Favourite Piece of Fiction You Ignored for a Long Time

My one sentence book reviews article got me thinking about the Harry Potter series.  I absolutely fell in love with the series this year, and think it is a landmark work of fiction.  It deserves all the acclaim and popularity it has won.

I almost missed out on this series entirely, and I'm obviously several years behind on the actual craze.  I was actively avoiding the book and film series for a long time.  I think a large part of the problem was that it was such a popular thing and people kept telling me how much I'd like it.  My experience is that the things people promise me that I'll like often don't turn out positively for me.  I decided it was just better to ignore the series.

I also just wasn't all that intrigued about a boy in the modern world going to a school for wizards.  This was mainly because I didn't realize the world building and depth of fantasy that J. K. Rowling was immersing the reader into.  I thought it was some occasional magic tricks rather than some epic fantasy coming of age adventure.  But deep down, I knew my assumption was off, and it had more to do with being annoyed everyone told me I needed to read the series.

I'm glad I finally had to the read the first installment for a University course.  I'm even happier I finally got around to consuming the entire series.  I gobbled it up in one straight go.  It allowed me to appreciate the scope of the story more, since there wasn't any wait between novels.

Anyway, I'm interested in finding out if there were any novels or movies or TV shows that you avoided or ignored for an extended period of time that you finally read/watched to find out you love it.  So, what is the gem that you almost lost out on?