Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Memories

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form. The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover!
This week's topic is a freebie, so I'm going with:  Top Ten Bookish Memories.  Oh man, books and reading hold very special places in my heart and there are so many events that I can vividly remember being associated with reading.  These are my top ten book-related memories.

  • The Reading Fort.  Being a top reader throughout elementary school and having the privilege of utilizing the "Reading Fort" in the library.  This was the highlight of all library visits for students.  The fort was three levels, where the first level was an alcove on the floor, the second was a platform that you could easily climb onto, and the third (the most coveted) was accessible by a ladder and filled with comfy pillows.  Those days were the best! 
  • Scholastic Book Fair Days!  These days were my absolute favorite in elementary school.  I loved getting the newspaper-like handout prior to the event and perusing it for the books I had to have.  I'm so glad my parents encouraged reading and would buy books for us as kids.
  • Browser's Bookstore in Albany, Oregon.  I loved this used bookstore so much.  So much!  There was a general organization to the shelves, but with so many people pawing through the stacks, things were inevitably disorganized.  It smelled dusty and awesome.  Plus, there was a cat!  I still visit this place...
    • Books associate with this:  Fear Street series by R.L. Stine and, as I got older, Heath Graham's historical romance books
  • Golden Books and My Bookhouse.  These were our go-to selections for nighttime reading in our house.  My mom would read to my sister and I every night and we would choose from a vast collection of Golden Books or a few stories from the big "White Book" collection...that's how we referred to it anyway!  I recently came across the entire Bookhouse collection at Powell's and I am very tempted to buy it.
  • Author Reads and Book Signings.  The first author reading and signing I ever attended was in 2004 at Western Oregon University.  Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, visited campus and was amazing.  My next wasn't until 2007 at a small used bookstore in Edinburgh, Scotland.  It was a very different atmosphere.  Both were incredibly rewarding.
  • Everything Shel Silverstein.  These books were my first introduction to poetry and I loved every minute of them.  I was obsessed with memorizing these works of genius.  So good.
  • First Pre-Order.  The first book that I ever pre-ordered was the fourth in the Harry Potter series.  I can't believe that I had never pre-ordered a single book before then.  At the time, Walden Books was still a much-loved destination in the mall.  Man, I loved that place.  I haven't pre-ordered a book since then...
  • Scared Straight.  I loved, loved, loved scary stories as a kid, see my RL Stine entry above, and would attempt to replicate them through my own writing.  Though those books didn't necessarily scare me, I still loved being scared.  Actually, it was a love-hate relationship.  Regardless, I still like scary things but I do get freaked out.
  • Book Hangovers.  I'll admit that I rarely have book hangovers.  While I love books and am sad when they end, there has only been one time where a book severely affected me to the extent that I had to take a break from reading...thank you JK Rowling!
  • Foreign Language.  Learning a second language is a rewarding struggle.  They say that you really "know" a language when you begin dreaming in that language.  This is true.  But one of the things that I was most excited about was reading my first complete book in German and not needing a dictionary for reference (10th grade).  Accomplishments!
    • Book associated with this:  Max und Moritz by Wilhelm Busch and Gabriele Jockel
Ah memory lane!  This was a fun post.  What are some of your favorite bookish memories?

Also, look for next week's top ten:  Books I Plan To Have In My Beach Bag/Books I Think Make Great Beach Reads

Happy reading!

Comments

  1. I especially love the last thing on your list. I have a book I bought in German and I'm only about a page and a half into it and I've had to use a dictionary a lot! How much German had you taken when you finally read that book in 10th grade? Do you have any recommendations of easy-isn books for learning German? I took about 5 years of it approximately 10 years ago and I'm hoping to get back into learning … but on my own. I've tried games on the phone but I think a book is a better learning tool. I'll definitely check out the one you mentioned. :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Mandy! Yay, fellow German lover! When I first read "Max und Moritz" I had taken approximately 2 years of German; it's a children's book told in couplets and it's illustrated, so that helps a lot. Once I reached college I was able to read novels due to being a German double major. The first "advanced" book (without pictures) was "Emil und die Detektive". Though technically still a children's/YA book, it's great for language development and you won't get too frustrated. Plus, it's a fun story! I hope you are having fun on your German language journey! Please let me know if you have anymore questions :)

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    2. "The Little Prince", though originally written in French, is also a great choice!

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  2. Cute list!
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/05/19/top-ten-tuesdays-5/

    ReplyDelete

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