leaninglights: Booking Through Thursday #2

Friday, November 13, 2015

What book (or books) from your childhood do you think about most often? That had the most effect on your life?

I think of my childhood books in terms of age.

I was a pretty faithful reader and I would stick to my favorites and read them over and over again.

Here is my list by age:

I learned to read with this books. I read them until I fell asleep and before I could read, I would memorize them as my parents read them to me. That's how I learned -- I would recite it by memory and then go back by myself and say the words until I was actually reading.
A special memory I have is that every Sunday afternoon after church, my dad would take me to the local bookstore and let me pick out one Bernstein Bear book. Then we would go for bagels at the bagel shop across the street. It was highlight of my week for years :)

Mandie books are sort of the Christian Nancy Drew. They each deal with a new mystery and Mandie is always the girl to solve them. I haven't read them in 15 years but I kept them to read with my daughters, who will be old enough in a few years :)
My mom would lie in bed with me and read me a chapter a night (sometimes two if I could get it out of her) and that was out nighttime routine. Reading was always important in our house and the Mandie books remind me of that.

What do I even say about Harry Potter?
This book series doesn't even really fit on this list because I still read it in my late twenties and I will always read them.
To put it simply, Harry Potter is everything. I would not be who I am without those books. They were so special and I was lucky enough to grow up with Harry, as the books came out. It was a phenomenon and such a wonderful time to be a reader. Harry Potter single-handedly brought reading back to children and I am forever grateful.

I didn't read as much in high school, as I was busy with sports, friends, school and boys, but one series I did read and love at the time was Sisterhood. I loved these girls and I also loved the movie they made.
I loved how each of them was so independent from the rest but they also formed the perfect circle of friends. I was lucky enough to grow up with 3 girls who are still my closest friends, so I felt I could relate to this series a lot.

One of the only stand-alone books I read in high school was My Sister's Keeper. It was my first Jodi Picoult book and it blew my mind. I still remember reading it like it was yesterday. I read it tucked away in a corner in my high school's library.

What are the childhood books that you think about most often?

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly bookish meme :)