#9: A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

Down Under by Bill Bryson. I thought I might not like it because when English Americans or American Englishmen traverse my home country they tend to whinge a lot and unfortunately the whinging isn't very fun or funny. And there's nothing worse than a travel book that is also a memoir that is also supposed to be funny but isn't.

Let's not mention The Simpsons. (I mean, seriously Americans, that episode resembled Australia in the same way as The Simpsons on a regular basis represents the USA, which is to say as a parody. Also, if you knew anything about our toilets they flush down, not clockwise or anti-clockwise. Ours is a dry land and we don't have a lot of water to spend on waste receptacles.)

I'd long heard that Bryson's observations are sharp and hilarious and belie a certain affection for everywhere he visits, and this was true of the Australia he depicted in Down Under, the first book of his I'd read. I reserve particular fondness for his chapter on Canberra, which still holds true despite being more than a decade since he visited.

I'm looking forward to sending this book to my international friends as a gift.

The other book I would probably note is Lord of the Flies by William Golding. I don't LOVE it but seeing as I thought I would loathe it (I read it at school and a lot of the classes that had read it before us spoke daggers about it) I think liking it qualifies for today's meme.

Day 10 – Favourite classic book
Day 11 – A book you hated
Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore
Day 13 – Your favourite writer
Day 14 – Favourite book of your favourite writer
Day 15 – Favourite male character
Day 16 – Favourite female character
Day 17 – Favourite quote from your favourite book
Day 18 – A book that disappointed you
Day 19 – Favourite book turned into a movie
Day 20 – Favourite romance book
Day 21 – Favourite book from your childhood
Day 22 – Favourite book you own
Day 23 – A book you've wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read
Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 – Favourite title
Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 – Your favourite book of all time

I'd like to thank Sarah Jansen for her tweet about this, as well as The Literary Gothamite and Confessions of a Book Lush for the good idea.