Where the Magic Happens...

I

t's true what they say. Most of the time, the great things only happen when you get out of your daily routine, overcome all your fear and doubts and do that new thing you've been eyeing for so long.

As I said, most of the time, the magic only happens where your comfort zone ends.

That, though, also depends on these two factors.

1) You are ready to step out of your comfort zone.

2) You step into the right direction.

These two might seem obvious, but especially when it comes to books, I find that it can be quite difficult for both of them to be true.

I, for example, have been getting tired of good ol' YA contemporary lately. After turning to it for the past two years, it was enough.

I did not need any more of those bullied highschool girls with their mysterious boyfriends and difficult family situations in my life and right now, I start feeling a lump in my throat when I look at all those other contemps still sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read.

At first, I thought the time had come for Adult novels. 

I felt like now that I'd obviously had enough of my old passion, I could step right out of my comfort zone, into the Adult genre.

Did not happen that way. 

First of all, I was maybe fed up with that old thing, but not really ready to try something new. Especially something so...uh...drastic. 

And then, I'd never thought about the fact that there are so many adult genres that it's incredibly difficult to decide where to start. Also, every book I grabbed had like...700 pages.

As soon as a friend of mine told me that Bridget Jones is actually from the 90s where they only had uber-dimensional cell phones and NO facebook - I gave up. That was just it. I could not handle it.

Now, without revealing the hysterical teenage girl that I am (deep in my heart), let's get rational again. Jumping straight into adult books did not work for me. I was, after all, not ready to leave YA and also not willing to head straight into Adult books. It even got me in that kind of personal reading crisis where I had no idea what to read and, therefore, had to empty the Amazon.com bargain section - and my wallet.

In the end, I decided to branch out - but in a different direction. Instead of contemporary, I am trying dystopian novels again - which I thought I was done with, too. And I want to read more Fantasy again and finally start with Manga.

Basically, what I'm saying is that we all get to the point where we are in need of something new and exciting that sets itself apart from everyday life (or reading, in this case).

What I learned in the past few months is that there's no need to venture into something you don't even want in the first place. It's enough to just grab that one book everybody else loves that you never thought you'd pick up, be surprised, and have a new favorite genre!