Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Bookish Facts About Us

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

This week's topic is a little more personal and invites you to learn some interesting bookish facts about us!

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Bookish Fact #1

Sierra: According to my parents, I learned to read in 1 day when I was 3 or 4 years old. My dad had purchased one of those Reader Rabbit CDs for me. He put it in the computer when he left for work, and I was still playing it when he came back home. And that's how I learned to read! Clearly I'm some kind of genius.

Ellen: Two of my physical features that I'm most self-conscious about come from reading. One, I have discolored, scaly, and cracked elbows. Two, I have an actual reddish callus on the underside of my chin. They both got where they are because I read propped up on my elbows with my chin in my hand. I've been trying recently to get rid of them both, but it's hard because I've been reading this way since I can remember.

Bookish Fact #2

Sierra: I always bring a book into my bathroom. That's because when I was younger, my mom would torture me with extra math and science homework after school. So every chance I'd get, I'd run off into the bathroom (the only private area in the apartment) and sneak a book in with me. Naturally, I would always lose track of time. So when my mom yelled for me, I'd moan about having diarrhea or being constipated. It never worked, but that's how I got my reading time in! And to this day, I can still spend an hour reading in the bathroom without meaning to.

Ellen: This is a touch off true topic, but I love opera! I think it partially counts, because opera is all about story. The textual content of opera is called the "libretto" which means little book. My favorite operatic composer is Giacomo Puccini, hands down. My favorite arias of his are Un Gelida Manina from La Bohème, O Mio Babbino Caro from Gianni Schicci, and Un Bel Di from Madama Butterfly. That's basically the Top 40 of opera, but whatever. I LOVE IT.

Bookish Fact #3

Sierra: Speaking of bringing books to inappropriate places, I was once firmly scolded by my grandfather for trying to bring a book to a wedding. I remember being shocked at his reaction because he always encouraged me to read. It was something we strongly bonded over, and he never tried to prevent me from taking a book anywhere (especially to those obligatory visits to relatives). He tried to reason with me by asking me how I would feel if everyone was reading a newspaper at my wedding. Of course my response to that was, "GOOD. I wouldn't want anyone to be bored at my wedding!" It's now a running joke in my family. Even though my grandfather passed away 11 years ago, I fully intend to provide guests with reading material at my future wedding to honor his memory and to ensure that no one will be bored during the ridiculously long ceremony.

Ellen: Especially when I was younger, I loved, loved, loved being in pools. In fact, swimming in pools was one of my favorite things, and I could spend hours paddling around, daydreaming that I was a mermaid.  I also loved reading, so I would often combine the two and read while floating or standing in the water.  (Yes, my arms would get very tired.) People thought this was really hilarious and often took pictures of me.

Bookish Fact #4

Sierra: The most cherished books in my collection are my first four books of Harry Potter. I discovered Harry Potter during the intense hype surrounding the release of the fourth book. And of course once I read it, I was completely obsessed. When I went to visit my grandparents in India, I brought my books along with me. My grandfather expressed interest in reading them. So I left them with him for an entire year. I remember feeling nonchalant about that decision, but looking back, I realized what a huge deal that was for me, and how much I loved my grandfather to leave my beloved books with him for that long. When I returned the next year, he had written in the margins of some of the pages in our native language Malayalam (which I hadn't learned to read yet), and had cut out and pasted Harry Potter newspaper articles that he thought I'd enjoy on the insides of The Goblet of Fire. If anybody else had done this, I would have been absolutely furious. But I adored it. When I think of him, I can flip through those books and see his handwriting and attempt to decipher it (he had ATROCIOUS handwriting even as a Malayalam professor). I know I have something of him that nobody else does. Those books are absolutely irreplaceable. In fact, that would be one of the first things I would grab in a fire.

Ellen: I am a scatterbrained, tardy, and forgetful person, all of which are reasons why I will NEVER get a credit card. Ever. What does this have to do with reading? My library account. Throughout my life I've payed staggering amounts of money in fines to my local library. Staggering amounts. It's one of my biggest shames. This is horrible... but I had a DEBT COLLECTOR call my house for me when I was fourteen. Because of my LIBRARY FINE.

Bookish Fact #5

Sierra: The first time I pulled an all-nighter was the night before the Hogwarts Express was set to leave King's Cross station during the year I turned 11. I stayed up all night with the windows open, hoping for a last-minute owl to retrieve me from the boring mundane world. I went to school the next day with the depressing knowledge that I remained a Muggle. Of course it didn't occur to me that I was living in Singapore, which is so incredibly far away from London. Ah, the faith and imagination of a child...

Ellen: I was homeschooled growing up and only went to "mainstream" school when I was a sophomore in high school.  I wanted to prove myself so badly that I cut out all extracurricular reading, only focusing on my studies. I went over a year without reading ANY extracurricular books! I worked myself into the ground however. I wound up dropping out of high school during my senior year. It took me a long time to pick myself back up. When I finally earned my HS diploma and got accepted into a very prestigious and competitive university, I made myself a promise that I would put reading before school, because reading makes me happy above all things.

