I kept seeing people talk about The Fourth Wing everywhere, and I decided that if I came across it at some point that I’d just see what all the fuss was about.
I was browsing Libby recently for audiobooks available now, and I saw what I thought I had remembered was the title. What I ended up checking out was called The Four Winds. I thought, great, this will be fine to listen to while I do chores and I can evaluate it for myself.
A couple hours in, I was like, wait a minute? Weren’t there supposed to be dragons in this? I don’t see how dragons will show up in Dust Bowl-era Texas. I realized my mistake, but I was invested at this point and ended up really liking the book.
Has something like this happened to you? What were the books and the outcome?
I got in tons of trouble at my primary school for bringing in The Road by Cormac McCarthy instead of what my dad had recommended, On the Road by Kerouac. Quite confusing when the teacher mentioned cannibalism and my face just went “WHA???”
I’ve done this recently. I wanted “The Quiet Tenant” and borrowed “The tenant”. Luckily I figured it out quickly.
I am a reference blood banker. I recommended a book called Blood Will Tell to my boss about the theory that King Henry VIII’s infertility problems stemmed from him having the Kell antigen and HDFN (very related to what we do). She ended up listening to at least 3 murder mysteries with the same name. She enjoyed them but it wasn’t the book I had recommended. She’s still trying to find the right one.
omg The Four Winds!!! I finished it in one sitting incredible read.
A couple years ago I was in a local book store and saw a book called The Black Swan by Thomas Mann—turns out it was NOT related to The Black Swan, the movie (with Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman). I got halfway through wondering when the ballet would start before I realized😅
Me: Trying to remember that recent funny/mystery book where the main character is a murderer
I go home from the library with My Murder by Katie Williams AND Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes AND Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Didn’t really like any of them :(
I did this with anime once.
My friend had been trying to get me to watch Demon Slayer and I ended up watching Goblin Slayer.
Yeah, I wanted to read My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgard.
I don’t know if this counts but I bought a book once and turns out the publisher messed up and the first chapter was a completely different novel than the cover said. I went back to the bookstore and they were like, “oh, you want to exchange this one for the book on the cover?” I said, “no because I started reading this one and want to finish THIS story now”. Anyway, it got super complicated after that. I never did find the rest of that mystery novel. I can barely remember the title of the original. Something something winter? If anyone figures it out let me know.
I accidentally read The Cloud Atlas by Liam Callahan, instead of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I’m actually not mad about it, since Callahan’s book covers some lesser-known stuff from WWII.
Still haven’t gotten around to reading Cloud Atlas though…
Stephen Baxter’s Vacuum Diagrams got crosswired with Michael Swanwick’s Vacuum Flowers.
Liked Vacuum Flowers so much I use a character’s name as my username everywhere. QED.
Not book related but my mom and I had a very confusing conversation about the show Firefly until she realized that the show she was watching was actually called Firefly Lane.
A good 15 years ago, one of my friends had read a book and recommended it to me. I believe it was called Nicholas Flamel, probably featuring the namesake as protagonist. Either way, I forgot the name and instead bought Artemis Fowl, thinking it was the book I was recommended. I quickly learnt that it was not, but I also quickly started waiting for the next book in the series.
Never happened but I kinda wish it would!
Imagining dragons in the Four Winds gave me a good laugh! So funny. Thanks!
Somehow I confused The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I read the 7 1/2 Deaths until I was totally lost and later my niece asked me about the Seven Husbands which clued me in to where I went wrong. I never finished either one.