Hello and welcome to another edition of Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. After taking a break last week (work was killing me), I’m back with this week’s topic: 10 books I recently read that weren’t my usual genre/type of books. If you’ve been reading my blogs for some time, you’d notice that I mostly read fantasy, usually YA but lately I read more and more adult fantasy. There were times though when I got swayed by recommendations and tried contemporary or classics. The results were varied, but I surprisingly enjoyed many of them.
So here they are in no particular order.
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender (Leslye Walton)
Only got to reading this because I joined the Blogger Bookclub in Goodreads. I haven’t posted a review, but gosh was it beautiful. I’m sure there are many people who love magical realism, but personally it’s not for me (my latest encounter led me to DNF’d Magonia about one-third through and haven’t tried any since), but this book! This book I could wholeheartedly recommend.
Charm & Strange (Stephanie Kuehn)
CW from Read, Think, Ponder recommended Stephanie Kuehn’s books when I asked her recommendations for good books about mental illness. I pick Charm & Strange because the title and the blurb intrigued me. I’ve recently posted a review of this book, but to sum it up Charm & Strange is compelling, heartbreaking, and yet it’s full of love and hope.
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
My first read of Jane Eyre was a complete failure that led me to DNF’d it at around 60% mark. It turned out all I need was the right circumstances and mood. I still had difficulty enjoying the prose, but I could appreciate the story and especially Jane herself.
Illuminae (Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff)
I was skeptical about the format. After finding out that the story was told via illustrations and reports, I was scared that it’s going to be like encyclopedia. However, after reading so many positive reviews, my fellow book lovers enthusiasm finally got to me. I could now report that Illuminae deserves all the hype it gets.
The Summer I Turned Pretty (Jenny Han)
I’ve seen and heard about this book for years, but not after I read Trisha @ The Bookgasm Blog gushed about Jenny Han in many of her posts, did I decide to read it. My verdict: it was the perfect book to be read whilst enjoying coffee on my days off.
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Becky Albertalli)
One day I will have a new contemporary book to obsess about, but until that day I’ll push this book to everyone. I bought Simon vs. on a whim and finished it in two sittings. It was that good.
The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)
Yes, this one is an epic fantasy, but not the one I’m used to. Rothfuss wrote beautifully and beautiful is just not the style I usually enjoy. However, this book has proved me wrong. I do enjoy The Name of the Wind, albeit not as much as many people love it. Gave it 3.5 stars but mostly because I cannot quite connect with Kvothe.
Challenger Deep (Neal Shusterman)
I read this book only because Neal Shusterman is one of my must-read authors. Did I know what’s the book about? Very vaguely. I went into reading it blind. It came as a truly pleasant surprise how much I actually care about the characters.
American Gods (Neil Gaiman)
I’ve never read Neil Gaiman’s book before and I have to say that American Gods is a strange book… It also seemed to have lodge itself in my brain.
Landline (Rainbow Rowell)
Landline is another case of must-read because of the author. But the thing is I haven’t read adult romance books for years, and even then I mostly read Chic-Lit because they’re fun. I have to say that Landline is one of my favorite Rainbow Rowell’s books, second only to Carry on. Many times while reading this book, I found myself flipping back and re-read certain paragraph again and again. I also ugly cried while reading this, which was so weird. I might be the only person who cried while reading Landline but whatever. 🙂
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American Gods will do that to you. It’s just so strange, but familiar? And it just sits there and reminds you of things. I think I’ve read it three times in the last ten years? And will probably read it over and over in the years to come (especially since they are doing a show of it now too…)
Exactly! I cannot stop thinking about it.
Oh yes, I’ve heard about the show. American Gods seems to be the kind of book that’s perfect for TV. I’ll be waiting for it.
Illuminae was awesome 🙂 American Gods was a DNF for me. I didn’t mind it, I just had no urge to finish it. My TTT
It was awesome and way better than I expected it. 🙂
Yayyy! I’m glad you enjoyed Summer Trilogy! I feel like rereading the series again this summer (which is April for us).
You are right about Jane Eyre or amy other classic tbh. It took me multiple tries before I get to finish one! Haha!
😀 Yay! I haven’t finished the series, I’m saving them for the holidays.
Pride & Prejudice was the easiest for me because I liked Elizabeth a lot. The rest of them are much more difficult to finish. Classics for me are books that should only be read when in the mood. I haven’t read that many classics though.