Bookish Fact #6

Sierra: This will be my last Harry Potter related fact, I promise! My individual Harry Potter books are an excellent depiction of my life as a childhood vagabond. My dad bought me the first four Harry Potter books while I was living in Singapore. I impatiently waited for The Order of the Phoenix at my Borders. I was still living in Singapore at the time. My grandfather took me on a long journey to purchase The Half-Blood Prince while I was living with him in India. I remember being so devastated because I wasn't sure when I would be able to read the book since I was living in a rural part of India where there were no English bookstores... let alone one that kept up with new releases. The first weekend after the book released, my grandfather took me 5-6 hours away to our nearest English bookstore and got me my book. I was so grateful! In order to acquire the seventh and final book in the series, I attended the midnight release party at my local Borders in Michigan. It was also where I accidentally won the costume contest as Parvati Patil. Of course that was because I had just come from temple. But I got a gift card! So I let the mild racism slide. Now when I look at my original Harry Potter books, I can see all the places I've been.

Ellen: I hate Jo from Little Women. My favorite character from that book is Amy. I don't care what anyone else thinks.

Bookish Fact #7

Sierra: I accidentally learned about sex from a series I found in my middle school library while I was living in Singapore. It's called Earth's Children by Jean M. Auel. For anyone who's read this series, I'm sure you realize that it probably isn't the most appropriate for a 12 year old. But I loved historical fiction and I had never read anything in that time period before, so I found it utterly fascinating. The first book is The Clan of the Cave Bear, which follows a young girl maturing into an adult. There is a non-consent scene in there, which I couldn't understand at all. It's in the second book, The Valley of the Horses, that Ayla (our MC) actually experiences sex in a ceremony called The Rites of First Pleasure. I was so naive, I STILL couldn't figure out what was going on. The series is set in the Stone Age, and during the author's portrayal of this time there isn't the concept of a father. The people she lived with didn't make the connection that there is a biological component (aka sperm from sex) that a male has to provide in order to have a child. Throughout the series, Ayla figures out what sex is, and how that relates to having children. And as she figured it out, so did I. Guys, I cannot express this enough. SEX EDUCATION IS IMPORTANT. Otherwise you end up with really naive and confused children like me who genuinely thought that mouth-to-mouth kissing is how women get pregnant (don't ask...). I still own the series, and The Plains of Passage was my favorite among them. That is the book where I learned about doggy style or as the book portrays it... mammoth-style. That's not why the book was my favorite though. I have SOME standards!

Ellen: I was three-credits shy of a full English major in college.  However, I HATED the "Literature" program at my university.  The program was exclusively focused on works written originally in the English language. That meant American Lit and British Lit, with occasional books, plays, and verse written from smaller countries with colonial history. I can't even tell you HOW FUCKING REPETITIVE  AND RESTRICTIVE THIS WAS. The program was a cross between an inbred sow and a stagnant kiddie pool. I'm viscerally shocked by how disgraceful the department was. Oh my God. RAGE.

Bookish Fact #8

Sierra: If I'm reading a book or series where the main character is absolutely obsessed with a type of food, I NEED TO HAVE IT. I have developed some serious cravings from books. My friend introduced me to Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books a few years ago. I read the first 8 books in a row and I started to intensely crave pineapple upside down cake (even though I had never had it before). It's now my family favorite cake, and I often end up baking it for birthdays. This also happened with the book Sunshine, where the MC is a pastry chef. So I had to put the book down because I need to read it at a bakery so I can have some delicious goodness to accompany my reading.

Ellen: I have a fear of what will happen to my book collection after I'm dead. I try to buy hardbacks whenever I can over paperbacks because of longevity purposes. I inherited many of my grandparents' books after their deaths and I had to let so many of them go because they were disintegrating. I don't want that to happen to my books. I plan on instructing my nieces and nephews, when they're old enough, that they need to protect and care for Aunt E's books when she's gone! It's so morbid, but these thoughts legitimately run through my head on a semi-regular basis.

Bookish Fact #9

Sierra: I love to read but I have absolutely no interest in writing my own book. Unless I become incredibly famous and need to write my own memoir. I love the idea of publishing my own book and seeing a part of me live forever. But I just don't have that talent or drive or real inclination. So I'll settle for being in the dedication or acknowledgements when my crazy talented friends (*cough* Ellen, Hannah, Allie, Brittany *cough*) make it in the publishing world.

Ellen: Instead of snooping in people's medicine cabinets (where I have NO FREAKING BUSINESS TO BE), I browse people's bookshelves and TOTALLY judge them on what I find (or don't find) there. I think a lot of bookish people do this, actually.

Bookish Fact #10

Sierra: If I am ever lucky enough to run into a jinn who would grace me with a single wish, I would ask for my own dragon. In fact, I'm pretty certain that when I wished on stray eyelashes and on my birthday cakes as a child, I always asked for a dog. Or a dragon. I ASKED FOR SUCH SIMPLE THINGS. I am grateful that 6 years ago, I finally got my dog. Now I want my dragon...

Ellen: I cannot read a book if I think the character names are ridiculous, and I have a low tolerance for that kind of thing. Fantasy names are fine, though. Really, the main culprit lies in contemporary romance novels. I particularly hate boy names that are trending right now. It's like, why are you naming your romantic hero something that a teen mom would name her child in 2016? Don't you want your character to seem fully grown? Take Colleen Hoover's latest hero name... "Ryle Corrigan." No. NO! Stop it! Stahp!!!

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Let us know 10 bookish facts about you, or link to your own Top Ten Tuesday post. Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone!