Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is 10 Books I Feel Differently About After Time Has Passed.
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Genre: General Fiction
I really enjoyed “Fight Club” when I read it back in 2005. I remember devouring it in a single sitting and I had it marked as one of my favorite books for years. Then, in 2014, I decided to do a re-read and couldn’t even get past the first few chapters. I was too annoyed with the characters and found myself shocked that I had enjoyed it the first time. I still really enjoy the movie adaptation, but the book has fallen off my keeper shelf.
Good Grief by Lolly Winston
Genre: Women’s Lit
I used to read quite a bit of women’s lit back in the day and this was one of my favorite books. Looking back at the plot now (woman loses husband at a young age and slowly has to pull herself out of depression and restart her life) it’s pretty cliched. If I tried to re-read it, I’d more than likely be bored out of my mind.
The Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Urban Fantasy
I started reading these books back in high school and was a hardcore fangirl over them. At least until the series started getting wonky around book 8 or 9. I still have some nostalgia around a few of the early books in the series, but the books have really fallen from grace in my eyes.
Mary Higgins Clark books
Genre: Mystery
I read a ton of Mary Higgins Clark in 8th and 9th grade. These novels were my introduction to the mystery genre and some of them really creeped me out. Especially, Loves Music, Loves to Dance. Her books are something that I tend to avoid now. Not because they’re bad, but because I associate them with junior high and freshman year of high school. So, I just can’t bring myself to pick-up another title by her now. I have some kind of mental block.
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
Genre: Women’s Lit
Another women’s lit book that I really loved at the time I had read it. I read this in junior high and devoured it. Since then, my reading tastes have really changed. This one has a bit of an odd plot (pregnant young woman abandoned at Walmart decides to just live there for a while) that I would cringe over now.
The Argeneau series by Lynsay Sands
Genre: Paranormal Romance
This was one of the first Paranormal Romance series I read. I really enjoyed them at the time, but after getting more into the sub-genre, I’m not really interested in the titles anymore. Last time I tried to read a book in this series, I found myself more bored than anything.
The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Genre: Classic Lit
I originally read this in high school and was rather ambivalent about it. Looking back now, I appreciate the book a lot more than I did then. This is one I’ve been meaning to do a re-read of for quite a while.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Genre: Classic Lit
This is one I’m afraid to do a re-read of. I loved it so much when I read it in my angsty high school years. Looking back on it now, I have the feeling it appealed so much to me then because of the angst. I’m worried that I wouldn’t enjoy it as much now.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Genre: Classic Lit
Another title that I was rather “meh” about when I first read it. I didn’t develop a greater appreciation for it until I re-read it for a class in grad school.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Genre: Classic Lit
The first time I read this one I really didn’t like. Now, years later, I LOATHE it. I had to read this book 6 times and write that many papers on it as well. I actually started dropping an English class in college if this book appeared on the syllabus. It was ridiculous how every single professor tried to cram it into their course. When I started grad school I had thought I was safe from having to read this one ever again… I was wrong. Like a horror movie villain it came back for one last surprise.
Book Minx 
It’s funny but I look at books that I gave five stars too years ago and I just know that if I were to re-read it today I wouldn’t even come close to giving them five stars. Not because they aren’t good but because my reading tastes have changed so much. It is kind of fun though to see how it’s changed so much.
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I agree! A lot of these books aren’t bad, just my reading tastes have really changed since I read them so many years ago. 🙂
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I really want to read The Bell Jar. I have briefly heard of the others here.
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I really loved The Bell Jar when I first read it. I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it so much out of high school though.
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I used to love Fight Club too. I wish I had stopped there at Chuck Palahniuk’s books because I probably would have remained liking it if I hadn’t picked up more of his stuff…they all have the same tone and style, after a while I just got turned off from his work completely.
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Oh I definitely agree there! I read a few of Palahniuk’s books after finishing Fight Club too and noticed the same issue. I stopped reading the books after forcing myself to finish Choke.
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I read The Bell Jar a few years ago and very much enjoyed it. I still think I prefer her poetry, but that might change with a reread. Your comment about being angsty in high school reminds me of my love for Catcher in the Rye. I loved that book in high school, but I’m pretty sure I’d want to slap Holden a whole lot more if I read it today.
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Yes! I just finished Catcher in the Rye and was like “Man, I wish I had read this in high school. I would have loved it back then.” Reading it as an adult I did want to shake some sense into Holden.
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I wonder how I would feel if I revisited some of the books I read in high school.
I just quit Anita Blake last year. It has been going down hill for a while, but I stuck with it. I finally decided to quit after I listened to the most recent book and there was so much time spent arguing the politics of having sex with her. I could deal with sex, but politics of having sex was too much. Plus, there were other issues with the books. One time a characters name was changed through an entire book. Vivian to Vicky or something like that. I still think the early books are great. I did a relisten to the entire series two years ago.
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Rabid Reads
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Oh wow! You really stuck with the Anita Blake series. That’s impressive! I stopped reading at Cerulean Sins. I’m glad I did after I read your comment that they start hashing out the politics of having sex with her. Bleh.
I agree, I think some of the early books are still pretty good. I’m thinking about doing a re-read of the Laughing Corpse to see if I still love it so many years later.
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Haven’t read any of the books you listed, so I don’t know if I re-read them, how I’d feel 😛
My two cents though about the Anita Blake series… is I wonder if you feel differently about the early books because of time passage or because of the direction the series took? I heard a lot about what happens in the series later on. Personally, that would be enough to make me chuck out the books.
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Good point about the Anita Blake series. I’d be interested in re-reading some of the earlier books and seeing if I still really enjoy them. I’m afraid of re-reading those because of how much of a MarySue Anita is for LKH. Yeah, I’m not even going to attempt to touch those later books in the series though.
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