Between my literary proclivities and long shuttle commute, I read a fair number of books. I generally try to alternate between fiction and non-fiction. I provide a short review when I finish each one, including a rating. For the past several years I've published my reviews on my blog (also linked in below), and this site has an archive of my reviews from before 2010. I think you'll likely learn more about me from this collection of reviews than about the books themselves.

My rating system

I rate each book I read on a five star scale:

• ***** (five stars): One of my all-time favorites.
• **** (four stars): An excellent book that exceeds expectations. I recommend it.
• *** (three stars): If you like books of this genre, you'll probably be fine with this one.
• ** (two stars): A bit weak. Fell short of my expectations.
• * (one star): Hated it, and not in the way the author may have intended for me to hate it.

I use half stars as well, to give a book credit when it has a little extra something. For example, if I read a mostly boilerplate police procedural that has one unique and interesting twist to it, I might give it three and a half stars.

If you look through my reviews, you'll find more ratings above three stars than below three stars. This is not grade inflation but rather reflects the fact that I have ways to avoid books I'm likely to dislike. If I actually read a one-star book, it's a failure of my early warning system which should kick in at the book store before I even start.