Top Ten Tuesday #2 : Top Ten Books I Thought I’d Like More/Less than I Did

                        You know that book, which had such promise, that you were ready to just love, but served to only break your reader heart? Or perhaps you know its brother; the quiet book, unassuming, which you were prepared to read and forget about, but in the end loved, went so far as to use your silken bookmark with? Who hasn’t been there? Follow me as I recount the Top Ten Books I Thought I’d Like More/Less than I Did.

Disappointments

4. The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand by Gregory Galloway – I’m slightly hesitant to put it on the list, since I haven’t even finished the book yet, but it’d take a miracle to save this book. Why I had this book hyped up in my head, I don’t know, but I was hoping for something fresh, experimental. Instead, it’s simply unbelievable. Never before have I shouted at a book so much. Since a review will be going up Monday, I won’t waste your time on the tedium.

 

3. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld – Scott Westerfeld is one of those authors whose work I love. Uglies is probably his most popular book, and I can honestly see why, but it managed to completely miss its mark for me. The entire idea of the book, a commentary on beauty and conformity, just didn’t touch me, meaning it felt like he was preaching to the choir, with only meager scrapings left to pick over.

2. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins – Someone’s already writing a death threat, aren’t they? Go ahead, because I mean it when I say I don’t get the following of The Hunger Games. Yes, they are good books, but I can think of several pieces of dystopian fiction I consider more “deserving” of the success. I wasn’t so much disappointed in the book as I was disappointed by the fact that rose to the top of the charts, which is completely illogical, but when are feelings ever logical?

1. Fallout by Ellen Hopkins – If you’ve ever read anything on this entire blog, you know that I want to wear Ellen Hopkins’s skin practically. After reading Crank and Glass, I was so excited to sink my teeth into Fallout. Having Kristina’s story continue, by the extension of her kids, was such a promising idea. And I left absolutely disappointed, and not because Fallout was bad, it wasn’t, but because Crank and Glass were so good.  Fallout didn’t serve as a fitting end to Kristina’s story, leaving me a little bitter.

Surprises

3. The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini – My motivation for getting The Other Normals was really quite basic, the blurb was crazy. No reason more complex than that. I didn’t even expect it to be well written. When it turned out that the book was a simple, ludicrous ode to pen and paper RPGs, I was elated. People tend to take books too seriously, praising plot, character, story, and shaming simple books, that focus on one thing. Admittedly, I do this too, but that’s beside the point. The Other Normals is simple, immature, funny.

2. Escape from Furnace Series by Alexander Gordon Smith – These are glorious books. Beautiful is a word that I hesitate to use in conjunction with books, but there is a strength of spirit in these books that truly is beautiful. I know this idea is overused and somewhat cheesy, but that’s how I felt. Why I ever doubted them, I don’t know.

1. Every Day by David Levithan – Romance, a genre that I tend to stay a mile away from. Whatever inspired me to reach out to this book, I don’t know. The dramatic would say fate, I’d say being too lazy to read the blurb before checking it out. In the end, it wasn’t even one of my favorite books. What it did though, was reveal the stupidity of my treatment of romance as anathema. Actually, it helped me dismantle my genre prejudices in general.

                        Seems like I’ll be branded as the Blogger Who Can’t Count to Ten. Tell you what, let’s make a deal. When you comment and tell me your list, I won’t judge your number, ‘kay? It’ll all be a nice secret; no one else has to know.