30-day Challenge! - Day 9: A book you thought you wouldn't like, but ended up really enjoying

[Trisha]

Day 9: A book you thought you wouldn't like, but ended up really enjoying

- The Hunger Games
The idea of reading a book about children forced to fight to the death was an immediate turn off, but I'm glad that I gave it a try because it was really a fantastic story!

Who wants to play!

[Kat]

The Hunger Games for me too, because it was so popular I was immediately suspicious of its quality.

[Cleo]

Oooo, that's easy. I have two:



The Iliad by Homer, and;

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

[Barbara]

Touching the Void, by Joe Simpson. I thought mountaineering was of not the remotest interest to me, but was enthralled and it's one of the books I've read more than once.

[Mo]

Into Thin Air- a book about climbing Mt Everest? Not my typical fare, but excellent.

[Annina]

The Hunger Games as well. And Harry Potter's as well. I never thought that those will be as good as those are.

[Maddie]

My Sister's Keeper. I read it, loved it and has since devoured every Jodi Picoult book I've been able to get my hands on. Some I've liked more than others, but it all started with that one book.

[Antonio]

The Reader by Bernard Schlick. I haven't seen the film so that's the only approach to the story I had. I was kind of biased at the beginning, but I was mistaken and I'm glad about it. I can say quite the same about The Hunger Games.

[Annina]

Antonio wrote: "The Reader by Bernard Schlick. I haven't seen the film so that's the only approach to the story I had. I was kind of biased at the beginning, but I was mistaken and I'm glad about it. I can tell qu..."

The Reader was also one which I liked a lot. Surprisingly good.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Rebecca, I started reading it simply because it was a group monthly read, with no expectation of liking or disliking the book. This turned out to be one of the better mystery/suspense stories I have read to date.

[Kat]

Bob wrote: "Rebecca, I started reading it simply because it was a group monthly read, with no expectation of liking or disliking the book. This turned out to be one of the better mystery/suspense stories I ha..."

I also read it only because it was the group monthly read, and was surprised that I liked it.

[Diana S]

Oh, that's easy - The Camel Club by David Baldacci.

I just love Oliver Stone and his group of misfits in The Camel Club.

[Tracy]

"These Is My Words" by Nancy Turner. - an 80 year old lady in my book club recommended it and I assumed it would be an old, forgotten book that would probably drag on. Boy was I wrong!

[Kristi]

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Sijie Dai, I was recommended this one and thought I'd have to make myself read it, but once I started I really enjoyed it.

[Gavin]

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez. I had to read it for school and I usually didn't like what I had to read for school.

[Melanti]

I am NOT a fan of romances, so I assumed would hate Gone with the Wind. From everything I'd heard, I'd thought it was some sappy romance set during the Civil War. But in reality, the romance is such a tiny portion of the book!

Similarly, I thought I was going to hate Wuthering Heights. I was expecting some sort of forbidden, star crossed love like Romeo and Juliet but it turned out to be more like Othello instead.

[Blueberry]

Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

[MK]

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

... admittedly, I am still reading it, but I'm flabbergasted that I'm actually liking it :p. IT'S GOOD! :D

[Julie]

The Twilight-series - I'm always suspicious when people act like teenagers about a book, but must admit I was well entertained reading all three books while in bed after surgery two years ago ;-)

[Kirsten]

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult For some reason I thought that Jodi Picoult novels could only be enjoyed by fans of Oprah.

[Edīte]

by John Green. I watch John Greens vlogs on youtube and really enjoy them, after I have read books description, I thought now way book can be so good as vlogs considering theme covered. But gladly, I was wrong.

[Suzie]

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. We had to read it for book club and I was dreading it, but ended up enjoying it immensely

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

That would be Rebecca, by DuMaurier. I thought I'd hate it since it was assigned reading in a high school English class. I ended up loving it.

[AC]

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. The first and second chapters were a little overly detailed, so much to the point that it gets "boring", but overall the book was very enjoyable.

*WARNING* This book is only for people who like books that have flashbacks, excessive detailing, and for people with wide vocabularies.

