Top Ten Tuesday - 8

Top Ten Tuesday was started by The Broke and the Bookish for those who like books and lists!

Top Ten Books I've Read That Were Outside My Comfort Zone

1. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
I read this in 9th grade global studies class and we had to get parent permission to read it. It's a memoir about a young boy growing up during Apartheid in South Africa. It's really hard to read because he lives in extreme poverty but it's ultimately a success story. I actually enjoyed it a lot.

2. Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
I knew this was going to be a tough read since it's about incest but I ended up loving it! I felt uncomfortable during most of it, but that's what good literature is supposed to do. The book was so well-written that it was worth it.

3. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
My grandmother recommended this to me, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's more out of my comfort zone in terms of length and the writing style (from the late 1800s). I liked it but think some major editing could have occurred to make the book a lot shorter.

4. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
This was required summer reading for honors students entering 10th grade. Everyone hated it, myself included. It probably wasn't that bad of a book, but my age and the fact that it was forced upon me didn't help. It's a memoir about a woman living during the Iranian Revolution, interspersed with commentary on Western books she taught her students (one of which was Lolita, so that made me uncomfortable as well).

5. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
This book was so creepy and definitely not in my comfort zone! For those who are unaware, it's about a young girl who was kidnapped and is sexually abused by her captor. It was still pretty good, although I must say that I prefer Scott's lighter novels.

6. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Reading about a girl who has anorexia and getting direct insight in her mind is not a super fun topic but the novel was still good (I'm sensing a trend here).

7. The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
I'm not really a big fan of fantasy, unless it's really well-written. That's why I was wary of reading The Warrior Heir but it was still great (it helps that it wasn't high fantasy)! Still need to read the last book in the trilogy, but I'll get to it.

8. A Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter
I read this in 7th grade English class and did not like it all! It was one of the first books I had read that was written in that annoying old-time language. And by old time I mean 1950s. But I was 12 and it honestly was as dry and boring as something from the 19th century. I am curious as to what I'd think of it now. (Side Note: Can I just say that my middle school had both English and Reading classes? That makes no sense to me now)

9. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
This is out of my comfort zone because I had never read anything about vampires before. And before the vampire craze, people would look at you funny if you said "It's about a girl who falls in love with a vampire." Now, people look at you funny if a book doesn't have vampires in it.

10. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
The only reason this on my list is that I got creeped out everytime I had to read it. In the book, the main character turns into a giant cockroach and it gives me the chills. Even writing this is making me feel weird. It's so gross!