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?
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.
Mystery author Lisa Gardner. Her D.D. Warren series was fun but nothing special. When she spun off side character Frankie Elkin into her own series starting with Before She Disappeared, the books got really compelling!
Agatha Christie has me swinging back and forth. Read Murder on the Orient Express and was extremely underwhelmed. Then I read Murder of Roger Ackroyd and that was brilliant. Then I read Endless Night and that one had almost exactly the same plot as Ackroyd and it pissed me off. Don’t know if I’ll give her another chance.
I would recommend trying a book of short stories. That way you will get a nice range and be able to decide. It will let you sample Ms. Marple and her other detective since you have already met Priot.
William Shakespeare. We were assigned some of his works in high school, and almost without exception, he was taught poorly. I reread a couple in college and WOW! What a difference! The humor, the drama, the pathos. His use of language and meter. Just gorgeous! High school kids should NOT be taught the classics. They don’t care and, with some exceptions, can’t grasp the complexities.
Sylvia Plath
We had to do one of her short stories for an essay and I didn’t quite like it. However I read the Bell Jar a few months after and it was incredible.
Have you read her other works? I read bell jar but don’t know what to pick up next?
Mccarthy. I still don’t like the lack of punctuation, but I’ll tolerate it. I understand why it works with his cadence. I’ll probably read a few more from him.
It’s weird. The first book I read by McCarthy was The Road. Really liked it. So I was excited as all get out to read Blood Meridian. Hated it. Tried No Country for Old Men. Hated it. Not sure what to do with McCarthy now.
This is hilarious. First book I tried to read was The Road. No quotation marks; the publisher is accessory to a crime of industrial magnitudes. Don’t approach him for years, then start researching gothic narrative. Who comes up? McCarthy. Fine, I’ll try again. The two books that keep me reading? Blood Meridian, and No Country For Old Men.
I hear his comedy, Suttree might be worth a read, but one never knows. Good luck if you do!
When people ask me why I hate Blood Meridian, I share this passage. This type of writing just does not resonate with me at all. But I respect the people who like it. McCarthy has so many books filled with it:
“He took great marching steps into the nothingness, counting them against his return. Eyes closed, arms soaring. Upright to what? Something nameless in the night, lode or matrix. To which he and the stars were common satellite. Like the great pendulum in its rotunda scribing through the long day movements of the universe of which you may say it knows nothing and yet know it must.”
This type of prose is why I did not like “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”. Objectively lovely, but just not something I’m interested in plodding through.
GRRM.
I hated the prologue of Game of Thrones, still do. Chapter 1 didn’t open with a conflict either.
So I picked it up, put it down, picked it up, put it down like a dozen times, but the more I read, the amazing that world becomes. George really knows how to maximize the pain. Ned didn’t want to become the King’s Hand. He was going to tell the king no, but his wife talked him into it. Then the king fired him, and he packed his things ready to go home. Inches from freedom. Then all hell broke loose.
I’m about to give Sarah J Mass a second chance, will hopefully not regret it
CJ Cherryh. The beginning of Foreigner is a bit odd (it’s essentially a novella of backstory), and her writing style didn’t fully click with me.
Then I read Heavy Time (and the rest of her Alliance-Union novels). She’s now my favorite science fiction author of all time.
Ernest Hemingway. I read two of his novels in high school (besides having The Old Man and the Sea read aloud to me) and found him beyond annoying. Then I discovered his short stories as an adult and was blown away. They’re great. I can’t believe it’s the same author.
John Irving. I didn’t care much for A Prayer for Owen Meany, but I just read The World According to Garp and loved it. Probably best book of 2023 for me.
Iain M. Banks.
Originally I picked up The Algebraist off the “Recommended Sci-Fi” shelf at a Borders bookstore. Couldn’t get into it. Too dry. Let it sit for a couple years. Came back to it to decide whether to sell it or not, started reading it again, and finally got hooked.
After that, I inhaled all of the extant Culture series books and the few other non-Culture sci-fi books he had written. And read all his output right up through the final Culture novel.
Have you tried The Wasp Factory? If you’re not a sci fi only reader, it’s anything but dry
Delillo. I was assigned Underworld for a college lit class and struggled to plow through it. I don’t think I ever finished it. I tried multiple times and always got bored over the years.
Finally got around to reading white noise and it blew my mind. I loved every word.
Mick Herron. First book I read I really struggled with. He likes obscenely long sentences, with lots of punctuation, which don’t scan properly if you aren’t paying attention. He also used too many words I didn’t understand and couldn’t even guess at despite the context. The second title I tried had way fewer of the original issues I had with him, which resulted in a much more enjoyable experience. Glad I persevered because the Jackson Lamb novels are thoroughly entertaining!
Graham Greene - I didn’t like Our Man in Havana very much, but I proceeded into the other main ones like The Comedians, The Quiet American, and especially The Confidential Agent and The Power and the Glory and liked them a lot more.
The Power and the Glory is a masterpiece.
I had the exact same experience with Greene! I thought Our Man in Havana was pretty mediocre, especially because I’d been reading John Le Carre just before that, but I tried the Heart of the Matter, which was absolutely amazing
Yeah Our Man was just a little too light for me at the time I think.