It’s no secret at all that I’m really picky about the books I read.
Am I a book snob? Pssh, yeah, okay, maybe a little. But that’s only because none of you slackers have unlocked the key to immortality yet, and for some reason I’m unable to read all the books in my lifetime. So … obviously not my fault.
I’m super reluctant to pick up books that I think I won’t enjoy because, one, life’s too short for things you don’t enjoy and you’re already suckered into doing too many of those things anyway (you know, like work, talking to other people, and visiting family). And two, every book I pick up is a trade-off between a different book I could be reading and potentially enjoying.
It’s all about balance. Besides, if I’m not the audience for a book, I’m not doing that book and that author any favors, anyway. They weren’t writing for me. Which is rude, for sure, but me butting my nose where it doesn’t belong is also rude.
BUT! Every now and then, a book surprises me. I fiiiiinally pick up one that I’ve passed over for a variety of reasons (because I have all the excuses) and … surprise! I love it? Wait, how does that happen?
Clearly, shenanigans are afoot here. So this week, I want to step out of my little bubble of YA fantasy (and occasionally adult fantasy) to present … Other Books ™. So if you like some of the same books as I do as far as YA fantasy goes … consider checking some of these out! You might be pleasantly surprised.
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is books I enjoyed that are outside of my comfort zone.
And also a good reminder for why it’s important to read outside your comfort zone and push your limits and discover new things. Because my reasons for not reading these were silly, and obviously I was wrong. So if any of these reasons sound familiar … reconsider!
The Illuminae Files
Reasons for not reading:
✿ Space opera? Ewwwww. Get it away from me.
✿ Spaceships? *yawn* Paaaaaass.
✿ It’s a teen romance. Bet it’s all sappy and teen drama-y. Puke.
✿ I don’t like reading books set that far in the future. As if we won’t explode ourselves by then.
Elantris
Reasons for not reading:
✿ My husband recommended this one, and pffft, what does he know?
✿ He married me, soooo … clearly, I question his judgment.
✿ But it’s high fantasyyyy and high fantasy is boriiiing. *whines*
✿ Who is this Brandon Sanderson person anyway?
✿ I hate real politics. Why would I want to read made-up politics?
Nevermoor
Reasons for not reading:
✿ I keep striking out in middle-grade.
✿ Maybe I’m just too old for fun and whimsy at this point?
✿ It sounds kind of … silly. In a ridiculous sort of way.
✿ What even is that cover? It looks like Borrowers. NEXT!
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Reasons for not reading:
✿ Romance. Gag.
✿ Contemporary teens are exhausting. I don’t know if I want to read about them.
✿ Sounds kind of boring.
✿ Will there even be a plot in this?!
✿ I don’t know if I can bring myself to like these characters.
A Man Called Ove
Reasons for not reading:
✿ This sounds pretty dang boring.
✿ … is it “ove” … “ov-ay” … “oo-ve” … “oo-vay”?
✿ I keep striking out with contemporaries with older protagonists.
✿ These characters sound dull.
✿ But where’s the plot?!
Wintersong / Shadowsong
Reasons for not reading:
✿ So much romance and fated lovers and puke.
✿ All this talk of music makes my head hurt.
✿ Retellings are soooo hit or miss. Haven’t I heard this story before?
✿ This sounds like a giant bundle of cliches.
The Art of Racing in the Rain
Reasons for not reading:
✿ … from the POV of a dog? How does that even work?!
✿ I hate racing. *cue flashbacks of whining about my dad watching NASCAR*
✿ I’m not sure this actually has any real action in it.
✿ It looks sad. I’m not in the mood to be sad.
✿ The doggo dies?! What kind of story is this?!
Mort
Reasons for not reading:
✿ There are HOW MANY books in this series?!
✿ Where do I even start?! Numbers mean things, you know!
✿ This seems a little … out there.
✿ Wait, who’s Terry Pratchett again? Didn’t he die or something … ?
Into the Drowning Deep
Reasons for not reading:
✿ I don’t like horror stories.
✿ Mermaids are stupid.
✿ Pretty sure this has been done 10,000 times before.
✿ Sounds like a bunch of scientists just spewing science everywhere.
Moonrise
Reasons for not reading:
✿ What even is a book written in verse?
✿ I like my poetry as poetry and my books as books, thanks.
✿ How can you have a full plot and meaningful characters in verse?
