Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books I Enjoyed That Weren't My Typical Genres or Were Out of My Comfort Zone

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the wonderful The Broke and the Bookish !



1 and 2: Cast of Shadows by Kevin Guilfoile, and Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland

 

These are both genre-defying novels, a little bit science fiction, a little bit fantasy, a little bit thriller, and both unlike anything I have read before or since.

3: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I don't typically read much science fiction, but my dad and brother both told me I would love this book, and they were right.

4, 5, and 6: Pines, Wayward, and The Last Town by Blake Crouch

These were three more science fiction books that I absolutely devoured. I had gone in expecting them to be more mystery/thriller, but was pleasantly surprised by just how much I loved the deviation into science fiction territory.

7: What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe

I am not a science person, and I am especially not a math person. But this book, with all its physics and numbers, was entertaining, informative, and sometimes laugh out loud funny.

8: Death Cloud (Sherlock Holmes: The Legend Begins) by Andrew Lane

This one may come as a surprise on the list, as if you know me you know how much I love Sherlock Holmes. But I rarely read any prequels to the original canon, as one of my favorite parts of the Holmes stories is his friendship with Dr. Watson. This book was a good read though, and I plan to pick up the rest of the series someday.

9: Bones and All by Camille DeAngelis

While I enjoy horror novels, I normally avoid books that have a "squick" factor, in this case cannibalism. But this book was really well-written, and DeAngelis managed to make the main character likeable, sympathetic, and someone to root for.

10: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

This is way outside my usual reads, in terms of being so strongly science fiction, but it is my brother's favorite book of all-time, so I had to read it. I ended up finding it a really good read.