My earliest memory of true reading joy was during 4th grade. Living in a small rural town, we would travel about 30 miles to the nearest Walmart for grocery shopping. My sister and I would walk straight to the book section, looking for the latest book in our series and knowing that our mom wouldn't say no to a new book! I was avidly reading The Babysitters Club books, and Nikki was into the Sweet Valley Kids series. On the way home in the comfort of the backseat, we would curl up and devour those books, Nikki often finishing hers before we arrived home. I read EVERY book in the BSC series, including the mysteries and super series books. My friends and I would even play Babysitters Club at recess. We'd meet on the rusty merry-go-round... (yes, rusty! Was a tetanus shot a requirement before elementary school?!) ... and we'd jump into character, answering imaginary phone calls and booking each other to babysit pretend children.
In high school, I was captivated by The Notebook. Nicholas Sparks pulled my heart strings with this story of love, loyalty, and loss. I'll never forget when my junior English teacher, Mrs. Barnett, asked our class to write a book report over the book of our choice. I knew I'd write about The Notebook! My report was paaaaaaaages long. I just loved the book so much, and I wanted her to know just how incredible it was. While I was not happy with my grade and her feedback about me rewriting the story, I was so excited that I had a new author to read! Over the years, I've read everything by Nicholas Sparks.
I hit a reading slump after Izzy was born, and I knew that a series could get me reading again. I jumped on the Twilight bandwagon and into the fantastical world of vampires and werewolves. I was never really into fantasy, but this series really showed me that reading can take you places when you've got a six-month-old baby at home.
Finding time to read as an adult has been challenging. When I made a new friend who had experience leading a book club, I knew we had to launch one! The first book our club read was The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. Through this book club experience, I learned so much about how social connections with books helped me to read and think more deeply about books. Our book club continued, and we added book club discussion questions, themed meals, and tablescapes to our meetings! Kristin Hannah is a favorite author of mine, and I often go back to books by her. I recently read Night Road and Home Front, two excellent books of hers!
Currently, I am reading EVERYTHING by Colleen Hoover. The first book by her that I read was It Ends With Us, and I was pulled in from the beginning. She creates characters who become your friends as you read. One of my book besties recently shared that she has an Atlas "book boyfriend" - a bookmark of a male character from a favorite book. You better believe, I ordered myself one! (This is what book nerds do! LOL! Reach out to @StephsBookTherapy on Instagram and Etsy if you want your own!) In November, the sequel to this book will come out, and I just can't wait. To me, this excitement is what reading is all about.
As I reflect on my book autobiography, I realize that reading series books and finding specific authors I love is what pulls me in as a reader. Having a social reading life is a big part of reading for me, too. A few years ago, I started using the Goodreads app to set a reading goal and log the books I read. Now, I have friends and family that use it! It's fun to see what others are reading and what they like and don't like in books.
Let's follow each other on Goodreads - @LoraHodges. Now, I've got to go see what my book boyfriend wants for dinner. Yeah... whatever!
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