✿ This seems like an all-around bad idea …
✿ Pffft, bet it doesn’t even make sense as a story.
I really want to read The Art of Racing in the Rain. I’m a huge dog lover so I’m a bit worried about the ending, but hey I’m tough, I can take it!
I highly recommend it! There’s only one part that’s really animal negligence, and it’s unintentional and plays a huge part in the overall story, but the rest is fine! It’s a good ending. :3 I promise.
I loved Ove! We looked up the pronunciation in book club when we read it. I believe it was your last option. Have you seen the Sweedish adaptation?
I did watch it! That’s how I finally figured out how to pronounce Ove. Nobody else in my book club could figure out how to pronounce it (because they’re all older and don’t use Google hehe). But I had looked it up and then found the movie, thankfully. 🙂 The movie wasn’t quite as good as the book, because you lose a lot of Ove’s inner thoughts, which are pure gold, but they did about as good a job as they could, I thought.
Being you liked Gideon I wouldnt have guessed Space Opera was outside of your comfort zone. Also I didn’t know Illuminae was romance. Wont be my first dive into a kristoff. Thank you
I actually tried Gideon because I loved Illuminae, so I’ve been giving more things a chance. Also, necromancers. xD Yeah, it’s definitely romance, but the romance isn’t the focus of the story. It’s more of a subplot.
Gotcha! That makes sense!
I dropped the Clue interview today when you get a chance! Lots of Clue Geekdom!!!! 🙂
Yeeeees. <3 I'll have to check it tomorrow over some coffee, when I have some time to read and appreciate it. :D Been looking forward to that one. I've already got it open and ready. Thanks for the heads up!
No problem! I should have the ARC in the mail over the weekend.
Thank you so much. <3 I really appreciate it.
No worries!
I had the same hesitations about The Art of Racing in the Rain, but it was such an amazing story. Have you seen the film? (Or are you planning to watch it?) I’m planning to save it for this upcoming winter. I like having stuff like that to look forward to when the weather outside is frightful. 🙂
My TTT.
I’ll probably do the same! I don’t tend to watch a whole lot of TV during the summer because … well, sunshine! Winter is when I do most of my TV viewing (and also … I’ll definitely be in the mood for some easy, feel-good movies, so it’ll be perfect). I’m excited to see it, though. I’ve seen the trailers and it looks brilliant!
Illuminae is one I’ve been dying to pick up!!! I have the audiobook. I just need to make time for it!
My TTT
Can’t recommend it enough! I read the series, which was a heck of an experience, but I just listened to Illuminae on audiobook last month and … wow, the experience is totally different. I hope you get time to listen to it soon. 🙂
I’m a middle-grade reader anyway, I think there is so much good stuff in the category but the Nevermoor series is so special. I’m so glad you loved it! Illuminae made my list as well!!
I’ve recently read more middle grade that I’ve really enjoyed! But when I first saw it or heard about it, I’d had a string of mid-grade that I just couldn’t get into.
Ohhh I forgot A Man Called Ove!! I’m always hesitant to pick up books with older protagonists because I’m worried I won’t be able to connect with them. But then I read something like Ove, and it always proves me wrong. And ROFL at the Elantris bit! Your husband has excellent taste. XD
I’ve tried a bunch of books with older protagonists, and for most of them, I feel meh. It has nothing to do with the age, just the tropes that authors seem to assign to these books. On the other hand, some of my favorite books also include older protagonists. It’s just a matter of trial and error, I guess. I love Ove, and I love Granny from Backman’s “My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry”.
His new thing is that I need to read Mistborn. I’ve only made him wait for pretty near forever, so I guess I should read it soon, for the sake of my marriage. xD
Oh you should DEFINITELY try Mistborn!! It’s not my favourite Sanderson series, but some of the plot reveals in that story were just pure. effing. genius. 😀
I mean, to be fair, though, even the not-favorite Sanderson books are usually way better than a lot of other books. xD I totally recognize that haha. I just picked up a copy from the library this week (because we have the mass market version and it’s destroying my eyes), so this is for sure happening!
Yessssss I can’t wait to hear what you think of it!!!!
LOL, I love your spin on this, and telling why *not* to read it instead of why *to* read it! So good.
I’ve been avoiding Into The Drowning Deep, but only because I’m afraid of nightmares. I really want to read it, otherwise. And I’m with you about the politics thing. But I’m going to give Elantris a try anyway.
