Here are three facts about me:
1. I'm a very nostalgic person
2. I remember a lot of personal experiences in a lot of detail (if only I'd remembered all my physics in my exams in that much detail...but I digress)
3. I'm a sentimental person
That's why I was SO! EXCITED! when I saw today's prompt for this week's Top Ten Tuesday was books with sensory memories. There have been quite a few books I've read in a certain setting/time in my life that I can still recall vividly and that make me feel all nostalgic and fuzzy (or a little bit sad and not-so-nostalgic) inside when I think of the times in which I read them. I've been meaning to do a post similiar to this, so I'm super stoked to finally talk about the books that when I see them, or think about them, I'm immediately transported back to that one time I read them.
I guess it's time to take a trip down memory lane!
1. Summer '12 - The Summer I Turned Pretty Trilogy
Guys. I have SUCH VIVID MEMORIES OF READING THESE BOOKS. I was thirteen (nearly fourteen). I was on summer holidays. It was blisteringly hot. I was living in this tiny flat with my parents. My mom's friend's kids who we lived right next door to kept coming into our flat because they wanted me to play with them, and I kept chasing them away because the books were just TOO GOOD. I got the first two out from the library and I spent all my time reading them. I didn't have the 3rd book out from the library because THEY DIDN'T HAVE IT (sobs), so I begged and pleaded my dad to buy the 3rd book for me on my Kindle (and he did! Thanks, dad!), and I proceeded to read it in a day. Those books were my life for those three days. It was so wonderful.
2. Summer '14 - The Heroes of Olympus series
I read these books around the same time I read Anna and the French Kiss. I remember lying in our spare room (not sure why, as my room was perfectly acceptable but okay??) with my best friend reading these books. I think she was reading City of Fallen Angels and I think I was reading The Mark of Athena. I absolutely devoured that series that summer. I remember hot, hot weather and cold, cold water, lots of chocolate and lots of feels.
3. Summer '14 - The Skulduggery Pleasant Series
My dudes, I have so many amazing memories of this series.
So! STORY TIME! I got the 9th book (yes, the 9th) to review from Penguin South Africa and I wasn't going to read it because it was the last book, and I wasn't sure if I was going to commit myself to reading the 8 others. Also, I'd always see the books in my library, but because I'm your stereotypical girly-girl who likes pink, romance and unicorns, I never picked it up because skeletons didn't exactly appeal to me. HOWEVER, I'd heard from some friends that the SP books were their FAVOURITE BOOKS EVER, so I thought I'd give it a go. I checked the first three out from my local library and then travelled a bit further to not-so-local libraries so I could get the sequels (ADMIRE MY DEDICATION)...and I spent pretty much my whole Christmas break reading them...and my dad read them too. I'd finish the one book and hand it to him to read, so I was pretty much always one book ahead and it would kill me to not speak about it with him immediately, but he would kill me if I spoiled him. It was really nice bonding with my dad over the heartbreak we experienced thanks to Derek Landy's tendency to hurt his characters.
Guys. I have SUCH VIVID MEMORIES OF READING THESE BOOKS. I was thirteen (nearly fourteen). I was on summer holidays. It was blisteringly hot. I was living in this tiny flat with my parents. My mom's friend's kids who we lived right next door to kept coming into our flat because they wanted me to play with them, and I kept chasing them away because the books were just TOO GOOD. I got the first two out from the library and I spent all my time reading them. I didn't have the 3rd book out from the library because THEY DIDN'T HAVE IT (sobs), so I begged and pleaded my dad to buy the 3rd book for me on my Kindle (and he did! Thanks, dad!), and I proceeded to read it in a day. Those books were my life for those three days. It was so wonderful.
2. Summer '14 - The Heroes of Olympus series
I read these books around the same time I read Anna and the French Kiss. I remember lying in our spare room (not sure why, as my room was perfectly acceptable but okay??) with my best friend reading these books. I think she was reading City of Fallen Angels and I think I was reading The Mark of Athena. I absolutely devoured that series that summer. I remember hot, hot weather and cold, cold water, lots of chocolate and lots of feels.
3. Summer '14 - The Skulduggery Pleasant Series
My dudes, I have so many amazing memories of this series.
So! STORY TIME! I got the 9th book (yes, the 9th) to review from Penguin South Africa and I wasn't going to read it because it was the last book, and I wasn't sure if I was going to commit myself to reading the 8 others. Also, I'd always see the books in my library, but because I'm your stereotypical girly-girl who likes pink, romance and unicorns, I never picked it up because skeletons didn't exactly appeal to me. HOWEVER, I'd heard from some friends that the SP books were their FAVOURITE BOOKS EVER, so I thought I'd give it a go. I checked the first three out from my local library and then travelled a bit further to not-so-local libraries so I could get the sequels (ADMIRE MY DEDICATION)...and I spent pretty much my whole Christmas break reading them...and my dad read them too. I'd finish the one book and hand it to him to read, so I was pretty much always one book ahead and it would kill me to not speak about it with him immediately, but he would kill me if I spoiled him. It was really nice bonding with my dad over the heartbreak we experienced thanks to Derek Landy's tendency to hurt his characters.
