Book Blogger Hop No. 43: Venturing Out of your Reading Comfort Zone

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop,

hosted by Billy @

Ramblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer!

For more information, click HERE.

What to Do

1.) Post on your blog answering this week's

question:

Have you ever ventured out of your

comfort zone in terms of reading 

a genre you have never read? 

If so, did you get

hooked on that new genre?

(submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

2.)  Enter the link to your post in the

Linky list on Billy's blog.

3.)  Visit other blogs on the list and

comment on their posts. 

4.)  Be sure to find out next week's

question when you visit

Ramblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer!

My Answer

Currently, I rarely venture outside my reading comfort zone, but in the past, I did so on a couple of occasions.

The first one was when I first fell madly in love. Before this happened, I had looked down my nose at romance novels, considering them silly and too sentimental. I was only into reading classics, literary fiction, fantasy, and science fiction. I also read some nonfiction from time to time. But then I fell head over heels.....and suddenly, I decided to pick up a romance novel. What a revelation! It turned out that I really enjoyed reading them -- especially historical romance. I quickly became addicted to these books! I still read this genre, although now I prefer paranormal romance, but do still occasionally read historical and contemporary romance, as well.

In my twenties, I decided, for some crazy reason, that I would read a horror novel. Alas, this was a HUGE mistake! I read The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty. I never saw the movie, but only read the book. But, just from reading the book, I was unable to sleep well for an entire week!

Years later, I also read The Forbidden Game, by L.J. Smith, which is an omnibus edition of three YA  horror novels. Again, I don't know why I decided to do this, but, this time around, I actually couldn't put down this book! It was VERY well-written, and had a lot of twists and turns. However, I have no desire to read it again, as there were some truly scary moments in it! 

I am too sensitive to read horror novels; they totally terrify me, and I do NOT like to feel terrified! 

In 2006, I became hooked on a new genre -- Young Adult Fiction. This happened because of The Twilight Saga. It might seem ironic that, since I don't like the horror genre, I would love this series, which features vampires and werewolves. But there are some differences between urban fantasy -- which is the genre these books also belong to -- and horror. Besides, these novels are also categorized as paranormal romance.

After reading The Twilight Saga (the first time, that is), I got into the Harry Potter series. And now I'm totally addicted to Young Adult Fiction! So this was a happy venture! I still read other genres, of course. But I will never stop reading YA novels. And the really great thing about this genre is that it encompasses several sub-genres, such as the ones I mentioned above, as well as fantasy, science fiction, dystopian fiction, Steampunk, and romance. Young Adult romances mostly fall into three categories: fantasy, paranormal, and contemporary. Although I do prefer the first two, I will occasionally read the third.

I'm now wondering if I should sample some cozy mysteries next. Hmmm......     
 

     

What are your thoughts?

Please leave a comment,

and I'll go check out your post!