Top Ten Tuesday: Books outside my comfort zone

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week’s theme is:  Books I enjoyed that are outside my comfort zone.

I like to think that I read pretty adventurously and push my comfort limits a lot. But looking at my recent reading list, I realize that sadly is not true. I tend to stick to crime and historical fiction. And of late, I have lost the patience to read anything remotely mentally taxing it seems. That said, here are some of the books that I read that were out of my comfort zone, but also well worth reading.

1. Milkman by Anna Burns – This stream of consciousness style novel is not my style at all. But after three weeks of slogging through it, I suddenly hit a breakthrough and ended up simply loving this book.
2. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K.Le Guin – I used to read sci-fi a lot when I was a teen, but in the past few years, I haven’t been into this genre. The Left Hand of Darkness is also a different kind of sci-fi, more a story of ideas than any serious action. I ended up liking it anyway, in spite of its odd style.
3. The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu – This book is way out of my comfort zone, and it has to be the first translated sci-fi book I’ve read. It’s fantastic though and I enjoyed every bit of it.
4. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami – OK, so this is not completely out of my comfort zone. I like and enjoy his books. But these days, I am not into chunksters, rarely having the patience to finish more than 400 pages, but I zipped through 1500 pages of 1Q84 with nary a moment of boredom.
5. The Goat Thief by Perumal Murugan – I’m not a huge fan of short stories, and I definitely venture into those only if I have enjoyed an author’s longer works. So, this was a bit of a stretch. Very enjoyable and entertaining read though!
6. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas – This was an unsolicited review copy and I went into it with a bit of apprehension. YA is not my preferred genre, but this book blew me away with its candid approach to racism and police violence.
7. The Poison of Love by K.R. Meera – Another unsolicited review copy. I can’t say I loved this short bitter novel of love gone wrong wholeheartedly. But the voice of the protagonist was searing, and I ended up reading the whole book in a single sitting.
8. Bijnis Woman by Tanuja Chandra – Tanuja Chandra is a famous Bollywood director, and I was surprised when I found out she penned a book of short stories. I normally avoid celebrity authors like the plague, but this book was surprisingly down to earth and raw. A pleasant surprise!
9. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – I am unhappily aware that I don’t read much diverse fiction. And I especially don’t read many books by African authors. I really should because whenever I have attempted them, I end up loving them.
10. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters – Again, I don’t read much LGBTQ books, I haven’t seen too many around near where I live. But Sarah Waters is an exception. I love Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith and The Night Watch too. And I will read anything she writes. Love her!

What about you? Have you read any of these books? What kind of books do you tend to read less of?