Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Memories

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish and I was so, so excited for this week's topic! Here are my top ten bookish memories (and I'm sure there's plenty I've forgotten but there's some enough ones in there - I got quite emotional writing this post which is a good sign!).

1. Meeting J. K. Rowling when I was 9 - Literally this is one of the biggest days of my life and something I will remember for ever. When Goblet of Fire was released JKR did a signing in my hometown and I was lucky enough to win a ticket to go and meet her. The story of how I won it was quite funny. I was up way early (this was before midnight releases so I was up before 6am - very early for a 9 year old!) and I queued outside the book shop with the other die hard fans. They were only giving tickets to the first 10 or so people and I missed out. Still, I had my book so I couldn't complain too much, and as my mum and I walked across town we bumped into some other people who let us know Borders (I know - I miss Borders too!) were still giving away tickets to the event. So we hurried over there and sure enough they were! The actual event was crazy - we queued for hours, there were TV crews there and then eventually I got to go in to the train carriage (where the signing was being held) and meet JKR. She said hi to me - something I still remember!

2. Finishing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Now the above makes it seem like I was a die-hard Potterhead from a young age, but when the 5th book was released I just wasn't in the same place and so I didn't read it right away. Then life got in the way and it wasn't until the release of the final Potter book, when my mum bought me the last few books as a Christmas present, that I actually got round to finishing the series. So I was a bit behind the times and everyone had read the ending a few months before me, but that didn't stop that feeling off emptiness hitting me any less! In the end I made my mum read the books so we could talk about them together. To this day she's as much of a fan as me.

3. The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 midnight showing. - Now this isn't technically related to the book but because I missed out on the midnight book releases I was determined to make it to a midnight showing of a Harry Potter film, and what an incredible experience it was! It was so good to share that moment with die hard fans and see those emotional moments get the reception they deserved. And of course being surrounded by other people who were dressed up was pretty cool too!

4. Meeting Matthew Lewis - Again, not technically related to the book but if I'm using the above memory then I might as well use this one ;) The actor who plays Neville in the films did a signing in my hometown and so I went!

5. Riding the Hogwarts Express - I know, I know, I'm still going on about Potter. But so many happy memories are associated with those books! Last year a friend and I went to the same place where I met JKR and Matt Lewis to actually ride the Hogwarts Express, something I'd never done before! And yes, it was amazing.

 

6. Visiting platform 9 and 3/4 - Last Potter one I promise ;)

7. Meeting Jodi Picoult - Jodi Picoult is one of the authors who I credit with my love of reading, and so meeting and getting my copy of Sing You Home signed by her was incredible.

8. London book shopping! - Last summer I went to London and of course I had to use that opportunity to visit some amazing book shops! I visited Foyles at Westfield Stratford City and Waterstone's Piccadilly and fell in love with both places!

9. Finishing Jane Eyre - So I literally only read this book last month but it was kind of a milestone for me. I'm so bad at reading classics but I was familiar with the story of Jane Eyre so decided to finally give it a go, and I discovered a new favourite book!

10. Reading The Mortal Instruments series - When I first started City of Bones my friend saw my Goodreads update, let me know that she had read the books too and offered to lend me the rest of them. Now we share that love of the series. Recently another lovely friend has started reading the books and that's given us even more to talk about as we fangirl together! I love that a series of books has brought me closer to people <3