TIOLI September 2010: Controversial Books challenge

This challenge is based on LT's new "Controversial Books" feature, which shows a user's top hundred controversial books, defined by the standard deviation of the ratings.

I haven't actually chosen my own book for this challenge yet, but I'm interested in hearing what books other people are reading and what you think of the whole concept. Are the books on your list surprising or are they more or less what you'd expect? Have you been exploring other people's controversial books lists as well?

The books in question are quite unpredictable - I have quite a few newish books out of the library and not very well known ones, so those aren't included because books have to have been rated at least 20 times, so it's reliant on people having read them.

As others have said, it would be nice to be able to see from a book's page what its controversy rating or deviation of ratings actually is.

I could very happily read from my list for a month - new reads, rereads. If I get to anything from this list this month it will be:

Helen Walsh, Once Upon a Time in England from the library pile

Ruth Sawyer, Roller Skates
A reread of an old favourite for me. A lovely story about a 9 year old girl making friends in Victorian Manhattan, I can't understand how anyone could fail to love this one.

It's interesting that none of the reviews for Roller Skates are from the people who gave it a really low rating.

Edit: I've found that a lot of the ones on my list are children's books.

I was thinking of reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho because I have a copy (it was a gift) and someone else has listed it for this month's challenge. I've only read one other book by Coelho which I didn't really enjoy so I'm not feeling optimistic about The Alchemist.

A lot of the books on my most controversial list are Christian books (which I can understand would give rise to a lot of divided opinions) or classics like Moby Dick and Heart of Darkness.

But also The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton? I loved that book, how dare anyone rate it poorly (etc.) Ah, controversy!

Edited to correct typos

#2 You've made me add Roller Skates to my wishlist anyway!

I loved The Magic Faraway Tree, too!

I've also got a lot of Christian books on my Controversial list - most of which I haven't read yet. And quite a few romance novels, most of which I think I rated very low, although there were some I liked.

I've picked Aristophanes's The Frogs to read for this challenge - partly because I'm curious about it, partly because I've been trying to read more plays and more classical lit and partly because it's short.

The only book in my own most controversial books list that is of interest is one I plan to read next year for my 11 in 11 challenge, Dow Mossman's The Stones of Summer so I was curious as to what other LTers' controversial books lists look like so, in the main thread, MikeBriggs explained it.

Oddly enough, quite a few of my most controversial books are the Lillian Jackson Braun "Cat Who" cozy mysteries.

For the challenge, I've chosen The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal by Lily Koppel. With a standard deviation of only 1.014, it's not very controversial.

I have read one of my 'controversial books', Your Blue Eyed Boy by Helen Dunmore.

I can see why it has had such divergent ratings - it's very well-written and well put together, but it's quite discomforting (it seems to be about how easy it is for a nice, normal, comfortable life to fall apart) and there is a significant event at the end which could be seen as quite implausible.

I found it an interesting read, but I wouldn't hurry to read it again (and very sitting-on-the-fence-ly, I gave it three stars).

More details in my review on the book page.

I moved Binary by John Lange over from the Pen Name Challenge (Lange=Michael Crichton) when I noticed it resting cautiously on my controversial books list (1.205). I am looking forward to reading Binary.

Georgette Heyer's My Lord Jim joined the challenge after I spotted it on the list. I first read Heyer this year and have read all of her mystery books. I own two of her Historical fiction books but have not gotten myself to read one yet. This challenge might get me to actually test the waters. (edit: time flies, I first started reading Heyer in June of 2009. And I've read no Heyer books in 2010)

Eric Lustbader's White Ninja rounds out the list with his 1.3888 controversial rating. It is somewhat a sign of how unlikely I am to read White Ninja, that I have no book presently assigned to the "White" challenge. I've read the previous books in the Ninja series, but I quickly tired of it, and of Lustbader long long ago. I own the book, though. Somewhere it hides.

How do I find the standard deviation? Am I going to have to do math, or is there a "click and there it is" option?

#9 - I really enjoy Heyer, and I love her historical fiction. She does a great job on research and characterization. I also find her books witty and very amusing. However, I consider them light reads along the romance line more than true historical fiction. A really place to dip your toes might be a collection of short stories called Pistols for Two. If you like those, then test the water further...

Find your own controversial books:

http://www.librarything.com/profile/MEMBERNAME/stats/controversialbooks

You can look at everyone else's lists by substituting your username with theirs.

I think it would be useful if each book showed the relevant figure on its page, but this is the only way you can do it at the moment.

Thanks for enabling me to continue to be lazy... (:

If you're looking for the standard deviation of a specific book, you can also look at the members page to see who owns the book, find someone with a small library, and check their list. In some ways, I think it's actually good that the SD isn't shown anywhere convenient because it makes people explore the new feature more!

But if you get tired of exploring, you can also chime in on the initial thread about the new feature and ask Tim to add some easy way of seeing the SD for a given book.

Meanwhile, I'm actually very disappointed that I haven't been able to find a decent online standard deviation calculator. No, I don't want to type in every single number individually; I want to say that I have 100 of this one and 50 of that one. Surely such a thing exists somewhere?