Something Different

The Out of the Comfort Zone Blog Hop April 14-17

There's a new blog hop:  The Out of the Comfort Zone Blog Hop sponsored by Lucybird's Book Blog.

Check out this fledgling book blog hop, where you add your blog to the link, then visit the two blogs listed before you. Sounds pretty easy. You can always visit more than just those two.

What takes you out of your comfort zone? I picked up a book this morning when I was visiting the school library with my students. It's called If I Stay by Gayle Forman, and I had read zillions (possible hyperbole) of raves about this novel. But even though I teach English in a high school, and spend most of my waking hours with teenagers, I don't usually pick up books that are written specifically to appeal to the YA audience. So this book is, strangely, somewhat out of my comfort zone. I'm on page 161 right now, and I have certainly noticed that I can zip through a well-written YA novel more quickly that the books I usually read. I also notice that there's much I can learn about pacing and keeping the reader's interest: YA novelists are competing for the attention of readers who aren't necessarily committed to reading books. Teenagers have so many other interests competing for their time and attention, a novel has to really make a claim for their attention.

What is your comfort zone, and what have you read lately that took you out of the zone?