I have a list of those. Most of them recommended to me from school or by my step dad. I can name a few, like The Outsiders and To KIll A Mockingbird.
what about you, anyone have a book you ended up loooving?

I never expected to enjoy a school required reading but I loved Hamlet, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Scarlet Letter but those were all ages ago.

Recently I read through the Hunger Games series because a woman at this party recommended it, I honestly didn't think it would grab my attention and either be really gory or really dumbed down but wow were they good! I devoured those books :) Those kinds of surprises are always fun.

Animal Farm ♥
To Kill a Mockingbird
A Clockwork Orange
All Quiet on the Western Front
Fahrenheit 451
Night - Elie Wiesel
The Grapes of Wrath
The Scarlet Letter
.....
Just to name a few. I've found out throughout the years (thank you, school) that I really like books that have to do with World War I/World War II, not just about the wars but also about what happened to the people (like with Farewell to Manzanar and Night). I never thought I'd be into war based books, or books about dictatorships or anything of the sort.

I never thought I would like Ice Station and the rest of the Scarecrow series by Matthew Reilly. I ripped through them all in about a week and loved them. Another was The Fifth Witness, a book about a court case which was an amazing book and an intellectual challenge for me which was great because I'm sick of reading dumbed down kids stories in class because my school is full of pot heads who cant use grammar and punctuation properly.

Harry Potter actually! I usually don't get into the things that people hype about a lot but I started reading it in eighth grade and I'm still a huge fan to this day. ^_^

Another series that I am now addicted to is Skulduggery Pleasent. I started reading it in grade five when the first book came out (Not that long ago really) and now I really want to get the newest one. It's about magic but it's a lot different to Harry potter. And there is magical terrorist attacks which is an interesting spin on things.

A more recent one was the House of Night series. It is about a highschool for vampires.

I didn't think I'd like the Ugly Series, but I loved all the books except Extras for obvious reasons.

and the Sterkarm Handshake which was actually really, really good.

I hate to admit this... But the Twilight series is one of my guilty pleasures, I guess. It's really not that well written, but it's one of those story lines that just makes you smile and sigh. I HATE the movies with a passion, though... I read the books way before seeing them.

I read a book called The Virgins Lover. Its about Queen Elizabeth, so I was excited to read it. Turns out its a book about the mystery that surrounded the death of a woman named Lady Amy Dudley, the woman who was married to a man who was Queen Elizabeths lover. Totally gave me a different perspective of Queen Elizabeth. Adultery is a huge issue for me, it kind of touches sore spots, so I try to avoid reading about it because it just puts me in a funk.
So, I put the book down once I got to the point where it was pretty clear that this guy was leading his poor wife around, and that Queen Elizabeth was in on it, and walked away because I didn't want to upset myself.
But, I just couldn't forget about the book, so I had to read it.
I finished the book in less then a day. It was that good.
I still didn't like the Queen Elizabeth of the book, or the main male character... But I read on mostly for Amy Dudley.
Its a really great book for anyone who likes historical romance novels.