TOP TEN TUESDAY | Books I Shouldn't have Liked Except that I Did

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme for bloggers who like books and lists. It's awesome and is graciously hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's TTT is all about feeling uncomfortable and loving it.

Sorry.  I've been a little obsessed with IT Crowd gifs lately.  Anyhoo, this is the exact topic wording:

Ten Books I Enjoyed Recently (last yearish) That Weren't My Typical Genre/Type of Book (or that was out of your comfort zone)

One of my biggest disappointments in myself last year is that I did not push my comfort zone at all. As a result this won't be a long list but I do have a few.

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1) Contemporary YA

I have no interest in reading contemporary YA but apparently adding even the tiniest bit of magic or unreality makes it totally my jam.  In the last year, I have not only enjoyed but really loved The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black, Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor.

2) Contemporary Mystery

I usually prefer my mysteries historical or British but I've read a couple of contemporary non-British mysteries this year that I adored.  The first two books in the Longmire mystery series by Craig Johnson, The Cold Dish and Death Without Company and Still Life by Louise Penny.  And there were of course the Veronica Mars mysteries (more below).

3) Media Tie-ins

These are not exactly out of my comfort zone but I guess I'd always been a bit snobbish about them, assuming they would be poorly written and lame.  The Veronica Mars tie-in mysteries (The Thousand Dollar Tan Line and Mr. Kiss and Tell) convinced me to give them a shot and they were so awesome, they created a monster.  I went on to read 10 Doctor Who novels and made one of my reading resolutions for 2016 to read more tie-ins with a specific goal of wanting to dive into Star Wars.  Yup. A total monster.

4) Horror

So I enjoy a good horror flick and am not in the least wimpy about them but books or even short stories in the horror genre do nothing for me.  I don't know if it's the prolonged nature of the scare or what.  I had a couple books in the recent past that sort of skirted along the edges of horror and I really liked them!  The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James was a creepy little ghost story/mystery/romance and Mister Slaughter by Robert McCammon was a great favorite historical thriller/mystery that had some pretty strong horror elements.  I think the key for me was that they mashed up genres like nobody's business.

5) Romantic Suspense

So this isn't really outside of my comfort zone but it also wasn't really a sub-genre I had any interest in previously.  However, This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart totally delighted me and really The Haunting of Maddy Clare mentioned above could slide into this category.  Id like to read more romantic suspense.

6) Meandering Narrative

I don't generally like books that seem to be written without too much of a plan but my favorite book of last year was exactly that.  Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is a totally brilliant book with characters you won't soon forget.

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I think that about does it.  I warned you it would be a boring list.  I'm gonna try to push myself a little bit more in 2016 though so far not so good.  Thank goodness it's only February, eh?

So what kind of books would you say is most out of your comfort zone?  Read any books lately that surprised you?

I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. It's an addiction.