Top Ten Tuesday: Outside My Genre Comfort Zone

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Ten Books I Enjoyed Recently (or in the last year or so) That Weren’t My Typical Genre/Type of Book.

Reading this blog you may have noticed that my typical genre tends to veer towards anything fantasy or scifi. I occasionally try to step out of that comfort zone and try new things, which is one of the reasons I’m trying to keep up with Emma Watson’s book club this year, because I really want to experience new genres. I couldn’t come up with a complete list of 10, but here are some of the books I’ve tried in the past year:

1. Is Fat Bob Dead Yet by Stephen Dobyns – This was a book my boyfriend talked me into reading. He had read it and would occasionally supply me with anecdotes and quotes that made it sound hilarious. I hope to write an actual review for it soon, but this was a mystery unlike any I have ever read, and something I never would have picked up on my own.
2. My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem – The first book of Emma Watson’s book club was one I really enjoyed. I have never read anything by Steinem before, and now I really want to find more of her writing. I found her anecdotes about her life fascinating.
3. Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen – I read a lot of YA literature, but I usually stick to the fantasy/scifi side of things. However, I picked up an ARC of this and decided to give it a chance. The plot of the novel was enjoyable enough, however I wasn’t very impressed with Dessen’s writing. It was kind of exactly what I expected, which wasn’t much. But it was entertaining enough.
4. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon – Another YA book that didn’t fit my normal reading habits. I was hesitant about this one because the plot reminded me a little of The Fault in Our Stars and I was afraid it would be too depressing. However, I ended up really enjoying this novel, even more so than TFIOS.
5. Vintage Hughes by Langston Hughes – I keep trying to read more poetry, because I’m not really a poetry reader and I’d like to be. I do however enjoy Langston Hughes because I like the rhythm of his writing.
6. My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots by John Guy– I enjoy reading memoirs; I think there’s something more interesting about reading about a person’s life when written in their own voice than a biography written by someone else. However, I attempted a reading challenge (and ended up failing it) where I would read a different genre each month. January was biography and I had picked this one up in Scotland because I was fascinated by Queen Mary. I actually found this book to be rather interesting, though still a little bit of a slow read.
7. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon – I am not a fan of romance or historical fiction older than the last century but after seeing the first half of season 1 of Outlander I had to read the novel too. I really enjoyed this first book and kept reading up to book 5. I’ll probably catch up with the rest of the series someday.
8. The Witches by Stacey Schiff  – I don’t read a lot of historical nonfiction, but this was a topic that I am extremely fascinated in, mostly because I am related to two of the women executed during the Salem Witch Trials. This is probably the first history book I’ve read in a very long time and I found Schiff’s writing engaging and interesting. I really enjoyed this book.