rayyychul
Armadillo
On ne voit bien qu'avec le c?ur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.
Posts: 159
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Post by rayyychul on Jun 30, 2011 16:44:11 GMT -5
I'm (quite obviously) basing this off tastyink's "That's not how you book!" thread.
What's a book that you started reading with low/no expectations and ended up completely enjoying?
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rayyychul
Armadillo
On ne voit bien qu'avec le c?ur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.
Posts: 159
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Post by rayyychul on Jun 30, 2011 17:01:21 GMT -5
For me, it was 1984. I had read it before when I was way too young to enjoy it and completely wrote it off as a terrible book. I got maybe 30 pages in before giving up out of sheer boredom. I had to reread it for an English class last semester and I found I absolutely loved it the second time around!
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Post by andreaisabbbw on Jun 30, 2011 19:44:02 GMT -5
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I thought I was going to HATE it when I read it for class my sophomore year of high school. It turned out that I loved it (and subsequently, Steinbeck) and I cried when Lenny dies.
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Post by Marina on Jun 30, 2011 20:00:20 GMT -5
Pride and Prejudice. I tried to read it the first time, I was so disappointed, I got maybe fifty pages in before giving up. Then a couple month or maybe a year or two later, I started reading it again and I couldn't put it down. Still didn't live up to the hype, but Mr. Darcy made it better.
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jun 30, 2011 20:12:39 GMT -5
Discord's Apple by Carrie Vaughn. It's very good, though the ending is a bit shoehorned with an abrupt romance between the two lead characters. Combines folklore, mythology, and a post-apocalyptic world (and comic book!) very successfully, in my opinion.
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Post by onlyaworkingtitle on Jun 30, 2011 21:36:08 GMT -5
That I read recently? Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. The ending was almost painfully perfect -- the sort that shocks you, but then leaves you thinking "oh, it all makes sense now."
I also enjoyed Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel books -- the complexly intertwining plots make me happy.
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Post by Fuck Yeah Dion on Jul 1, 2011 1:17:28 GMT -5
Gonna go with Pride and Prejudice here. It came free with my Kindle app and I started reading it yesterday. It's blowing me away.
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Post by Sabazius on Jul 1, 2011 8:02:20 GMT -5
A few years ago, I picked up the CHERUB series, mainly because I was bored and wanted to see what my brother was raving about. I assumed they were standard boy's adventure books. Then I realised there was a complex protagonist, mature issues like sexuality and morality, strong female characters and engaging plotlines that wouldn't be out of place in an adult thriller. That kind of action book isn't really my cup of tea, but I'd recommend them for any teens still in school - I know you're lurking out there!
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Post by pencils on Jul 11, 2011 10:11:48 GMT -5
Actually happened to a friend of mine--we did a book swap and I lent him the book that my writing teacher wrote (Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn Wall). He admitted at first he was like, "A book about a bitter old lady in the country? Why would I enjoy this?" but by the end realized, "Oh my goodness, I care about this character. A lot. This is how a novel works. Yes."
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Mary
Armadillo Pup
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Post by Mary on Jul 19, 2011 15:09:54 GMT -5
Frankeinstein. I thought I would hate a story about a monster, but I ended up loving it. Moreover, my teacher presented us several theories (Was the monster real? Or did the monster exist only in Victor's imagination? Is Victor the monster? Or is the tale simply a work of fiction that Walton is writing to his sister?). I'm sure I would've liked the story very much otherwise, but these various perspectives/theories made Frankenstein especially interesting to me.
Although, more often it's the opposite: I'll have high expectations for a book, but end up not enjoying it as I thought I would.
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Post by tosney on Jul 19, 2011 20:02:22 GMT -5
Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett.
I hadn't read anything good for a long time and it made me so happy. I'm pretty sure "Now THIS is a good book" crossed my mind several times.
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Post by Marina on Jul 19, 2011 22:05:22 GMT -5
Looking for Alaska by John Green. I bet other works by him.
I have never read anyone who could go from making me sob like a baby to laughing out loud in a span of a few chapters. When tragedy strikes within the novel, you feel it cut deeply, because you get used to the characters and you feel it with them. But then Green helps you move on, and you do, along with the characters. Which is the most amazing thing ever. I have never read a book that actually helped me get over a tragedy within it. I put it down not with a feeling of loss, but content. John Green in amazing.
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Post by mallory on Jan 2, 2012 20:29:28 GMT -5
Lord of the Flies, and A Farewell to Arms. I had such low expectations for both of them but now they're two of my favorite books.
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Post by sammybluejay on Jan 3, 2012 20:05:13 GMT -5
Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, definitely. It looked daunting and unenjoyable when I picked it up to read for a class but I fell in love with it pretty quickly.
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