Have you ever tried out a book, not believing that you would truly enjoy it, only to find that it's one of the best books you've ever read? This happened to me several years ago...my husband was encouraged by a collegue of his to read the Horatio Hornblower books by C. S. Forester. He brought them home, and I, curious, picked one up and began to read...I was completely sucked in by the story of this British naval officer and his encounters on the sea during wartime. I'm a female who loves animals, trees, and all things sweet and good, and this kind of world was NOT one that I thought I would enjoy! Maybe it was just getting a glance into a world usually dominated by men that entrigued me. Since that time I've been reading all kinds of similiar books, from The Killer Angels (about Gettysburg during the US Civil War) to books about true stories of great moments of leadership. Have any of you had a similar experience?

I have been happily surprised, notably once (and I believe I mentioned it once in this forum before - but, just in case I forgot to, will mention it again , now that this topic is here). It was "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith. All my life I was under the impression it was a book aimed at young girls. At the age of almost 40 I finally picked it up, thanks to it being in a thrift shoppe and on sale for a whopping 50¢. I still didn't rush to read it, though, because it just didn't "sound" like a novel I would relate to (by that time based not only on gender but age as well). I finally started it. I read it twice in five days! It was a brilliant story and the composition of it was choice.
I always pass my paperbacks on after I read them - seems they ought to travel, get some "bang" for their few bucks. Not that one, though. That half a dollar was the best I ever spent - and I know, if I ever need to read an old friend that will make me feel just plain lucky to be a part of the human race, I'll pick it up again.
And I've never felt even partly "less a man" for saying so, as the cookie crumbled ....

"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith(He made a quiz about it too!)

Was stuck on a rainy holiday in Tenerife with nothing to do and just one book in the rented apartment: 'The Pillars of the Earth' by Ken Follett, not something I'd usually have picked up. Indeed, at 1000 pages plus, not something that IS that easy to pick up. But I was immediately captivated by the labyrinthine tale of adventure and romance in medieval Europe. One of the main characters is a gifted stonemason who works on the great 12th century cathedrals which still stand today, and around which the novel is constructed.
Since then I've recommended this to friends and have known even habitual non-readers to become completely mesmerised by the weighty historical epic.

When I first started reading 'And Then There Were None' by Agatha Christie, I felt it was the most boring book ever but only a few months later, after receiving a great review on it by one of my friends, whose choice of books I always seem to love, I tried reading it again and to my greatest astonishment I actually loved the book!

The same happended with 'Harry Potter'; only I attempted re-reading it after a few years. Besides, I liked 'And Then There Were None' better.

"Mean Margaret" by Tor Seidler.
It looked like a dumb book at first.But I ended up loving it.

The Luck of Ginger Coffey- Brian Moore. I'm not usually a fan of Canadian Lit, but I think that book was an exception. I had to read it for my grade 12 english class. I never would have read it otherwise, but once I started it, I couldn't put it down.

Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone.

I read it when the third book came out, and didn't think I would like it. I was hooked, instantly.

Morrigan

Harry Potter. I warmed up to it.
Also the Tortal books by Tamora Pierce.

I just read Catch-22 for a paper I'm writing on academic freedom and literary censorship.

I would never have read it for any other reason but that I was writing the paper, but as I read it, I was more and more amused by the second. Great book and a perfect addition to my paper

The Godfather by Mario Puzo. I had never seen the movie, wasn't interested in seeing it either. Then I picked up an old copy of the book and really enjoyed it. Then I just had to go get all the movies on DVD. What a great story!

I once dated a guy who had no idea what a book actually was, let alone why on earth anybody would actually read one ( I may be exaggerating a little, but not that much, believe me).

He thought that books were much of a muchness, and that if you liked a book, you would like all books. Right? Right.

Anyway, he turns up one afternoon, telling me that he had bought me a present. The present was a book. "Savages" by Shirley Conran, to be exact.

Now, I'm the kind of girl who reads text-books for pleasure, and have always loved Stephen King, Douglas Adams, Shakespeare, pretty much anything except Mills and Boon type drivel.

With exceptionally low expectations, I set about reading this book, and I must say I was well surprised.

Not a Nobel-prize winner for literature, but certainly not a book I've minded re-reading from time to time. If you're of a mind for something to fill in some time, that you can put down and come back to later without too much effort, then I would certainly recommend this without too much difficulty.

