Pleasant Surprises: Books That Exceeded Our Expectations

perennialreader: I don't read much in the way of Science Fiction but read a review and thought I would give it a try.

bookmuse56: I could not put down this book and it felt so real to me and I kept wondering what I would in the various situations.

ConantheLibrarianJr: Great "hard" Science Fiction. The book reminded me that if you are marooned on Mars, humor is your most important survival skill.

elkiedee: I had no particular expectations of this book but picked it up because it was shortlisted for an award and it was excellent.

bookmuse56: I fell in with the writing, the time period, and the characters - perfect for armchair travelers.

anglemark: I don't like zombie stories. Color me surprised at how good this book was!

EMS_24 : It's all about expectations and what you like in a book

perennialreader: Not my kind of book at all, but I took a chance and have read the whole series, even the ones by David Lagercrantz. Just love the Lisbeth Salander character.

JuliaMaria: Ich habe die Serie erst gelesen als der Hype vorbei war - und war dann traurig, dass ich sie nicht doch früher schon für mich entdeckt hatte.

ConantheLibrarianJr: Powerful. What Solander goes thru is horrific, but she proves she is more than just a heroine. She is a survivor!

Porua: I rarely read books I know nothing of, from authors I know nothing of. Both were true for this book and yet I not only read and enjoyed it, I actually bought a print copy of it.

LDVoorberg: A long book set in Russia?! I kept expecting tragedy upon tragedy but I got the enjoyable, daily happenings of a gentleman in a hotel!

CarltonC: I didn’t expect that I would find this as unexpected, seemingly short and warm hearted as it is.

CarltonC: Wowed by the imaginative rewriting of the epic from a different perspective and in such readable prose.

Boand: Original tales of magic, madness and mystery set in the early C19th. Clarke constructs a fantasy world like no other where customs and fey characters collide. Endless fun and brilliant imaginative twists make this a book to cherish.

LDVoorberg: You must listen to the audiobook: the narrator makes the series amazing.

Boand: Another recommendation of a whodunnit led me to the first of this quirky series and sealed it as one of my all time favourites. What’s not to love about a pesky teenage girl who beats the grownups at their own games, negotiates troublesome sisters and adores her father while they all mourn her mother and saves Britain from evil masterminds.

hipdeep: My only other experience of Hemingway was The Old Man And The Sea, which bored me to tears. But these autobiographical vignettes were captivating.

bookmuse56: Just a wonderful read that I finished in one sitting!

anglemark: A nice surprise after the boring feelgood The long way to a small, angry planet

CarltonC: So much more than I expected, funny and perceptive.

BornAnalog: One of the few books that everyone talked up to me, and then it actually delivered. And then some.

anglemark: I didn't like the Temeraire books at all, but this one was great!

Boand: As a Londoner born and bred the Thames is part of my heritage and consciousness. Ackroyd weaves a wonderful historical journey covering millennia as well as miles as he follows the river from source to sea. It’s a really fascinating and captivating book which was a joy to read. For those who are interested there is also an accompanying TV series with highlights from the book and wonderful camera work.

perennialreader: I did not like Eat, Pray, Love but someone recommended this one and I actually like it.

hipdeep: Took a flyer on this one through Early Reviewers. It blew my mind as an introduction to leisure studies.

Boand: A book that has a split dual timeline and an irresistible story of star crossed lovers. Byatt’s writing intrigues and compels across different centuries and compares how social mores shape our lives bringing joy, heartache and sorrow.

AbigailAdams26: I had no fixed ideas going into this book, and certainly did not expect it to be one of the best middle-grade novels I have ever read!

AbigailAdams26: I expected to enjoy the artwork here, being an admirer of the illustrator (Frances Tyrrell), but I was surprised to find the story itself so beautifully-written and immensely poignant.

elahrairah: My girlfriend said I should read this. It didn't look like the sort of book I would even consider but I did and it was brilliant. It made me realise that there was whole swathes of literature that I was missing out on because of my preconceived notions of what markets were being aimed for by covers, and that I had subconsciously coded whole swathes of literature as aimed at female audiences and ignored it. This was a bit of a shock, because I thought that I was an indiscriminate reader. It is always painful to learn things about yourself that you don't want to be true. I hope that I no longer ignore books that are marketed in a feminine way, and I make an effort to remember this whenever I am considering buying or reading a book. The novel is incredible, by the way.

elkiedee: Read by mistake from the library when I was 14 and I think I thought it was something different, but I really loved this.

JalenV: I picked it because it was a classic, but the characters and their stories were much more interesting than I expected. BTW The Wheat and the Tares chapter is old name for the parable of the Wheat and the Weeds.

BornAnalog: Read this argument for an ethics-driven technology sector. . .and then contemplate how far that is from our current reality.

JuliaMaria: Geschichten mit Tieren als Hauptprotakonisten interessieren mich normalerweise weniger, deshalb war ich positiv über die philosophische Tiefe des Romans überrascht.

hipdeep: Came for the theology, stayed for the clever use of language.

msemmag: Look, I didn't go into this book expecting C. S. Lewis to be funny. But goddamnit, he is in this. I don't agree with a lot of what he espouses, but fuck this was enjoyable to read.

cpg: Surprisingly successful devotional work.

CarltonC: I didn’t expect to be so engaged by this story, who for all his faults, comes across as very human.

hipdeep: I didn't love Steinbeck in high school English class. I wish they'd taught this one.

sturlington: I thought this was a book about Shakespeare, but it was so much more than that--such a moving depiction of motherhood and grief.