Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Books I Almost Put Down But Didn't

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic is Top Ten Books I Almost Put Down But Didn't.  There's a mix here; some books I liked, some I didn't:

Basajaun by Rosemary Van Deuren - Oh, how I wish I had put this one down!  I knew it was going to be bad almost from the first page when I saw that the author didn't know how to write grammatically correct dialogue.  But then the plot ended up being so weird (and not in a good way) that I just couldn't find anything to like about this one -- aside from the cover.  I think it was one of the first self-published books I'd ever read... and it made me extremely wary of all others.

Every Day by David Levithan - When the teenagers had an outburst of yelling in a public place, I was immediately reminded of why I hated Dash & Lily's Book of Dares (which I never finished).  I was worried that Every Day's characters were going to turn into shrill, annoying brats... but (luckily) that one incident wasn't representative of the whole book.  I did end up finishing this one, and while I'm not sorry I did, I wasn't that impressed.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling - I'm not the biggest Harry Potter fan.  I really enjoyed the first three books, but after that I didn't enjoy them quite as much.  They got long and bloated, and I felt like there was a distinct lack of editing.  By the time I got to the final book in the series, my rating for each subsequent book had dropped.  It actually took me quite a while to get through HP7... but after reading all the other books in the series, it seemed a shame to leave it unfinished, so I pushed through.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman - This book almost got put down at the very beginning.  I'd been wanting to read it for so long, since the story sounded amazing.  But the incredibly disturbing and gory accident scene almost made me stop.  If I hadn't bought the hardcover, I might've just let this one go.  But I felt like I had to keep reading.  In the end, I was pretty disappointed.

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai - I didn't realize this was a novel written in verse until after I'd downloaded it from the library.  I vaguely remember trying (and failing) to get through a verse novel years earlier.  But, to my surprise, I really enjoyed this one.  Verse novels are now a new favourite of mine.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë - In my first year of university, I was assigned this book in English class.  We'd just been forced to read Henry Fielding's Joseph Andrews, quite possibly the most boring book of all time.  I didn't actually read it; I wrote the required essays using Coles Notes.  When we were next assigned Jane Eyre, I'd lost all confidence in the teacher and her book recommendations.  I wasn't sure I even wanted to read this one.  But I picked it up and gave it a try, and was sucked in immediately.  It's now one of my favourite classics.

More Than This by Patrick Ness - The main reason I kept going with this book was because I kept hearing about how great the author was.  I assumed there would be some sort of twist or awesome payoff, and the author would be redeemed.  Unfortunately, that's not the way it turned out.  I very nearly gave up on this one when it took the main character a couple of pages (on my e-book app, anyway) to decide whether or not to go through a doorway.  Sometimes books are just too slow for my taste; this was one of them.  But since I'd gotten a good way into the book before I started having my misgivings, I figured I might as well finish.

Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder - I actually quite enjoyed this book when all was said and done.  However, I did get bogged down at one point in the story and lost interest for a while.  I eventually picked it back up again and made it through the ending... and I'm glad I did!

A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine - Usually, I can depend on Gail Carson Levine for a good fairytale-esque story.  However, I think this book is one of her weaker ones.  While the beginning was good, there was a point in the story where everything really lagged and I almost gave up.  I'm glad I didn't, because the story got going again at a good pace and had a decent ending.  While it's not my favourite book by this author, it was still quite enjoyable and I'm glad I finished it.

The Unwritten Girl by James Bow - I read almost the whole book and then took a break of over a month before finishing the last chapter.  I ended up really disliking this one; I'm kind of sorry I spent as much time on it as I did.