This Week's Topic is: 3 books you thought you’d hate but ended up loving
1. To Have and to Hold by Mary Johnston
I mentioned that I was homeschooled in this post. As a part of that, my mom traveled to curriculum fairs and teaching seminars on a regular basis. Usually we’d dread her return, because she’d be all fired up with new strategies and so many new TEXTBOOKS! It was overwhelming, to say the least. One time, though, she returned with this title and insisted on reading it to us almost as soon as she’d unpacked. I was ready to hate it. Had already decided on it. But the adventure! The romance! The historical setting! The story caught my attention in spite of myself, and I’ve re-read it several times since.
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
For several years I lied to my swim lesson and swim team kids. That sounds really reprehensible, doesn’t it? What sort of role model was I? I, dear audience, was the girl who hadn’t read any Harry Potter, and didn’t want to. I didn't want to tell those kids that I hadn't read the books, either. I was determined to be the only person in my generation who hadn’t touched the series. I was sure they were badly written and not worth my time. Well, I was sure up until the night before I left for my second trip to Chile, when I realized I didn’t have any suitable books for the 10-hour plane ride. So I gave in and borrowed my roommate’s copies, and I ended up staying awake for hours to read them all. Suffice it to say…I was wrong.
3. At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon
My grandmother has had an amazing effect on my reading taste. No, really. She lives in upstate New York, and whenever she visits or I go to visit, I somehow end up reading one of her books. It’s uncanny, really. I am always sure that I won’t like whatever it is, and I’m always sucked in. This probably means that we have very similar taste. I try not to shudder at that, even though it’s true. So I was pretty positive that I wouldn’t like reading about a middle-aged priest in a small Carolina town…but it turns out I was wrong. I gobbled up the entire Mitford series in a month or two. And some Nicholas Sparks, and some James Patterson…and you get the idea. Books I usually don’t review here, but read guiltily and then give away to my local thrift shop.
What are three books you ended up liking in spite of yourself?
12 comments:
i love how you were right about some of the books that i've read, and then I'M RIGHT about some of these (*ahem* HP) hehe :D
I really must read some Jan Karon -- haven't yet... (queen bee)
Great list! I haven't read any of these books. I can't decide if I would like Harry Potter or not. But I did enjoy the movies so maybe it will be on a future list of books I love that I thought I wouldn't! lol
I wasn't sure about Harry Potter either. I think I picked up the first right before or right after the second came out. I thought I would just try it anyway and of course I got hooked!
1. Sweet list.
2. Way cool that you were homeschooled. I send mad props to your mom.
My mom hated the HP the first time she tried to read Sorcerer's Stone. But she decided to try again and she loved it then! So funny.
Great list! This is a fun topic.
I'm with you on HP. I had the same response. It's funny how we think that if a book is popular, it's probably not good.
snickering here - isn't it embarrassing when you give in to that "peer pressure" book thing, and find out that EVERYBODY is right, and you've been wrong all along?
i'm going to have to go through my books to see which have been my guilty pleasures, but i did read the whole bloody Twilight series. quickly. go figger! HP rocked though, truly. :)
Loved your list of books! I bought the first HP book when it came out, then promptly ignored it until after the movie came out because of all the hype. Don't you just love it when you're wrong about a book?
I was also unsure about Harry Potter as there was just so much hype. My oldest brother (who is 14 years older than me) insisted I had to read them (this is when book 3 had just come out) so I went and bought the paperback of Sorcerer's Stone and was immediately hooked. Now I kick myself for not having purchased Sorcerer's Stone in hardback.
I'm with you on the Jan Karon books. I love those people and the town. I love Uncle Billy's jokes, and I love Tim and Cynthia's relationship. Karon's people seem like real people to me. And even in this idyllic setting there are real troubles. I thought the ending was perfect. I also enjoyed the one about Father Tim's upbringing and look forward to the new one this year. I hope your post will draw people to the books since they aren't in the news so much anymore.
Harry Potter made my list too.
I also loved those Mitford books, and I'm not even a christian!
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