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Books That Exceeded Your Expectations
These are books that pleasantly surprised you. They could be classics that you really loved or more recent fiction that just caught you off guard by its greatness.
Rob
232 books
23 friends
23 friends
Robert
432 books
14 friends
14 friends
Lauren
1833 books
317 friends
317 friends
Corina
4105 books
246 friends
246 friends
ExistenGuy
123 books
0 friends
0 friends
Aaron
2822 books
290 friends
290 friends
Rae-Nani
3440 books
155 friends
155 friends
Matt
416 books
222 friends
222 friends
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Comments Showing 1-39 of 39 (39 new)
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Ale and Vicki
(new)
Dec 07, 2010 06:54PM
Why Twilight? That was a let down..
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The Hunger Games. I thought it looked dumb when I read the description, but once I started the book I couldn't put it down...
Aurora wrote: "The Hunger Games. I thought it looked dumb when I read the description, but once I started the book I couldn't put it down..."Same here.
The Tiger series definitely fit in this list :)
I have to admit, not many books exceeded my expectations. In fact, I was very dissapointed of a great amount of the books considered to be "amazing", such as The Time Traveler's Wife, The Shadow of the Wind, Pride and Prejudice, Twilight and Eat, Pray, Love - all of them really really bad, in my opinion ><
Ale and Vicki wrote: "Why Twilight? That was a let down.."Despair not! That simply means expectations were piss poor to begin with. :)
Ale and Vicki wrote: "Why Twilight? That was a let down.."This was the first book I read since high school, and it just drew me in and reminded me how much I love and miss reading. For that reason it will always be one of my favorites.
I must admit I do love a good romance and Twilight is certainly one, the thing I do like however is not the vampire or werewolf aspect but the differences I discover on each reading. The movies tie in very well with the written word and I personally have never been disappointed by either. The supernatural just makes the story different but the ability to make a FF of the characters shows how the general writing public adores the presentation of those personalities.
Several titles in this list made me wonder whether some voters also voted on books that
lived up to
their expectations, instead of just voting for books that
exceeded
their expectations... And yes, I only voted for books that exceeded my expectations, not the ones that lived up to it :-) Some authors I expect exceptional books from, like Jane Austen, George Eliot, Margarat Atwood, Thomas Hardy, and so on, and I've have never been disappointed so far. But their books do not exceed my expectations, as I already expected a lot of them before I started.
@Hercina
You are not the only one with doubts about this list :-)
Alenka wrote: "Aurora wrote: "The Hunger Games. I thought it looked dumb when I read the description, but once I started the book I couldn't put it down..."Same here."
I'd have to say I was the opposite. I heard so many great things about the Hunger Games and then I was really disappointed by the development of the plot and the characters. I feel like the story had a great concept but that the characters ruined it for me.
I don't understand why this page shows that I've read 0 books on this list when I've read quite a few. I've voted on the books I've read.
Cherryl wrote: "I don't understand why this page shows that I've read 0 books on this list when I've read quite a few. I've voted on the books I've read."Did all the books you voted for show up as 'read' in this Listopia?
Were the ones you read in the top 100 of the list? I don't think it reports numbers for lower down.
With some modern authors, like Tim Winton or Richard Flanagan, I've come to expect an excellent read, based upon previous experiences :-) I truly hope I won't be let down (haven't been so far) :-)
Ale and Vicki wrote: "Why Twilight? That was a let down.."SHUCKING YES
It works! It works! The system found and removed 1 duplicate.This is an interesting concept for a list. I found myself trying to decide how to order my votes--by how much I liked the book, or by how surprised I was? (I went with the surprise factor.) Then I began looking for common threads. I noticed that a relatively small number of my choices were books I'd purchased for myself. I guess I am a conservative shopper. I was more likely to be surprised and delighted by books I was required to read when I was in school, and by review copies I received for free. Fiction surprised me more often than nonfiction.
Great idea, Rob.
