Follow Friday #39

Follow  Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: Have you ever read a book you thought you would hate -- ? Did you end up hating it? Did you end up loving it? Or would you never do that?

Well, I have and probably will in the future. I'm going to take this to mean not merely that indifferent feeling, like you don't really feel like picking up the book but you don't really have anything against it. I believe you mean, you really, truly think you're going to hate this book.

I really like to avoid this situation, if possible. Self-fulfilling prophecy, anyone? You go into a book already knowing you're going to hate it, so you end up proving yourself right. You end up hating it simply because you thought you would hate it when you picked it up.

But, of course, being a student, I simply have to read books I hate sometimes. And, because I'm also a reader who still likes to cling to the belief that all books are beautiful, I also have to come across books I hate sometimes. Fact of life: beauty is subjective, so not all books are beautiful to me; but they might be beautiful to other people.

Take Twilight. I went into this with that iffy, already-kinda-hating-it-from-the-summary feeling. I forced myself through the other three, as well, out of pure stubbornness. Hated them, with the possible exception of New Moon. And I only liked that one because I liked Bella's pain. (I know, I'm a mean reader.) On the upside, I can say that I don't hate them just because of the hype; I hated them because I've read them. They start off kind of iffy and they don't get any better.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne? Had to read that a couple years ago for an English assignment, and I hated it when I saw it. Of course, I hated it plenty more ten pages in, twenty, a hundred... and that was before I did the assignment attached to it. Bleh.

I'm trying to think of a book that I thought I'd hate but ended up liking it... I suppose there's I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter. It was one of those books that I didn't really like the sound of, but I randomly promise to myself that I'll read it and I just have to keep that promise. So, I ended up doing so -- despite it being a romance -- and it's still on my greater-favorites bookshelf, along with the next two books in the series. I can't remember if I loved it that much, or if I'm simply too lazy to take them off the bookshelf.

Anyways, that's my list. Do you read books that you're sure you'll hate? If so, what books? Did you end up liking or hating it?

Have a blessed Friday and weekend!