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I used to detest (well, maybe that's a bit too strong) books written in 1st person, but I've learned to adapt. I guess for me, it largely depends upon two things: First, is the story well-served by a 1st person narrative; and second, is the writing style conducive to the format. I think that 1st person is difficult to do well and too many authors try ... and fail.
That being said, one of my absolute favorite series of all time are the Quiller novels by Adam Hall. They are told in 1st person, but a slightly odd version of 1st person narration. Usually, when we think of 1st person narration, we think of the narrator as telling us everything that he or she sees, hears, or thinks. No so with the narrator of the Quiller novels (whose name we don't know, even after 19 novels). Instead, he tells us only what he wants us to know and when he wants to know it. This can be very frustrating for new readers who expect a story to be told in a certain way but the technique allows Hall to add incredible suspense and surprises as his stories develop. By way of simple example, in one book (I can't recall which now), the narrator is going to be meeting another agent in some central European city. He arrives and begins describing the city as he walks its streets, noting shops and cars and people and such. Why is he walking around the city? What exactly is he doing? He doesn't really tell us. But then, he tells us that he turns a corner into an alley and grabs a guy by the throat and describes the fight that they have. Only then do we clearly understand that the narrator has been performing a series of techniques designed to see if he is being followed and to put himself in a position to gain an advantage against the man following him. Great stuff.
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