Top Ten Tuesday: Books Outside My Comfort Zone

This fabulous meme is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, and this week's topic is books we read outside our comfort zone (regardless of whether or not we liked them). Seeing as I'm hosting the Read Outside Your Comfort Zone Challenge, how could I *not* participate in the Top Ten Tuesday this week?

(Psst...if you still want to sign up for my challenge, it's not too late! There will be a giveaway at the end of the year, and if you read and review even just one book outside your comfort zone, you can be entered! Note: you must sign up before Dec. 15 and have written a review for the challenge by the end of the year, in order to be entered in the giveaway.)

I'm splitting this into 5 books I've read, and 5 books that are on my potential list to read (for my challenge, although I don't stand a chance of reaching my goal of 20 books at this rate, LOL.)

Books I've read:

1.) Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde -- generally short stories just aren't my thing...they just seem so short! Usually right when I'm starting to get a feel for the world and characters, the story just ENDS. This Vivian Vande Velde collection wasn't bad, though, since they're a bunch of retellings of Little Red Riding Hood (which as a fairytale is short anyway, so I can live with that.)

2.) Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell - I'm not big on novels in verse, although admittedly I haven't read a lot of them. I loved the atmosphere in this one, though, just fantastic, and the main character Elaine manages to be innocent and still believable at the same time.

3.) The Host by Stephenie Meyer - I love fantasy, but I am very iffy about sci-fi. I like the less scientific versions of sci-fi, like time travel and dystopian societies. Aliens, robots, gadgets, space travel? Not so much. But I was surprised by how immersed I became in The Host...it's HUGE and I read it in less than 2 days, I think. Admittedly a lot of it was "soft" sci-fi...but there *were* aliens!

4.) Sunshine by Robin McKinley - Vampires. I don't like them very much. But the only character I really liked in this book was the vampire...go figure. Overall, though, I kind of loathed this book. If you want to know why, read my review!

5.) Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale - I haven't read a lot of graphic novels and I think I should try more of them out. This one was enjoyable enough, but didn't blow me away. The illustrations are phenomenal though!

Books I'm aiming to read:

1.) Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead - Yes, yes, I know, this series is awesome and I should read it. I will, don't worry! (I just don't know when, LOL. Hopefully before the year is up!)

2.) The Lightning Thief by Percy Jackson - a middle-grade read with a male protagonist: a double outside-my-comfort-zone whammy! I keep seeing this in the bookstores and going, "Oh yeah, I have to read that!" Everybody seems to love this series. 

3.) The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder - Ashley from Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing is always raving about this book, and I must admit I like the sound of the premise. So I should brave the free verse format and give it a try :)

4.) The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff - another male protag book. I've heard good things and I actually own a copy, so really I have no excuse!

5.) Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan - yep, it's set in space so it's definitely got some sci-fi to it, but I'm intrigued by the religious angle I've heard about.

What books are outside your comfort zone? Got any suggestions that fit in one of the categories listed above (boy protags, middle-grade, sci-fi, short stories, graphic novels, novels in verse, vampires)?