Top Ten Books I Liked More/Less Than I Thought I Would

Today, the bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish have asked us to list top ten books I liked more/less than I thought I would.

Expectations are always so damning, aren’t they. So many times I go into a good book with great expectations, and end up disappointed. At other times, I read a book that seems just about ok, and then end up surprised and amazed by the book. It may not be a particularly good book, but because my expectations were low, I end up loving it.

Anyway, enough rambling. Starting off with top five books that I didn’t like as much as I thought I would.

1. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman – This was a series that was loved all over the blogosphere. Well, I remember this series for just how ordinary I found it. Maybe, because I thought this was going to be the next Harry Potter or something misguided like that, but whatever the case, I thought it was just about average.
2. Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer – A series of books about vampires and werewolves couldn’t possibly be boring, right? Especially considering these were worldwide bestsellers. I read each book thinking it would improve on the earlier, and I ended up so, so disappointed.











3. Room by Emma Donoghue – It’s not that this was a bad book. It wasn’t, it was a really good one. But I think my expectations of this book were so high, it was impossible for it to match it.
4. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James – My expectations from this book were pretty much bargain basement, but this book failed to meet even those expectations.
5. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory – I love reading books on Anne Boleyn even if they are predictable. And I liked Gregory’s idea of focusing the story on Mary Boleyn. The execution of the book was terrible though, and I ended up really disliking it.

And now comes the list of five books that I liked more than I expected.

1. A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin – I was gifted this book one Christmas (as part of a book blogger Santa swap). I wasn’t too sure what to expect from it. It was so big and fat. But I read the first two chapters, and I was simply bowled over. I ordered the rest of the books, and read them back to back two times over, and watched the entire series without missing an episode. I am on top of all news GRRM related too, reading all the fandoms, wikis, and drooling over all the Westerosi art on the web. I definitely did not think I would be so sucked in when I first read the extremely poorly worded synopsis at the back of this book.
2. Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfield – Dystopia as a genre doesn’t interest me too much, and YA dystopia even less so. But Westerfield’s decision to keep the lead character Tally so morally ambiguous makes these books quite interesting. And though I couldn’t overlook some of the problems with the writing, I ended up liking the books anyway.











3. The Martian by Andy Weir – Similarly, science fiction is not always my thing. I mean, I am still stuck in the awesomeness of Asimov and Ben Bova, that later science fiction novels have failed to appeal. The Martian changed that though with its wit and humor, and I ended up really enjoying it.
4. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt – The synopsis of the book conveyed very little to me. But then were all the rave reviews on the web, and so I picked it up, and then sat on it for ages. Finally, when it was time to return this book to the library, I decided to at least give it a try, and I ended up loving the Dickensian feel of it. Great characters and really touching. I ended up loving this book.
5. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – My previous experiences with Atwood were quite disappointing, and so I went into this book with pretty low expectations. This tale though blew my mind away, and it’s one of those books where I can remember the details and quote lines from it, and OMG, I loved it so much.

What books did you end up liking more than you expected? Which books disappointed you?