TSS: Reading Snapshots

Earlier this week Kay over at My Random Acts of Reading wrote a post ("Reading Memory- The 7th Sense?") where she shared various books read and her memories associated with those books. These memories varied from a couple of years ago to a decade ago.

I thought it was an interesting topic and decided to go down memory lane and create my own list. As she points out, not all of the books are favorites, but for whatever reason they have stood out due to either the events that surrounded them or maybe even where one is emotionally during the time the book was read.

So let's see what I've got.

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King - I have two memories associated with this. Both are when I was about 8 and in 3rd grade. The first one I am sitting in the laundry mat with Mom and this lady leans over me to see what I am reading and appears shocked but says very little. The second is when I pull out my book for SSR (silent sustained reading) and my teacher freaks out. She writes a note home to my mother expressing concern over the reading material that i have chosen and my mom responds with a note back asking if she even noticed the reading level of the book that I had picked up. I knew then, my mom would be my biggest reading advocate.

The Stand by Stephen King - Now I'm in 8th grade. My ADV English class is small and we grew to be very close. I remember there is a boy there, Rory, who was reading The Stand as well. We decided to have a contest to see who could read it faster. I have a memory of me sneakily reading late at night on a school night, my room dark with the exception of my tiny light. The Stand totally freaked me out.

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway - I'm in my high school history class and have finished classwork early so I continue to read FWtBT. I distinctly remember hated the book and wondering why it was deemed such a classic!


Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling and Death in Venice by Thomas Mann - I read both of these simultaneously in college. I had them both out on the coffee table in our house when my roommate's boyfriend came over and made a teasing comment about HP. My roommate defended the choice of book by saying that it put me in a much better mood than DiV.

Tara Road by Maeve Binchy - For one of our anniversaries D and I rented a cabin and went kayaking. There wasn't a television in the cabin which I remember being excited about (D, the non-reader, brought a miniature one!). The cabin was pretty muggy though for the summer and I didn't really care much for the book, although, surprisingly the characters have stayed with me.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson - This is an audio that D & I listened to last summer on our road trip through the mountains. I was thrilled that I won the audio book argument.