I Can't Believe I Liked It

What follows is a list of books I fully expected to hate when I started reading them, but ended up LOVING. Here they are in no particular order. (Parents: Most of these books are for older readers.)

Homeless Bird—Now one of my all-time favorite books. I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Hunger Games—The first time someone told me what this young adult book was about it didn’t sound like my kind of book. Was I ever wrong.

Ruby Key—As a librarian, I’ve noticed that most of the books with fabulous covers are usually not very good stories. The cover on this one was so beautiful I figured it had to be a flop. Thank goodness it wasn’t.

Sammy Keyes Series—I read the second book in the series first and liked it, but not enough to read the whole series. I decided to read one more—this time I chose the fifth book. After that, I was addicted.

Skeleton Creek—I almost didn’t even start this book because I was so sure it was going to be badly written. I now own it and can’t wait to get my hands on the second book.

The Mennyms—A coworker recommended this charming book to me. When I asked her what it was about she told me it was the story of a family of life-sized rag dolls. I actually gave her a funny look. “I know it sounds bizarre, “she said. “But you have to read it to understand how clever the story truly is.” She was absolutely right. I read the whole series in a week. The last book in the series was the best one.

Amulet of Samarkand—I’ve never been a fan of anti-hero stories, so right from the beginning I didn’t think I would be able to make myself finish this one. I have rarely laughed as hard at anything as I did at this book. By the time I got to the last book in the series, I was laughing and biting my nails until 3:00am, unable to go to sleep until I knew what was going to happen to my favorite characters. If only all books could be like this one.

The Girl Who Could Fly—I made a goal this year to branch out and read more books in genres I don’t normally like. This fabulous book was one of them. Thank goodness for annual work goals.

The Teacher’s Funeral—WARNING: This book could cause damage to your spleen from all the laughter it will induce.

Only Alien on the Planet—The strange but haunting cover on this book both repelled and attracted me. I kept seeing it at the book store and eventually I just HAD to know what it was about. I didn’t think I’d end up liking it. It’s now one of my favorites.

Life As We Knew It—Looking at the unexciting cover of this book, you would never imagine the life and death suspense hiding inside. I sure didn’t.

Stargirl—I got the book on tape for this book because I was so sure I wasn’t going to like it. After I listened to it, I couldn’t stop thinking about this story for weeks.

Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs—This was another of those books I read because I’m a librarian and it’s my job to read a large variety of books. I’m so glad I did. This book made the ordinary seem magical. I wish I could do that with my own writing.

Just goes to show you can’t judge a book by its cover.