Grace wrote: "I must admit I do love a good romance and Twilight is certainly one, the thing I do like however is not the vampire or werewolf aspect but the differences I discover on each reading. The movies tie..."Thanks Grace as it made me happy to read what you wrote. I read so many bad reviews of Twilight on goodreads that I almost didn't read it. I was amazed how much I liked so I don't trust goodreads reviews anymore.
*sound of plane engine dying; crash, explosion, flames*The duplicate link is broken.
The list is broken; long live the list.
Well, with creeping on 5000 books, I'm kind of not surprised. Alas.
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "Well, with creeping on 5000 books, I'm kind of not surprised. Alas."Yeah, I guess it's a category that is doomed to outgrow itself, since it can never be edited down. Hadn't thought of it.
I read Hunger Games #1 cause it's been, or still is, at the top of a number of lists, including best novel ever. So I read it. It wasn't absolutely awful, like goodreads Best of the Year "Go Set a Watchman" a few years ago, or last year's weird (and for me, completely confusing and pointless) 'Lincoln in the Bardo." But it was better than I expected and I gave it two stars: it was okay. But if I hadn't already seen the exact same story on film (Battle Royale, Japan, same story, same end with two victors) I would have liked it better. I've been studying some Egyptian Heiroglyphics and even some ancient Sumerian texts, and oddly, this very same story shows up in about every civilization and is at least 6,000 years old.
Greg wrote: "I read Hunger Games #1 cause it's been, or still is, at the top of a number of lists, including best novel ever. So I read it. It wasn't absolutely awful, like goodreads Best of the Year "Go Set a ..."I agree with you. I don't understand its popularity. I read it so I could do all the quiz questions.
My sincere apologies - I'm a new user on Goodreads and was not aware that I should not talk about my own work. Will try to participate more creatively in general discussions hereafter. Apologies & regards
There are places for it; but this isn't one of them. It may be OK in groups; check if they have an author's section.
vijay govind wrote: "My sincere apologies - I'm a new user on Goodreads and was not aware that I should not talk about my own work. Will try to participate more creatively in general discussions hereafter. Apologies ..."
Delete your previous comment if you're sincerely sorry...
Not sure how a previous comment is to be deleted - may I request the admin to kindly do it if possible on my behalf. Else - request that it may be kindly ignored as my inadvertence. Thanks and best regards
Vijay Narayan Govind wrote: "Not sure how a previous comment is to be deleted - may I request the admin to kindly do it if possible on my behalf. Else - request that it may be kindly ignored as my inadvertence. Thanks and be..."
The person who placed a comment is also able to delete it by clicking 'delete' at the bottom of the comment...
Breanne wrote: "The Tiger series definitely fit in this list :)"Definitely NOT!
Every list on this site gets taken over by the Hunger Games, Harry Potter and Twilight. I wish there were lists created by experts that other people couldn't add to and screw up (he said, adding The Lord of the Rings)
AshleyS wrote: "Every list on this site gets taken over by the Hunger Games, Harry Potter and Twilight. I wish there were lists created by experts that other people couldn't add to and screw up (he said, adding Th..."Try lists of most horrible books, books one doesn't like, and so on. They won't appear as the first few there 😃
Ðɑηηɑ wrote: "I have to admit, not many books exceeded my expectations. In fact, I was very dissapointed of a great amount of the books considered to be "amazing", such as The Time Traveler's Wife, ..."Eat Pray Love was a real disappointment. They made a movie of it. Why?
Ale and Vicki wrote: "Why Twilight? That was a let down.."The Twilight exceeds any expectations of Meyer's writing.
Apologies to the 100 or so members who voted on this list for my Congo book `Blood River' and to the 80 or so who voted for my WWI book `The Trigger' but they have both recently been removed. And a particular apology to whoever it was that put the books on the list. We authors are rightly not allowed to put our own work on lists nor vote for our books. But we are also powerless when setbacks like this happen. Seeking clarity from GoodReads and sympathy from all book-lovers on the site.
Jen wrote: "Ale and Vicki wrote: "Why Twilight? That was a let down.."This was the first book I read since high school, and it just drew me in and reminded me how much I love and miss reading. For that reaso..."
I for sure have to agree with you on this one! It was a page turner for me - the whole series honestly
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