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Books that Exceeded your Expectations
These are books that you were pleasantly surprised by. They could be classics that you really loved, or more recent fiction that just caught you off guard by how good it was.
Tags: best, books, and expectations

1
The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini 92 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
2
Water for Elephants
Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen 73 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
3
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
by Mark Haddon 66 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
4
The Book Thief
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak 61 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
5
The Thirteenth Tale
The Thirteenth Tale
by Diane Setterfield 55 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
6
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen 42 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
7
Middlesex
Middlesex
by Jeffrey Eugenides 39 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
8
Les Misérables
Les Misérables
by Victor Hugo, Lee Fahnestock (Translator) 36 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
9
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë 32 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
9
Memoirs of a Geisha
Memoirs of a Geisha
by Arthur Golden 32 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
11
Twilight
Twilight
by Stephenie Meyer 32 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
12
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Time Traveler's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger (Goodreads author) 31 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
13
The Lovely Bones
The Lovely Bones
by Alice Sebold 30 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
14
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
by J.K. Rowling 29 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
15
Lolita
Lolita
by Vladimir Nabokov, Craig Raine (Afterword) 27 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
16
The Poisonwood Bible
The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver 25 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
17
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by J.K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré (Illustrator) 22 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
18
The Host
The Host
by Stephenie Meyer 21 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
19
Bel Canto
Bel Canto
by Ann Patchett 21 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
20
The Road
The Road
by Cormac McCarthy 20 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
21
The Shadow of the Wind
The Shadow of the Wind
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Lucia Graves (Translator) 20 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
22
Gone With The Wind
Gone With The Wind
by Margaret Mitchell 20 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
23
My Sister's Keeper
My Sister's Keeper
by Jodi Picoult 19 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
24
The Last Lecture
The Last Lecture
by Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow (Goodreads author) 19 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
25
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran Foer 18 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
26
Outlander
Outlander
by Diana Gabaldon 18 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
27
His Dark Materials Trilogy
His Dark Materials Trilogy
by Philip Pullman 17 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
28
The Awakening
The Awakening
by Kate Chopin 17 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
29
The Historian
The Historian
by Elizabeth Kostova 17 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
30
The Fountainhead
The Fountainhead
by Ayn Rand 17 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
31
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
by J.K. Rowling 17 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
32
The Pact: A Love Story
The Pact: A Love Story
by Jodi Picoult 17 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
33
The Color Purple
The Color Purple
by Alice Walker 17 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
33
The Stranger
The Stranger
by Albert Camus, Matthew Ward (Translator) 17 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
35
Dreams from My Father
Dreams from My Father
by Barack Obama 16 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
36
All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque, A.W. Wheen (Translator) 16 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
38
The Bell Jar
The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath 16 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
39
One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa (Translator) 16 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
40
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson, Reg Keeland (Translator) 16 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
42
The Blind Assassin
The Blind Assassin
by Margaret Atwood 16 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
43
A Great and Terrible Beauty
A Great and Terrible Beauty
by Libba Bray 16 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
44
House of Sand and Fog
House of Sand and Fog
by Andre Dubus III 16 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
45
Atlas Shrugged
Atlas Shrugged
by Ayn Rand 15 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
46
Empire Falls
Empire Falls
by Richard Russo 15 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
47
Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf
by Hermann Hesse 14 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
48
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
by Ishmael Beah 14 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
49
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
by Susanna Clarke 14 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
50
Bleak House
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens 14 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
51
Jude the Obscure
Jude the Obscure
by Thomas Hardy 14 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
52
Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers
by Robert A. Heinlein, James Warhola (illustrator) 13 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
53
Straight Man: A Novel
Straight Man: A Novel
by Richard Russo 13 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
54
Of Human Bondage
Of Human Bondage
by W. Somerset Maugham 13 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
55
Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift 13 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
56
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
by J.K. Rowling 12 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
57
M. Butterfly.
M. Butterfly.
by David Henry Hwang 12 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
58
Dreams of the Ringed Vale
Dreams of the Ringed Vale
by Robert Fanney (Goodreads author) 11 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
60
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins 10 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
61
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by Michael Chabon 10 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
62
Siddhartha
Siddhartha
by Hermann Hesse 9 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
63
To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee 9 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
64
The Glass Castle: A Memoir
The Glass Castle: A Memoir
by Jeannette Walls 8 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
65
The Name of the Wind
The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss (Goodreads author) 7 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
66
Pope Joan: A Novel
Pope Joan: A Novel
by Donna Woolfolk Cross (Goodreads author) 7 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
67
Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen 7 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
68
Love in the Time of Cholera
Love in the Time of Cholera
by Gabriel García Márquez, Edith Grossman (Translator) 6 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
69
The Master and Margarita
The Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov 6 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
69
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain 6 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
71
The Lottery: And Other Stories
The Lottery: And Other Stories
by Shirley Jackson 5 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
73
Corelli's Mandolin
Corelli's Mandolin
by Louis de Bernières 5 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
74
John Adams
John Adams
by David McCullough 5 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
74
Atonement
Atonement
by Ian McEwan 5 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
76
Watchers
Watchers
by Dean Koontz 5 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
77
The Tea Rose
The Tea Rose
by Jennifer Donnelly 5 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
78
The Prince of Tides
The Prince of Tides
by Pat Conroy 4 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
79
The Corrections
The Corrections
by Jonathan Franzen 4 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
79
Geek Love: A Novel
Geek Love: A Novel
by Katherine Dunn 4 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
81
A Son of the Circus
A Son of the Circus
by John Irving 4 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
82
Until I Find You: A Novel
Until I Find You: A Novel
by John Irving 4 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
82
The Forgotten Garden
The Forgotten Garden
by Kate Morton 4 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
82
These Is My Words
These Is My Words
by Nancy E. Turner 4 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
85
William Faulkner's Light in August
William Faulkner's Light in August
by Leslie A. Juhasz 4 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
85
Dissolution
Dissolution
by C.J. Sansom 4 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
87
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
by Carson McCullers 4 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
87
If On a Winter's Night a Traveler
If On a Winter's Night a Traveler
by Italo Calvino, William Weaver (Translator) 4 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
87
Inkdeath
Inkdeath
by Cornelia Funke 4 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
90
White Noise
White Noise
by Don DeLillo 4 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
92
The Alchemist
The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho (Goodreads author) 3 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
93
A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini 3 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
94
Walk Two Moons
Walk Two Moons
by Sharon Creech 3 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
95
How Not to Spend Your Senior Year
How Not to Spend Your Senior Year
by Cameron Dokey 3 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
96
The Quiet Girl: A Novel
The Quiet Girl: A Novel
by Peter Høeg 3 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
97
The Miracle of Castel di Sangro: A Tale of Passion and Folly in the Heart of Italy
The Miracle of Castel di Sangro: A Tale of Pass...
by Joe McGinniss 3 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
98
Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City
Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City
by Kirsten Miller 3 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
99
Fables: Legends in Exile
Fables: Legends in Exile
by Bill Willingham 3 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
100
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer & Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer & Adventures o...
by Mark Twain 3 people voted »
didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked itit was amazing
List started by: Rob (votes)
Lists are re-scored approximately every 500 seconds