I actually got into my favorite book series by the sort of fortunate accident that this thread describes. I picked up a copy of "On Basilisk Station" by David Weber as a birthday gift for my mother. After about a year of it sitting on our shelf, I decided to try it. I am now impatiantly waiting for the thirteenth book to come out. (By the way djsgal, this series is basically Horatio Hornblower gone SciFi. You should try it.)

Another book that I didn't think I would like but picked up because I was bored was "The Unexpected Dragon" by Mary Brown. It turned out to be a very good read. It is very well written, has good charicter development and environment description and it doesn't have your standard fantasy-with-a-female-main-character sappy ending.

I am reminded of a book that my ex-husband bought me at the hospital gift shop. Now, what you need to know is that my ex-husband does not read and had never before bought me a book. It was definitely a nice surprise, but I was hesitant to read something that he picked out. We're talking about a guy who did as little school work as possible and his idea of a good read is the jokes in Readers Digest. Anyhow, I was bored out of my mind - so I proceeded to read it.
That book was "The Ugly Duckling" by Iris Johansen. I couldn't put the book down! I think that I have read every book that she's written now. It started a love of forensic mystery books.

Crime and Punishment. I'm not into murder and horror stuff so it reslly surprised me.

I teach a reading intervention in a middle school and I find myself browsing the media center( they're not called libraries anymore)looking for books I can recommend to my students. I found this book 2 years ago called Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan. It's not the most detailed writing or the biggest book on my shelf but I loved the story. I could not put it down. Just finished reading book 3 in the series which was just released this summer and cannot wait for the next. This story could be an amazing movie in the fact that there is not much to butcher,(like Harry Potter).
If you are a fantasy reader, you might want to check it out.

I have read the Ranger's Apprectice series (well most of it) and just the other day he came to my local library. I didn't get to see him though.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Only read the books because my friend raved on about them and it was to shut him up. I bought The Fellowship of the Ring, got half way through and as soon as I could I went and bought The Two Towers and Return of the King just so that there wouldn't be any interruption when I finished Fellowship!

Needless to say I loved reading them.

One of my absolute favorites that had a slow start is John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany." I was given the hardcover as a gift when it came out in 1989 and didn't pick it up for a year or so. I have since read it several times (last about a year ago) and always find another profound meaning about life I didn't see the first time. Like Gats, I pass along books, but this one will stay with me.

Excellent threads, all! I've written down some of your titles that you've suggested, and hope to try them out soon. In the meantime, since I began this thread, I re-read all the Hornblower books again (like 12 books or so). They are still just so darn good. Other topics that interest me are true life amazing stories, like Shackelton and his journey to Antarctica, and stories about Mt Everest, etc. But also a huge fan of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Dark Materials, etc. Hmmm, wonder what that says about me! Maybe not enough adventure in my own life??

I really do hope you like the Honor Harringtons, Djsgal.

In the meantime, another surprise! My boyfriend is a total and utter gamer geek and he lent me a book that was a prequel to one of his favorite games. I basically smiled, nodded, promised to read it and then ignored it. After he started asking me how I liked it and how far I had gotten I actually started reading it just to get him off my back. Now I'm about 3/4 of the way through it and dieing to see how it ends. The title is "Mass Effect: Revelation" by Drew Karpyshyn, the lead writer for the Mass Effect video game.

Fahrenheit 451. I thought it would be really boring and/or too science-fictiony. But it wasn't at all. I loved it!

That's happened to me with quite a few books but one I'll mention. Way back when I was twelve we had to 'do' "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien for school. You know how that automatically turns one off a book on some level, especially if one's English teacher happens to be rather pompous and pedantic. My best friend loved Tolkien and urged me to read "Lord of the Rings". I gave in to make her happy and was glad I did. I "lived" the movies in my mind thirty years before they came out.

Ok, anyone on my team (starclan messengers) will think i am ABSOULUTLY INSANE, but the first time i read a warriors book was 4 a school project, and i though i was going to HATE it, and now it is proly my fav series EVER!

I just finished reading "Cannery Row" for my creative writing course. It is the only book that I have read by Steinbeck that I did not want to burn directly after finishing it. I expected to hate it, but it was actually very interesting and kind of fun.