The more I think about something like this, the more thorny and fascinating it becomes.

Some books have been banned, or at least the subject of controversy, because of their language rather than their overall content. "Catcher in the Rye" drops that f-bomb near the end of the book; "Huckleberry Finn" uses the n-word repeatedly. It doesn't matter that, in the latter case, it was a contemporaneous word in common use then, without the emotional weight it now carries. But both books are considered classics and are taught in schools nationwide.

Also, the standards for language (and content, for that matter) change. When the film "Midnight Cowboy" was first released it got an X rating. Later it was downgraded to an R. Likewise, what was an "R"-rated book a few years ago might not be today. Are there not books that were considered pretty scandalous in their day which we would consider tame today? Certainly, there are. So, do book ratings get updated? Or do we just put some specifics on the back cover? "Warning: this book uses the f-word 275 times, the s-word 67 times and has a graphic description of something we can't even discuss out here on the cover."

Just how old was this shocked friend?

I might not give a book with lots of profanity to my 88-year-old mother, but otherwise I wouldn't give it a second thought when sharing book recommendations.

I think this is a dangerous proposition because it begs the questions of exactly who would be designated to make these ratings and how on earth would we determine the criteria. Everyone's definition of questionable or offensive content is different, and, with books in particular, this introduces the frightening possibility of institutionalized morality and censorship.

Like you, I find that I don't really notice mature language or content in books; it's pretty par for the course in contemporary fiction, and as long as it is used to further the story or develop the characters, I'm OK with it. I'm old enough to pick up a book and choose to read it, so I'm hold enough to handle the content.

With the wealth of book reviews available online through major retail websites, social networking sites (like Goodreads and LibraryThing) and book bloggers, a formal rating system is unnecessary. Many bloggers mention adult content and mature language in their reviews, either to warn readers away from it or simply make them aware before they read, so any reader who is concerned about this sort of thing can quickly Google reviews of a book before he reads it and, with a little time investment, can discover more than he ever wanted to know.

For me, a book is about the big picture. The language, characters, and action combine to tell a story, and focusing only on certain aspects of the book prevents us from seeing the forest for the trees.

I think that if you know you don't like certain things in a book, you should do the research into the book before you pick it up to read it.

I don't think a rating system is really needed. If you don't like what you are reading, because of either language or subject matter, stop reading.

I thought I was going to be the only person to feel this way, but I guess not. If a person is offended by curse words, then they should be reading mostly Christian fiction. Then they won't be in the position of being offended or having to substitute other words for the curse words in their mind when they read. I think that's just being pragmatic.

I do NOT think there should be a rating system, having said that, I agree with Rebecca that this is where reader reviews come into play. I mention these things in my own reviews, because I have a mix of readers...those who read primarily Christian fiction and those who can't stand Christian fiction. ;)

Actually, this is where bloggers can do a lot of good. We can give our readers the heads up on what a book contains so that they know before reading it and can decide if they want to read the book with those things or not. I've started doing this in my own reviews as simply as possible, but just including a letter to stand for an element in the book that might offend someone.

Trish, I think it's unfair to say that someone who doesn't like to read curse words should only read Christian fiction. More than just Christians can be offended by language like that. If someone is not a Christian, why they should have to read Christian fiction? There are plenty of books that don't use a great deal of foul language why should they have to stay away from those?

Books are very unpredictable and we don't always know what we might find in the pages. This is a unique service that bloggers can offer their readers by mentioning things that might be offensive. Racial slurs. Foul language. Explicit sexual scenes or perverse sexual topics like incest. Graphic violence or violent rape scenes.

It is easy enough to find out these things about movies or television now, why should bloggers not offer this as well? It doesn't take away from the literary criticism so to speak, but can help people find books they want to spend their time/money on

Don't get me wrong. I've read Christian fiction and really enjoyed it. My thought was just that if someone is really offended by certain language, then one way they can make sure they don't read it is to read Christian fiction. I'm not trying to demean people who try to filter out bad language, nor am I demeaning Christian fiction. And maybe Christian fiction is too specific a term, but I know there's LDS folks who only read certain books so they're not exposed to things such as pre-marital sex, bad language, etc.

I think all I'm saying is that I personally won't be doing any kind of rating system for adult content, and while it's nice for bloggers to do that, I think it's almost like blowing into the wind, and the best way to start a rating system on books would be to do a whole website on that, similar to what has been done for movies and television.

But that's how things like this get started, right? By ONE person or a few people gathering together to do something, such as providing a rating system for books for people who have more of a sensitivity to that kind of thing. So......go Amy! :-)

ha okay.

I really struggled with it. I read a lot of Christian fiction, but also a lot of general market stuff. And I have a pretty high tolerance for language/sex/ (not so much violence) so I was always wondering about reviews, because I have a mix of readers. Did I always have to say...this is Christian fiction (so the Christian fiction haters didn't think they got tricked into reading it) or this book has some language you might not like (for the Christians who don't want bad language)?

So finally I settled on a putting it in code at the end of the review, so the information was there but not taking away the focus from the review. So my conscience was clear so to speak. ;)

By saying "Rating System" do you mean like what the MPAA has for movies? I would say no. Shouldn't the synopsis of the book give you a little inkling on whether or not there may be material that you may find offensive?

I mean, any rational adult could/would or should come to the conclusion that a "Chick Lit" book about a single woman looking for love "MAY" have premarital sex in the book?

Wouldn't/Shouldn't you come to the conclusion that a book about a teen boy growing up on the streets *MAY* have offensive language or situations.

A rating systems for books?? Good grief, no. And like Melissa said, If you don't like the content. Stop reading.