Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Top Ten Recent Books I've Enjoyed That Were Outside My Comfort Zone

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

I have to admit, try as I might, I tend to not stretch my reading as much as I should. I have favorite genres and I don't often leave them. However, every so often, I do find a book that isn't what I'd usually read that I just adore.



The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine
This is a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses - with the princesses as flappers during prohibition in Manhattan.

While it's not unusual for me to read a retelling, this is the first one I've ever read - and one of the first books, ever, I've read - from this time period. Plus, the it's not about romance but about the girls coming into their own and finding themselves. And a lot about being sisters.



Heist Society by Ally Carter
I'm not one to read YA contemporary, so this tale about teen thieves was quite a surprise for me.

In fact, I'm not sure how many YA contemporaries I've read before this, but this book offered a lot of fun and quite likable characters. (Just wished I liked the second book as much as this one.)




Mercenary Instinct by Ruby Lionsdrake
Pretty sure this is the first ever romance/sci-fi book I've ever read. (Emphasis on the romance. Also, this is an adult book. It's like erotica-romance/sci-fi.)

At the very least, I know this was the first ever book of this time that I adored and it opened up a whole new genre to me.




Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
I'm not sure, exactly, how I survived high school without having to read Shakespeare, but somehow I did. (No, I was told to read Poe and Twain and Faulkner and all those other American authors whose writing I truly could not stand.)

The only Shakespeare I'd read before this was The Tempest (because Ariel!) and was only mildly entertained.



Literally Murder by Ali Brandon
There used to be a time that I read nothing but mysteries. That time is over ten years in the past and...I'm really not very good at picking out mysteries that I actually enjoy anymore.

However, this book - which I totally didn't pick out and was a birthday gift - was so much fun and made me want to try my hand at picking mysteries for myself again.



Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
This is so not my type of book. Urban fantasy and I just don't get along. I've never cared for those stories where a whole other world is lurking just out of sight of ours.

And yet, I came really close to loving this book.





Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
Much like the last book, this one has so many elements that usually make me give a story a pass. It's a YA contemporary gothic mystery with strong times to the paranormal. Nothing about this genre description would make me give this book a second look.

I loved it, though, because of all those genres and because it's something so different for me.




That's only seven books and I kind of totally fail at reading outside my comfort zone - because I seldom like the books whenever I, so infrequently, do take the chance. However, all these books are ones that I really enjoyed.

Comments (4)

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ooo I'm going to have to check out Literally Murder and The Girls at the Kingfisher Club! My TTT
1 reply · active 472 weeks ago
Literally Murder was so much fun - and it really helped me get back into wanting to read mysteries. The Girls at the Kingfisher Club was totally different than what I was expecting, but it was such a good story, partially because of that uniqueness. Hope you like them if you decide to read them!
Unspoken was one of my favourite books the year it came out! It introduced me to Sarah Rees Brennan, who I officially adore (and it occurs to me that I haven't heard of anything from her in a while...I wonder if I missed a book coming out?). I think my favourite part of Unspoken (beyond it's total acceptance and it's range of female characters - all different, all complex, and featuring possibly my favourite female character friendships ever) is that it takes all the paranormal tropes you're used to...and then just completely upends them. COMPLETELY. I didn't love the second two books quite as much as I loved the first one, but that first one was practically flawless for me! So basically I'm glad you liked it (especially because we don't often agree on books haha!)
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1 reply · active 469 weeks ago
Yeah, I totally loved everything you said about it. I love how strong the friendships between the girls were, especially. Really, it's not the kind of book I would usually pick up because paranormal books aren't something I usually like. But I heard such great things about this book and, honestly, the humor counted for probably 75% of me wanting to read it. And, actually, was a HUGE part of the reason I loved it, too. It was also so not what I expected and that's always great in books! I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to read the second book.

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