Venturing Outside My Comfort Zone: On Reading Books Other Than YA

There is nothing wrong with reading and loving YA books. But as someone who devours books, sometimes I still feel a bit too limited by what YA has to offer (and it has a lot). So I read some middle grade novels. But that still doesn't give me quite enough.

So I've started reading adult historical fiction.

I love YA historical fic so much, but there is so little of it! (I should know. I curate the yearly YA historical fic lists on Goodreads.) And most of it is set during the World Wars. So I've tentatively ventured into adult historical fic. A lot of it is formulaic - dual POVs over dual timelines, often partially set in World War II - but at least there's more of it to choose from! And there are some more unique tales like Pachinko (which I still need to read). And I love a good historical mystery, so The Widows of Malabar Hill and the Veronica Speedwell series were right up my alley. (Seriously, YA authors? Write more like Widows and Veronica's books.)

And thanks to my creative nonfiction class in college, I've started reading more memoirs.

I prefer travel and food ones (which are surprisingly hard to find on Goodreads because the lists include fiction), because I get to experience things I might not otherwise get to. I get to sample foods I probably wouldn't eat in real life.

And I've read a little adult romance.

It's mostly been of the diverse variety and in the flavor of P&P retellings (looking at you, Unmarriageable), but it's been fun! There's another one on my TBR that I have an e-galley of - Waiting for Tom Hanks. Considering You've Got Mail is one of my favorite movies, I'm cautiously optimistic about Kerry Winfrey's book.


So how do you venture outside your reading comfort zone?