1. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
2. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
3. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
4. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
5. The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
6. Heist Society by Ally Carter
7. Nocturne by Syrie James
8. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
9. Home for the Holidays by Johanna Lindsey
10. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Book Nympho 
Good call on The Help and WFE. I enjoyed those two but they are outside my comfort zone as well. Heist Society is such a fun read. I hear Time Traveler’s Wife is great too. Nocturne looks like an interesting read.
I am curious about whether or not you liked these books? Ally Carter is one of my favorite YA authors! I am totally hooked on the Flavia de Luce series. The audiobooks are fantastic. Here is my list http://wp.me/pzUn5-F9
I’m glad I read all of them but I can’t say that I absolutely loved them all. I was a bit disappointed with the YA because it was really juvenile and the only one I actively disliked was The Time Traveler’s Wife and maybe Home for the Holidays because it wasn’t what I was expecting. The Flavia de Luce series is one of my favorites now and I’m eagerly awaiting the fourth book!
You’ve got some interesting choices here…and some of my all-time favorite books (like The Help, The Time Traveler’s Wife, and Secret Life of Bees) – I would be interested in knowing why these selections were outside your comfort zone.
Sue
Book By Book
I was short on time but wanted to get my list up so that’s why I didn’t elaborate. Most were outside of my comfort zone because they weren’t something I would pick up on my own but, after hearing people talk about them over and over, I decided to see what all the fuss was about. Also I don’t usually read/like YA but wanted to branch out and at least try it.
Normally I would like books like The Help, but I just couldn’t get past the writing all in dialect. Water for Elephants was kind of iffy for me, too.
I’m usually like that too. If the dialect is too hard, I’m not reading it. For some reason The Help didn’t irritate me though and I was able to finish it.
Water for Elephants – I REALLY liked that one.