TTT· This takes me back

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

July 24:

Books with Sensory Reading Memories

(where I was, what time of year it was, who I was with, what I was eating, etc.)

(Submitted by Jessica @ A Cocoon of Books)

Let’s get the first two out of the way, since they are so obvious::

 Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone by J.K. Rowling, is the evocative book that most of us, readers, have in mind when talking old memories. This book is me and my two sisters sharing a room. It’s trying by all means to stay awake just so we can hear how the chapter ends. It’s the sound of my dad’s voice taking us to a magical world. It feels like looking forward to bedtime. It tastes like toothpaste and secret candy. It looks like three identical pink beds and my brother bringing his pillow to story-time. It sounds ten times better in spanish and a deep and soothing voice. It feels like the first time I picked up a book to read because I couldn’t wait until night.

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Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. It takes me back to when I was 14 and in love with the idea of love. Is this book the model of an unhealthy relationship and all the things NOT to do? Yes. Is it still important for me? Also yes. This is the first big book that I read and the one that got me into YA, a genre I didn’t even know existed until then. It’s also a book that my friends and I adored and read multiple times, as well as watched the movies. So, this book has a special place in my heart since it takes me back to simpler times.

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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak This book takes me to summer time, on the beach; wearing two hoodies because the wind was killing me and the lifeguards wouldn’t let me get into the water. It’s late night reading sitting with my family after the day on the beach and crying like a baby while still trying to read those last chapters. It’s the sound of the ocean crashing and the wind blowing and my sister trying to cook. The smell of sea-food and my dad strumming his guitar, trying to figure out which song to sing to my mom.

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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is more of a touch book. This one I also listened to the audiobook. I listened to it while I was doing one of my biggest cross-stitch projects. This book feels like thread and fabric between my fingers, like poking my finger with a needle a thousand times because I didn’t bother to look. It’s looking at too almost identical shades of purple to decide wich one goes where. It looks like little crosses that seem inconsequential on close inspection but when you pull back it’s a master piece. It sounds like silence around me except for an intricate story that has my full atention as I paint with my needle and thread.

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 They Both die at the end by Adam Silvera. This one, as you can guess, is another book that reminds me of crying, but this time in a completely different setting. I listened to the audiobook on my way to university. This book is the smell of the city, cars’ exhaust pipes and pollution, the random smell from a bakery as I go past. This book is the world blurring through a bus window. The taste of cheap campus’ coffee and medialunas. It’s the sound of people chatting in the background and traffic. This book is me trying to cry silently against a window and then trying to make it look as if I’m in any way fit to go listen to a 4 hour lecture on physics. Here’s my review

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