Well hello, beautiful people! I returned from a family trip late last night. We went to see the Hubs’ parents for Thanksgiving. Because the Hubs parents get along with my mom so well, they invited her for Thanksgiving dinner! Also, I learned how to make part of a quilt! Twas a fun time had by all!

It’s Giving Tuesday here in America. It’s a day to make a charitable donation to your favorite non-profits. I prefer The Hefier Project and No Kid Hungry. If you’re interested in finding out more, click the links. Both charities do amazing work and help a lot of people.

But since it’s Tuesday it’s Top Ten Tuesday! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and originally created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is bookish memories. I’m excited about this one because I’ve been reading, or have been read to, since I was an itty bitty human.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

This book came out in 1990 when I was 10. When I was 12 my mom saw no harm in letting me read this very grown up book. I got the movie tie-in cover, which, as far as tie-in covers go, is not bad. A few months later, while I was still 12, I was allowed to accompany my family to see Jurrasic Park the movie. It was my first PG-13 film. I think I was a little too young for this book at the time, but I still love this book to this day and recently had to buy another copy, as my original was falling apart.

The Stack of Books

So I had bookcases in my bedroom growing up. I also had a queen-size bed. Guess where most of the books lived? That’s right, on one side of the bed. Up until the day he passed, my dad loved telling people about the time he went into my room to ask me a question and saw the pile. It was his “my daughter reads more than your kids” story. I wish I had a picture of it, but it was kind of embarrassing at the time.

The Scholastic Book Fair

So here’s the thing. The book fair was always a special day for me. My parents sacrificed a lot for my brother and me to go to a good school. That meant we didn’t often have money for the coolest clothes or newest video game station. But there was always extra money for books when the book fair came to town. Could I get a lot? No. But what I could get was treasured. It’s probably why, to this day, I try and treat my books so well.

Having a Bookish Bestie

We’ve known each other for over half our lives and she’s super special to me. And one of the things we share is a love for books. We don’t always read the same books, but we both have libraries to share with each other. It was fun growing up with someone and you had a love of the written word in common. 10 out of 10, would recommend.

Nancy Drew Books by Caorlyn Keene

My mom doesn’t read very much, if she reads at all. But when she was younger, one of the things she did read was the original Nancy Drew books by Carolyn Keene. When I was younger, she passed her collection of various editions on to me and we read them together. I treasure those memories and I love that I have something bookish to share with my mom.

Going to The Library As a Child

A great deal of my formative years were spent in the library. My mom would drop me and my brother off (back when it was safe to do so) and would come back an hour later and I would have a stack of 15 books. She would always try and get me to put some back, and I never would. The borrowing time lasted for two weeks. That was a book a day! I could read more than that. Especially kid’s books! I loved those hours at the library and look back at them fondly.

Reading Rainbow

Levar Burton made up a lot of my childhood. I loved him as Geordi LaForge in Star Trek: The Next Generation. But I really loved him in Reading Rainbow. I loved the way he read the stories to us as children and the way the show’s animators made the book’s illustrations come alive. Plus the bookish adventures he would have! PBS was, and still is, awesome.

The School Library

My middle school had a very small library. But for several years, they had a time where each class would go to the library each week. Yeah, that didn’t make me happy at all. The library had everything you would need to research your classwork, but it also had The Nancy Drew Files, which is what I was really there for. The Nancy Drew Files were an updated for the ’80s and ’90s Nancy Drew and my school library had a plethora of them. I was in heaven.

Starting My Own Personal Library

This was a big deal for me. The day we were able to bring home those bookcases to fill with books was amazing. Everyone should have a library. No matter how big or small. Whether e-reader or physical. Books are meant to be enjoyed by everyone.

Cuddling With My Cat And Reading

Cuddling with KoKo has gone on for as long as I have had her. She especially love to jump on my lap when I have a book in my hand. It means, for her anyway, that she is more likely to get londger streches of cuddles. And it’s nice to me too. It keeps my legs warm while I read. It’s a happy memory that I will always treasure of my crazy feline.