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More voters…


comments (showing 1-6 of 6) (6 new)

dateDown_arrow    newest »

message 1: by Matt (new)

134735 I did not read all of these, but the ones I read fit the bill.
-Matt


message 2: by Kelly (new)

94602 The Heart is a Lonely Hunter? I hated that book. Soo bored. No insight to speak of that I remember. I negative vote that one.


message 3: by Maureen (new)

1262542 Kelly, I am so with you there. I kept waiting for a reason to keep reading.


message 4: by Rob (new)

769842 I loved heart is a lonely hunter...I remember it as very powerful and moving and beautifully told. But that's what's great about this list! So many interesting books to investigate!


message 5: by Canary (new)

1883731 Kelly wrote: "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter? I hated that book. Soo bored. No insight to speak of that I remember. I negative vote that one."

Bored me silly too and was unable to finish it. The only thing good about it is the title, LOL!




message 6: by Christin (new)

Nophoto-f-25x33 Rob wrote: "I loved heart is a lonely hunter...I remember it as very powerful and moving and beautifully told. But that's what's great about this list! So many interesting books to investigate!"

The elegance of Carson McCuller's writing mesmerized me. She's a classic Southern novelist who created a wonderful book about love, family, and teenage angst. Never overdone, her subtle treatment of human emotion made this a classic. Yes, it was quite powerful.


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