Adding books?

[djross]

x

[CosmicMonkey]

I would strongly urge the Criticker powers against adopting books unless there will be a system in place to accommodate different translations and editions to a far greater degree than is currently possible for films.

Translating a novel is obviously worlds removed as act and art from subtitling a film. A database like ours for books that doesn't distinguish among the Dostoevskies of Constance Garnett, David McDuff, and Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky would...not be desirable.

Presumably the system would be based off ISBNs, just like the film and TV version is based on imdb pages. Therefore every edition and translation of a book could theoretically be added to the site, though I doubt most people would bother uploading multiple versions of something unless there was a meaningful difference between them.

[mattorama12]

I have my doubts about whether it is possible to rate books on a quantitative scale. Books and movies seem to be quite different in this way. I'm not sure how to account for this difference, and it might just be some quirk of my own personality. On the other hand, it is noticeable that while there may be just as many book critics as film critics, the practice of evaluative scoring seems a great deal more common and accepted among the latter group.

I'm not sure there is any categorical difference between books and movies in this regard. Quantitatively rating either is an ultimately dicey proposition, but those of us who are here obviously find some value in trying to do so with respect to movies.

That said, it may be a little easier to do movies than books just by nature of sample size. I've personally seen many more movies than I've read books, so it's just easier to start putting numbers on it.

[JonSmith]

There's actually a big community that wants to rate Books on the Internet.

[mattorama12]

Timely blog post with some various options for rating books for those interested:

https://lifehacker.com/there-are-altern ... 1844846066

[CosmicMonkey]

Wait, I just realized that going by ISBN would mean there would be separate entries for otherwise identical hardcover and paperback versions. And I can totally see people accidentally uploading both versions without realizing.

I also realized that ebooks don't have ISBNs either.

Hmm, I don't see a simple solution to this.

[paulofilmo]

I signed into my tastekid account yesterday (which is now called tastedive apparently for some reason) (for the first time in ~6+ years),

and it was interesting to see how the books I'd bookmarked ~10 years ago were the same ones that have caught my eye/cropped up within the last year (Faulkner - As I lay Dying/Pessoa's Book of Disquiet).

the site is awful, but it's interesting that i can find ppl who like the films i like, and see what books/music they're into.
but it is a ghastly site - it would probably be better if it was actually about eating children.

[JonSmith]

mattorama12, thanks for that article. It sure is timely.

And yeah, Tastedive is a bad site lol. I used it like twice but it just gives recommendations that seem somewhat cliche to me. Nothing beats Criticker recommendation wise.

Edit : Yeah... Quick update on those alternatives and I'm honestly not that sold on them. They all have their problems. Riffle doesn't seem to work. One of them limits books behind a paywall. Another lacks titles . The best alternative so far is TheStoryGraph but it also some quirks that needs fixing.

[mattorama12]

mattorama12, thanks for that article. It sure is timely.

And yeah, Tastedive is a bad site lol. I used it like twice but it just gives recommendations that seem somewhat cliche to me. Nothing beats Criticker recommendation wise.

Edit : Yeah... Quick update on those alternatives and I'm honestly not that sold on them. They all have their problems. Riffle doesn't seem to work. One of them limits books behind a paywall. Another lacks titles . The best alternative so far is TheStoryGraph but it also some quirks that needs fixing.

Bummer. I didn't check them out meself because I don't need a site like this for books. But I actually learned about Criticker from a similar post on Lifehacker many, many moons ago.

[KasperL]

I would also love to rank books (and music) on Criticker!