Top Ten Tuesday - Bookish Memories

This week's Top Ten list is your top ten bookish memories. I have to say that after seeing some other blogs, I'm feeling a little discouraged by this topic. I've only been blogging for a month now, I have yet to recieve (or even request) an ARC, I've never been to a conference (waahh), never been to a signing (much to my disappointment).

 

None of these things have happened in my life yet, as I'm not the experienced blogger many of you are. :(

 

I only have a few memories really, and they are more personal:

 

1. When I first started reading again: I was a big reader in elementary school, and I was a huge nerd and not afraid to show it. Then some time around the 7th or 8th grade it was completely uncool to read, and things changed majorly. My friends didnt read, my boyfriend didnt read. I secretly loved English class but I super-bombed in 11th grade because I mean really - who does homework?. Sigh...
   So when I graduated and moved to Pennsylvania when I was 18, I was reading a Cosmopolitan magazine and you know how every month in the back of the mag there is a little excerpt from whatever book they've deemed worthy? Well, I decided to read it instead of skipping over it like I usually do. It was a romance by Brenda Jackson. I forget what the book is called, but I know I still have it (I'll probably never get rid of it). The excerpt was so intriguing, I ran out and bought it. Finished it in a  day and went and got the sequel. Then the next one and the next one, and for a while I was on a Brenda Jackson kick because I hadnt been in the bookish world in years, so I hadnt a clue on what to look for. I slowly branched out, rediscovered my love for books, and here I am five years later with an actual TBR shelf with over 50 books on it, a book blog I love, and an obsession I have no desire to cure myself of. So thank you - Brenda Jackson for re-opening one of the most important doors in my life today!
2. Another great memory I have is reading the Harry Potter books for the first time. This is a bittersweet memory because halfway through my reading of these books fell into the time in middle and high school when it was no longer cool to read. I remember buying the first book at a book fair. I dont know why. I was like 10 years old or something and my mom had given me money for a book. That was the one I wanted, and I got it - I read it once and I was hooked. I loved Harry, my parents loved Harry, they took me to see the movies, etc.
   I then remember the last time I picked up an HP book again before last year. I was in 7th or 8th grade, and I had done really bad in a couple of my classes (it was cool to slack off remember?) and so did my little cousin. My mom then banished us to our room for the summer, and said the only thing we were allowed to do was read books, otherwise we could just sit there and think about "what we'd done". I read half of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and I think my cousin read A Series of Unfortunate Events. My mom eventually got over this a few weeks into the summer, made us write a "report" on what we'd read, and called it sufficient punishment. I never picked HP up again that summer... or ever - until last year. I was back on my reading kick and needed to finish. I didnt know what I was missing, and now HP is the only series I've read more than two times, I own all books and movies, and when ever I'm feeling like it, I pick up one or pop in the other and enjoy a trip to Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts.
3. This memory is a vague and simple one, but I remember that when I was in 5th or 6th grade, my mom worked in my school - she was the front desk receptionist. I remember staying after school and sitting at my mom's desk reading books while she worked until it was time to go home (this was before that was uncool). I remember my teachers and my mom's co-workers commenting on how they couldnt believe I'd just sit there and read quietly but I loved it. I'm a momma's girl through and through and the idea of books + my mommy gives me a warm fuzzy-comforting feeling just thinking about it. :)
4. Buying my neice her first book ever. :) She is only 4 months old now, but I'm sure you understand my need to instill a love of books in the younger generations. I know what its like to lose something so great because the encouragement and peer pressure is coming from the wrong side. I hope my neice will encounter the kind of "peer pressure" we have here in the blogging world where one begins to feel like they arent reading books fast enough or arent learning enough or sharing their love of books enough. With that being said, I bought her an Elmo squishy book so she can chew on it too when she is teething, but I hope my sister and the rest of her family will read it to her, and I will continue to buy her books endlessly. She is going to HATE me come Christmas time! It's clothes and books for you little missy!
5. Buying my brother his first REAL book. My brother is nine years old now and I know I didnt buy him a squishy book when he was a baby (mainly because I was 14 when he was born!) but when he started learning how to read on his own and read for pleasure and with understanding, he became interested in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and let me tell you, I all but RAN to the book store to buy him a book. I think he only made it half way through, understandably I suppose, but it was a joyous moment for me seeing him read, understand, enjoy and share what he was reading.
6. I remember being obsessed with James and the Giant Peach. I can barely even remember the plot of this story but I clearly remember being so obsessed to the point where I had basically memorized every word in the first few chapters and could recite them on command. This was another one I had gotten at a school book fair and am glad for my mom always giving in to my love of books and sending me with money every time there was a fair.
7. Starting a blog again. Some time last year I had a successful blog, but due to, you know, life, I fell off, deleted it and began again. I'm loving every second of it and this time, even if, you know, life comes around, I've realized its okay to take a break and go back when you can.

I only have seven for today but considering each one is like a chapter itself, I'd deem it sufficient. What are your greatest bookish memories? Any that are sappy and personal like more, or do you have more fun ones?

 

Happy reading!

 

A :)