Books you thought that you'd never like!

Tikal

Tikal

Icefyre
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Manchester, England
I remember the thread about books that we wished we could like. Due to a recent experiance of mine this is like an add on- an after thought!

I never thought that i'd be able to get into George RR Martins books, i never got through A Game Of Thrones. But now I'm hooked!

Another example is the Recluse series by Modessitt. Never thought i'd like them, and I didin't at first. Then BOOm, I can't put them down!
 
Tikal said:
I remember the thread about books that we wished we could like. Due to a recent experiance of mine this is like an add on- an after thought!

I never thought that i'd be able to get into George RR Martins books, i never got through A Game Of Thrones. But now I'm hooked!

Another example is the Recluse series by Modessitt. Never thought i'd like them, and I didin't at first. Then BOOm, I can't put them down!
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In that case you may want to give Steven Erikson's Malazan series a go. Most people struggle with and don't nercessarily persist to the end of Book 1 Gardens Of The Moon but most people I know who persevere are glad they did and once they get to Book 2 and further into the series are glad they attempted it. Erikson I rate as No .1 with Martin a possible No. 2. in the fantasy Genre.

I had a book in 1979 that I started to read and couldn't understand much of and gave up on as one of the more boring books I'd ever attempted. I then picked this book up again about 10 years later and enjoyed it quite a bit following the remaining series that progressesd over almost 20 years. The author was no less than Robert Silverberg, the series Majipoor and that book Lord Valentine's Castle. It still remains one of my fav SF/Fantasy series. Shows you what a difference a few years can make...:D
 
Strangely enough I dont find this happens to me. I do have the problem of wishing I like an author, but find if I dont like a book I just dont. It doesnt tend to grow on me, I either get into quickly, or it looses me.
 
I generally don't read books that I'm quite sure I'm not going to like. I have read books that I think less of now, then I did in the past, but if I have a reason to think I'm not going to like a book, I don't read it.
 
I'm quite set in my ways where books and authors are concerned and I tend to stick to what I know I like (it's a very bad habit that I should try to break).

However, on one occasion, I was persuaded to read Stephen King's Christine and found that I actually quite enjoyed it (although it never really spurred me on to read much more King so maybe it wasn't that good after all :D )
 
Frankly, my tastes are so wide there's no fiction books I can think of (except maybe a romance book) which can surprise me in this way. Usually, it's unfortunatly the reverse situation which happens.
 
I spent last summer travelling and my wife and myself had quite a few books packed into the car for the trip. One of her choices was The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl. A historical fiction novel (heavy on the fiction :) ) where the factual english translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Lowell, Wendell Holmes (plus the publisher Fields and and historian George Washington Greene) are used as the premises for a murder mystery. I started it without much interest and soon put it down but later when I found myself without a book, picked it back up again and although it's not one of my all time favourites it was certainly a good read.

Also on the trip I read The Davinci code, was a bit put off by all the hype but as a purely fictional story I really enjoyed it.
 
Well, until I have read Book 3 of the Malazan series I cannot give you a satisfactory answer!

Apparently Book 3 is THE ONE, as told to me by a very prominent Chronicles reader!:)

So until then.........I will reserve all judement!
 
OK, just to clarify something I posted earlier here, the example I gave with Lord Valentines Castle is about the only case where a reread several years later has done the trick. Point is I was pretty young back then around 10 and my taste in books at that stage wasn't very advanced not having read LOTR or The Hobbit even yet, probably still on a mix of Enid Blyton and who knows what else...:D *nothing against Blyton BTW*

In other words being something of a late developer when it came to books my tastes hadn't really matured much by this stage. I'm sure if I'd picked up the same book in my mid teens (when things literary started to happen for me) my attitude would have been quite different.

These days when I pick up a book I'l usually know within the first 20 pages or so sometimes after the first few pages if the book is one I like. Another reason I tend to read extracts from a book first before purchasing it, otherwise it's just a waste of time and money for me..:(
 
I had a couple goes at Hobb's Farseer books, and ditched them, didn't think they were much. A friend bugged me and bugged me until I tried them again, and I got hooked.
 
I hate books written in the first person ("I went up to him and said...."), and in the present tense.:mad:

Having said that, two of my favourite non- SF/Fantasy authors are Lindsey Davis and Damon Runyon, so maybe it's a genre thing.:confused:
 
pyanfaruk said:
I hate books written in the first person ("I went up to him and said...."), and in the present tense.:mad:

Having said that, two of my favourite non- SF/Fantasy authors are Lindsey Davis and Damon Runyon, so maybe it's a genre thing.:confused:
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read altered carbon, best first person perspective book i have ever read by one of the best sci fi writers i have read. Richard morgan is a god.
 
Eisenhorn by Dan Abnet Didn't take the Warhammer 40k book franchise serious until I read this one. Itssome the best military science fiction ive ever read.
 
Moby Dick by Herman Melville. It took me two attempts to get into it. Im glad I gave it a second chance. This is a book that is well worth reading ! :cool:
 
I was the same with Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. On my first reading I really struggled with it, yet it had enough for me to want to read it again a few years later. Brilliant and well deserving of a classic status.
 
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