Top Ten Tuesday – The One Where I Share Bookish Memories
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Bookish Memories (Share stories of your reading life as a child, events you’ve gone to, books that made an impression on you, noteworthy experiences with books, authors you’ve met, etc. Reminisce with me!). I’ve never attended a bookish event or met an author so I decided to take a stroll down memory lane and share a few highlights of my bookish life.
(My post is also a little shout-out to Friends since I wrote all of my memories like they’re episode titles from the show.)
10 Bookish Episodes from My Life
- The one where my Dad taught me how to read using Little Golden Books. This will always be one of my favorite childhood memories.
- The one where I cried my eyes out because I thought I had lost a library book (Bambi by Felix Salten) and therefore would never be allowed to check out books from my elementary school library again. So traumatizing!
- The one where getting to go to the Scholastic Book Fair when it came to my school was like Christmas. So many books!
- The one where I felt so grown up in middle school because I was allowed to read To Kill a Mockingbird, which was banned in a lot of schools.
- The one where, as a young teen, I used to hide in my grandmother’s house so I could secretly read the steamy historical romance novels I had pilfered from her bedroom.
- The one where I took so many literature classes for “fun” in college that I ended up adding English as a Double Major.
- The one where I had such an addiction to collecting books that I convinced my husband to convert our formal living room, which never got used, into a home office with wall to wall built in bookshelves. My sanctuary.
- The one where I felt the need to find more people to share my love of books with so I started a book blog. 😊
- The one where I read the entire Harry Potter series aloud to my son because I wanted to foster a love of reading in him at a young age.
- The one where I realized that one of my bffs loves to read as much as I do, so I invited her to guest post on my blog. Hi Sharon! 😊
Love the Friends theme to your post! Great memories – and yes I remember secretly reading some rather racy historical novels as an impressionable youth too! Oh, for the days before the internet!
These are my TTT Bookish Memories... hope you get the chance to share.
Glad I’m not the only one reading those racy bodice rippers, lol.
Thank you for sharing your memories, Suzanne💜 I enjoyed reading them and they brought back some fond ones of my own. Love that you, too, secretly swiped your grandmother’s romance books. Believe it or not, my step grandfather got regular shipments from Harlequin! My sister and I sneaked reading them for years😏
LOL! That’s what my grandmother got as well. It was an endless supply of them.
We did not have Scholastic Book Fairs when I was a child. Instead we were given a Scholastic book order, and it was the same sort of experience for me. Books only cost fifty cents or seventy-five cents, but I only had a little bit of money, so I’d buy books very, very carefully. I remember buying Wrinkle in Time that way.
I remember the books being very affordable as well. I never had much money with me but I was still able to buy 2 or 3 new ones, which was wonderful.
I was always jealous of my classmates when the book fair was at my school because they always came with like $20, and I only had a couple. But it didn’t stop me from reading!
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/unusual-books-i-read-in-high-school/
I never had too much money with me for the bookfair but I remember the books being so affordable that I could still get a couple of new ones, which made me so happy.
Your memories actually gave me chills, and made me remember my own reading experiences. 😁 And so funny, I also stole forbidden books, but from my dad, of all people, and I’m pretty sure that’s how I learned about sex, lol.
LOL, that’s awesome!
I love that you pilfered steamy books from your Grandmother. I pilfered mine from the high school librarian’s office. 😆
My post is here— https://fiftytwo.blog/2021/11/30/ttt-bookish-confessions/
Happy TTT!
Lori
https://fiftytwo.blog
LOL! That’s great!
I think it’s delightful that your son learned to love reading through hearing you read the Harry Potter series to him!
It’s definitely one of my fondest bookish memories. 🙂
The Scholastic Book Fair was the best thing in existence! I loved it so much!
Me too. It really was the best!
Hi! 🙂
🙂
#6 reminds me of how I took a creative writing class in high school and wound up with more English credits than I needed to graduate.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
That’s so great. 🙂
Love how you formatted this one, Suzanne. 🙂 What a special memory of your dad teaching you to read with the Little Golden Books. I loved those. And the Scholastic Book Fair! That was always so exciting. And converting the dining room into a library? Yes! *fist bump*
Right? It went from being the least used room in the house to the most used. 🙂
This post as so much fun to read. I loved the format.
Thanks! 🙂
I loved the Little Golden Books and Scholastic Book Fairs! And started a book blog for the same reason you list in #8. 🙂
My post: https://pagesandpaws.com/2021/11/30/ttt-bookish-memories-and-coming-home/
Little Golden Books were the best. The Poky Little Puppy one was my favorite. 🙂
Love the Friends theme! Ah, I see so many good memories (and bookish memes) about Scholastic Book Fairs and I’m a little sad we never had those because they sound amazing. Also, love how you read the entire HP series with your son! And of course, yay for starting a blog 😉
The book fairs were so great, especially because I grew up in a rural community and the closest bookstore was about an hour away from us.
I love that you had a hiding place in your grandma’s house where you could read those steamy romances. 😀 And my dad taught me to read, too.
I honestly still can’t get over how many of those books she had. I definitely know where my book hoarding comes from, lol.
Ahh, the Scholastic Book Fair – I remember those!
They were so great!
That’s so sweet that you read the HP series to you soon. I plan on doing that myself with quite a few books whenever I had children. Happy reading! My TTT https://readwithstefani.com/ten-books-i-have-a-strong-emotional-attachment-to/
Thank you! 🙂
Seriously, the book fair and when we got the scholastic order forms were the best days. I was impressed with how low their prices still were when my daughter was in grade school.
Right? Very reasonable prices. They were a little higher when my son was in elementary school but still cheaper than if you were to buy the same books from an actual bookstore.
I love how you did this, the Friends theme was such a fun way to read this post! I loved Scholastic book fairs as a kid too. And it’s great that you’re fostering a love of books in your son 🙂
It’s challenging because he’s so obsessed with video games now but I’ve found a few series that he has really enjoyed.
Little Golden Books are special. Those book fair fliers they’d send home too- I used to PORE over those and circle everything lol.
And oh my gosh steamy historical romances! lol I remember we had a lot of those around the house growing up. My mom read stuff like Kathleen Woodiwiss and I still remember liking the titles- stuff like The Flame and the Flower etc. I never really thought about what they meant, I just liked how they sounded. 🙂 She had Sidney Sheldon’s too…
LOL! I did the same thing with the book flyer and then I would rank them in order of importance so that I could prioritize in case I didn’t have enough money to get everything I wanted.
Awesome list! I love it. I remember learning to read with Little Golden Books as well.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I love Friends and I love the way you did this post 🙂 I liked the scholastic book events too. I would usually be able to get a few books for $1 each. https://cindysbookcorner.blogspot.com/2021/11/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-memories.html
Right? The prices were always so good.
I hid in the field close to my home to read steamy romances :-)))
That’s awesome, lol.
Fun memories!! I honestly don’t remember ever NOT reading. I wish I could remember how I learned, or the first book I read on my own, but nope – it’s gone! LOL
Lauren
I don’t remember much, mainly just a few key moments. My memory is pretty awful too, lol.