Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is a “choose your own adventure”, if you will. So I picked “Ten Books I Thought I’d Hate But Didn’t.” This list was shockingly easy, but probably because I invented it myself and already had the books in my head.
1. The Host by Stephenie Meyer. I did not like aliens. Nope, wasn’t reading a book about aliens. And the Twilight author? Seriously, nope. Not happening. Fine, fine, since everyone else is reading it, I might as well cave. Oh wait. One of my favorite books ever? Oops.
2. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. When a friend recommended it, it did not sound up my alley at all. Then when I started reading it, (after she begged me and I relented) I was cursing her, wondering what kind of nonsense she’d gotten me into. But after a few chapters? I was hooked.
3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Can you even believe that my most beloved series of all time was almost never even read? A friend (again with the friend recommendations- maybe they should be writing this stuff!) decided I had to read it. I hadn’t heard of it (this was before the movies and such), and it sounded weird. I mean, I didn’t want to read about hunger. But then I read the synopsis and was admittedly a bit intrigued, and went for it. By the time I’d finished the first chapter, I had ordered the other books.
4. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. Do I even have to tell you that this was another friend? Fine, not a friend, but mom of a kid I worked with. Anyway, I was (just like with the aliens) all “ew, vampires are dumb”. Really, they kind of are, but I still enjoyed the book. And the series, until it went down the crapper.
5. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I don’t even remember who insisted I read this, but it was a friend. I know it was. And I figured that I wasn’t a big fan of magic and fantasy and such, so I should steer clear of this one. But I ended up liking it. Though, if I am being honest, after reading tons of other books, I may not have liked this one as much had I read it now, if that makes sense.
6. A Separate Peace by John Knowles. This was not a friend recommendation, but a high school English requirement. I never, ever read those. That is what Cliff’s Notes were for (I realize this is revealing my age big time). But for some reason, this one hooked me from the beginning. It was the only book for school that I actually read cover-to-cover and I just adored it.
7. The Park Service by Ryan Winfield. This one kept popping up as a suggestion on Goodreads and Amazon. But I could not get past the goofy title! I was expecting to read about like, a bunch of Park Rangers. I pictured Full House‘s Joey Gladstone, standing around as “Ranger Joe” with his woodchuck puppet. But the book was good, and the two subsequent ones even better. And their titles (Isle of Man and State of Nature) were definitely not off-putting.
8. The Moon Dwellers by David Estes. Another “title throw off” here. I figured I would be reading about some random aliens or something (why didn’t I just read the synopsis? I have no idea.) but it was not that at all. I found it to be a great series, with a great sister series (The Country Saga).
9. Until The End by Tracey Ward. “I don’t like zombies”, I say. “Zombies are illogical at best”, I complain. Wrong, wrong, wrong. This book was awesome. And now, I kind of love Tracey Ward in general. I am glad I took a chance (and won) a giveaway, or I’d never have discovered it.
10. Die For Me by Amy Plum. First, why did I think I would not like the Paris setting? What was wrong with me? It is freaking Paris for goodness sake. And then I didn’t think I would like the supernatural theme. But wrong again, so, so wrong.
So here’s the moral of this story: maybe I should just stop telling myself that I don’t like things. Because for all the fantasy, aliens, vampires, zombies, whoever and whatever I swore I didn’t like, I apparently liked quite a bit of it!
What book shocked you by your like (or even dislike) of it?
I still can’t bring myself to read the Host. Part of me wants to but I also don’t want to too. I used to really love Twilight too and it’s not all the twilight bashing that’s kept me from reading it too, I just don’t want to. But I hear some great things about it, which makes me very curious.
Aly @ My Heart Hearts Books
My TTT
What makes you not want to read it? I will say, it does start out a bit slow, but then gets really good. I always see it on clearance at Books A Million for like, $3, so if you found it cheap, you could save it for when your curiosity gets the best of you!
