Personally I'd vote for a straight ranking. I think its the fairest way for the best to move on.
Personally I'd vote for a straight ranking. I think its the fairest way for the best to move on.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
That's what I'm leaning toward, too.
I think it would still be more fair if they were grouped randomly.
The groupings have no effect if we're just using straight 1 through 30 ranking, since each book is rated individually.
I am all for straight ranking
pablo, can you unearth and post here the positions we were grading by? I remember having some problems with those
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sure thing, Jean.
In Round 1 each book is rated on its own merits using the following scale:
- 5: I loved it
- 4: It was good
- 3: Average
- 2: Only so-so
- 1: I didn't like it
- Never read
The results are then averaged, giving the book its Round 1 rating. The top 30 then move on to Round 2.
In Round 2, the books are graded A, B, or C in the categories of Strength of Plot, Character Development, and Quality of the Story's Ending (for non-novels it's a little different). The average score from that is then added to the Round 1 score, and the top 10 books move on to Round 3, where they finally face off against one another, with the question being "Please vote for the book you would rather re-read".
I'm open for any suggestions on rewording these questions, but I'd like to keep the overall poll structure the same, if possible.
can we expand the first round grading at least to 10? Starting with something like "one of my favorite books ever", going through "adored it" etc, --- to "liked it" --- to"hated it" --- and "wish King hadn't written it"?
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think we could expand the Round 1 rating, I was actually just thinking about it. How about:
- 5
- 4.5
- 4
- 3.5
- 3
- 2.5
- 2
- 1
- 0
- Never read
Assign whatever descriptors you feel are necessary.
Just my thoughts, but maybe for the final round instead of re-read, which would you rather read, or maybe even do you like better? We're pitting two books against each other right? I know in the past people have made comments voting for one book since they had just read the other, even though they technically liked the one they didn't vote for more.
And for round 2, does the quality of the ending of the book really affect your overall impression of the book? For me personally, no, but I'm not sure what else to substitute.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
I agree. King normally writes endings that people hate. I know that UTD is totally ruined by the ending for many, which is a shame, because it is a fantastic book.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What would be your preference for the Round 2 polls? Round 3 can be worded Which book is better etc. no problem.
bears are thinking
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
And we're gonna need a new 2014 sub-forum here and icon.
: bearwink :
some results of this exausting thinking process:
1. We must add the quality of writing somewhere. I know I represent extreme views here, but for me a book is the writing.
2. I don't really understand what Strength of Plot is, or if it means what I think it means, then why it is there. The plot as I understand it, and especially its strength, has little to do with the quality of the story itself. For example, the plot of The Stand can be reduced to one short and abysmally trivial sentence, and the plot of 'Salem's Lot is unoriginal to the point of nonexistence. I think we should somehow re-formulate it with the emphasis on the story.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I completely agree, so how would we restructure the Round 2 polls? I'd still prefer to have three categories where we vote A, B, or C.
I was thinking the same thing Jean. I was going to suggest the writing as the other point, but then considering they're all written by the same author, I wasn't sure if that made sense to anyone but me. But I do agree that his writing style has changed over the years and some stories are written stronger than others.
I always interpreted plot to mean story. It could have a simple plot, but if the story is captivating, that's what I was voting on.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
Like the kid in "Sixth Sense". "I think weird thoughts"!!!!
Ok the above post brought this thread to my attention, and I started from the beginning with the hope that since there was new activity on the thread, maybe there was a new awards for 2017 starting, but unfortunately that doesn't look like the case. Is there any possibility of there being a new one? I don't think there has been one since I joined the site.
Based on the comments through the history of this thread, here are some of my comments, if there ever is a new CRA.
1) prefer a random grouping, as all the original doubleday books (except Carrie) would be in my top 10.
2) prefer a simple number rating. Don't want to have to think about the various questions I heard mentioned in previous threads. For example many of these books I last read circa 1983. I have strong memories of how I felt about the books, and in most cases memories of the story and plot, but there are lots of holes. I would probably rate Roadwork as unread, even though I have read it, as that is the only book that I have no recollection about what it is about.
3) which brings me to my next question. How did you guys hand "did not read" rattings? Just didn't factor that person into the average? I would suggest that any book that has a certain percentage of unread votes be disqualified. (maybe 40%?)
4) Why was 30 the amount to move on to the next round? Seems like 32 would be a logical choice being a power of 2, which would allow a head to head bracket to be built.
Wanted:
'Salem's Lot Portfolio #606
Fairy Tale UK S/L
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Personally I like that.
I think that would make a good grading category, how well a book is written.