A Month of Faves is hosted by Andi, Tanya and Tamara
Reading Outside My Comfort Zone
Here’s what I typically read: fiction, graphic novels and comics, SF and fantasy, and because I have two boys aged 3 and 5, plenty of picture books, beginning readers and now some easier chapter books. I also sometimes read non-fiction but not as much as I would like.
So for me reading outside my comfort zone means genres like romance and YA.
And hey I actually did read some of that this year!
I was surprised to find myself liking A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev, once I managed to get over the over-dramatic way things seem to happen – they first meet when she falls over, hurts her ankle AND her writs (running away from him – long story), and he decides to care for her (rather devotedly). And there’s the whole back story of how she’s actually been married to his brother since the age of four. Over the top but kinda fun.
Everything Everything – Nicola Yoon
I read this partly because I kept seeing it everywhere. And also partly because I love this tweet of hers and I wanted to see what her writing was like.
#WeNeedDiverseBooks because this is my family pic.twitter.com/lepPAiSWHh
— Nicola Yoon (@NicolaYoon) May 1, 2014
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I think my teenaged self would have really liked this book but the far more skeptical adult me was rolling my eyes a bit.
The teenage me hated YA. lol But then YA has changed a lot since I was a teen. The stuff that was popular back then was so predictable and mass produced. I hardly read it when I was a teen and was pretty hesitant to try it as an adult when the craze started, but I have found some stuff that is not entirely terrible. lol
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Haha. I think that may the thing with YA, finding stuff that isn’t terrible and eye-rolling. Well, for instance, I did really like Dumplin’
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YA and romance are also out of my comfort zone too and you pretty much hit on the why with YA.
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YA eYe-rolling Ahead
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I loved the cover of Everything Everything, but still couldn’t bring myself to cross the YA line. I teach middle school and that’s all the YA I can handle!
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I can imagine! Ok maybe I can’t imagine… I’ve got two little boys and am not looking forward to teenagers! ＼(^o^)／
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Everything, Everything is SO RIDICULOUS. I rolled my eyes at so much of it (especially the ENTIRE ENDING). I have very strong feelings about that, obviously. Haha. I much preferred Yoon’s latest book, though I do enjoy her writing style in general.
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Oh yes, I know what you mean about that. I wasn’t sure about trying her latest book, to be honest, but now that you’ve mentioned it, I may give it a go.
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At first I was really annoyed by some of the inconsistencieswith what she could and couldn’t do in her situation (but that went away with the “big reveal”, so I guess we were supposed to be bothered by them?) and the romance was a little-much-ish, in the way that so many teen romances seem to be, but I thought it was good overall, and I really liked the illustrations and format of it too. Still, I’m undecided about the second one….
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I don’t think I was so bothered by the romance as much as the whole big reveal!
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Those types of books are outside my comfort zone too – but thanks to your recommendation, I’ll try A Bollywood Affair in the new year.
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You’re welcome!
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I’m really not into YA ( I did like Twilight, but the others were not good and I could have cared less if she was a vampire by the end of the book 😉
But I do have interest in Kimberly McCreight’s latest YA book- The Outliers. So, maybe I’ll try that!
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