To my surprise, both of the books I tried to read in the historical unit for my YA Lit class were DNFs, books I hated in spite of both being set during WWII, one of my favoritest historical eras. Couldn’t and didn’t want to finish choking down Eyes of the Emperor or the freaking overrated Book Thief!
Oh wow! I still haven’t read The Book Thief. I keep waffling on whether I will be disappointed. I can see it going in that direction. I am sorry they didn’t work for you 🙁
Interesting list. I don’t think I’ve tried any of these yet. Like you were, I’m not sure whether I’ll like The Hunger Games and City of Bones. I bet I’ll try them one day and love them as much as you have, but it’s actually convincing myself to let them have a chance that’s the hard bit!
You have to try The Hunger Games! Have to! I swear, I have not met someone who has not at least liked them! (I will give you a pass on City of Bones 😉 )
I was shocked at how much I loved We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, I picked it up because a lot of my friends loved it and I figured might as well give it a try and the rest is history, kinda. =)
Oh, that is one book I definitely need to read soon! Glad you liked it!
I’m glad that you liked Die For Me. I’ve recently read it, and was surprised about how much I enjoyed it! Great list!
Thanks! I agree, it was so good, and it came as a huge surprise. I think I actually got it as a Kindle Daily Deal, and then just kind of went for it!
I had something similar happen to me with another book of Cassandra Clare’s, The Clockwork Angel – first in her Infernal Devices series. I was sure I wouldn’t like it – but I read it anyway and actually enjoyed it a lot. I’ve not read City of Bones, and am not really sure it’s for me – considering I don’t really like contemporary novels. Glad you found some unexpected books to like, as it’s always great when that happens.
My TTT
I have all 3 of the Infernal Devices books sitting on my Kindle, so I am glad to hear you liked them!
Hmm, I have never been tempted by Knife of Never Letting Go. But its really interesting to see it pop up on your list here, with a lot of other books that I love like the Host and the Hunger Games series and more. Maybe I should give it a try. My list this week is on Characters Who Deserve Their Own Book.
It is seriously an amazing series. It takes a little while to get used to the dialect, but it is definitely worth it! I love your topic choice too 🙂
People keep telling me to read The Host. Haven’t brought myself to do it yet. I tried City of Bones, didn’t particularly like it, but very much enjoyed her Infernal Devices series. I’ll have to check out some of these others.
The Host is quite long, so you probably have to be in the right mindset for it. But it is worth it, it has been one of my favorites! Also, I am so glad people are liking the Infernal Devices better than TMI, gives me hope for them!
I have put off reading The Host…maybe I’ll try it? I will probably read Until The End though because I Love Zombies! I’ve read the Apocalypse Z series that was translated from Spanish to English (not the English version series) anf theyve been really good! The 3rd one is next on deck for me after Divergent (if I ever manage to get past chapter 5 anyway).
Well, since you’ve only made it to like, page 3 of Divergent, you might want to hold off on The Host (it is like 600 pages or some nonsense!) but I do definitely recommend it. Maybe when M is like, 6 😉 And Until the End was really good! There’s a sequel too, that is just as good.
I’m not a fantasy lover either but have liked quite a few books I’ve read in that genre. I should probably give more of them a try. I did hate A Separate Peace, though . . . Sorry!
New Follower!
http://she-read.blogspot.com/2014/05/top-ten-tuesdays-books-about-friends.html
I figure, I probably liked A Separate Peace more than I would have just because I hated all the other books we had to read 😉 And yes, give them a try! I have been trying to force myself out of my comfort zone (though I must admit, I haven’t been succeeding!)
Great topic! I haven’t read The Host or The Knife of Never Letting Go yet, so I’m glad to hear they’re both good reads, especially because, like you, they’re two books I was unsure of when I first bought them.
I had a friend literally beg me to read The Knife of Never Letting Go. In fact, she offered to reimburse me if I didn’t like it! I loved it- she was right! As for The Host, it starts off kind of slow, but gets really, really good. Even my mom was into it!