5 Stars ***** Absolutely loved it, excellent read, highly recommended
4 Stars **** Excellent read, would definitely recommend this one
3 Stars *** Good read (most books fall into this category for me)
2 Stars ** Not a good read, didn't really enjoy this one
1 Star * Terrible read, don't bother
Before deciding to read any book, I spend at least 20-30 minutes reading other book reviews. If the average book is more than 8 hours of reading time, I figure this is time well spent, and often saves me from wasting my precious reading time on a 'dud'.
I approach this like a screening process, and an absolute must given the cliche 'so many books, so little time'. I hope my ratings and reviews help you in your own screening process. If so, I'd love to hear about it, so feel free to drop me a line here.