Top Ten Tuesday- Bookish Memories

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by those fabulous, fabulous girls over at The Broke and The Bookish. This week we’re strolling down memory lane and discussing some of our favorite nerdtastic moments in our lives as bookworms.  And let’s face it, I’m old, so these are more recent memories. If I included my childhood I’d be here for days!

1. Reading The Two Princesses of Bamarre with my daughter-

My oldest daughter, Chloe, used to love to read chapter books with me at bedtime. After reading Ella Enchanted (which I’m now rebooting with my little one), we moved onto The Two Princesses of Bamarre. Toward the end, we were so engrossed that it would be way past time to turn out the light and let Chloe sleep, but she and I would say, “Ok, ok, just one more chapter.” Such a sweet memory.

Husbands + Hunger Games= Hilarity

2. Hunger Games Husband Love-

My husband loves to make fun of me for my love of YA books. He loves that I’m a big ‘ol nerd, but it’s not normally his genre.  After he saw the preview for The Hunger Games film he was intrigued, so I convinced him to read the book. And whoa mama, was he sucked in in a major way (thus again proving that I am always, always right).  He even decided to convince Vee’s hubby to get in on the action. I caught him on the phone with Mark, telling him the premise of the story, but in a Dude Way. He’s like “So there’s this arena, and they have these games, and dude, it’s so crazy…” Vee and I were texting each other listening to them and DYING laughing. It was hilarious.

3. Meg Cabot-

Um, you guys, I met Meg Cabot with my oldest daughter (an Allie Finkle fan). She was so sweet, she gave Chloe all kinds of writing advice and she was quite gracious about my insane love of Michael Moscovitz.  I was beside myself. I looked like I’d swallowed a sock. I actually totally freaked out in the parking lot on the way back to the car. I was on the phone with Vee, but I was practically speechless.

4. Reading the Twilight books-

For me, this was the first series in a while that was  highly addictive. It was like crack (not that I know from experience or anything). Breaking Dawn wasn’t out yet, but Stepehnie Meyers would put a quote from the new book on her website every day. I knew no one who’d read the books, so I’d sit there with my husband every single night trying to decipher what each line meant. I kept saying “But what does it mean, Eric?”  And he’d just shake his head. That man deserves a medal, I swear.

5. Reading The Time Traveler’s Wife for the first time-

I read this in two nights years ago when my husband was out of town and I was pregnant with my youngest daughter.  My my oldest child went to bed at 7:30 every night. I had nothing else to do, no one to really hang with, so I just became engrossed in the story of Henry and Claire.  I fell so head over heels for Henry, partly because I thought he was awesome but partly because he reminded me so much of my own husband (I think I missed him!), and I still adore that book. Few have made me feel the way that one did.

6. Scaring People- I feel so blessed to be able to blog about books in my spare time, and I love it all the more when people actually send me books for review. There are a certain few that, when I find them in my mailbox, it is imperative I scream or do some sort of happy dance in celebration. Because of this I have startled my family at random moments and scared my dog.  It’s a win/win. Seriously, you guys, my poor dog. He startles easily.

7. Waiting for Mockingjay-

However you feel about the last HG book, we were all dying to find out how it ended. I couldn’t wait. I preordered it, I read every article online I could find with ideas about Gale or Peeta or what the what.  I had theories and fears and I was pretty much obsessed. The day it was released, my daughter’s teacher needed help in class. Ok, no problem. My hubs went to pick up the book for me. Then, when we got home from school, we had homework, etc, etc, and dinner. Then, did I get sweet reading time? Negatory.  I had a Girl Scout meeting (the things I sacrifice for my kiddos). Then, I came home and made sure everyone was ready for bed–and I stayed up until 1am, reading the entire book in one sitting.  Finally! I’m still pissy about Gale’s side of the story, but at least I got to read it.

8. The Last Princess Diaries book-

When I read the last PD book, which felt like I’d waited twenty-five years for, I cried such happy tears. It’s a wonderful thing to love a series and to see it end beautifully, happily, with no detail you’d change. That’s how I felt about Forever Princess. I’ll never forget how good it felt to finish that book, so good that I turned it over and started it again.

9. Reading Where the Wild Things Are to my girls-

We are a family of readers starting from my husband reading to my pregnant tummy and to me reading to the girls in their infancy; we love books. Certain books, like Where the Wild Things Are, were read so often that my little ones, especially my youngest daughter, Carissa, would recite them with me, even as a teeny, tiny thing. And she’d make big eyes and growly noises to pretend she was the monsters. Man, she’s cute.

That’s all for now. Happy Tuesday!