[Rachel]

May 9th Entry: I took a Dark Side of Satire English class in college, and we read a wide variety of books. One of the novels that I read that I thought I wouldn't enjoy became my favorite book from that class.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk is the book I never though I would enjoy reading. The movie is fantastic as well.

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Rachel wrote: "May 9th Entry: I took a Dark Side of Satire English class in college, and we read a wide variety of books. One of the novels that I read that I thought I wouldn't enjoy became my favorite book from..."

I've wondered if I would like that book too. I will have to give it a try. Thanks.

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Aidan wrote: "The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. The first and second chapters were a little overly detailed, so much to the point that it gets "boring", but overall the book ..."

Good book, I thought. Well worth the read. I think it is time for a re-read for me.

[Shelley]

Cleo, To The Lighthouse is like Grand Budapest Hotel: you either "get it" and love, or not, and hate it.

Shelley
http://dustbowlstory.wordpress.com

[Aprilleigh]

I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but a friend, whose taste in books I agree with, gave me a copy of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon after I packed and shipped all my books for a cross-country move. I set it aside for a bit then picked it up to read the back cover and it sounded like a typical historical romance to me (I don't dislike the genre entirely, but I am a bit picky), so I figured I wouldn't care for it much. Turns out it's as much sci-fi as historical romance and I ended up loving it. Given who loaned it to me I should have known better. Live and learn.

[MK]

Aprilleigh wrote: "I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but a friend, whose taste in books I agree with, gave me a copy of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon after I packed and shipped all my books f..."

Someone in my real life book club just rec'd that one to me last Thursday!

[Melanti]

Aprilleigh wrote: "I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but a friend, whose taste in books I agree with, gave me a copy of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon after I packed and shipped all my books f..."

I'm terrified of that book but it's been recommended to me by so many different people who claim they don't like romance so I might have to give it a try one of these days.

[Aprilleigh]

Reading the back cover is what made me think it was a romance, but it definitely doesn't read like one.

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Melanti, I've put it off for the same reason. I guess I'll try it someday too.

[Christine]

Tale of Two Cities:-)

[The Bursting Bookshelf of a Wallflower]

Pride and Prejudice :)

[Pink]

Rebecca

[Nancy]

Bleak House. It's really fat, old, and the title is very bleak! But I couldn't put it down.

[Lindy-Lane]

Immortal in Death by J.D. Robb

i didn't think i would like this series due to the futuristic setting but i'm finding that i enjoy it very much.

[Tytti]

I see no reason to read novels that I don't think I would like and can't remember ever reading one. (I have never studied literature.) I think I liked this book Venäjän kahdet kasvot: Venäjä-kuva suomalaisen identiteetin rakennuskivenä (The two faces of Russia) more than I thought I would. I read it for an entrance exam.

[[deleted user]]

The Shattered Chain by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I always thought I hated Science Fiction, but I had to read this for a class, and loved it!

[Hilary]

Dracula by Bram Stoker

[[deleted user]]

I don't tend to read books that I don't think I'd like. So I'll go with The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks as I wanted to read this but was unsure how much I would like it as I don't know much about science. I was prepared to read a little every day but ended up reading most of it in one sitting I was so interested in the story.

[Joseph]

There are a lot that fill this category. Picking one, I'll say Gone With the Wind

[siriusedward]

Harry Potter Boxset
King Lear

[Loretta]

As I said in an earlier post The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. :)

[Sarah]

Gone With the Wind for me! I was 14, stuck at home, and out of things to read, so I grudgingly picked up a beat up copy that had been sitting in our basement for ages. Based on the cover (and not knowing anything else about the book), I thought it was some sort of overwrought romance novel. But I was bored so I started reading and ended up churning through all 1000+ pages in about four days. I am curious if my non-teenage self would enjoy it as much as I did back then, but alas I haven't gotten around to a reread.

[Rhedyn]

I generally sit down thinking i'll love the book, so I can't pick one....

[Jehona]

Vanity Fair

[Maggie the Muskoka Library Mouse]

1984

[Terry]

Dracula