There are quite a few popular books I don’t like and books people hate that I do like, but there you go! Tastes differ. There’s beauty in that.
I like fantasy, historical novels, literary fiction and all sorts really. I love books about animals, you know, Watership Down– style. I love Jane Austen. But I do like do like a contemporary romance or thriller every now and again as well, or an Agatha Christie-type mystery! I do read quite a bit of non-fiction as well. I love non-fiction dealing with nature or music or history.
My all-time favourite book is ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray‘ by Oscar Wilde. When I read that book, I was absolutely blown away by it. I re-read it recently and it my opinion has not changed.
, which I am experimenting with at the moment: CALSPIE.
CALSPIE is a rating system based on CAWPILE, which was thought up by YouTube’s BookRoast. I tried that one, but it did not quite work for me, so I slightly changed it.
I know give a mark out of 10 on the following, which I then divide by 7:
- Characters
- Ambience
- Language
- Story
- Pacing
- Interest
- Enjoyment
Those pretty much work for fiction AND non-fiction
For book ratings I originally used a 7-star system on this blog (up until the end of 2022), feeling 5 was too few and 10 too many. It roughly equated to the following:
★☆☆☆☆☆☆ absolute and utter trash with hardly any redeeming qualities
★★☆☆☆☆☆ yeah, I did not really get it, but there is probably an element of okayness
★★★☆☆☆☆ it was ok(ish) and it definitely had bits i liked
★★★★☆☆☆ really quite decent, but may have some issues, or something was missing
★★★★★☆☆ a good read with minor flaws that I could get over
★★★★★★☆ a quite awesome book worth reading again
★★★★★★★ I want to treasure and love this book forever
I still use that system, but I have also added a second rating system
What are you reading? What should I be reading? Recommendations always welcome!
Lola 😀
Lola Et La Vie 
I do not have a lot of time for pleasure reading. Most of the time during the school year I am reading fifth graders narratives, expository essays and opinion pieces on whether or not chocolate milk should be served at school. ( Overwhelmingly yes, on the chocolate milk from the 11 year old population!) I do try to listen to audiobooks on my commute, but lately I have been bicycle commuting. My favorite book I have read recently is “the year of yes” by Shonda Rimes. I mainly read biographies and non-fiction with romance novels on occasion (like Richard Paul Evans type not harlequin). I am excited to explore more books with summer break on the way!
Haha, I remember chocolate milk being serves at school when I was young. We all used to get milk at breaktime, but some kids did not like milk, so they would get choccy milk. I remember the chocolate milk boxes were smaller than the regular milk boxes. Now they don’t serve milk (or anything) anymore – you have to send stuff to school with your child.