What author did you read a book by and didn’t like, but gave them another chance and loved it?
I’m so glad I gave Edith Wharton another chance. I read Ethan Frome and thought it was fine. On a whim I picked up The Age of Innocence and fell in love. Now I’m buying anything I can by her. I recently read The House of Mirth, and can confirm she is one of my favorite authors now. Anybody have a similar experience with an author?
Ottessa Moshfegh. I really didn’t “get” My Year of Rest and Relaxation, but holy shit did I ever enjoy Lapvona. And the latter helped me understand the former. I now chase her books like a desperate puppy.
Chuck Palahniuk
I read Choke first and hated it. It was really vulgar and the story was lackluster. But then I read Invisible Monsters and that blew me away. WEIRD. But brilliant.
JRR tolkien, I just wasn’t old and mature enough to attempt lord of the rings, and I started the Hobbit later which helped ease me back in to that gigantic name before going after LOTR again.
Yep! Except for me I tried to read the hobbit multiple times and couldn’t do it, then went on to lord of the rings years later and loved it, and then came back to the hobbit. LOTR continues to be one of my fav series. I will say the movies helped a lot to get me to read the books, cuz I had to read and watch FOTR and since I’m not a fast reader/procrastinator, reading 100 pages of tolkien at 8pm the night before it’s due is just… not gonna work. Didn’t remember anything but I said one day i wanted to reread the book at my own pace. Which I did and it was 10000% worth it. Such a cozy read :D
I tried to read The Hobbit in middle school and super noped on it. Then in high school I read The Fellowship of the Ring and made it about half way through The Two Towers and just couldn’t be bothered to read further. I really enjoyed some of those two first installments, but I low-key hated plenty other elements of them, they digress boringly too often, I mean, it includes fucking made up languages.
The films are amazing.
To my shame, Terry Pratchett. I’d read The Colour Of Magic, The Hogfather and Good Omens and specifically didn’t get his sense of humour.
A couple of weeks ago I started The Wee Free Men and Pratchett is all I’ve read since.
Same. I tried to read Colour of Magic a couple times and just could not get into it. After finding a read guide online I started reading the witches books and could not have loved them more.
I’ve plunged into the Tiffany Aching sequence, I’m currently on I Shall Wear Midnight but I’m holding off The Shepard’s Crown until I’ve read the Witches books. And then, after doing some research, I’m plunging straight into Wyrd Sisters.
Colour of Magic is one of the weakest ones by far. And the Witch books might be the best, at least in my opinion.
Maybe I need to give Pratchett another chance then… The Colour of Magic was not for me at all.
Read all the Tiffany Aching books now! They’re the best. I think it’s the third that’s peak humor. The one with the wintersmith. There’s a lot of Feegle in that one too.
If I started on Colour of magic I wouldn’t have carried on. I read all the witches series and fell in love. Audible have done a great job with his series, I chuckle through lab work listening.
Catriona Ward. I heard a lot of buzz around The Last House on Needless Street, so I checked it out. It didn’t really work for me for a variety of reasons.
I decided to try Sundial by her, and while it took me a few chapters to get into, I ended up enjoying it. Then I read Little Eve and got into that one right away and ended up loving it.
I currently have Looking Glass Sound at the top of my TBR pile.
Oh that’s interesting, I thought the same of the Last House and then also loved Sundial. Now I need to pick up Little Eve!
The Last House is the next book in my list. Thanks for the review. I was going to skip it. Now I won’t
Yeah, I thought Last House was fine but Sundial was spectacular. I recommend that one all the time now.
Kazuo Ishiguro. I found The remains of the day boring but when I picked up Klara and the Sun, it was a whole other experience! Definitely different from his other works, in a good way
Kurt Vonnegut. I attempted to read Slaughterhouse-Five and didn’t care for it. I waited several months and tried again with Cat’s Cradle and really enjoyed it. I’ve since read Breakfast of Champions and plan on giving Slaughterhouse another go now that I’m more familiar with Vonnegut’s style.
Funny I’m the opposite! I never disliked cat’s cradle, I was just so confused by his style because that was the first one I’d read by him. Went to the Monkey House collection, loved that, read Slaughterhouse-5 and fell in love with it, and then recently was able to find copies of more of his work so I can continue reading through it all! (Hopefully, I can find Cat’s Cradle and give it another go now that I understand his style of writing).
(So far, I have also read Sirens of Titan, The Bogombo Snuff Box collection, and Breakfast of Champions. I plan to read Player Piano next)
Robert Jordan. I started reading The Eye of the World when I was in late high school, and thought, “This is just King Arthur pretending to not be King Arthur! Crap, utter crap!” About a decade later I was pregnant with my first baby and had horrific insomnia. My husband (who has an amazing reading voice) offered to read to me to help me go to sleep. He started Eye of the World and I was hooked. Apparently, I just needed a really, really good narrator.
Stephen King. I love so much of his work, but the first thing I read left a bad taste in my mouth. I’m not saying The Gunslinger is bad, but it did not connect with me. I loved the rest of The Dark Tower series and have since been burning through his library with great pleasure.
Carl Hiassen
Kerstin Gier. Although I really enjoy a good YA book, I didn’t quite enjoy the Gen trilogy, I found it too primitive altogether.
Last month I read her latest book (Was man bei Licht nicht sehen kann, I don’t think it was translated to English yet) and at first I didn’t even recognise the author. I googled her and was really surprised that it was her who wrote the awful Gem trilogy, because what a development!
Nowadays she is able to create sophisticated fictional world and the fantasy elements were actually believable. Can’t wait to read the next parts of the latest story.
Sarah J Maas and Jennifer L Armentrout.
I wrote off both as YA fantasy writers not worth my time. I am glad I tried again.
Brandon Sanderson. I was about 1/3 through Way of Kings and couldn’t take how boring it was. I ended up trying to read it again like 6 months later. I’m glad I did. I loved the 2nd half of the book. Now I read his other books.
Dostoevsky. I first read crime and punishment and wasn’t particularly taken by it, then I read The Brothers Karamazov and thought it was quite good, currently reading The Idiot and I’m loving it
Oh yes I loved the age of innocence and also loved the movie with DD Lewis and michelle pffier . Wow what performances and all those heavy clothes . I will always wonder how those people did not heat to death LOL . Yes she is one of my fave authors .