Monthly Reflections | September 2024
5 days ago
Top Ten Tuesday: How My Reading Habits Have Changed Over Time
October 22, 2024
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Read Girl.
Each week features a book related topic to spotlight your Top Ten.
Topic:
I haven't participated in TTT in a while now. Time passes quickly these days, but I picked a heck of a topic to jump back into. It may not be every week, but I'll try to jump in more then I have.
This is an interesting topic for sure. I see more telling then showing in this one then I do in other blog posts.
I will start off by saying, reading didn't come easy to me in the beginning. I'm dyslexic with processing disorder, so starting off, reading was hard and I dreaded it, not as much as math...but that was a whole different beast.
I was pulled out of public school at the end of 3rd grade. My 2nd grade teacher recognized I was having issues and had my mom start working with phonics with me. By the end of 3rd grade my mom made the decision to pull me from public school and homeschool me. This was before homeschool had become popular. This was the time when parents were being taken to court for pulling their children out and districts were losing money over this. I was told to tell no one I was going to homeschool.
At the start of 4th grade my mom was ready to go teaching, only to find out that she needed to go back to the very beginning. Thus started my real reading journey.
By the end of 4th grade I was starting to read what I liked to consider "real book" they weren't picture books, but small middle grade reads (by to toady's classification). During this time, my grandpa would take me and my sibling to Book Stop and Walden's and let us buy any book we wanted. I picked out American Girl books, picture books, and then found Little House on the Prairie and the classics published by Puffin. As time progressed I moved on to other stories. Found Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume in my reading library. My aunt for Christmas then gave me the first 4 books of the Love Comes Softly series.
By the time I hit early high school, I had discovered Tracie Peterson, Gilbert Morris, Judith Pella, Stephen Bly. I devoured all of their books. If there was an author similar, I would buy them and devour them and reread them. I kept on this path through high school till I graduated.
Once college started, reading kind of fell by the wayside. I didn't read as much. Then lift hit. I got married for the 1st time and moved states away. During this time I suffered not only a debilitating pregnancy, but also dealt with a horrendous marriage. I couldn't wrap my mind around reading. Once my ex was deployed, a lot of the issues disappeared, not fully, but enough to lift the mental weight. With a little toddler in tow my neighbor and bestie took me to go see Twilight. This opened the door to a whole new slew of books and I started to dive into YA.
Now I will say here, Twilight is special to me in that it got me back into reading. The writing and story weren't particularly great, but it was fun. It was a new world to escape to.
I devoured all of the Twilight series and reread them again.
My friend told me about Harry Potter and let me borrow her books to read and I was hooked. I became an official Potter Head and that hasn't changed. It's one of my absolute favorite series.
From there, I moved on to Outlander and time travel reads and my world of books kept growing. I read the Sookie Stackhouse books, not all, but quite a few, and boy they were spicy.
Then I moved back home with my little toddler, divorced an abusive man, and started a whole new life. I jumped back into school and wanting to help people who had dealt with what I had, jumped into Criminal Justice, Criminal Forensics and with that a whole new world of non-fiction pulled me in as I dove heard first into this information.
But, if you watch these crime shows and listen to the podcasts, you know it is a heavy subject. You get desensitized to things after a while. My mind was numb and I needed lighter reading.
I wanderer around Borders and found some books here and there, but I needed something lighter and I made my merry self back to Mardel to their book section and found new to me authors such a Denise Hunter, Jody Hedlund, Jen Turano, Becky Wade, Mesu Andrews, Jocelyn Green, Lynn Austin, Katherine Reay, Jessica Dotta, Lori Benton, and many others. I devoured these authors books over the next couple of years. Reaching to 138 books read in a year.
After finishing school then assisting with the care of my grandma, I went back to work....at a library. Here I found more authors to try. My reading started to teeter a little bit. hitting over a 100 books in a year wasn't as easy now as I met someone new. As the relationship grew, I didn't need to find a new world to escape into.
I had started blogging and reviewing books at this time and I was trying to new authors and trying new genres.
When I left my public library job, I jumped into the world of school library, I found myself surrounded by old favorites. I will always read kid books. They are just fun and are what kids like reading. I was happy to encourage that.
My reading has stayed pretty steady in the last couple of year. I read a wide variety of stories and genres. Anywhere from picture books with the kids, Middle Grade, YA, and Adult books for me. I read printed books and listen to audio books. I think the only thing that hasn't changed yet, is that I still don't have an e-reader, which my husband likes to point out as he downloads new books every week with a press of a button.
We grow and change and I'm happy our reading seems to do the same. With growth and change comes learning and new experiences and those are what shape us. I may not have liked everything I've read, but I'm so happy about the journey a book takes me on. It's one of the reasons I love to display my books read on a shelf. Each is a trophy of achievement for me in the journey of life.
How has your reading habits changed over time?
Let me know in the comments below.
JustRead Tours: Brave: The Story of Ahinoam by Mesu Andrews (Book Review & Giveaway)
October 11, 2024
Welcome to the Takeover + Review Blitz for Brave: The Story of Ahinoam by Mesu Andrews hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
About the Book
Title: Brave: The Story of Ahinoam Series: King David's Brides #1
Author: Mesu Andrews
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Release Date: October 1, 2024
Genre: Biblical Fiction
In the tumultuous world of ancient Israel, Ahinoam--a dagger-wielding Kenite woman--flees her family farm with her unconventional father to join the ragtag band of misfits led by the shepherd-turned-warrior David ben Jesse. As King Saul's treasonous accusations echo through the land, Ahinoam's conviction that David's anointing makes him Yahweh's chosen king propels her on a perilous journey to Moab and back into Judah's unforgiving wilderness, only to encounter more hardship and betrayal.
Amid the challenges, Ahinoam forges an unexpected bond with David's sister and gains respect among David's army through her knowledge of Kenite metalworking. Though some offer friendship, Ahinoam, scarred by past relationships, isolates to avoid more pain and refuses to acknowledge her growing feelings for the renegade king. As Ahinoam's heart grapples for footing, King Saul's army closes in, and Ahinoam must confront the true meaning of love, loyalty, and courage. Is she brave enough to trust new friends and love Israel's next king?
PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Baker Publishing Group | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook | Bookshop
Welcome to the Takeover + Review Blitz for Toward the Dawn by Mary Connealy hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
About the Book
Title: Toward the Dawn Series: A Western Light #2
Author: Mary Connealy
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Release Date: June 18, 2024
Genre: Christian Historical Western Romance
Despite trials that threaten their path forward, hope dawns for a future filled with love.
Kat Wadsworth and Sebastian Jones never imagined their lives would entwine so closely. Forced to flee on a wagon train from a vengeful uncle and an unknown gunman, they live in a hidden canyon with the family that rescued them. But as the days turn into months, they each have separate reasons for wanting to move back to society, and the best way to the independence they desperately crave might be through a marriage of convenience.However, settling into their homestead in Cheyenne, Wyoming, reveals a different reality for Kat. Her new husband becomes consumed by his inventions, leaving her feeling lonely and isolated. And just when they think they've left the danger behind, a mysterious attacker lurks in the shadows, threatening the new life they've built. Together, they must confront the perils from their pasts to forge a future with hope and the prospect of love.
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