Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Sensory Reading Memories

Dear reader,

The theme of this week is “books with sensory reading memories“, meaning books that are linked to very specific moments, places etc. As I tend to have a lot of memories with books I thought that it would be great to list some of those which were there during some very special moments in my life.

If you don’t know what Top Ten Tuesday is, it was created by The Broke and the Bookish in 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. A list of topics is up on that blog and every Tuesday you can create your own list, following the topic announced for the day, or just go with your imagination.

Without further ado, let’s dive into this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, which I organised in a chronological order!

---

❥ The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares

lll

I already talked about this series on my last TTT post but when I read the topic for this week I knew I’ll have to put it again. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants is the perfect book for this week as it always reminds me of Corsica, the French island I’m from. I used to read a book from this series every summer there and it made me feel so good to be somehow back with those girls for a couple of days every year. I remember reading it on the beach, in the car but mostly on our hammac in which I spent hours reading and playing video games. This series followed me for four summers there and I’ll never forget it.

❥ Harry Potter and the philisopher’s stone by J.K. Rowling

When I was 14, before we found out about my diabetes, I broke my elbow in a pretty bad way and ended up having to go through surgery to add two “screws” in it so it could hold it. After that I had to spend a whole month at the hospital to exercice in order to have a chance to make my elbow work again (it wasn’t sure at all). I had a lot of free time while I was there and decided to reread the Harry Potter series and it was the best idea I ever had. Somedays were harder than others while I was there and having this series with me helped me a lot. Every time I felt down, every time I was scared my elbow was broken for good, I would go to another room and read until I was feeling better. It still works wonders on me.

❥ Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

lll

Again, I already talked about it a couple weeks ago but it does have a special place in my heart as it is this book that introduced me to the YA genre and basically changed my life. I read the first two books so quickly and used to take them with me all the time. I used to read while walking to high school and even once forgot to say good bye to my friends because I was too excited to get back to this world after class. I let my best friend read them (well I think I forced her) and it was so good to have someone to talk to about this series, even though I was already talking a lot about it on Twitter. This series was with me all through high school when times were hard and I could feel myself getting worse every day, and I’m so thankful for it.

❥ Divergent by Veronica Roth

lll

This series is very special to me and came into my life at a very particular moment in my life. If you don’t know, I am diabetic and we discovered it when I was 14 after I was in a coma for a week. After that I started to spend a lot of time at the hospital during high school and I remember this one time when I was there for a month. My godmother came to visit me with a new book for me, Divergent, telling me that the librairian told her it’ll be perfect for me if I loved the Hunger Games series. I couldn’t stop reading it and the nurses were mad that I was reading at night, which I thought was ridiculous but anyway. It made me the happiest while I was stuck in this room and I was so happy to have this series with me (even though only two books were out at this time).

❥ Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

I talk about this book a lot, and it’s mostly because it has a very special place in my heart. I first read it a few months after my suicidal attempt and reading Fangirl was exactly like reading about my life. Just like Cath I was on my first year at university and I was studying literature. I was also attending a writing class and was writing a fanfiction. I had problems at home and even though I do not have a twin sister (well I was supposed to, but only I was born) I always saw my little sister as my twin sister and we had some fights because she was changing a lot. I was very insecure, very sad that the Harry Potter world came to an end, couldn’t seem to write a lot again and was very scared for my future. So meeting Cath, this other version of me, and Levi, this boy I still love with everything I have, felt like destiny and it made me feel so much better. When I finished it I remember writing a piece for my writing class and getting the best grade. I even had to read it out loud and I was so proud. It was all thanks to this book.

❥ The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

lll

The first time I went to the UK it was in Belfast, Ireland when I turned 18 with my best friend. She always wanted to go there so one day, while we were chilling at university, we decided to go as my uncle was living there for a while. I had one goal: buy The Perks of Being a Wallflower in English, which was already my favourite book. I found it at the end of our week there and I reread it in the plane back home. I can see myself again on my seat, the sky so dark outside, the rain pouring, music in my hears and this very special book in my hands, concluding my very first trip without my parents and to the UK.

❥ We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

lll

lll

A few years ago I bought We Were Liars but somehow didn’t want to read it as I was scared to not like it. One summer my best friend came to my house and read it. She was so shocked by the end that she forced me to stay in my room until I was done with it. We spent the entire summer talking about it, thinking about how we could have seen the ending coming. I know that this book has some mixed reviews and I probably wouldn’t like it today but it still was amazing to read it with my best friend and freaked out about it.

❥ An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

I heard about this book on booktube when it first came out in the United States but as I wasn’t reading much in English yet I waited and waited for it to come out in France. I bought two copies: one for me and one for Roxanne, a new friend of mine I met at university. At this time I didn’t really have friends there and I had to wait for the second year and come late to class (I went into the wrong one as the cliché I am) to meet Roxanne. We immediatly bonded over books and when Christmas came I knew I wanted to give her this one. I was so happy when she told me how much she loved it – somehow I was putting a lot of pressure on myself when I was buying her a gift, since I really wanted to be friends with her. To this day we still celebrate Christmas together each year and this book is still very special to me, mostly because it really started our friendship.

❥ A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab

If you don’t know this about me I have always been obsessed with the United Kingdom. Ever since I was a child I always said to my parents that one day I’ll move there, and it’s still something I’m planning to do. However I never really been to England before last summer when I spent ten days in London. It wasn’t the best travel because we had some financial problems once we were there, which messed up my anxiety completely, but I fell in love with the city and I knew someday I’ll live there for sure. While I was there I was reading A Gathering of Shadows and it made it even more magical: the story was taking place in London as well and V.E. Schwab is one of my all time favourite authors. Every time I think about this book I can picture myself back in London with a cup of tea in my hand and my book in the other. It was amazing.

❥ Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

lll

When I started my bookstagram account almost two years ago I met one of my best friends, Lucie. It felt so weird to meet her because we were, well still are, so alike. We loved the same things, thought the same things, were both blonde and so on. It felt so good to meet someone who looked like me so much. We soon started to buddy read books together and the first one was Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Now this book holds a special place in my heart because I feel as if it helped Lucie and I to get even closer. Books really are magical.

---

Well, that was emotional! I have so many memories with books, it was so hard to choose but I’m so happy with this list.

Tell me in the comments which books hold many memories for you and if any of those I talked about reminded you of something!

Love always,

Clara