Books with Sensory Reading Memories

By Brookelorren on 38 Comments

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday theme (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is Books with Sensory Reading Memories.  I don’t know about anybody else, but I tend to forget where I am most of the time that I’m reading.  There are a few books that I can tell you where I was when I was reading them.  So here they go:

Divergent coverDivergent:  I was working at a hotel when I read Divergent.  I would read it at lunch.  After I got through the first 50 pages or so, I was hooked.  I was answering the phones that day, so between phone calls I would do paperwork or whatever on the computer and muse about Four and Tris.  When I got home that evening, I finished Divergent, then started on Insurgent.  I had the next day off work, so I spent the next day reading the rest of Insurgent and Allegiant… then went to bed crying at 4 AM after finishing Allegiant.  I got into fanfiction the day after that, because I just could not accept the ending.

Divergente: This is the Spanish translation of Divergent, but it has different memories for me.  This was the very first book that I read in Spanish (I’ve since read 11 books in Spanish, not including rereads).  I was still working at the hotel, and I would read it at lunch, highlighting all of the words that I didn’t know (on my 11th book, I highlighted a lot fewer words).  When I read in Spanish (this also happens to me with German, and a little bit with Russian) I get into “Spanish mode”.  I start processing the words in Spanish without translation.

While I was in the lunch room reading Divergente, one of the lunchroom workers started wiping off my table.  Without thinking, I said “gracias.”  Not the most elegant use of Spanish, I would say, but my mind was so into the Spanish-language book that I automatically responded in Spanish.  The worker was hispanic, at least.  Not that that would have mattered, since everybody knows what that means.

Dragons of Autumn Twilight coverDragons of Autumn Twilight: This is the first book that my boyfriend ever gave to me.  We had just met a few months before that, and I took it to my parent’s house over Christmas vacation when I was in college.  I remember sitting in my old bed reading this book.  I stayed up late, because I couldn’t put it down.  The weather was cold outside, but I turned up the heater in my old room and it was warm inside.  I’ve read a ton of books from this series, and it all started with this one.  And I kept the boy that gave me the book too.  😉  We got married two years later.  Our kids are named after characters from these books.

Legend coverLegend: This book marks a transition in my life.  I took this book on my second trip to Colorado Springs.  My first trip here was a whirlwind trip to see if we might like it here, on my second trip, my husband had already taken a job here, and I was taking the kids so we could find a place to live.  I finished the book on this house-hunting trip, so I spent a lot of time in the hotel reading this (I couldn’t put it down).  When I got home I had to track down the other two books.  If you read this blog for very long then you’ll discover that I love this series.

One of the notable things that happened on this trip was my boy left Kitty at the ticketing counter.  The stuffed animal that he had been carrying everywhere with him since he was two years old.  We were going through security when I realized it was missing.  We had to leave the security line and track it down.  Fortunately, we made the plane on time, but just barely.

Legend (Spanish) coverLegend in Spanish also brings back memories.  I was visiting my family in 2015 for Christmas vacation, and I left my physical copies of Legend at home, yet I really wanted to read this book (I bought a copy of the set for my niece for Christmas because she liked Divergent, and so I guess that’s where that came from).  So I downloaded the book in Spanish, because I didn’t see the point in buying a book that I already had.  I read it on December 31st.

I’ve never read a book in Spanish this quickly.  It was cold outside, and we were driving through the snow to visit my brother-in-law, but it was so snowy that we had to turn around, because the car wasn’t going to be able to make it.  We had to visit them a few days later.

Little House on the Prairie CoverLittle House on the Prairie: I read these books a very long time ago, but I still remember reading it.  Well, I’ve reread these multiple times.  I remember sitting in front of my window at my parent’s house as a kid, reading it on a cold or rainy day.  Sometimes I would read this in bed in my old bedroom with the pink walls.  I had this blue boxed set with all the books in it.  They were such good books.

I also read this to my daughter, so I have memories of sitting with her on the couch with these books.  We spent a lot of time reading these books together when she was little.  I remember reading The Long Winter with her, thinking how hard it must have been.  It felt different than when I read it as a kid.

My Side of the Mountain CoverMy Side of the Mountain: This was a book that my husband read to us as a family.  We would sit on our black couch at our old house (a few years before we moved to Colorado Springs) and he would read it to me and our kids.  It’s a pretty good book.

I remember thinking about how strange it would be to run off into the mountains and just live there, by yourself, fending for yourself like that.  I guess there are other books in this series, but we never got around to reading them together.  Maybe I should reread this series some day and review it on my blog.

Arguing With Idiots: This book has slightly different memories attached to it.  I remember reading it when my daughter was at soccer practice.  My boy was about two, and I remember after my daughter was done with soccer practice, I put the book away and we were going to my car.  My boy ran out into the street as we were going to get into the car.  No bueno.  He was fine, but not running out into the street is a lesson that everybody needs to learn.

It might have actually been one of Glenn Beck’s other books (he has several like this), but I distinctly remember reading one of these books while my daughter was at soccer practice and later watching my little boy wander out in the street on our way home.

