Top Ten Tuesday - 68

Top Ten Tuesday was started by The Broke and the Bookish for bloggers who like to make lists about books.

Top Ten Best Bookish Memories 

1. Midnight Release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
This definitely counts as a bookish moment and it was awesome! I'm not a big midnight release person (for books or movies) but I am so glad I went to this. The last movie was pretty much the end of my childhood and I'm so happy I got to experience it with my friends and a bunch of other costumed Harry Potter fans.

2. Meeting Stephenie Meyer.
Now I look back and can't believe I went to a Stephenie Meyer signing but it was so much fun. This was right after Eclipse was released (so it was before the movie hype) and none of my friends knew what the Twilight series was (yes, there was a period of time before Bella and Edward!). There were so many people and it was so exciting to meet an author, especially since it was my first signing!

3. Midnight Release of Breaking Dawn.
I know, I know, more Twilight. But, what can I say: we were obsessed for a little. My only defense was that I was 16 and now I'm so much older and wiser (ha!). If you haven't figured it out, I'm talking about the book, not the movie. This was fun because I was with my friends hanging out at Barnes & Noble waiting for 12 am.

4. Meeting Cinda Williams Chima.
This was the most recent book signing I've been to, which is sad because this was in 2009. My friend and I went and we were probably the oldest people there besides the parents. Nevertheless, it was still fun and it was cool to hear Chima discuss her novels and plans for new books.

5. Meeting Cassandra Clare.
Meeting Cassandra Clare was probably my favorite book signing! I went with the same friend from above and we had such a good time hearing Cassie do a reading and answer questions. I told Cassie that I was glad she wrote a character with red hair because I'm a redhead.

6. Meeting several authors at one signing.
There's a children's bookstore about 45 minutes away from me that is always having authors come in. Once they had about 10 different ones which was pretty awesome. I met Sarah Dessen, Laurie Halse Anderson, Scott Westerfeld and Lauren Myracle. Now I'm super nostalgic for book signings.

7. Reading Breaking Dawn.
You guys are going to think I'm so weird. Reading the novel itself wasn't that fun of an experience (even back then I was getting a little tired of Bella and Edward). But my friend and I read the novel together. Meaning, we would read on our own and then tell the other "hey, I read to page 122." So then we would catch up to the other and then discuss. It was super fun to do that, even if it is a little strange.

8. Reading The Other Boleyn Girl and seeing the movie.
My one friend and I are obsessed with The Tudors: we've read a ton of books on them and watched the entire Showtime show together. We both read this novel by Philippa Gregory and then went to see the movie adaptation. Later, two of my other friends read it and then we watched it on DVD. So there are a lot of memories associated with this book.

9. Adapting Hamlet into a new play.
When I was in 10th grade our end of the year assignment for English class was to adapt one of the books we read into a play and then perform it for the class. Obviously Hamlet is already a play but we made it modern and funny. And it was actually funny! At least I thought so. I still look back at my old script and laugh.

10. Reading (and watching) Romeo and Juliet.
Most high school freshmen have to read Romeo and Juliet. However in my English class this ended up being our easiest unit because we read the play and then watched no less than THREE movies to go along with it. I kid you not. We watched Shakespeare in Love (to set the mood) and then both the 1968 and 1996 versions of Romeo and Juliet. It was beautiful.