Top Ten Best Bookish Memories (9)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Okay guys, I'm about to get real with you all: I've never been to a signing or waited in line for a book. I've waited in line to see a movie adaptation of a book at midnight (that'll be on the list, since it's still bookish enough for my standards) but never the actual book. I think I'm slightly more embarrassed by the first bit - the never having gone to an author signing. To be completely honest, before I started book blogging I was never so serious about going to signings and I only started blogging about two months ago. But also I'm all awkward-town when it comes to meeting authors/musicians/actors/what have you. More on why that is in a discussion post, mostly because the whole thing gets lengthy and I want to share my feels in depth at a later date.

Anyway, enough with the qualifiers and ON WITH MY POST, which is in chronological order, and as such, nicely organized. For once.

1. Getting my tweenage hands on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I was 11 and in sleep-away camp for the summer. My parents preordered me a copy. They called me on Sunday (my calling day) and they told me my sister got hers the day before. I went to a Jewish camp, so Sunday was our Saturday mail day. I ran all the way back to my bunk and all of my friends were huddled around the Barnes & Noble box that had come for me. I don't know why that one, of all the Potter books I pre-ordered like that, was so special. Maybe because 15 other girls were just as excited about my acquisition as I was. Either way, it was great.

2. All Things Tamora Pierce

My Middle School librarian recommended Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce to me when I was 11 or so (as I've noted elsewhere on the blog). I'd mostly stuck to the basics in reading until that point - Potter, the Babysitter's Club, Nancy Drew - but this was my first shove into something a little different. It changed me forever in the best way possible.

3. My feels for the His Dark Materials Trilogy (and my respect for the teacher who assigned it)

I had this teacher in Middle School who was possibly the most supportive teacher I've ever had. He encouraged me to write (even though I wasn't that good) and read (no matter what anyone thought of me). Anyway, at some point, said teacher assigned the class to read The Golden Compass. We listened to the book in audiobook form (guys, it was brilliant), but of course I HAD TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, so I read ahead and eventually finished the whole series before we finished The Golden Compass in class. I would go to my teacher after school and talk to him about it. He would chuckle and listen to me fangirl and ask me all the right questions. I'll never forget that series or that teacher.

4. My introduction to Sarah Dessen

In High School, I got all busy with trying to fit in, which somehow included nerding over comic books instead of YA books (don't ask, I have no answer). It wasn't a bad thing, but I kind of let books fall by the wayside. Until my friend Danna shoved This Lullaby in my face and said: "READ THIS." I did, I rediscovered the love and I regret NOTHING.

5. Finishing the Harry Potter series

Oh Potter. How you take over my blog. But really, I couldn't write this list without mentioning this. IT WAS THE END OF AN ERA. I wasn't the happiest with the last book, but still, the era. It ENDED.

6. Waiting on line to see The Hunger Games at Midnight

YEAH I DID. I didn't dress up though. A bunch of us bought tickets weeks and weeks in advance. And good thing we did because the ENTIRE MULTIPLEX was sold out. It was insanity times a million and I loved seeing all these college kids who'd read the book come out in droves. And yes, they were ALL college kids. I went to school in Boston.

7. Meeting Lauren DeStefano and Sophie Littlefield

Okay, I've never been to a signing, but I did intern at a literary agency this past summer and got to meet these two WONDERFUL authors. They were so sweet even and I hadn't read any of Lauren's books yet - imagine all the fangirling if I had!!! But really, the whole encounter truly enforced the idea that authors are people too, y'know?

8. Starting my blog

I feel like this one's kind of obvious, but this blog is one of my most favorite life accomplishments. It's something I did entirely for myself and I'm proud of it, even though I'm not sure most of my friends really get what I'm trying to do here. But my friends don't need to get it so much, because I've made all these awesome book blogging friends on Twitter and other places on the Interwebz and YOU GUYS GET ME, RIGHT?

9. Meeting Alexa

I've only ever met the one other book blogger and when I did, said one book blogger gave me BOOKS. We also ordered the same thing for lunch. The only bad part was that we only had an hour!

10. Staying up late with my newborn nephew, reading with him on top of me.

I'm a night owl by nature, so when my older sister had her baby just before I left for Londontown and I had nothing super important to do with my days, I would occasionally stay up late with the Little Lion Man. I'd settle him on my torso, facing forward, and we'd read together. One day, when he's older and can understand words, I'll tell him his first book was actually Fever by Lauren DeStefano and NOT Good Night Moon. Although that's for sure in his future as well, along with Where the Wild Things Are.

**BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!**
I didn't count this in my Top Ten because there's a REALLY LONG story behind these photos that I'm not going to get into here. But basically I went to Platform 9 and 3/4 on my first day in London with one of the mostly lovely girls I've ever had (and likely ever will have) the pleasure of knowing. To many more escapades, dear one!

I hope you guys enjoyed this glimpse into my bookish memory bank. Please be sure to leave me a link to your list of memories or just a short little story so I can hear how happy books have made YOU in the past! I do love all this sharing. ^_^