Hmm. I seldom give five stars to books. There's a lot that come close, but not many that can get there by definition. For me, five stars means "Yes. This is one of the best books I've ever read." For me, every book I rate 3 stars and above is worthwhile, with 3 stars as good/solid, and 4 stars as excellent (I don't do half points, not like it shows up on goodreads anyway).
5 stars is reserved for books that are so good that I'm probably going to purchase multiple copies so I can leave it all over my friend's apartments. Understandably, I can't feel this way about too many books.
I haven't given any book this year five stars. In 2010, I gave five stars to two books: Gabriel Garcia Marquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude (
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...rs_of_Solitude) and Jose Joaquin Fernandez De Lizardi's The Mangy Parrot (
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...e-mangy-parrot). In 2009, I gave 5 stars to only one book: Walter M. Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz (
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1..._for_Leibowitz).
This year, the closest book that I'd give 5 stars to is probably Kameron Hurley's God's War, but I still can't give it 5 stars. It's excellent, but it's not *perfect*. The plot gets too convoluted towards the end and there's a lot of drama that feels almost manipulated. It's still my most enjoyed read of the year and one of the most memorable SF/F books I've ever read, but a book that I'd leave behind in friend's apartments? Not quite there yet.
So yeah. None of my reviews on my book blog (
http://fridafantastic.wordpress.com/) has five stars yet, but when it shows up, you'll need to pay extra attention
