General Books / Top Ten Tuesday

#TopTenTuesday: It Was a Hit, It Was a Miss!

Dini @ dinipandareads23 Comments

We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic is Books That Defied My Expectations (books you thought you would didn’t like that you loved, books you thought you’d love but didn’t, books that were not the genres they seemed to be, or in any other way subverted your expectations!) (Submitted by Sia @ everybookadoorway.com)

What’s better than reading a book that you had little to no expectations for and wound up loving so much that you eat sleep breathe all things that book for weeks months years after finishing it? Alternatively, nothing is more disappointing than when a book you’ve been looking forward to reading ends up being a flop (for you)! Today I’ll be looking at five books that I unexpectedly ended up loving so much and five books that I was sorely disappointed by. I know there are gonna be some unpopular opinions coming your way! 😂

😍 It Was an Instant Obsession 😍

The Shadow of the Wind 💜 I tend to struggle with magical realism but this book absolutely swept me away in a magical gothic historical story and it blew me away! 📖
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow 💜 I have raved about this endlessly. Despite having so much of what I normally dislike in fiction, I. LOVED. IT. 📖 My review
Normal People 💜 Another total surprise because I *strongly* disliked her debut, Conversations with Friends, but the hype convinced me to read it and I’m so happy I did! 📖 My review
Killers of the Flower Moon 💜 I don’t read much non-fiction and to date, this is still the only non-fiction that I finished overnight. I did not sleep and it was 100% worth it! 📖 My review
Mindf*ck Series 💜 This is a book that I judged poorly for the very ugly covers (sorry, not sorry) but my gosh, the way I devoured this series! It was WILD. 📖

😭 All Aboard the Disappointment Train 😭

One Hundred Years of Solitude 💔 I was 100% ready to love this book and it was entirely not what I expected. I was bored to tears…
The Magicians 💔 This started off well but by the end, it never really pulled me in and I was bored and irritated? I loved the show though!
American Psycho 💔 I honestly don’t know what I expected but… This… Was really tough to read! I didn’t even think it was particularly well-written either!
The Hobbit 💔 Unpopular opinion or not, I loved the movie! So I was really excited to finally read the book and welp, I was so bored, friends? It was nothing like I expected. I was. SO SAD.
Fake Dates and Mooncakes 💔 This has come up quite a few times on my “disappointments” lists but it wasn’t at all what I expected and I was sorely disappointed by how little I enjoyed it. 📖 My review

Do you have a lot of books with water on the cover on your shelves? Have you read any of these or do you also have them on your TBR?

23 thoughts on “#TopTenTuesday: It Was a Hit, It Was a Miss!”

  2. I’m so excited to see S.T. Abby’s series on here! I am bummed I didn’t include it on my list today. I forgot. 😦 I didn’t connect with Zevin’s book, but listening to it might have been the problem. I thought The Magicians was kind of a boring read when I read it despite liking what he had set up. The show was much better.

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    • Yeah, that was one series that I really didn’t expect to love the way that I did. That series deserved all the raves it got! 😂 I think Zevin’s book is definitely going to be for everyone and honestly, I’m not even sure how it worked for me cos it contained so much of what I find frustrating to read but gah, THE FEELS! Yeah, The Magicians didn’t end up being what I thought it’d be either. I never finished all seasons in the show but at least S1 was fantastic!

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    • Ooh, I didn’t know he was coming out with a new book. I’ve got The Lost City of Z on my TBR and I’m really curious about it, especially because they also previously made it into a movie! I love Grann’s writing though 🙂 So easy to fall into the story!

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    • I think having seen the movie first, it really set me up to expect something completely different from the story. I expected lots of dialogue and action and maybe a little bit more… stakes to the story? I’m mildly tempted to try reading it again now over 10 years late but I don’t know if I can handle it 😂 Glad to know I’m not the only one who isn’t a fan though—seems “everyone” loves it, lol.

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  14. I’ve not read any of these, but will check out your favourites, Dini. I also loved the Tolkien movies and have been very hesitant to read the books, even though I have them and my son has read them all. I tried to read The Magician, but it was a DNF for me, so not unpopular opinions for me.

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