... in books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by “The Broke and Bookish”.

This weeks topic is:

Ten Books That I Read That Were Outside Of My Comfort Zone (whether you liked them or not)

I am basically reading everything. The same applies to my taste in music. I love to tell people about books I read and their “What you read that” reaction. Wonderful!

So I have a very broad comfort zone. Nevertheless I found ten books which I think match the criteria quite well. 

Cecilia Ahern – P.S. I love you

From time to time I love to read sad love stories but I was really afraid of this one. Yes, afraid! I was scared that I would cry during the whole book, that I will not be able to finish it because it affects me too much. I read it, I cried an awful lot but I finished it and I liked it. I liked the way it made me feel because it wasn’t this typical romantic love story but until today I have not managed to watch the film with Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank. 

Gail Carriger – Soulless

I am not I huge fan of stories with a paranormal plot. I am one of those girls who has never read “Twiglight”. But “Soulless” looked cool and the plot sounded interesting; a 26 year old spinster in Victorian England who fights against vampires and werewolves. I bought it, read it and loved it. Still no fan of paranormal creatures but this one is just awesome. 

Jasper Fforde – The Eyre Affair

Bought it in German first, started it and put it away after 15 pages. There was just no way of me finishing this book. The plot was twisted and strange and the story takes place in our times with some really strange differences. This definitely was way out of my comfort zone.

This year I saw it in Australia, bought it and read it. It still pushed the boundaries of my comfort zone but I really like it after I accepted that some things happening in the novel were just strange. 

Anne Fortier – Juliet

LOVED IT! I think everybody should read it! EVERYBODY!

I am a huge fan of Italy and I have a (small) Italy section on my shelves but these are mostly real life stories or travel logs. For me Juliet seemed like a historical novel but the cover just appealed to me and then I started reading it …. I was hooked! Definitely nothing I read often but sometimes a book like this is perfect for discovering gems. 

Elizabeth Gilbert – Eat Pray Love

Italy, India, Bali in a year. I had this book on my shelves for years before reading it. Loved the Italy part, hated India and in my opinion Bali was good again. Still not sure what rating I would give this book but it clearly lay outside my comfort zone. 

Charlaine Harris – Dead until dark

Vampires! Do I need to say more? I read this book after a recommendation from a student buddy and it was good. I bought the second in this series as well but haven’t read it till today. Just not a big fan of vampires that I would neglect my favourite books for it but it showed me that vampire stories can be good too. 

Jon Katz – A dog year

I read this after my dog died and somehow it helped me but it clearly was way out of my comfort zone. I have to more books by Jon Katz but a year after Nico died we gave in and opened our home for a new dog, Felix. Since then I haven’t read any dog related books. Maybe I don’t need them anymore.

David Nicholls – One Day 
It pushed my boundaries in a strange way. I loved this book but sometimes I wanted to throw it against a wall or under a bus or car. I loved the way the story was told but I needed almost a months for reading it. Sometimes it really made me feel uncomfortable. Good book but I am not sure I will ever read it again. 

Max Frisch – Homo Faber

I read it in the year of my high school graduation and it was part of my German exam. I liked this book but it was not what I normally would have read. Good German Classic!

Peter Henisch – Die schwangere Madonna (The pregnant Madonna)

A good friend gave me this book as a birthday present and I was not sure if I wanted to read it at first. It is also a book I would never have read if it wouldn’t have been a present. But after reading it, I was hooked and I think about it from time to time (read it about 3 years ago).

So these are my ten books out of my comfort zone or near the boundaries of my comfort zone. I am really interested what yours are.