I have all the reasons. xD What can I say?
Into The Drowning Deep was more … tension, I think? There were some pretty graphic/gory scenes, though, so if you get queasy easily, maybe not. I knew how it was going to end, but I LOVE cheesy monster movies, and this really had that feel. If you could handle something like Jaws, you could handle this book.
I soooo recommend Elantris. The politics wasn’t a huge focus (it’s more of a focus in Warbreaker, if you’ve ever read that). Elantris felt more like a high fantasy mystery to me. Also, I mean, you really can’t go wrong with Sanderson. I have since learned the errors of my ways and have been working my way through all of his work.
Awesome! I can handle graphic/gory when I know to expect it, so that’s good. I haven’t read Warbreaker, so I can’t compare to that sadly. I’ll just have to give it a try!
Have you seen the movie adaptation of A Man Called Ove? I actually preferred it to the book, but that might be connected to the poor audiobook narrator.
I did! I actually liked the book better, because I thought Ove’s inner monologue was golden, but I didn’t listen to the audiobook. Lousy narrators can easily kill those, though. The movie was really good, though, and I thought they did a fantastic job!
I really enjoyed The Art of Racing in the Rain! Dog stories are kind of overdone lately, but this one still stands out in my mind. I can’t believe it’ll be on the big screen, too!
I definitely feel like they’re getting a bit over-saturated, but to be fair, it’s also an older book. The movie looks so good, though! I’m excited to see it.
Love this post Sammie! I’m totally guilty of having those thoughts about Wintersong pretty much every time that I see it as a recommendation on Amazon 😂 Glad to hear you enjoyed it though so I might be a little less eye-roll-y when I come across it next time! Also like your mention of Into the Drowning Deep here. I’m not a fan of horror and even though I’ve been super curious about this one coz it just sounds so good, I haven’t had the guts to pick it up. I think I will now 😃 I’m sure it’ll still be scary but maybe do-able haha
My TTT post
Glad you enjoyed it. xD I had fun remembering all my excuses. Now there’s one thing I’ll never run out of, at least. 😉
I liked Shadowsong better, honestly, since Wintersong was a little slower and more focused on the romance and I’m not a huge romance fan. But I definitely enjoyed the duology.
I hope you enjoy it! Like I told someone else, if you can handle Jaws, that’s about the same level this book is. It’s creepy in that “unknown monster in the depths” sort of way, but it’s really the tension and less the scare factor that made it great for me, personally.
I love the Illuminae Files! But I enjoy science-fiction a lot.
I thought Wintersong was an okay book, but I didn’t like Shadowsong at all. I don’t prefer contemporary, but I do want to read Aristotle and Dante someday.
I usually only like dystopian type sci-fi. I’m not usually big on aliens and spaceships. That’s funny, because I liked Shadowsong better than Wintersong. Ah well. I seem to be in the minority, which doesn’t surprise me any. xD Highly recommend Aristotle and Dante! It was a great read.
Psh I love your reasons for not reading it. I’m kind of curious to see what your reasons were for loving it, but I guess I could just ask you and see what you say lol 😀
Which book is “it” here? Illuminae? xD Because I totally wrote a post for 10 reasons to read Illuminae, so, you know, fair and balanced lol.
I had to laugh at some of your reasoning because mine are oh-so-similar. Like for A Mon Called Ove and Aristotle & Dante. We part ways on Wintersong, though. I finished that one, yawned, and thought, “Yep should have listened to my instincts.” LOL
Ha, I’m glad they were relatable! I knew I couldn’t be the only one to have had those first impressions. I’m a sucker for lore, especially about Der Erlkonig, so that may be part of the reason I liked that one so much, to be fair. :3
I’m not a fan of mermaids either. My husband would probably enjoy Elantris ! 🙂
I definitely recommend Elantris! I figured I was going to be sort of indifferent about it, but I ended up loving it so much that I was convinced to read all of Sanderson’s books. :3
Yeah I had similair feels with Illuminae haha.
It seems like a lot of people did. Thank goodness for everyone who kept insisting it was so good and I had to read it anyway. xD
[…] me on Goodreads ✦ Why I Write “Negative” Reviews (And Why You Don’t Have To) ✦ Books I Was Hesitant to Read (But Loved Anyway) ✦ Books On My TBR I’m Avoiding (Ft. Me Being A Silly Bean) ✦ Gripping First Lines || They Got […]