chiguirre Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 What book caught your interest and kept you up waaay past your bedtime? I'll go first. My major surprise was Moby Dick. I read it as a 30 something banker on my lunch hours and in the evening. I didn't expect it to be such a gripping book. I literally stayed up to 2am on a work night to finish it. Who would have thought that the great white whale would be such a page turner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percytruffle Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I always hope a book will surprise me. They often do. Some I've read for the first time within the past year or two that have really caught my attention are: The Sufferings of Young Werther. I couldn't put it down. I just got so into the main character's head and therefore his journey into psychosis. It didn't help that he is an artist! The book is very short so it was easy to rush through it. Even though I knew ahead of time that it ended badly, I couldn't help feeling sorry for him along the way. Also, Silas Marner. I actually skipped ahead to the end to see what happens because it was killing me. Then, ds and I rented and watched the black and white movie. That was good too. Eppie was so precious in the movie version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anita in PA Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Wow! Really?? I guess I'll have to read that one. For me, it was To Kill a Mockingbird. I had never even tried it, because the title sounded like it would about something unpleasant. (I'm a wuss, I admit it.) It's one of my all-time favorite books. Anita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Part-Time Homeschooler Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Dracula was amazing -- I couldn't put it down! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cin Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Animal Farm totally surprised me. I LOVED it. I'm looking forward to THE JUNGLE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plaid Dad Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 For me, it was To Kill a Mockingbird. I hated Mockingbird when I had to read it in school, but I picked it up again a few months ago and really enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2legomaniacs Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 In high school, I read Crime and Punishment and really enjoyed it. I was not expecting to like it as much as I did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryl in NM Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 The Virginian - it turned out to be really sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 The Portrait of a Lady, House of Mirth, A Picture of Dorian Gray, Giants in the Earth, Return of the Native Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6packofun Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 In high school, I read Crime and Punishment and really enjoyed it. I was not expecting to like it as much as I did! Same here! That one has really stayed with me for so many years and that's a nice surprise. :) Also, I'd say that a recent read, The Death of Ivan Ilych was a surprising hit. Another blast from the past that I intended on hating was The Canterbury Tales and I found it pretty delicious! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Katherine Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 In high school, I kept hearing from older students how boring The Scarlett Letter was. Then when I read it, I couldn't believe how good I thought it was. I couldn't put it down. Another one that really surprised me was Uncle Tom's Cabin. On the other hand, I really expected to enjoy Wuthering Heights, and I thought it was just awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen sn Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Wow! Really?? I guess I'll have to read that one. For me, it was To Kill a Mockingbird. I had never even tried it, because the title sounded like it would about something unpleasant. (I'm a wuss, I admit it.) It's one of my all-time favorite books. Anita I just read this a few weeks ago. LOVED IT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiddledeedee Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I too just read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time a couple of months ago, and I really enjoyed it. I somehow missed reading this in high school and had always wanted to read it. It was better than I thought it would be. I also read My Antonia this month, and it was a nice story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CookieMonster Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 In high school, I read Crime and Punishment and really enjoyed it. I was not expecting to like it as much as I did! I picked up Crime and Punishment a year or two ago and almost put it down 1/3 of the way through the book. It was dry and difficult...but I kept reading. Something happened before I reached the halfway mark of the book, and I found myself reading it every available second I had - including staying up late. I still can't figure out why, I guess he had me hooked. I must say I found the moral at the end less than, um, fulfilling. But, anyway, it had me hooked and I never saw it coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 "Les Miserables" - I read it so long that my arms actually got a cramp! (It is a very thick book. . .:D) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay in Cal Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 The Grapes of Wrath. Read it in January, and it was excellent, so engaging. I really enjoyed all the religious symbolism. In high school I had hated it, and skimmed... so it was a huge surprise that I found it to be such a page turner now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I was rather shocked by how much I liked Vanity Fair. I also enjoyed the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation of The Brothers Karamazov; a previous translation had bored me to tears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in Orlando Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 The Grapes of Wrath. Read it in January, and it was excellent, so engaging. I really enjoyed all the religious symbolism. In high school I had hated it, and skimmed... so it was a huge surprise that I found it to be such a page turner now! This was the same for me. I totally missed the point of this book in high school. I read it a few years ago and was stunned. Loved it. I felt the same was about Crime and Punishment. The book was lost on me as a freshman in college (though I remember getting an A on the paper I wrote). I got so much more out of it as a grown up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audrey Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I vividly recall taking a course in 18th C. literature in university. I was not looking forward to it, but it was part of my requirements as a lit major. I anticipated tedium. I was so surprised! I loved almost every book we read, most notably: Tristram Shandy by Sterne Tom Jones by Fielding Expedition of Humphrey Clinker by Smollett and, Pamela by Richarson (which everyone in the class thought was overwrought and tedious, but I thought it must have been the basis for every modern soap opera ever written! It made me laugh out loud!