In January of this year, I was at the very very beginning of getting back into reading and I picked up Secret History. It had been on my shelf for years and I had gotten it out of a neighborhood free library/exchange. Having not been in bookish communities much, I’d never heard of it–I just liked the blurb on the back. I was blown away and when I was telling my friend, an avid reader and lit major, about it, she told me about how it was very well-known as a really good book lol. Now that I’ve built out my own reading habits and book-loving community, I hear about it so often and it makes me chuckle every time.

Have you ever had an experience like this? Picked up a book blind or without knowing much about it, and then found out that it was really popular or loved?

  • zozo_jardin@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Les Misérables. I read it in 7th grade and I picked it because I read the back and thought Jean Valjean was a really funny name.

    • DiamondBurInTheRough@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      I did the same thing with Twilight. It blew up about a year after I started getting into it but was already quite popular, I just had no idea. I just picked it up while browsing the young adult section.

  • tsvkkis@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    ditto on secret history, read it on a whim as it was on the shelf of my office and finished it in practically two sittings! had zero idea it had a huge following

  • Ultraminer1101@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    I picked up the name of the wind randomly in my english highschool class, and had never been much of a reader before that. Being a highschooler, I loved it and couldnt wait to read more! I read the second book, and thought the third was just around the corner. This was in 2015.

  • ken_mcgowan@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    For me this was Don DeLillo’s “White Noise”. Not sure how big the following is compared to these other titles, but it definitely found a devoted audience.

    • Somebody_or_other_@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      I borrowed this from a library in Japan that had a single shelf of English language literature to choose from. War & Peace was on the same shelf, I eventually read it too out of sheer desperation.

  • Holden_Caulfield2@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    The Shadow of the wind was gifted to me by my friend. Went in blind and loved it. Then realized it has a huge following. Personally love Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s works. RIP my man.

  • Lubbadubdibs@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    The Magician series by Raymond Feist. I read the first half and spoke to my friends about it. They couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard of it. My reply was why they hadn’t told me about it. This was near 30 years ago, mind you.

  • up_your_alli@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Little elderly librarian picked out The Fault in Our Stars for me when I was 14. I had no idea who John Green was or how huge it would be!

  • Green_Walnut@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    It was Never Let Me Go when it first came out. I was randomly buying titles off a blog post. Didn’t even know who Kazuo Ishiguro was, but now he’s my all-time favourite.

  • lyrasbookshelf@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Same for me with The Secret History, only I first read it more than a decade ago after discovering it discounted at a bookstore. I had no idea how popular it was until I got more into the bookish scene and joined a book club a few years ago.

  • fartsoccermd@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    I was in middle school and checked out a book based on its cool cover art of a spaceship, I very much enjoyed Enders Game.

  • DarthFly@alien.top
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    1 year ago

    Bought all released books of Song of Fire and Ice several years prior TV series started. Haven’t read it for around 5 years after that. But it was curious to see the hype around TV series, while I had books before that. Completed them before TV series ended.

    Probably there were more examples like this. Usually, I buy books on the whim even if I don’t know anything about the author.