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Exploring My Bookshelves is a weekly meme hosted by Victoria @ Addlepates and Book Nerds and Shannon @ For the Love of Words. Each week we feature a book on our shelves according of the theme. This week’s theme is:

A book out of your comfort zone

Today’s topic for Exploring my Bookshelves is a good one. And, as it turns out, difficult. I’ve been lounging around pondering the mysteries of the universe trying to decide what exactly this means. My comfort zone? A book that made me feel awkward? A book that was a different genre to normal for me? A book that made me scared? What was my conclusion? No idea. But before I continue rambling, the shelfie for this week:

Basically I tackled this by thinking what in books make me feel awkward or uncomfortable. And so I put together a little quick list for you to enlighten you as to what I struggle to read.

• Overly sexual content. By this I mean books I have to close on the train because I become overly paranoid that someone will read over my shoulder and gasp.
• Horror. I hate horror. I can’t even watch King Kong, that is too scary for me. If things start getting scary then I start reading with one eye shut (because that makes all the difference, okay?).
• Awkward sexual content. So, incest, cringe romances, or poorly executed romantic moments.
• Frustratingly flouncy language. This sort of covers ‘classics’, Pride & Prejudice gave me so much grief to read because on several occasions I was at a loss at the meaning of a sentence. Particularly in the romantic scenes, seeing as they rarely say, ‘I like you’, or, ‘I love you’, or ‘Marry me’ – it’s more like, ‘oh what a beautiful day for flowers’ *girl blushes* and me going, wait, was that a compliment?

So. With that in mind I have picked the book that has caused me the greatest grief and awkwardness to read. The book that I dared not read on a train. The book that I read with one eye.

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 Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty

Genre: Fiction
Author: Louise Doughty
Published: April 2011
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Pages: 320

ADD IT ON GOODREADS . . . ?

“I study the photo in the same way that a spy might study the face of a counterpart in a rival organization. I am calm as I make this promise: I am going to find out what you love, then whatever it is, I am going to track it down and I am going to take it away from you.”

After the death of Laura’s nine-year-old daughter, Betty, is ruled an accident in a hit-and-run, Laura decides to take revenge into her own hands, determined to track down the man responsible. All the while, her inner turmoil is reopening the old wounds of her passionate love affair with Betty’s father, David, and his abandonment of the family for another woman.

Haunted by her past and driven to a breaking point by her thirst for retribution, Laura discovers the unforeseen lengths she is willing to go to for love and vengeance.

[Goodreads summary]

This book was weird. I bought it in a sale and this is probably the only book I’ve read where I well and truly went NOPE not for me. I did finish it and apparently I rated it 4/5 with much enthusiasm. However, I’ve just altered that down to 3/5 and patted past Kirstie on the shoulder and removed that enthusiasm from the review. I will never be inclined to re-read this. What on earth was I thinking.

It’s a heavy topic matter seeing as the protagonist’s daughter is killed in a hit and run accident and then weird stuff starts happening as she goes after the ‘killer’. If you’ve read this book you might know the scene I’m referring too where things get strange and uncomfortable on an extreme level for the reader. Yuck.

What did I learn from the experience? That my motto: No dragons, no good, is probably a good one to stick by.

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 Do you have any books that were just a nopity nope?

Let me know in the comments below!

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~~ Kirstie ~~

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