\*\*Have you ever started a book accidentally, because you mistook it for another book?
This happens to me much less now that I use Goodreads, but I used to go into books knowing as little as possible (save a genre and recommendation) which left me open to some confusing times.
I was recommended The Arcadia Project and, not realizing it was a series, picked us [this book](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37009465-the-arcadia-project?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=WSSHje4xlL&rank=8) (The Arcadia Project by Juliana Andrew). It wasn’t bad exactly it was just boring. I kept expecting something to happen given the strong recommendations and nothing ever did. My suspension of disbelief took me right to the end of the book where I finally went “What the hell did I just read?” and figured out what happened. I barely remember the book and I never got around to reading The Arcadia Project series either.
In high school I started Atlas Shrugged (on my mother’s bookshelf) thinking of Cloud Atlas. Yes, really. I was about a third of the way through the book before I started asking myself “wasn’t there supposed to be time travel or something?” I am not the smartest woman. I did read Cloud Atlas afterwards, and enjoyed Mitchell a lot more than Rand at the time! I’m glad it happened, I doubt I would’ve ever read Rand otherwise.
Anyone else read something thinking of another book, for good or for bad?
by slackrifice
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My therapist recommended a book for me to read, so I went home and dutifully purchased *Things Fall Apart*. I immediately read it and spent the whole weekend pondering why this book? What message was I missing? I just couldn’t see how the horrors of colonial Nigeria was going to help me with my CPTSD. I read it again to try to sort it out.
Got to therapy the next week with my copy and she looked at me with horror. The recommended book was *When Things Fall Apart* by Pema Chödrön. VERY different book recommendation.
We laughed, but … oof.
I don’t think I have, but I enjoyed reading your post. I can imagine how confusing it would be to read Atlas Shrugged when you were expecting Cloud Atlas.
I go into most of my books with limited information and rarely read or watch reviews. I find it easier to enjoy a book without expectations.
Last year I set a goal of reading several classics. I didn’t like any of them, and I think that was partially because I was expecting them to be exceptional stories and I found the characters annoying.
When I was a kid I read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, thinking it was THE Invisible Man by H. G. Wells. Spent the whole book waiting for him to turn invisible.