Top Ten: Books I Read Outside Of My Comfort Zone

I'm participating in Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday The Broke and the Bookish post their top ten lists on various topics: Top Ten Tuesday page

This week I am focusing on the Top Ten Books I read that were outside of my comfort zone. This one is difficult for me as I read a lot of different genres, however, these books are ones that were not in my comfort zone at the time I read them:

1. City Of Bones by Cassandra Clare - Now I have a confession - before reading City Of Bones, I had never read a book that contained Vampires, Werewolves, Demons etc. No, not even Twilight (I still havent read or watched Twilight!) I was under the impression that I really wouldn't enjoy a book with any of the aforementioned involved. I have no idea where that preconception came from but it kept me away from many books for many years. Until I got talking to people in theYA book community read City Of Bones and realised, actually, I do want to read more Supernatural books.

2. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa - Do I even need to explain this one?! This was the book that sparked my slight, ok maybe big, obsession with Fae. It was with very first book I had read since I was a very small child that featured Fae in any shape or form. I really thought this type of book wouldn't be for me, until I heard so many great things about it from the book blogging community. It was also the very first YA book I ever read!

3. Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell - My dad leant this one to me, after I ended up wanting to read and having nothing to read. This was years ago before I started to collect books and only went to the library for books. I really thought that this book would be one word; boring and that it would be a book only for guys with all the historical references. Boy, was I wrong, I loved this one and have read many other Bernard Cornwell novels since.

4. Envy by Gregg Olsen - I don't usually read crime novels. In fact I hardly ever read crime novels. Perhaps it is because my mum reads ONLY crime novels, where at least one character ends up murdered. After reading a couple of her novels and being scared out of my mind, when I was younger, I stayed clear of crime novels. That is until I read Envy, which I have to admit I really enjoyed.

5. Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake- I really dislike horror. You can call me a wuss if you want, thats fine by me. I just hate to be scared and I really don't like gore. I refuse to watch horror movies, and would rather give up all my books than ever watch Saw. Yes, thats how much I hate horror. So, I tend to stay away from horror books as well, that is until this Halloween when I read Anna Dressed In Blood and LOVED it.

6. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown - Angels and Demon's involved pretty much everything that I tend not to read about in a book - religious aspects, Science, crime and so much more. With all the hype around this book and pretty much everyone else I knew reading it I decided to give it a shot. You know what? - I actually enjoyed it.

7. Birthmarked by Caragh M OBrien - Birthmarked was the very first Dystopian novel I ever read. Why? Well I just did not think Dystopian would be for me, afterall I have always prefered more 'real life novels'. Read this one and LOVED it. Hmmm perhaps I need to stop having preconceievd notions about genres and novels. I think I need to learn my lesson that whenever I think I won't like something really it means that I will. This book definatly got me into reading more Dystopian novels.

8. Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan - I tend not to read much Sci-Fi, in fact I never read Sci-Fi. Although, another confession, I do enjoy an occasional episode of Star Trek Enterprise. Yet Sci-Fi books had never really appealed to my reading tastes. That is until I read Glow and really enjoyed it. While I doubt I will read much more Sci Fi in the future, except of course the next book in the series, this was an fantastic change from my usual reading genres.

9. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl - Before reading Beuatiful Creatures I had not read a witch book since my childhood when I loved The Worst Witch books. Since then, I put Witch books aside and didn't think twice. That is until I stumbled across the Caster Chronicles series and realised that you are never too old to enjoy a well written book about Wicthes.

10. Mein Kampft by Adolf Hitler - I know you are double checking to make sure you saw the title that you think you did. Yes, I read Hitler's 'biography', and no this is not because I like Hitler, more because I studied Nazi Germany at school and did some extra reading around the subject. To say one thing about the book would be that it was interesting. This was outside my comfort zone for the obvious reasons but also because I tend not to read very much Non-Fiction.

What books have you read that are outside your comfort zone?