The Book List: 3 Books I Thought I Would Hate But Ended Up Loving

The Book List is a fun, short meme hosted by Rebecca over at Lost in Books. This time we are asked to name three books we thought we would hate but ended up loving.

I must say it was surprisingly hard to think of three books I thought I would hate or even dislike before starting to read them, as I hardly ever start a book I do not want to read! My philosophy is to read books I like. Books are for pleasure, they are someone new I want to befriend with or old friends I want to revisit. There is hardly ever a feeling of having to included in my reading. I read because I want to, what I want to and mostly when I want to. Still, sometimes especially the timing might go wrong. 

1. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

I bought this junkster, because the idea of an early 19th century Britain where magic is real appealed to me. I also liked the fact that the book uses footnotes. (Yes, I'm strange that way! :)) However, after buying the book I lost all interest in it and it sat on my bookself unread for a number of years. I even thought that I might never read it, before I finally tried it last year for the 9 for 2009 challenge and ended up liking it quite a bit! :)

2. Art Objects by Jeanette Winterson

Jeanette Winterson is one of my favorite writers. I bought this book, subtitled Essays on Ecstasy and Effrontery, because it was written by her and in some of the essays she writes aboutthe work of another of my favorite writers Virginia Woolf. But it was more because I felt I should own the book than for any storng desire to actually read it, as at the time I was quite allergic to literary critisim or really any nonfiction about books and writers. I did not want to read someone explaining fiction, I just wanted to read the books myself and make up my mind about them on my own. Don't worry, I have since improved on that aspect, largely thanks to Winterson and Art Objects. After my initial hesitance I ended up loving every page of the book.

3. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

This is a perfect example of wrong timing. The first time I read this novel set in revolutionary France I was simply too young to really appreciate it. I reread it two years ago and loved the story.

What are the 3 books you thought you would not like but ended up loving instead? To participate in this meme visit Rebecca's blog and use the Mr. Linky function over there.