Top Ten Books that Deceived Me

Hey everybody! So as you know, it's Top Ten Tuesday and time to link up with the Broke and Bookish blog. Today's topic is "top ten books that were very deceiving," whether it was the title or the cover or the blurb that  deceived you. Personally, when I thought about this, I mostly thought of all the books I almost didn't read because I didn't like the cover and/or title. But for the most part, I was glad I did. I'll share them with you now, so that you don't make the same mistake:

1. Looking For Alaska by John Green - I feel dumb admitting this, but I really thought, for the longest time, that this was Jack London-esque tale of young boy going off into the wilds, in search of the great Alaskan wilderness. I thought it would be full of hunting and canoeing and lessons about the cruelty of mother nature. I thought I would hate it. Luckily, I had to read it for a class, and I'm so glad I did. I guess I was right about some things - the narrator is questing for something, but it's not harmony with nature. He seeks the Great Perhaps, and after I read this book, I fell in love with the characters and with John Green's writing. Good thing I didn't let the title stop me!

2. The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen - As much as I love her books,  I think Sarah Dessen is kind of the queen of the whole "books whose titles and covers have nothing to do with what they're about" thing. Sorry, Sarah. Okay, not all the time. Along for the Ride - both the title and cover are very fitting, as it's a story about bikes. BUT, from what I remember, there's not much talk about forever in the Truth About Forever, and we never learn the Truth about it, whatever that may be. Also the cover, with the flower petals and all that, doesn't have much to do with the story either. I don't mean to be mean. I just think Sarah Dessen deserves better covers. Often, I think her covers hide the edginess and deepness (for lack of a better word) of her books, all of which I appreciate.

3. Sloppy Firsts by Megan Mccafferty - As much as I love this book, I didn't read it for the longest time because I hated the title. "Sloppy?" I thought. "Who wants to read about something sloppy?" Luckily, I eventually picked it up, after many friends told me how great it was, and I'm so glad I did. However, in this case, I have to say I think the title is pretty fitting of the book, since Jessica Darling is a bit of a mess (but in the best way possible).

4. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare - Again, I almost didn't read this book because of the cover. Every time I looked at it in the bookstore, I just thought, "What is this? A book about body builders? Body builders who build their houses out of bones?" Also, I don't really think the cover fits the book. I mean, I guess it does, since it's supposed to be Jace. But I feel like the guy on the cover looks too old to be Jace, and anyway I think the story belongs to Clary. But that's just my take.

5. Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson - In some ways, the title of this book is perfectly accurate. It is, in fact, about thirteen little blue envelopes. What the title and cover don't convey, however, is the fact that these thirteen little blue envelopes take the heroine on an awesome, life-changing journey through Europe. I feel like they really should've included that in the title or cover somehow. I would've read the book a lot sooner had I known that. As it happened, for a long time, I kept turning away from it in the bookstore because I thought it was just some book about girls passing notes or something. How wrong I was! Don't let it happen to you! (Side note: I also don't like the bit of belly showing on the girl in the cover.)

6. Life of Pi by Yann Martel - The cover and title of this book might make you think that it is about math, or tigers, or possibly tigers who like to do math. It is neither, really, although a tiger does make an appearance. The book is actually about a young boy's incredible journey on a lifeboat, and, well, honestly, I'm still trying to figure out what it was about, because the book was so complex. You should read it. It's amazing.

Okay, for the first time in my blog's history, I can't come up with ten books for this category. All in all, I guess this means the cover-designers and title-inventors and writers out there are all doing their jobs - The covers fit the stories, for the most part. I'm excited to see what everyone else came up with, though. Maybe you guys thought of something I didn't....

Also, there's still time to enter my Pandemonium Giveaway. It ends this Friday, so hurry!