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Books that you have read which did live up to the hype

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Comments

  • #102
    GerB40
    Registered Users Posts: 2,047 ✭✭✭GerB40


    SarahBM wrote: »
    Dracula actually surpassed my expectations

    Same here. It's one of the few 'classics' I've read that I loved.. And despite the whole vampire thing being done to death since, it has aged fairly well.


  • #103
    GLaDOS
    Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 23,228 Mod ✭✭✭✭GLaDOS


    I thoroughly enjoyed 1984 once I finally got around to reading it

    Cake, and grief counseling, will be available at the conclusion of the test



  • #104
    Duck's hoop
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,530 ✭✭✭Duck's hoop


    Harry Angstrom wrote: »
    Roth is a genius.


    Read 'The Plot Against America' a few years back. Most excellent I thought. Fascinating alternative history.

    Cormac McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian' is sublime.

    Dracula and Frankenstein both superb.


  • #105
    youcancallmeal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,036 ✭✭✭youcancallmeal


    The kindly Ones by Jonathan Litell. Huge and tough going at times but truely a uniquely remarkable book.

    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kindly_Ones_%28Littell_novel%29


  • #106
    Yarf Yarf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 289 ✭✭Yarf Yarf


    I must second Charles Dickens, particularly Great Expectations. I loved that novel the first time I read it.

    Anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez has always lived up to my expectations.


  • #107
    Jamaican Me Crazy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,111 ✭✭✭Jamaican Me Crazy


    The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I felt both of these were fantastic books.

    The Fault in our Stars

    Still to this day Adrian Mole will always be my favourite. Adrian himself is an annoying whinge-bag but the other characters are fantastic (I adore his mother)

    I am about to start What Maisie Knew which I did not realise was a classic until I bought it. I loved the movie but it had been modernised for that. I will be interested to see how the story was originally written.


  • #108
    r3nu4l
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,399 ✭✭✭✭r3nu4l


    The Count of Monte Cristo
    The hobbit
    The lord of the rings
    Catch 22
    American Gods
    Crime and punishment

    All surpassed expectations for me. There are of course others that totally disappointed me but that's for the other thread :)


  • #109
    Montefiore
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 11 ✭Montefiore


    Catch 22 is the literary equivalent of The Office for me. People tell me I should love it. But it's three jokes and one profound truth spread over 400 pages.

    It's not a new book, but Red Plenty by Francis Spufford was one of those weird books that require you to turn over to another page while forming opinions about the subject matter as you read. It has fiction, fact, high farce and feeling all in a really lovely set of interconnected short stories.


  • #110
    FaulknersFav
    Registered Users Posts: 72 ✭✭FaulknersFav


    Infinite Jest, even after reading the outpourings of affection from every corner of everywhere.


  • #111
    SarahBM
    Registered Users Posts: 4,906 ✭✭✭SarahBM


    Wonder by RJ Palacio - recommended by a friend at work. Really is a wonderful book. :)


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  • #112
    Lisha
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,695 ✭✭✭Lisha


    Jamaican Me Crazy wrote: »
    The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I felt both of these were fantastic books.

    The Fault in our Stars

    Still to this day Adrian Mole will always be my favourite. Adrian himself is an annoying whinge-bag but the other characters are fantastic (I adore his mother)

    I am about to start What Maisie Knew which I did not realise was a classic until I bought it. I loved the movie but it had been modernised for that. I will be interested to see how the story was originally written.

    I love the Adrian Mole books too . I also throughly enjoyed Sue Townsend 'the queen and I' and I loved 'the woman who stayed in bed for a year'.


  • #113
    Jamaican Me Crazy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,111 ✭✭✭Jamaican Me Crazy


    Lisha wrote: »
    I love the Adrian Mole books too . I also throughly enjoyed Sue Townsend 'the queen and I' and I loved 'the woman who stayed in bed for a year'.

    I'll be sure to check them out. Thanks :)


  • #114
    sudzs
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,737 ✭✭✭sudzs


    Before I Go to Sleep... mother of god! :rolleyes:


  • #115
    marienbad
    Registered Users Posts: 9,463 ✭✭✭marienbad


    Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides . Just an astonishing book

    The Martin Bora novels by Ben Pastor , A German officer in WW 2 investigating murder and fighting a war . A really original series and very well written . Nothing black and white here including the main character . No easy answers 'Good German' in this one .


  • #116
    Eeden
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,912 ✭✭✭✭Eeden


    Has anyone read The Girl on the Train? It's a New York Times bestseller. Just curious if it lives up to the (considerable) hype.


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