TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS THAT SURPRISED ME

This week’s prompt was a freebie, so I thought I’d share some books that surprised me. Either because they had great plot twists or character reveals, or because they didn’t go where I expected, or because I ended up having a totally different reaction to them than I expected to have.

              

I’ll start with this row because it’s not the best. These are the books I expected to love, but just didn’t. The Southern Book Club was deeply disappointing. I hated it. It had problematic stereotypes, plot inconsistencies, lots of little events that were never concluded or referred back to, and characters I really didn’t get. On top of that, I was expecting a sort of campy vampire story with some kickass female protagonists and humour. Instead it started off sort of in that region, but then became straight horror with a lot of really uncomfortable interactions and scenes. I  just did not like it. I picked up The Girl, the Penguin, the Home-Schooling and the Gin because I loved The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse and I figured it was a take on that. Plus I figured it might have something to do with homeschooling during the pandemic, which I deeply feel. It just didn’t land. It didn’t really seem to have a unifying theme or point, a lot of the pages didn’t have any impact, and at the end I was just underwhelmed. The Woman in the Window was not what I expected. I spent the first half of the book so bored that by the climax I simply did not care. It didn’t do what I expected with the themes, and the main character I did not like or care about. I know I’m in the minority for this one, so let me just say to each their own, and if you loved it I’m happy for you. It just wasn’t my thing. Likewise The Unlikely Pilgrimmage of Harold Fry I expected a heartwarming adventure with strong character development and a sense of purpose added to small actions. But it got pretty grim in places, the end didn’t really have the pay-off I was looking for, and I didn’t really get the character motivation – nor did I like the characters all that much. Again, just not for me.

               

I recently read The Thursday Murder Club, and I had expected to enjoy it, but I figured it would be your same old mystery with the twist being that those solving the mystery were residents in an old folks’ home. I was surprised that it was clever, had fantastic characters (who had some surprises themselves) and it had me guessing on the solution right up to the end – it didn’t end up being any of the things I suspected. That’s fairly rare with murder mysteries for me to be so surprised, and I enjoyed that. A Man Called Ove I thought would be about an older man who is alone for some reason and has to deal with life being different. I didn’t expect it to be so full of character development and love and community and just wonderful feels. Ducks, Newburyport is a beast. It’s around 1,000 pages long and is written in stream of consciousness with very little punctuation. It was so hard for me to get into, and until I switched to the audiobook I didn’t expect to make it through. But once I got used to the audio and figured out I needed to speed it up, it became oddly soothing, and I found myself connecting to the narrator on a deep level. She’s a housewife, but she is also smart, has a fascinating history and is often pondering really interesting and complex issues. (Though there are also long sections that list every item in her pantry, so it’s a mix.) I ended up really glad I’d had a reason to finish it. The Curious Charms of Aurthur Pepper, similar to A Man Called Ove, had a lot more depth than I expected and really got me involved. I loved the structure of the book, the varied adventures the main character goes on, and how the relationships develop over time.

               

Lost for Words is another that surprised me with its depth. I expected a light, slightly sweet book from the cover and description, but it ended up having a lot more darkness and complexity than I expected. Hell of a Book was just completely unique. I have never read another book like it, and don’t expect to ever encounter a similar one in the future. It was clever, broad in scope, witty and at times funny, but also at times deeply disturbing. It’s had me thinking on it for months now, and I’m expecting it to be a stand out for my reading this year. Project Hail Mary I did not expect to like. Don’t get me wrong, I loved The Martian. LOVED IT. But I thought it was going to be one of those situations where the author has one absolutely stellar book in them, and then everything else is okay, but never up to that standard. I was thrilled to be wrong. This one had me at the edge of my seat, unable to put the book down (or pause it when I switched to audio so I could keep reading while cooking) and deeply emotionally engaged. One of my favourite reads this year. Hamnet is historical fiction, about Shakespeare’s family. I don’t like historical fiction as a general rule, particularly anything that takes place before the 20th century, and I had zero interest in the subject. And yet… the writing hooked me. I was completely engaged and left it with some beautiful imagery that has stuck with me.

That’s it for me this week! What topic did you guys choose? Anyone read any of these? Do you share my opinions or, more interestingly, do you disagree? I’d love to hear from anyone who loved the books I didn’t connect with, because maybe there was something I missed or could have thought of in a different way!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.