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritAnnia Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I'm currently reading Ivanhoe and I have been surprised how fun a read it is. I had expected a more tedious sentence structure or long and dull descriptive passages. Certainly some reviews online describe it as such. I'm not finding it to be that way at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soph the vet Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Don Quixote. It was extremely humorous. Cervantes has a dry wit that even my 6 and 8 yr. olds (at the time) looked forward to me reading from the thousand page unabridged version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Animal Farm totally surprised me. I LOVED it. I'm looking forward to THE JUNGLE Oh - I LOVE the first half of The Jungle!!! All the detail of life at the "back of hte yards"!!!! (I love stories set in the recent past - it is a kind of time travel!) I also loved, and still reread, Dreiser's Sister Carrie for the same reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra in NC Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 It's a great book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debbiec Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Frankenstein Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I avoided lit like the plague when I was in high school (eons ago). Now I'm working to make up for that. Robinson Crusoe - there are some wonderful nuggets in there The Three Musketeers - I expected it to be dull reading, but am happy to say the jovial attitude of the muskeeters makes it fun to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 There have been many but recently I read Thoreau's Walden and I just loved it. It made me feel much more optimistic about reading more classics. I kind of got stuck on Don Quixote and never really got going from there, apart from the classics the kids and I read together9which is actually quite a few). I also loved P&P, Jane Ayre and Tess of the Durbevilles when I was in highschool, but havent read them since. I intend to. Also, I was surprised how much I enjoyed Treasure island, Robinson Crusoe, and in particular, the Swiss Famaily Robinson, when I read them to the kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I just read Cannery Row, my first Steinbeck novel ever (and I have an English degree!), and it was a great read. I've been avoiding Steinbeck for years because I thought all of his novels were depressing. This one isn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayle in Guatemala Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 The Robe, Gone With the Wind Both are so much better than the movies made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shell in SC Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Oh - I LOVE the first half of The Jungle!!! All the detail of life at the "back of hte yards"!!!! (I love stories set in the recent past - it is a kind of time travel!) ITA. . .I really liked the first half as well. . .not so much the second half. . .it turned into socialist propaganda. I had a hard time finishing it after I realized that it wasn't going to get any better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMindy Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Well, there are too many to list that I have enjoyed. Mockingbird is probably one of my favorites. But, I did NOT like Moby Dick. I absolutely powered my way through by sheer will because I was determined, but I didn't like it, I'm sorry to say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I avoided lit like the plague when I was in high schoolI originally read this as "I avoided lit like The Plague when I was in high school." and completely empathized, having been forced to read The Plague in high school. I appreciate Camus much more now than then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Atl Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 As I Lay Dying - Faulkner. Just did not care for at as a kid. Now as an adult I can see what I was missing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Lynx Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 What book caught your interest and kept you up waaay past your bedtime? I'll go first. My major surprise was Moby Dick. I read it as a 30 something banker on my lunch hours and in the evening. I didn't expect it to be such a gripping book. I literally stayed up to 2am on a work night to finish it. Who would have thought that the great white whale would be such a page turner? That's my answer, as well. I had no idea that Moby Dick was going to be such a delightful read. The language was, as I said, delightful, the story compelling, and the structure of the novel itself was certainly interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Lynx Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I missed the point of GOW in high school, too. So much so that I am not sure I am going to assign it to my kids in high school. Then again, perhaps I can teach it better than I was taught ... hmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2abcd Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 Gone With the Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird are my all-time favorites! Moby-Dick was not a page-turner for me, but I did enjoy the story despite its length. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 retelling of this story too, A Simple Twist of Fate, that I love. It is a wonderful story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Yes, I never expected to love this very, VERY long work so much! Even little guys can appreciate Cervantes huge wit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie in OR Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Who knew?!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gandpsmommy Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 In high school, I read Crime and Punishment and really enjoyed it. I was not expecting to like it as much as I did! :iagree:I just read Crime and Punishment last year and I was really pulled into it. I went on to read The Brothers Karamazov and found it to be very gripping, as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carolyn in Ohio Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 I just read Brothers Karamazov this year and loved it. Carolyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmamainva Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 The Scarlet Pimpernel I was expecting something dry and boring .. it was a real page-turner! I stayed up for two nights in row, just to finish it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepy Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Middlemarch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaMere Academy Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Jane Eyre and Vanity Fair I loved Gone with the Wind...is that a classic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaMere Academy Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 As I Lay Dying - Faulkner. Just did not care for at as a kid. Now as an adult I can see what I was missing. I read it about 2 years ago and was like "huh"?? I didn't care for it. It was too odd for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca in TN Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 I loved The Scarlet Pimpernel and so did my dd....it's a great book. Another unexpected gem is Uncle Tom's Cabin. I highly recommend both of these books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 The Scarlet Pimpernel I was expecting something dry and boring .. it was a real page-turner! I stayed up for two nights in row, just to finish it!! My teen also loved it. In fact, she loved it so much that she ended up reading about six of the sequels! Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TundraAcademy Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 I can't wait to read Swiss Family Robinson to my boys, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifera Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 The Aeneid. I expected something boring and tedious. Because the translation I had tried to keep the poetic flow, I expected it to be worse than a prose version. Other than that I knew nothing of the plot, the characters, or anything. I started reading that book and couldn't put it down. It's been a few years since I read it last, and I'm reading it again now because ds1 has to read it for Omnibus. It's still a "wow" book for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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