My sister keeps a spreadsheet with half stars, which is its own kind of madness. She gave The Goldfinch a 3.5 and then spent 20 minutes explaining that 3.5 means "good but too long." For me a 3 is a book I finished and felt okay about, like a decent airport sandwich. I save 4 for books I would push on a friend and 5 for the ones I still think about a year later. A 2 is where I start feeling like I wasted my evening. So a book I liked but would not reread is a solid 4, because liking it and wanting it again are two different tests.

Feel this so much. It happens to me almost every day at the mall by my house. You come up the steps and there's just a person planted there like a tree, staring at their phone. Bro, move two feet to the side. The whole rest of us are stuck behind you while you figure out if you're going to the food court or the shoe store.