I went into Suzanne Collins’ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes thinking it would be a real eyeroller as I’m not to fond of YA dystopian sci-fi, but seeing as how the film adaption was around the corner and the time I sank into the Hunger Games trilogy (and being the unapologetic asshole who believes the words “the book was better” to be Mosaic Law), I said fuck it and gave it a read.
And I was surprised be how I wanted to keep going after the end of every chapter. I enjoyed getting into the head of Coriolanus Snow and his possessive infatuation with Lucy Gray and the inner working of Capitol class structure.
That’s not to say I don’t have issues with the book. The pacing is inconsistent, the actual Hunger Games are a relative bore, and some characters could have benefited from more focus.
But through it all, I don’t feel my time has been wasted reading it and am curious to see how the film adapts it.
Any books you’ve read that you thought you’d hate but ended up enjoying? Why?
Dracula by Bram Stoker. It was the first piece of classic lit I’d ever read, and thought I’d hate trying to decipher the older version of English. Ended it up not only loving it, but it sparked my passion for 19th and 20th century literature. It’s basically all I read now. Just started the Picture of Dorian Gray, another I thought I’d hate, lol
If you like Dracula, try Carmilla.
ohh i plan to read carmilla soon! it sounds really good :)
Ooh, you’ll love the Picture of Dorian Gray! Enjoy it :)
I loved Dracula and Frankenstein but really didn’t enjoy Dorian Gray.
Picture of Dorian Gray… What a great book that was. Wilde was a genius, love his wit.
A really great under the radar turn of the century proto-horror novel you might enjoy is Somerset Maugham’s [The Magician](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magician_(Maugham_novel\)) (1908)
Slowish first chapter, then it really gallops along.
I’m obsessed with The Painted Veil
I’m rereading Dracula atm and it’s awesome.