Favourite Books Outside Your Comfort Zone | Top 5 Wednesday # 21

Phew! That title was a mouthful. As you can see though, this week’s Top 5 Wednesday is about my top 5 Favourite Books that are Outside my Comfort Zone.

The example that’s on the page for these topics says: “These are books that you enjoyed that aren’t something you typically read. For example, nonfiction if you usually read fiction, contemporary if you usually read fantasy, etc. etc. They do not all have to be from the same genre, just an assortment of books outside your usual genre of choice.”

I’m normally a Fantasy fanatic, but there have been times where I have enjoyed and loved other genres as well. The titles below are different in their own way.

• If I Stay by Gayle Forman

If I Stay is a contemporary book. In fact, If I Stay was the first YA Contemprary Romance that I read, and I absolutely fell in love with the book. After the first time I read it, I pretty much read it once a week after that, for about I don’t know, a month? After that month ended I read it fairly often. If I Stay is one of the few books that I’ve read multiple times.

• My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

My Life Next Door is another YA Contemporary Romance. I initially read this book thanks to my local library, and by the time I had gotten to the end of the novel I had told myself, given the chance to find My Life Next Door for a cheaper price, I would buy it. I love the…innocence of the book. My Life Next Door is certainly a fluffy read.

• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars is a YA Contemporary Mystery novel and daaaang, I bawled my eyes out a few times during this story!!! That usually never happens, so when I was crying, I knew that We Were Liars was a book for me to own. And thanks to a friend, I was given We Were Liars as a birthday present! I ended up liking We Were Liars because of the brutal honesty that accompanies the story. Everything that goes on in this book is just….as is. What you see is what you get, kind of deal.

• Darkhouse by Karina Halle

Darkhouse is NA/Adult Horror book. One of the first Horror book novels. There are two Horror novels that always stick out in my mind. The Devouring by Simon Holt, and Darkhouse by Karina Halle. – Darkhouse sticks out in my mind because Darkhouse is the only book that has made me legitimately terrified. Like, I was reading a scene and then bam, the scary part happened and all I knew in that moment was that I had to get a light on quick. Books that make me do that, are the books for me! Almost an instant 5 stars, haha!

• Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Her Fearful Symmetry is an Adult Mystery & Fantasy (“Adult” in the sense that, Her Fearful Symmetry is in the General Fiction part of the bookstore). I’ve chosen Her Fearful Symmetry for this post because I don’t normally read “Adult” in the first place. For years I’ve considered the regular Fiction section of book stores to be boring and completely repetitive. So when I read Her Fearful Symmetry almost a decade ago(!), I was surprised that I actually ended up enjoying the book as much as I had. I’d enjoyed the story so much that for the next four years I read it whenever my family would go on holidays.

I often try to read out of my comfort zone. So much so that this post is pretty much just a post featuring some of my favourite books that aren’t YA Fantasy. So me “reading out of my comfort zone” is me just reading. I actually enjoy quite a few Contemporaries, Mystery, Horror novels… Reading all of these other genres isn’t so new to me. I’ve been reading Contemporary on and off for a good year or so.

I don’t usually enjoy Mystery at all, either. Lately though, I’ve been really enjoying Mystery way more than I thought I would. I’m talking about YA Mystery though, and not generalized Mystery. When I try to read a general Mystery, the stories usually end up hurting my brain.

And Horror is something that I’ve been trying to read more of, but the stories that I read usually end up falling short of my “scary” expectations. That leaves me frustrated and annoyed. So I haven’t been reading Horror as often as I’d like.

That’s all I’ve got for this post, folks! I hope you enjoyed reading, and thank you for checking this post out!

What genre’s are out of your comfort zone?

Adele