Books You Thought You'd Hate, but Loved

[Philip Overby]

Curious about this topic. I recently started reading The Hobbit, which upon my first try several years ago, hated utterly. The endless descriptions of dwarf hoods had me bored to tears. Yet I always heard "Don't try to write fantasy unless you've read Tolkien." It makes sense. Tolkien is considered the most famous fantasy writer ever, so why not give it the old college try?

So this year I tried again. Although I was dreading it. However, now that I'm older, more patient, more understanding, I have actually grown to love this book. Bilbo is now one of my favorite characters in fantasy, where before I found him obnoxious and boring.

Strange isn't it?

So I'm curious, what book did you pick up thinking you'd probably hate it? Maybe it was a book you had to read in school, for a book club, or because it was recommended highly/had good reviews.

 

[Kelise]

Harry Potter. I read it when the third book came out, well before it was overly popular but whilst it was 'too popular' for me. Back then it was really known as a book for children, and I didn't want it. Mum first gave it to me when the first book came out and I ignored it. When the third book came out, my parents were dragging me along on a fishing/camp out in the Australian bush, and at the last stop for food she threw the third HP book at me.

Anything was better than being out fishing, so I devoured it, and really enjoy the series and the third book has always remained my favourite.

 

[JCFarnham]

I tend not to bother reading something I think I'll hate..

However, my girlfriend was in the same kind of mind as most people seem to be with Twilight, but found that she actually liked the plot [despite the writing leaving a bit to be desired] enough to read the lot. Yeah... thats about all I can contribute, right now. I don't think I hate things so much as I'm indifferent to them heh.

I agree with you on the Hobbit though Phil. Back in the day some of those descriptive passages really annoyed me [and that overly descriptive style still does to be honest], but I can imagine if I re-read it now I may enjoy it more. If anything, just for the mastery of the English language =P

 

[Johnny Cosmo]

I always liked the Hobbit, but have never really been much for overly-descriptive writing. But I agree with JCFarnham; I don't really bother unless I think I'll enjoy it.

 

[Shadoe]

Yeah, Harry Potter. I didn't think I'd be interested in a "kids' book," but with a growing number of adults I knew reading it, I thought I'd give it a try. Loved it. It was well-written and detailed enough to provide a realistic scenario.

 

[pskelding]

Dan Brown's latest Lost Symbol, I expected a slump after DaVinci Code but I found that I read it in my standard measurement of "It's a really good page turner 3 day read". The main protagonist is more interesting than those in Angels and Demons and DaVinci Code, IMHO. There were the standard thriller genre cliches as well.

 

[Angharad]

I can't say I've ever read anything that I thought I would hate. If I think I'll hate it, I avoid reading it! I actually did hate all the books I was forced to read in English classes (Moby Dick, the Scarlet Letter, etc.) so unfortunately there were no pleasant surprises there. I discovered the Hobbit in the library in 6th grade, and I utterly adored it from the first sentence. I still reread it from time to time because I think the descriptive passages are gorgeous. I got into Harry Potter by reading it aloud to my kids, but I would have loved it anyway.

 

[myrddin173]

The only time i will read a book I think I will hate is for school. In fact I hated a lot of books we read. One that I thought I would hate is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I actually liked it a lot, I wouldn't say I "loved" it, mostly because I don't think its a book that should be loved.

 

[Philip Overby]

Yeah, I was thinking more or less about books you may have been forced to read for a class or maybe a friend gave to you. Something you didn't go right out and seek. I know there were lots of books I hated that I had to read for high school and university. Most of them weren't novels though, they were criticism books. Ugh.

I really thought I would hate Gardens of the Moon by Steve Erikson, but a lot of people recommended it to me based on other books I like. I gave it a try and really hated it at first, but once I got used to the style and content, I really liked it. The 2nd book, Deadhouse Gates, I'm still struggling with, even 5 years later.

 

[Kelise]

Hrm, I always looked forward to books we got at school to read. And I generally adored them, too. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The Crucible. Streetcar Named Desire. The Giver. Lord of the Flies. My Brilliant Career.

I was an odd student, I suppose. Those lessons were always my favourite part of school, other than theatre.

 

[Philip Overby]

I guess I liked most books I had to read in school with the exception of The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I hate, hate, hate...

 

[grahamguitarman]

Funilly enough a teacher at school tried to get me to read lord of the rings, but I found it way too boring and long winded for me, but when I read it 10 years later I totally fell in love (I still can't stand lost tales and silmarillion though).

I was convinced I would hate harry potter, and refused to read it for ages, but when I gave in and read it I loved that too

 

[Ravana]

Hrm, I always looked forward to books we got at school to read. And I generally adored them, too. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The Crucible. Streetcar Named Desire. The Giver. Lord of the Flies. My Brilliant Career.

I was an odd student, I suppose. Those lessons were always my favourite part of school, other than theatre.

Naah, you just got a better selection of books than most of us had forced upon us.

I can't recall any book I thought I'd hate that turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Part of that, of course, is not picking up books I think I'll hate; part of that may be because I tend to give benefit of the doubt to just about anything I am willing to pick up and read, so there isn't all that much I genuinely think I'll hate. And part of that is being pretty good at accurately discerning what I'm not going to like, simply by opening a book randomly and reading a couple sentences. But I must say that overall things tend to go the opposite way for me: disappointment where I had hoped for better–or just plain disappointment, period, where I had no predisposition one way or the other.

Probably the closest I can come would be Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot, the first book of his I read. I'm not all that big a fan of "standard" horror… and no matter how much I'd seen King's work praised, I had fairly low expectations. I was indeed pleasantly surprised (and, for the first and to date last time in my life, creeped out by a book), and can't deny the high quality of his storytelling (at that stage in his career, at least)… and I'm sure his other horror books are well-written, too, but I'm just not interested in reading them. (What can I say? I like good vampire stories… I couldn't care less about good possessed car stories. )

 

[pskelding]

Whilst desperate for something to read pre-iPad Stanza/Kindle time I was in the best bookstore in Beijing and grabbed Karen Miller's Awakened and Prodigal Mage duology (now trilogy). I suspected that I wouldn't like it because I gathered from the cover copy that it didn't have much fighting or high quality fight scenes. Boy was I surprised that I love those books because the magic was unique and she writes characters really well!