***The Starry-Eyed Revue***: project falling stars

Have you ever found yourself perusing Goodreads and noticed a friend reading a book or marking a book "to be read" that you've already read, seen your rating off to the side of their status update, and thought to yourself, "I rated that book how many stars?" I've found myself doing this a lot. My tastes have changed so much over the last few years...and apparently, I had some pretty questionable taste to begin with. That, or I just hadn't been exposed to much in the way of young adult novels at that point. Either is probably true.

Back in the day, I think I pretty much loved everything I read. Pretty. Much. Everything. Now is not so different, but that's because I have a better sense of what I do like and can make better decisions about which books I actually spend my precious time reading. I wish I could read all of those books again (or not) and re-rate them as the more experienced reader I am today. And thus, Project Falling Stars was born.

Obviously, with a TBR the size of mine, re-reading every book is pretty much impossible if I want to read anything new in the near future, but I still want to spend a little time on my "read" shelf on Goodreads reevaluating my star ratings. For a lot of the books I'm referring to, I didn't even write proper reviews because I didn't consider myself a reviewer at the time. I was still just your average reader, desperate for my next book.

I want to start this project, but I've got some moral dilemmas to confront first. Does changing my star ratings on Goodreads -- I won't change anything on my blog...that just seems counterintuitive at this point -- seem like cheating? Does it seem unfair to the book, since at one point, I must have enjoyed it enough to give it that particular rating? And does it seem snarky to only be downgrading ratings? Or should I just do what pleases me since it is my Goodreads account.

I would only change ratings on books that I was absolutely certain I wouldn't like as much upon another reading. And I'm not talking about dropping from five stars to a measly one star. But if you check my "read" shelf from back when I first joined Goodreads, you'd find a ton of five star ratings, and I can guarantee that most of those books wouldn't hold up to that rating, should I find the time to venture into their worlds again.

Decisions, decisions. And it's not like I don't already have enough lined up with the blog to keep me busy for the next few months. But it bothers me to no end to see some of my older ratings, especially when they're for earlier books in a series that I've already decided not to finish. I should just do it, right?

What are your thoughts? Do you ever re-rate books on Goodreads, just for the fun of it? Or do you think it's only fair to change a rating after re-reading a book?