5 ratings

I have a rating system that I use for novels, where I classify them into five categories. In ascending order they are:

level 1: Dreck, airport fiction, books with no literary merit. They have no good prose, no interesting ideas and basic plots. Vast quantities of these books seemed to be sold.

level 2: Dreck with redeeming features: these are books that would otherwise be assigned to level one, but have some aspect that raises them above the rest. They have a compelling story (despite being poorly written) or they cover some interesting issue. I tend to put Dan Brown in here, his books are poorly written, but at least they can cover interesting issues.

level 3: Books That Women Read on Trams. This is the category that started me really putting this scale together. It came from an observation of the types of books that you see women reading on the Tram on the way to work. I would put in this category novels such as “Perfume” by Patrick Susskind. This is the solid core of literature, good well written books. Female friends some times criticise me for having this category: it is derogatory to women. But I tend to see it as generally a positive description, a description of the good quality books that women read, above the general books you tend to see men read (if they are reading at all).

level 4: These are the standout novels that rise above the herd, that have some really standout characteristics. My archetypal level four novel is “The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco which manages to tell a compelling murder mystery story while delving into the rich detail of religious and political disputes of the 12th century.

level 5: The top shelf. The great novels that only come along occiasionally. They win the nobel prize for literature. Of course in here we have “Remembrance of Things Past” by Proust and “Ulysses” by James Joyce. We also have “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace.