Top Ten Tuesday 28 - Unexpectedly Enjoyable books

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's theme: Free for all!

I've decided to do Top Ten Unexpectedly Enjoyable books. These are books that aren't in the genre I usually read, or books that I wasn't expecting much from but blew me away. They're books that I was prejudiced against (ahem paranormal romance ahem hem) but ended up liking anyway. So here's to giving books a fair chance!

I'd heard good things about Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy, but I'd never read anything by her. I didn't have any expectations going into this, but I loved it! I really enjoyed the characters and the technology, as well as the sticky ethical questions and conspiracies. The ending was predictable, but this book was a lot more enjoyable than I was expecting. Click on the cover to see my full review~	The cover of this book would usually have me running the other way. This is one of those books that I was pretty sure I wouldn't like - I decided to read it mainly because I was curious how a female Lord of the Flies would turn out. I actually ended up liking this book, even with its over the top satire. There are commercial breaks in this book, in case your poor 21st century attention span can't handle a book that's hundreds of pages long. The horror! I also really enjoyed the accents and the music, since I listened to this on audiobook. Definitely a lot more fun than I would ever publicly admit!
I have always been intimidated by Haruki Murakami, because everyone loves his books and thinks they are brilliant. Honestly, I was worried I wouldn't even understand what was going on - metaphysical stuff usually goes way over my head. When I read this for a book club, though, I actually really liked it! It was way less dense and confusing than I was expecting.	After a not-so-great first book and an ok second book, I'm actually not even sure why I decided to read the last one. But I'm glad I did - this one was a lot better than the previous two, and I could relate to the characters a lot more.
I usually don't read contemporary novels, especially not contemporary romance. I'd actually read a couple of Sarah Dessen novels before this one, and found them rather dull and formulaic. Strangely enough, I really liked this one - for some reason, these characters and their struggles struck a chord with me and I wanted to cheer for them instead of roll my eyes at their perfect fairy tale endings.	I really like books about heists and capers, so I was expecting to like this book. I just didn't realize how much fun it would be! Between the witty banter and the lovable characters, I was completely enjoying myself. The audiobook narrator definitely added to the charm.
I started reading this out loud with a friend as a joke - I was upset one night and she said she had just the book to cheer me up. We read it aloud in different accents and eventually made it through the whole thing. I am now very fond of this terribly cheesy book, even though it's something I'd never have picked up on my own.	This book was recommended to me by my librarian in high school. I had no idea what it was about, but this was one of those quiet books that just grabbed a hold of my heart and never let go. I cried at so many different points in this book - it's just so beautiful and hopeful despite all the struggles of poverty and racism.