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A book outside your comfort zone

Oh, boy. Uncertain what I might select for this. Perhaps something I consider to be a bit scary, but not "horror"! Or perhaps a classic book I feel I should read, but for whatever reason, haven't done so. Maybe I feel it will be boring or something else...
The Portrait of Dorian Gray was just such an example. In fact, now that I think about it, I do have a copy of Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier that I purchased after reading Rebecca and finding it not to be as scary as I feared it might be...

Anyway, since this is definitely an individual choice, so there is no listopia...

I'll probably go with The Reformatoryby Tananarive Due. I'm generally a wimp with horror, but this one sounds like so much more than a ghost story - it's about the spiritual price of racism and oppression.

You Weren't Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White
Trigger warning for pregnancy related body horror.

I'm going to go with an uncomfortable topic and read Together We Will Go. In the words of the blurb, it's about a road trip where the "passengers are all fellow disheartened souls who have decided that this will be their final journey - upon arrival in San Francisco, they will find a cliff with an amazing view of the ocean at sunset, hit the gas, and drive out of this world."

Nefertiti



I hardly ever read historical fiction, but after watching the Mummy movies in October, I got in the mood to want to read up some Egyptian nonfiction and fiction so I'll be going with this one.

Really no idea where to go with this one - I always say I am willing to read anything. May have to go a little sneaky with this and pick a book I read on an airplane or somewhere else that isn't a comfortable place!

I have no idea what to do with this. I think it might end up being a classic. TBH a lot of prompts this year are going to take me out of my comfort zone anyway.
I might use something I end up using for a Goodreads prompt.

I think I will end up with poetry for this prompt. I seldom read it.

I will probably end up with nonfiction, a classic, or poetry, since those are my least read book types. Treating it as a bit of a free space for now.

My sister is really good at picking books that challenge me. Books I'd never run across on my own. I'll probably ask her for a recommendation.

I'm reading The Steal: The Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election and The People Who Stopped It

The current White House incumbent is definitely out of my comfort zone.

Business: Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain - Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History (2021)

Mathematics: Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife

String, Straightedge, and Shadow: The Story of Geometry by Julia E. Diggins - I OWN a copy of this children's classic.

Tofu/Veganism: This Can't Be Tofu!: 75 Recipes to Cook Something You Never Thought You Would--and Love Every Bite by Deborah Madison

East: 120 Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes from Bangalore to Beijing by Meera Sodha

LeahS wrote: "The current White House incumbent is definitely out of my comfort zone."

No argument here.

If horror is not your thing, try FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven. I do not like horror. I don't go to horror movies. I actually scared some guy that was sitting near us when I screamed in a movie theater years ago.

If you choose poetry, I read Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day by Nikki Giovanni in 2025. I really liked some of the poems. It was mentioned in Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon, which was the heaviest read ever for me. Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day is free to read on the Internet Archive website.

I’m going for a romance book my 1st time reading a romance novel can all give me a book that doesn’t have a lot of sexual content in it for my 1st book

Tammie wrote: "I’m going for a romance book my 1st time reading a romance novel can all give me a book that doesn’t have a lot of sexual content in it for my 1st book"



I confess I don't really pay attention to whether there is a lot of sexual content, so I googled "closed door romance novels" and from those lists (https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/cl...), I can say with confidence that I loved these books and gave them five stars:

The Rom-Commers & The Love Haters by Katherine Center (based on the lists, it looks like ALL of her books are closed door)

Nora Goes Off Script & Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan (again, based on the lists, it looks like all her books are closed door)

Yours Truly & Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane (and pretty much anything else by her) - this book focuses so much on the heroine's situation a nd emotional state that I hesitate to even call it a "romance" - it's more like genfic


And T. Kingfisher's books sometimes have romance, but they are very light on the romance, for example:
A Sorceress Comes to Call
Swordheart
Bryony and Roses

Doing something way out of my comfort zone: potty training my first daughter. So, I’ll be reading Oh Crap! Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki for this one!

Reading False Witness by Karin Slaughter and it's definitely out of my comfort zone!Good crime thriller but very confronting. 😐

Cosmos by Carl Sagan.

There honestly aren't any types of books outside my comfort zone, but I have a book that is a "twist" on chick lit so i will go with that since it will be different. This Is Chick-lit

I ended up reading Die Marquise Von O... (The Marquise of O...) after it was referred to in a nonfiction book I was reading. It was definitely outside my comfort zone in that the plot turns on a violent crime that would be viewed very differently today than it is by this author. As a result, the ending is quite horrific by modern standards. It made for a very odd reading experience, because from a writing craft perspective, the quality is pretty high. It's the sentiment underlying the plot that's abhorrent. It really gave me cognitive dissonance.

I'm listening to Vicious Circle by Wilbur Smith, and with all the rapes and other forms of violence, it is definitely outside just about anybody's comfort zone.

I could really use a listopia on this one. I know it's a personal choice, but it would be good to see a list of titles that have taken others outside their comfort zone. It could be as simple as reading a genre that you usually don't, or as complex as a book you find genuinely emotionally or physically challenging to read. Maybe I'll choose a book with very small typeface?

This list (Disturbing, Weird, Uncomfortable) gives several good ideas - I've added half a dozen extra titles that I found via Google.

Laura Ruth wrote: "I'll probably go with The Reformatoryby Tananarive Due. I'm generally a wimp with horror, but this one sounds like so much more than a ghost story - it's about the spiritual price o..."
Yes! I don't do horror and it's really more about social horrors than "gore" horror.

This is a difficult one since I'll read just about anything. I might try romance. Not that it's outside my comfort zone but I'd rather read something else. I feel the same about poetry.

Some book stores have blind date with a book. Just a vague description of the book(s) wrapped in a plain brown wrapper.

Susan wrote: "Doing something way out of my comfort zone: potty training my first daughter. So, I’ll be reading Oh Crap! Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki for this one!"

Good choice! I used this book to potty train both of my daughters. Good luck!

I hate this prompt. There's little outside my comfort zone so what's left is extremely uncomfortable. I might skip this and double up somewhere else.

So . . . I'm going to do short stories. That's outside my comfort zone without making me sick :)

I was going to read The Steal: The Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election and The People Who Stopped It but I can't face reading about the main character at the moment, so I am using Junk DNA: A Journey Through the Dark Matter of the Genome.

This was actually a Christmas present for my husband, who is a scientist, but I gave it go. A very interesting topic, and the author uses lots of helpful analogies in explaining how things work. However, in parts it is still quite technical for someone without a grounding in this type of science. Also, published in 2015, so I assume some things will have changed since then.

Finished Conform by Ariel Sullivan

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I read Deathnote volume 1. It’s read backwards and great discussion points. My sister is an English teacher and used it in class this past year.

I read The Astral Library. I don't read much fantasy.

I read Angel Down. It's set during WW1. It"s gory, gruesome, dark. Everyone has lost any humanity they had, I kept going back for more. I had to see where the story was going.

My final book for this year's challenge! The Reformatory by Tananrive Due.

http://www.lauraruthloomis.com/whats-...