Top Ten Tuesday-Books I Loved Outside My Comfort Zone

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday/

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This week is about books outside my comfort zone that I ended up loving though I was a bit reluctant to try them initially. I tend to love horror, apocalypse and urban fantasy so these books were outside of what I normally read.

1) Martha Wells-The Murderbot Diaries
Social anxiety in a robot who just wants to be left alone to watch favourite drama series is something I can really relate to! I'm not big on robots or AI or evil corporations and space conspiracy but it was reviews about the great MC and the humour that made me want to read this one.

2) Philippa Gregory-The Other Boleyn Girl
Despite reading romances as a young teen, I actively disliked romance as I became an older reader. In fact I try to avoid it. It was reviews from friends that got me curious about it and that it was based on real events ie Henry VIII affair with both Boleyn sisters. This book got me interested in The Tudors and I've read a ton of them since!

3) George RR Martin-A Game Of Thrones
I don't read much fantasy at all and huge books scare me so I had no plans to read this series. That changed when I binge-watched the first six seasons of Game on Thrones on TV and loved it. I then became curious about the books and devoured them too. Now, like many others, I wait for The Winds of Winter!

4) JK Rowling-Harry Potter
A friend at work wanted me to read the books but kids books no longer interested me. It was over a year later that I picked them up through a book club and binge-read the first four books in a few days. I loved the humour, the incredible world-building and clever plots. Now Harry is one of my favourite ever series!

5) Jon Krakauer-Into Thin Air
I was in the Seasonal Reading Challenge group on Goodreads and had to read a book about mountains. I wasn't greatly excited but this one was recommended. I was hooked as soon as I started reading it and it has led to a great love of reading true mountain expedition books about the highest mountains, the death and dangers and the triumphs.

6) Ernest Cline-Ready Player One
I'm not a gamer or much into YA dystopian at the moment but I read a lot of great reviews of it. As a child of the eighties, I knew I'd get the music and film references and of course I knew that the film was coming out. I've yet to watch the film but I really enjoyed the book including the challenges, the retro feel and a shared love of the old days playing Pac-Man!

7) Jung Chang-Wild Swans
When I was active on Bookcrossing years ago, I loved the idea of book boxes where you posted a box of themed books to another reader who took out what they wanted to read and put others into the box before sending it on. I joined the Asian box on a whim. I don't recall the first one I gained from the box but I developed a great love for this type of non fiction for several years.

8) LD Goffigan-The Beast of London
I'm not a fan of books in the era of Victorian England. I don't like the society stuff or how women had to behave. I did love the cover of this one and it sounded like an interesting twist on the Dracula story so I read it anyway. I really enjoyed it and have now bought other books in the series!

9) Michael Korda-The Immortals
This is the fictional sory of the alleged affairs that Marilyn Monroe had with Jack and Bobby Kennedy. I picked this up totally on a whim despite not being into anything with romance. I found the whole book fascinating to read and was glad I had taken the risk. It helps that I have always been interested in the Kennedy family, though mostly the assassination events.

10) Matthew Quick-The Silver Linings Playbook
I don't read contemporary at all but I wanted to take a look at this film because of the big cast and decided it would be a good idea to read the book first. I usually like to see what the author wanted before seeing changes in the film. I'm glad I did as it turned out to be very good. I also very much enjoyed the film which I watched recently.