A book you expected to dislike that you loved? One you wanted to love, but couldn't?
I reluctantly read The Thorn Birds in a county jail, as it was the last book on the library cart when it came round to me. From the cover to the blurb on the back, it not only didn't interest me, but begged me not to read it.
I enjoyed that book so much that I've read it twice since. Was thinking I might read it again soon.
As Bill said above! Was really excited to read the Big Man's book. Totally disliked it! Maybe if they left the gray pages out it would have been better. Same with Bruce's Born to Run. And maybe Bruce gave to much access to his life before he wrote his own book, but it boring as hell, as I have read all of before, never finished.
And this comment truly is not that I'm a homer or nothing!! As when I bought these books I thought of it as a donation to a friend. And a friend that we only had Bruce in common. I don't even remember what I spent on these books. But First Boy on the Moon was so great, it was like I was re-living my past. Laughing and crying though-out the book. Also almost hard to believe that it all happened over a summer, but looking back at my summers maybe not! Thanks Richie! The another book was good, but I couldn't relate to it as much. Southern Gospel Highway.....! I have put both books in one of though neighborhood library boxes that you find in someone's front yard. Hopefully others are enjoying them as much as I?
I hesitated before writing this, but oh well...
I didn't necessarily expect to love Big Man, by Clarence Clemons, but I sure didn't think it would be the all-time worst, most disappointing piece of shit I ever wasted my time reading. It's been years, and I'm happy to say I've forgotten a lot of the particulars. But I will never forget reading page after page of Clarence making it clear that he completely bought into all the adulation heaped upon him. Truly, a legend in his own mind. I vaguely remember a passage where he told Joe Walsh some shaggy dog story about a girl pursuing him, not remotely funny, and he describes Walsh having to beg him to stop for a moment because he (Walsh) needed to catch his breath and dry his eyes from laughing so hard. I mean, how full of yourself do you have to be to write something like that? And then there's the color-coded pages full of stories that he gleefully admits were full of invention and exaggeration. That is, a pack of lies from a guy who shouldn't need to pad his repertoire of funny anecdotes. And worse, if that's possible, there are the show biz stories by his co-author, some LA nobody. Seriously, and this breaks my heart, my opinion of Clarence never completely recovered.
For me the timing is crucial. It happened many times, especially with all the classical literature we had to read in high school, that I just wasn't ready, wasn't mature enough to wholly comprehend the beauty and magnificence of what I was reading. Many books I have returned to later, and was blown away.
Lost of examples, but I think Dostoyevsky is one I could name. Kafka also.
I don't read as much as I would like to. Compared to you avid readers, I am in the kindergarten category..
I do read a lot of short stories and poetry, I like to grab something, read it quickly, and then digest it..
Lots of poetry by my toilet... Bukowski, Billy Collins, some of our great poets also..
There are a lot of paperback westerns in jail libraries. I was surprised how much I enjoyed some of Louis L'amour's books, especially the Sacketts series and one called Sitka about pioneers in the Alaskan gold rush.
Oh, Clive Cussler. I red several of his and loved them.
I am on a huge music autobiography binge, which is lucky for me because everyone seems to be writing...
Some I really looked forward to were okay, but disappointing. I really struggled through Waging Heavy Peace by Neil Young.
One that was absolutely brilliant from start to finish and way surpassed my expectations was Tom Jones; The Autobiography.
I am currently reading Me by Elton John and that has some genuinely laugh out loud moments. He is a brilliant and very witty writer.
One which comes to mind is Holy Fools by Joanne Harris. She is one of my favourite authors but, when I read the outline for this story, I really didn't fancy it at all. Set in the 1700's in a French convent, there was nothing there which appealed to me.
However, I trusted her writing enough to try it and it turned out to be every bit as good as her other novels.
I am sure there are a one or two I have read for book club, but I would need to think about this.
I really enjoyed The Thorn Birds too, but I would not have expected it to be your cup of tea!