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| also an actual picture from that time! it's almost as if i've been a bookstagrammer for the past 4 years! oh wait... |
4. Summer '14 - Anna and the French Kiss
Picture this: South Africa, 2014. Christmas day. Again, blisteringly hot. Me (just picture long blonde hair and a potato for a face and you're pretty much there) reading Anna and the French Kiss. Just a girl and her book seeking some nice, quiet reading time after having to socialise with her grandparents' friends for awhile. I have such good memories from that day. We'd flown to another part of South Africa to spend time with family for Christmas, which I was SO HAPPY ABOUT. We never really travelled much because my mom was really ill back then, so I was SO EXCITED to go on holiday! We didn't even go for a week but you bet I packed a heck of a lot of books in to read. One of those was Anna and the French Kiss which I LOVEEED. There was the smell of Christmassy foods in the air, the weather was hot, everyone was happy and I got to read a highly anticipated book which I ended up loving! 😻
5. Winter '14 - The 5th Wave
What I really remember about this reading experience is the bread. I was eating really, really nice bread (with honey and butter, so good) and wearing really fluffy pink pajamas. I LOVEEED The 5th Wave and I had SO MANY FEELINGS reading it. Those were some good times.
Picture this: South Africa, 2014. Christmas day. Again, blisteringly hot. Me (just picture long blonde hair and a potato for a face and you're pretty much there) reading Anna and the French Kiss. Just a girl and her book seeking some nice, quiet reading time after having to socialise with her grandparents' friends for awhile. I have such good memories from that day. We'd flown to another part of South Africa to spend time with family for Christmas, which I was SO HAPPY ABOUT. We never really travelled much because my mom was really ill back then, so I was SO EXCITED to go on holiday! We didn't even go for a week but you bet I packed a heck of a lot of books in to read. One of those was Anna and the French Kiss which I LOVEEED. There was the smell of Christmassy foods in the air, the weather was hot, everyone was happy and I got to read a highly anticipated book which I ended up loving! 😻
5. Winter '14 - The 5th Wave
What I really remember about this reading experience is the bread. I was eating really, really nice bread (with honey and butter, so good) and wearing really fluffy pink pajamas. I LOVEEED The 5th Wave and I had SO MANY FEELINGS reading it. Those were some good times.
6. Summer '15 - The Alex Rider Series
When I think about being sixteen...I think about Alex Rider. The two are basically synonymous with each other. I had just moved from South Africa to England and the first book I bought in the UK was a bind-up of the first 4 Alex Rider books. I remember spending hours on the couch, my bed and in the car working my way through the entire series (which I absolutely LOVED, if you haven't read them, go read them now. Well, not now now because I'd like you to finish reading this first BUT AFTER THAT, go read them).
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| an actual picture from that actual summer woaaah |
7. Summer '15 - Lies Beneath
I'd been DYING to read this book for the longest time and then when it finaaalllyyyy came in at my library, I didn't hesitate to check it out. I sat in the garden (WITHOUT SUNSCREEN. FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD ME WAS AN IDIOT, CLEARLY) and got so absorbed in the book that I lost complete track of time...and, as a result, entered the house a lovely shade of lobster. I didn't particularly enjoy the book in the end either, so it didn't even feel worth it.
8. Summer '17 - A Darker Shade of Magic
When I think of this reading experience...I think of readathons, libraries and magic. Summer 2017 was a difficult one for me, but thank goodness I had some amazing books to escape into! I read A Darker Shade of Magic during the summer biannual bibliothon and I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT! It's one of my all-time favourite books. YOU SHOULD READ IT.
9. Winter '18 - Frostblood
In March this year, England was visited by "The Beast from the East". It was bitterly cold and there was a ton of snow. It was also nearing Easter, so my diet mainly consisted of chocolate. I was sitting in the Waitrose cafe, by the radiator, bundled up in multiple layers while reading Frostblood, drinking my mocha and eating chocolate speckled eggs while snow fell outside. It was such a cosy, winter wonderland experience...💗
10. Winter '18 - Wintersong
While I was reading this, I felt like I was dying, but at least it was an incredible book so I didn't have to suffer further. I had a really bad fever and headache whilst reading this so not the best memory...but I absolutely loved the book. One of my favourites! I also read it when it was super cold (well, I wasn't feeling cold because my head was on fire, basically) and wintery, so YAY! I love coordinating my reading with the seasons.
There you have it, my most vivid reading experiences! Tell me one of your favourite/most memorable reading experiences. Also, HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THESE?!