Top Ten Tuesday: Best Bookish Memories

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

I’ve been a bookworm for as long as I can remember, so I have a lot of great memories associated with books. Here are some of my favorites, more or less in chronological order.

1. Winning the Book It! award in the 1st grade for reading 216 books. I kicked that contest’s butt, and I got the personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut to prove it. My best friend Mary Ellen and I actually tied for the win, so we rode our bikes to the Hut and celebrated by eating our pizzas together. Good times.

2. Dressing up like Laura Ingalls Wilder for Pioneer Day at school. I was obsessed with these books as a kid, and I thought I was Laura. My mom made me a dress and bonnet to wear, and I loved that costume so much.

3. Getting a personal letter from a favorite author. I fell in love with the books of Anne Rivers Siddons as an early teen, and I wrote to her to tell her how much I enjoyed her books and that I would love to write something myself one day. She wrote me back the nicest, most encouraging letter–so classy and thoughtful.

4. Receiving a signed copy of Rich in Love by Josphine Humphries as a gift. I’ve talked about how much this book means to me before, and this was such a special gift from my sweet older brother.

5. Becoming friends with a favorite author and meeting my FB girls (ya’ll know who you are!). I read Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati when I was in my 20’s, and I loved the story so much that I joined a group of fans of the author and series. Through this group I was able to get to know Sara (aka Rosina Lippi) and I also met an amazing circle of women with whom I’ve been close for going on to ten years now. We’re more like a support group than a book club, and although we have never met in person I love them dearly!

6. Starting my book blog. I’ve said it before, but starting this blog was such a good move. It completely revamped my reading life and has introduced me to such a great community of people with similar passions.

7. Getting my first real, printed ARC–of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. I’ve read plenty of galley copies via NetGalley and Edelweiss, but I actually have only received one print ARC in the mail, and it happened only a few months ago. I was so completely thrilled, and it’s another great read by one of my favorite authors. (And psst…my review will be up on the 11th!)

8. Watching my daughter become a bookworm.  I’ll never forget the moment reading really clicked for her, and when she started gulping down chapter books in one sitting. A new bookworm was born! I love talking about books with her, and I hope this is something we’ll always be able to share.

Okay, that’s only eight but they’re eight memorable ones! Now we need to have a chance to write about our Top Ten Bookish Wishes, including bookish places we’d like to visit and authors we’d like to meet. I have plenty of ideas for that one.

What are your favorite bookish memories?