I’ve recently started reading Laura Ingalls Wilder for the first time in my life. They are charming. As a kid, I thought they would be like the TV show, so I avoided them, but now I regret that.
What books or movies or other artsy thing do you regret waiting so long to experience?
I didn’t get around to reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn until I was 42.
Probably not a bad thing; I’m sure I got more out of it than I would have at 12 or 13.
I read that one late, too. I even had a copy and still didn’t read it until I was in my 30s.
I didn’t watch “Alien” for about ten years because I thought it was just some dumb horror movie, based on the previews.
I kept seeing Patrick O’Brian’s books in the store, and thinking “I’d probably like that.” Same with Terry Pratchett.
When I finally got around to reading my first book from each author, I was kicking myself for having waited so long to start them.
Dick Francis.
My sister sent me a couple of his books for Christmas five years ago. I read them and within six months had accumulated every other book he’s written.
Did you know he has a new book out? I had heard he was retired, but there’s a new one. I have a copy but haven’t read it yet.
The Modesty Blaise novels. I had (as a teenage comic book fan) heardof Modesty Blaise, of course, and knew that, in addition to the comic strips, there were a series of novels about her. But somehow I was never interested enough to read her. I spent a lot of time in comic book stores where I often saw collections of the strips, but I never picked one up. My hometown library had the novels, but I passed them right by on the shelves. Never even opened one up.
Years ago I learned that the creator of Modesty Blaise, Peter O’Donnell, had also written a series of books under the pseudonym Madeline Brent. The Brent books are among my all-time favorites so you’d think I’d have hopped right on the Blaise books…
But I didn’t. I still just wasn’t all that interested. This year, I got a mild impulse to read them. I even started a thread here to determine whether or not they were worth my time. The response to the thread was fairly slight, but in favor of my reading them. So I special ordered the first novel. It came in; I went and picked it up, brought it home and set it on my ‘pending’ shelf for another 3 or 4 weeks! Looking at the thing, reading the back – there was just no spark of desire to read it.
A couple of months ago, my husband and I had to make a driving trip to Florida and I didn’t have anything new to take to read. So I brought Modesty along. And, finally I opened her up to the first page.
Magic! What a terrific book! What a terrific series of books… I sure wish I’d read them as a teenager – I would have absolutely loved them.
Back in the seventies, a friend gave me a copy of Watership Down as a birthday gift. I put it on the shelf and didn’t read it for a decade. “It’s about anthropomorphic rabbits,” I said to myself. “Who wants to read about anthropomorphic rabbits?”
When I finally picked it up and started to read it, I was enthralled. It turned out to be not what I expected at all. It has become one of my favorite books of all time, right up there with The Lord of the Rings (which I also didn’t read for quite a while).
pinkfreud, me too – both of those books. Watership Down last year, and Lord of the Rings after the movies came out.
I just discovered Neil Gaiman, Tim Powers, and James Morrow. Longevity counts for something, I figure.
One of my best friends told me to read Pride and Prejudice back in middle school but my first attempt did not go beyond the first page. We both loved the same books so I didn’t understand why she liked this one. I openly shunned the book after that for a few years. My senior year of high school I had to return to Austen for an honors class, this time I had no choice so I dove in and totally loved it. After all those years of prejudice it turned out I was wrong.
I am going to add a watch. Orlando. It’s a wonderful movie that makes yo ask all kinds of questions. And, I won’t forget to mention that Tilda Swinton is perfect in the role. I got it on Netflix, but I’ll be looking to buy it.
Of Mice and Men. I finally read it about 3-4 years ago, and was totally blown away.
Also, Twelve Angry Men, the 50’s movie. (Is there a book?) Incredible.
It was originally a television play, a year or two before the film. I’m sure that the screenplay will be available - it’s too good not to be.
No, I didn’t. What’s the title, since I’ll have to wait until it comes out in paperback before my limited budget can afford it.
Can we add music to the list? I’ve only gotten heavily into listening to Elvis Costello in the last seven years or so.
Comic books. Probably within the last four or five months.
I still don’t read superhero stuff but I really got into Sandman and the personal/coming of age type stories-Persepolis, Blankets etc.etc.
Probably the most comic-ish series I read are Blue Monday and Scott Pilgrim.
Graphic novels, please, Sandman is practically literature 
For some reason I never read any Terry Pratchett until about a couple of years ago, I think I was put off by the silly cover art and that he was very popular (which I computed as popular == crap).
I have now read all* the Discworld several times. It was probably the best way to discover him since I had 30+ books to get through and meanwhile he’s put out Monsterous Regiment, Going Postal and Thud. I have a sort of painting the Forth Bridge thing going where I’m always part way through one of his books. I’m currently on Soul Music (again) since I saw the animated film version and wanted to see how it lived up to the book.
*except Wintersmith, I may have to reserve it at the library. I’m too mean to buy a hardback kid’s book.
Bill Bryson.
I’d heard of him, but all I (mistakenly) knew was that he wrote travel books, so I had no interest in reading his stuff.
Then one day I picked up A Walk In The Woods from the sale table at Barnes & Noble and was hooked.
This summer I catch “House” while channel surfing. I wish someone had broken into my place and put a gun to my head and forced me to watch it from day one.
I bought Andrew Vachss’s first book when it first came out, and read it ten years later.
I bought the CD of “Blondel” when it first came out (good thing, there was only one limited pressing) and played it three years later. What a great musical! I was surprised to hear that someone I knew had the Austrian version of it on CDR.