Island of the Blue Dolphins CoverIsland of the Blue Dolphins: This is another book that my dh read to me and the kids while we were sitting around our black couch when we used to live in Arizona.  The first part of the story is so tragic… the main character had a little brother and something happened to him.  My boy was still really little at the time, and I just remember thinking about what if something like that had happened to him.  I couldn’t help but cry about that little boy, especially since this was based on a true story.  I later learned that this lady had trouble learning to communicate once she was rescued, so I’m not sure if that part was true or not.

Flame in the Mist CoverFlame in the Mist: This book I have more recent memories with, because I read it this year.  It didn’t take me very long to read, because I couldn’t put it down unless I was forced to, but I remember reading it at work, looking at my clock, and having to go back to work, leaving it right at the part where Marika was in the hot springs with Ōkami, and he didn’t know that she was a girl yet.  I had to leave it right there, and I kept thinking about the book while I was helping people at the self-checkout.

So if you’re ever wondering what Walmart workers are thinking about while they’re helping you… they could be thinking about the most wonderful book that they’re in the middle of.  Or they could be writing their next short story or novel.  At least that’s what I do when it’s not very busy.  When it gets busy I have to concentrate on customers, but there’s a lot of time when it’s very rote, and I just think of books (either the ones I’m reading or the ones I’m writing).

So there’s ten books that I have memories associated with outside of the actual book itself.  What books do you have memories associated with?

38 comments

    1. Thanks! This was a somewhat difficult topic to write, but at the same time, I think it’s one we can relate to more people with.

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    1. I haven’t seen any books in that series for several years now… but we used to read all of them.

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  3. It is good to know that wonderful Walmart workers like yourself have such good taste — didn’t know some of these, so I was glad to learn of them!~ Especially Flame in the mist

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    1. I’m probably a unicorn there, LOL, but that’s what I do.

      There is a lady who works in toys that has a law degree though. There are a few of us like that…

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  5. That’s so cool how you read the same books in both English and Spanish! It’s something I’ve been meaning to do with French for so long but never managed to get around to. I feel like my TBR is too long to read the same books twice, but reading a completely new book in French is just a bit daunting! Hopefully I find a way to convince myself that it’ll be worth it 😀

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    1. It’s a great way to get better at the language. When I started reading Divergente, I would sometimes get lost and not really know what the text was saying, but since I knew the story well enough, it didn’t matter.

      Since I’ve read enough Spanish books at this point, I don’t have to be an expert in the book now… although I did have to read Carve the Mark twice in English before reading Las Marcas de la Muerte. I tried reading the Spanish version of the book right after I read the English version and I got lost, especially since there were so many terms that were made up for the book; it got me confused to read it in Spanish initially.

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    1. That’s a cute idea, starting a book club with your family!

      My family is reading the Dragonlance books together. We do voice acting for the different parts. My kids don’t get to play the characters that they were named after though, because they two characters eventually get married and we didn’t want to have our kids end up having to voice act that, LOL.

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  10. I am feeling so much shame that I could not do what all of you are doing so well this week. I just could not remember the where and when for all these books, but I love reading about everyone’s memories. I read 6 of those books, and two (Little House, Island of the Blue Dolphin) take me back to grade school.

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    1. You had a great post this week though. I think it took me several weeks to come up with ideas for this list. I’m glad they post the topics weeks in advance!

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    1. I read Farmer Boy, but I haven’t read any of the others. Her daughter has a book, right?

      I should tell my boy when he’s older, that if he really loves a girl, to give her a book ;-).

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  14. OMG! You’re kids are named after those characters!? That’s so awesome. I would actually have considered the name Raistlin for my son, but his father really didn’t like it. And love the name Tikka too.

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    1. I think Divergent is what got me into YA. I just absolutely love the series.

      I just finished My New Best Friend last night. It’s a fanfic with the characters Day and June from Legend, except they grew up in Veronica Roth’s Divergent. It takes place the year between Four’s initiation and Tris’s initiation, and it has a couple of secret Easter eggs from yet another fandom. I posted chapter 1 up on AO3 a short while ago.

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    1. I generally only read books that I already know in English at this point still, although I can read magazine articles in Spanish. The first time I tried to read a magazine article in Spanish, I could only manage one paragraph and I highlighted about 20 words that I didn’t know. It’s a really steep learning curve from classroom lessons to language in the real world.

      I tried to read Las Marcas de la Muerte right after I read Carve the Mark for the first time. I gave up at about 33% because it was just too difficult (there are a lot of made up words in that book). I had to read Carve the Mark in English twice before I could tackle the Spanish version.

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  19. Oh, this is a great list! Ha, your then-boyfriend/now-husband has the same taste as my husband. That’s funny. I love that you named your kids after book characters. 🙂

    Oh gosh, I remember the Little House on the Prairie books, too! I loved them and just couldn’t get enough of them.

    Island of the Blue Dolphins! I haven’t heard that mentioned in so long, and I barely remember it, since I read it so long ago. I should read that again. I remember really enjoying it.
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