Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish
This week's topic is: Top Ten Bookish Memories
After reading adult books all through high school and years of academic study, this was the book that re-introduced me to YA. I read it and I've been hooked on YA ever since.
1. Getting Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder for Christmas.
I was 7 and it's the first time I actually remember reading a book. I was so excited, I faked that I was asleep to get out of the rest of the Christmas festivities. After my dad carried me to my room, I turned the lights back on and started reading.
2. My Mom reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone out loud to my little brother and I.
I was 12 and my little brother was 8. She bought the book for him, but he showed no interest. She'd heard great things about it, so she started reading it out loud to us. We read a chapter every night before bed.
3. The midnight release party for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
My mom used to work at our local bookstore, so we'd always gone to all the midnight releases together. For the last book, I was 5 hours away at school. I'd worked at a coffee shop all day, but I called my mom and said I wished I was there. She offered to pay for my gas and buy me the audio to listen to on my way home. So I drove up for the release - which was awesome - and then drove back to school at 1 am to be at work at 7 the next morning. Totally worth it.
4. Barnes and Noble with my Grandma
I don't have one particular memory for this one. But I used to spend a week with my grandma in Fargo, ND and we'd shop for school clothes, and go to Chuck E. Cheese - or as I got older Space Aliens. But my best memories were going to Barnes and Noble and she'd tell me I could get whatever I wanted and we'd just spend time going through the shelves together.
5. Reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
This book changed my life. It made me want to study post-colonial literature, so just by reading a book, my life was shifted onto a grad school course.
6. Reading City of Bones
7. Reading Anna and the French Kiss on a plane to Ireland
It was my first time traveling to a different country by myself. I had no one to meet me there and a whole day in Dublin by myself. It was exciting and scary, but I drew inspiration and courage from Anna. It was a powerful book at a powerful moment.
8. YAll Fest
I went to YAll Fest last year, and it was amazing. I met Andrea Cremer, Kimberly Derting, Beth Revis, David Levithan, and SO many other awesome authors. So awesome. ALSO I got to meet Sarah Rees Brennan, who needs her own TV show. She also signed my books with random phrases - they're my most cherished signed books. Plus, watching all those authors compete in storytelling contests against one another was one of the best things I've ever seen.
9. Reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to my niece.
My niece stays with my parents for a month every summer, so I started reading the first book out loud to her. It's amazing to pass this story, this love, to a new generation.
10. Moving to New York
Ok, not everything about this move is bookish, but most of it is. I work with books, I live with people who read tons of books, and I've meet so many awesome authors here. New York is book nerd heaven. Last weekend I met Cynthia Hand and two amazing bloggers - Alexa from Alexa Loves Books and Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner. I've also met Leigh Bardugo, Andrea Cremer (again), Karsten Knight, Jessica Shirvington, Miranda Kenneally, Jenny Han, and so many more. Also, I got to meet Libba Bray, which made my 15 year old self AND my 24 year old self ecstatic. I had a chance to tell my writer idol how much she influenced me and that is one of the best memories ever.
