Top Ten “Gateway” Books/Authors In My Reading Journey

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature over at The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is “Top Ten ‘Gateway’ Books/Authors In My Reading Journey”.

This was a post I had actually started months ago, before I’d known about this Top Ten theme, but I was never able to come up with enough books to publish it. So yeah, this should be interesting. I don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance of me making it to ten this week, but I will do my best!

1. This is probably my weekly cheat, because really, I did not read this very often. My mom did. Sure, I could read, but it is nice to hear a story from your mom, no? Anyway, this one will always stick with me as my absolute favorite and a super fond memory of nice times my mom and I spent together. I figure it qualifies because you know, love for reading and all that good stuff.

2. My aunt and uncle gave me this book one year for my birthday. I had no idea what it was, I had never even heard of The Baby-Sitters Club. That would change so soon. I have this book still, it is without a doubt the most worn-in book I have. I must have read it a hundred times. And then begged my mom to take me to the bookstore in the mall to get more. Eventually, I owned them all (save the last 10 or so, because I was in high school and it seemed ridiculous. Had I known there’d only be fewer than a dozen more, I’d have bought them. I now kick myself). A few were lost in a flood in my parents’ basement, and I am pretty bummed. But, suffice it to say, this series and Ann M. Martin in general opened up a whole world of books for me, and I was an avid reader throughout high school because of it.

3. Lurlene got me through high school, and even some college breaks. My mom thought I had mental problems and told me that Lurlene was going to send me into therapy. I love a good cry though, and these books were real tear-jerkers. I mean, the whole group of books should probably just be called “Incurable Diseases and Sobbing into a Paperback”. Because seriously. That isn’t to say that they weren’t good books, because they were, especially for me at the time. But my mom might have had a point, cause I kind of feel like crying a little right now.

4. During and after college, I had a bit of an anti-reading streak going on. I think I was all “booked” out. I had to read so much nonsense that I loathed in college (International Business, anyone? No? Shocking.) that I kind of checked out of the book scene for a bit. Until one summer, I was baby-sitting for a kid I used to work with, and his mom insisted that while he play his x-box or whatever gaming system was around then, I needed to read this new series she’d started. It was The Southern Vampire Mysteries, and I was less than enthused. She was from Mississippi, and it made sense at least on the “southern” end of things. But vampires? Really? I wasn’t thrilled, but she had never steered me wrong, so I started reading. By the end of the day, I had asked her if I could take the book home. I bought all 13, even though the end was a horrible ridiculous mess and I want Charlaine Harris to give me my money back. But that’s a post for another day. This series basically restarted by love for reading, and I expanded from there. Fine, Charlaine, it was worth the $100, but I’m still pissed.

5. It is no secret that I am unhealthily obsessed with all things relating to The Hunger Games. (“It Starts at Midnight” should have tipped you off.) But the funny part is, I went kicking and screaming into reading it. A friend suggested it, and I gave her every excuse I could muster. I didn’t want to read Young Adult, it didn’t seem like my type of story, I didn’t have time, etc. She kind of badgered me into it, and since the paperback was only $5 on Amazon, I went for it. By the end of the first chapter, I had ordered Catching Fire and Mockingjay. And the rest truly is history. I read the books over and over. It was the first book hangover I’d ever had. Actually, I am pretty sure I still have it. I finally moved on, and immediately read Divergent, but I am kind of always re-reading THG. I am on my ninth time through, which is kind of silly, but I really don’t care. I love it. And it introduced me to the world of YA, which I truly love, and at this point, can’t imagine never having stumbled upon.

Okay, I made it to five and I am pretty proud, because this was a hard one! I am so curious to read other people’s lists! What books inspired you?