TOP TEN TUESDAY: Resistance is futile!

September 5: Books That Defied My Expectations (books you thought you would didn’t like that you loved, books you thought you’d love but didn’t, books that were not the genres they seemed to be, or in any other way subverted your expectations!) (Submitted by Sia @ everybookadoorway.com)

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

That Artsy Reader Girl

There is nothing in my list concerning Star Trek 😁, but that is what I thought of with this topic.

The first six are books that far exceeded my expectations and the final four are ones I wanted to read so bad and then just could not get into.

1

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

• 446 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published January 1, 1999
• Genres: Fiction, Literary, Coming-of-Age, Chick Lit

…  story of Ingrid, a brilliant poet imprisoned for murder, and her daughter, Astrid, whose odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes–each its own universe, with its own laws, its own dangers, its own hard lessons to be learned–becomes a redeeming and surprising journey of self-discovery.

goodreads

During my pre-Kindle life (pKl) I was quite a physical book hoarder. White Oleander was on my shelf for several years before I read her. Maybe I had to wait for just the right moment for the “journey of self-discovery” to resonate with me.

2

Bridget Jone’s Diary by Helen Fielding

• 324 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published January 1, 1996
• Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Romance, Humor

A dazzling urban satire of modern relationships?
An ironic, tragic insight into the demise of the nuclear family?
Or the confused ramblings of a pissed thirty-something?
As Bridget documents her struggles through the social minefield of her thirties and tries to weigh up the eternal question (Daniel Cleaver or Mark Darcy?), she turns for support to four indispensable friends: Shazzer, Jude, Tom and a bottle of chardonnay.

goodreads

A perfect example of a story that does not stay in its own genre lane. Bridget Jones’ Diary encompasses all parts of life and does it with an enthusiastic sense of humor.

3

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

• 128 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published January 1, 1895
• Genres: Classics, Sci-Fi, Fiction, Time Travel, Climate Change, Literary

With a speculative leap that still fires the imagination, Wells sends his brave explorer to face a future burdened with our greatest hopes…and our darkest fears. A pull of the Time Machine’s lever propels him to the age of a slowly dying Earth.  There he discovers two bizarre races—the ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks—who not only symbolize the duality of human nature but offer a terrifying portrait of the men of tomorrow as well. 

goodreads

I read The Time Machine in 2022 and went into the book with the expectation that the time-travel would be about a hundred years either way. That was my first premise that was defied: the protagonist went 800,000 years into the future. Who does that⁉️

The second expectation that was defied wasn’t even a thought of mine: the story shows the impending disaster that is climate change. Mr. Wells, in the late 1800s, thought it would take 800,000 years for global warming to get severe.

4

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

• 260 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published October 12, 1986
• Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Self-Help, Memoir

She offers suggestions, encouragement, and solid advice on many aspects of the writer’s craft: on writing from “first thoughts” (keep your hand moving, don’t cross out, just get it on paper), on listening (writing is ninety percent listening; the deeper you listen, the better you write), on using verbs (verbs provide the energy of the sentence), on overcoming doubts (doubt is torture; don’t listen to it)—even on choosing a restaurant in which to write.  Goldberg sees writing as a practice that helps writers comprehend the value of their lives.

goodreads

I like to listen to uplifting audiobooks and this one looked interesting, but I wasn’t expecting anything beyond the ordinary be-your-best-self proselytizing. This was so much more: enjoy your life no matter where it takes you and no matter who you are or are not.

5

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

• 221 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published August 1, 1996
• Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Debut

Every weekend, in the basements and parking lots of bars across the country, young men with white-collar jobs and failed lives take off their shoes and shirts and fight each other barehanded just as long as they must.
Then they go back to those jobs with blackened eyes and loosened teeth and the sense that they can handle anything. Fight club is the invention of Tyler Durden, projectionist, waiter, and dark, anarchic genius, and it’s only the beginning of his plans for violent revenge on an empty consumer-culture world.

goodreads

I figured the book was at least somewhat good, since a movie was made of it; I did not expect the book to be so much better. And the ending, in the book, feels much more ominous.

6

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

• 400 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published March 31, 2022
• Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Women, Debut

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary.

goodreads

This is a book about women, real women in recent history (1960s). There is only a little romance in the story, not that there is anything wrong with romance, I was just expecting more.

And Bonnie Garmus is a great storyteller.

7, 8, 9, & 10

For whatever reason (my mood, world events, etc. 🙄) the following stories and I could not get on the same page:

Infinity Claws by Andrew Mackay

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Thoughts