TGIF #15 - Gateway Books

TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads!  In this weekly feature, Ginger poses a question to her followers and then asks everyone to link up at the end of the post, sharing their responses.

This Friday's Question:

Gateway Books: Which particular books opened you up to a new genre?

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that The Hunger Games pushed me toward my love of all things dystopian. Seriously, I can't get enough of that genre. I have to have read at least twenty this year alone that fall into that category, but I'm almost certain it's more than that. I'm just too lazy to count them all right now.

And it was this book that got my slightly younger sister to take up reading, and for that I'm thankful.  I have a lot of wonderful online friends to discuss books with, but it's even nicer to talk to someone about them face-to-face and gauge their real reactions.

However, I know most of you are probably tired of me gushing about my affinity for dystopian novels, so just to make sure you're paying attention, I read (okay, listened to) and loved a contemporary novel earlier this year.  Yeah, you read that right.  I know, I'm always saying that I'm not a huge fan of contemps, and for the most part, that's still true.  But kids, Sarah Dessen knows a thing or two about real life, or at the very least, she's pretty awesome at pretending she does.   I listened to the audiobook for Along for the Ride earlier this summer, and I gotta tell you, I really enjoyed it, and I really wasn't expecting to. 

You see, I haven't read many contemps, and I honestly don't plan to read many more because I prefer to escape into my books, which for me, means supernatural beasties and the like.  Sure, I could escape to another character's reality, but that's not what I like to read.  Not normally, anyway.  But just based on Dessen's writing, I think I would like her other works, as well.  So, if you know of an author with a similar style, by all means, recommend away.  I'm not adverse to reading contemps, per say...I just haven't given them much of a chance in the past.  I have read a few other contemporaries this year that I liked but not as much as Along for the Ride.  I wonder why that is, but I guess I just have to chalk it up to the writing, the point-of-view, and the overall storyline.

So, what are your "gateway" books?  Is there any genre that you just absolutely want no part of?  Sound off in the comments.