Books That Surprised Me

Have you ever picked up a book knowing you were going to hate it, but were surprised by how much you loved it? On the other hand, have you ever picked up book that was highly recommended knowing you were going to love it, but absolutely hated it? Over the last several years, I've been surprised several times. This blog will list my biggest surprises.

Books I loved that I thought I would Hate

The Persian Pickle Club By Sandra Dallas
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood By Rebecca Wells
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons By Lorna Landvik
The Honk and Holler Opening Soon By Billie Letts
The Red Hat Club By Haywood Smith

Books I hated that I thought I would Love

Five Quarters of the Orange By Joanne Harris
The Shell Seekers By Belva Plain
Enemy Women By Paulette Jiles
A Lesson Before Dying By Ernest Gaines
Seduced By Moonlight By Laurell K.Hamilton

Bestselling Authors I Think are Overrated

Patricia Cornwell
Her books have turned into a tiresome soap opera revolving around Scarpetta's obsession over her niece Lucy. Scarpetta fails to realize that Lucy is a big girl responsible for her own mistakes. BORING.

John Grisham
Grisham is a wonderful storyteller through 3/4 of the book. His endings since A Time to Kill have been contrived or unbelievable.

James Redfield
The Celestine Prophecy is soon to be a movie. My big question is WHY?????? One dimensional characters, stilted dialogue, predictable plot twists makes for a poor read. I have to give credit to this modern snake oil salesman--he has taken in thousands of gullible readers.

I'll continue to focus on books for the next week or so. Let me know your good/bad books and authors. Feel free to disagree.