To All The Books I’ve Loved Before

Hello hello and welcome to Top Ten Wednesday, a meme for people who get confused by the bank holiday and post their slightly off topic Top Ten Tuesdays a day late 😳

Anyway, prepare for all the 🧀 because here we have To All the Books I’ve Loved Before. And obviously I attempted the cover photo.

2009- Percy Jackson

Weirdly and poetically enough exactly a decade ago I became a bookworm. Yep, let me take you back to 2009. Newly arrived at secondary school I was desperate to make friends and when my 12 year old charms failed me I fell back on good old lying: telling some girls at school that I enjoyed books, when I didn’t. Obviously there was only so long I could say ‘I haven’t got to that part yet’ before I actually had to read the Percy Jackson series that they loved so much, and fell in love with reading myself. One of those girls remains one of my best friends to this day.

2010- A Series of Unfortunate Events

I’m 13 and my mum has got tired of giving me money to go to Oxfam for books so I was introduced to the local library, a relationship still going strong, nearly a decade later. A Series of Unfortunate Events became the new Percy Jackson for my group: we flicked through to our favourite jokes during lunch breaks, stifling giggles under the school librarians smirk and I managed to work my whole way through a shelf of these at the local library. This was also the year I decided I’d be an inventor like Violet.

2011- Ballet Shoes

My school closed down (don’t even ask) and I was moved mid year. Which my friend just told me last weekend made everyone at the new school think I was really weird. Yeah, thanks Jo.

Anyway, desperate to pass the entrance interview I quickly listed off a handful of classics I’d read in preparation, this one included. I did manage to sneak in, even if I was placed firmly in the bottom sets, but hard work put me up a few sets by the end of the year. Also a new school meant I obviously had to seek out new bookworms and again it was through an enthusiasm for Percy Jackson and newfound love for everyone’s favourite talking skeleton, Skulduggery, that I met more bookish friends for life.

2012- The Hunger Games

The world didn’t end but it was the year I took GCSEs so seriously I dragged my now crumpled, mud splattered text on a 50 mile hike. And do you know what book also took a beating on this muddy adventure? Lets just say my copy of this YA dystopian looks like it could have been entered into its namesake.

2013- The Maze Runner

At the end of GCSEs my entire friendship group left school and I was flung into a crisis of loneliness. It wasn’t until I went to see the adaption of this popular YA dystopian with an old friend and a completely new one, a friendship trio still going strong to this day, that I began to think Sixth Form might go ok.

2014- Dragonrise

By 2014 I was drowning in university prospects, extra curricular activities and the chocolate shakes my Maze Runner watching trio and I grabbed every Thursday after school.

Technically I read Dragonrise back in 2009 as a young read but 2014 was the summer I wrote my first first draft of a fantasy novel, all about a girl and her pet dragon, so I thought I’d doff my hat to the children’s book that inspired a lifetime love of dragons.

2015- Skulduggery Pleasant

2015 was a hectic year. School ended, university started and my life was thrust into fresh turmoil again. It also saw the start of the now traditional trips to YALC, my friend and I venturing to the big city just to meet Derek Landy, not realising it wasn’t just another signing… Thanks to this series, we’ve been every year since.

2016- A Darker Shade of Magic

At the end of first year university my love of reading was drowned by first loves, new friends and the discovery of Dominoes pizza. I read one book during my whole first year!

Anyway, as it was a tradition now, I did visit YALC over summer which brought back the magic of reading I’d almost forgotten. This novel dragged me back into the fantasies realms I’d almost left behind.

2017- The Raven Boys

We’re slightly back to Percy Jackson here, but I felt it couldn’t appear on the list again. My Maze Runner watching trio went big and decided to go island hopping in Greece, where I finally got to meet the myths that had peppered my childhood with happiness.

However including The Raven Boys isn’t completely random, this was the year my book loving boyfriend and I made book boxes for each other, to give each other a taste of our books and nothing showed love more than me including, on loan of course, my beloved signed copy of The Raven Boys that my friend and I waited four hours to get signed at YALC the year before.

2018 – Rebel of the Sands

The year I graduated university, moved in with my boyfriend and started my blog. A big year for me, and this series takes priority as it was the first book I ever Bookstagrammed and the first series I ever reviewed here!

2019 – Finale

We’re here. It’s today, and I thought it would be poetic to finish on a book called ‘Finale’, which is the last in the Caravel series and released this year. I don’t know what will be my biggest bookish adventure this year but I’m looking forward to another decade of books. Feel free to drop your own Top Ten Tuesday (/Wednesday) link or opinion in the comments section!