You Are What You Read...My Life in Books Blog Hop (AND DRAWING)

On Monday, I challenged everyone to come up with a life story...written in books you absolutely admired at each stage of your life. As I compiled my list, I had several moments of staring off, blissfully reminiscing great memories of each one. It has been so fun for me!
I hope you had as much fun as I did. Make sure to link up to the other comment makers, or the linky list and check out fellow bloggers 'Life Stories'. I realize my list may reveal a bit much about me. But what can a girl do? I am who I am. (Spoiler Alert on some of these)

Very First Book I Remember: Where the Red Fern Grows. My mom read it to my sister and I every night before bed. I was so little, I don't think I was even in school yet. But I still cried my eyes out when the dogs died at the end.

Preschool: Anything Dr. Seuss!Favorite Seuss? The Lorax (I think this is why I pretend to save the Planet now...but more on that at a later time.)

Grade School: Pippi Longstockings and Ramona Quimby all the way. I wanted to be like Pippi so much! Alas, I was more like the boring next door neighbor. I also admired Ramona and her bravery to try anything. I was so shy. I had to live vicariously through the characters in my books.

Middle School: Sunfire Romances. Please tell me someone else read these. I LOVED them. They aren't in print anymore, but I secretly bought gobs of them off of ebay as an adult. Basically, each book is a historical romance. The book was always titled the protag's (always a girl) name, and she would ALWAYS have to choose between two men. After reading these as an adult, they are actually very historically accurate. My favorite? Caroline (a book about a girl who dresses up like a boy to go to California during the Gold Rush and falls in love) *Insert sigh here. I so wanted to be a pioneer. I thought maybe my freckles would have been cool back then. :-) (haha. wishful thinking)

High School: There were three books I actually read over and over in high school.Mrs. Mike (a young girl falls in love and moves to the Canadian Wilderness where her life sucks royally, but she loves her man), A Lantern in Her Hand (once again, a young girl falls in love in the Old West. It follows her from childhood up until death. She always talks about wanting to stop the hands of time blowing away the years of her life. It had an impact on me. I kept thinking, I can't waste a single second), and Christy (the book of a young school teacher girl who goes to the Appalachian Wilderness to teach). I L-O-V-E-D these books. I still own them. The funny thing is, they were such a contrast to being on the dance team, listening to rap music, and wearing those skin tight shirts that buttoned at the crotch. Anyone else wear those?

College: Smutty Romance. I'm embarassed to admit it, but I read those books that refer to burning loins and pulsing members. Gasp. I can't believe I just admitted it. So embarrassing. However, these were also the years I discovered Jane Austen romance and Emily Dickinson poetry. I also loved The Room With a View and understood Romeo and Juliet for the first time. (Not that it made me like it. I hated it. How stupid that you have to kill yourself to prove you love someone. LAME!)

Being A Grown Up: I started out reading Jodi Picoult, Barbara Kingsolver, Sue Monk Kidd, James Patterson, John Grisham, and Dan Brown. I waited not-paiently for each new book to make its way on the book shelves and then devoured it. HOWEVER . . . being a grownup is so depressing and boring. So many "adult" books make you want to slit your wrists. I still love these authors and will buy one of their books occasionally, but I have completely turned to children's and YA.
Luckily, I teach elementary school, so I have great excuses for reading little kid stuff.
My favorite authors from these genres are Margaret Peterson Haddix, J.K. Rowling, Suzanne Collins, Avi, and Ridley Pearson.

Being a Mommy: Picture Books. How do I love thee? Nothing beats a great picture book. My family personally loves the 'Don't Let the Pigeon..." books, Anything David Shannon, The Pig and Elephant books (I think they actually have names, but we never use them.), Kat Kong, Bad Case of the Stripes, Skippy Jon Jones, and of course--Dr. Seuss.

Thus life comes full circle. From Seuss to Seuss.

Hopefully, one day I'll be able to add my own published books to this list. Until then, THANK YOU authors of the world for inspiring me to write!

I LOVE WORDS because of you! :-)

Now, go ahead and link up. All you need is a list and reason for choosing your favorites. PLUS...if you play and comment (following me would also be great!) You'll be entered into a drawing for a B&N Gift Card.



You have to click on the link to see the list...sorry. Still figuring out all this blogging stuff.