Now that I’ve spent a year blogging, it seems like a good time to take a look back at what other bookish achievements I’ve unlocked over the years.
This won’t be a completely accurate list as I didn’t start keeping track of my reading until years after I’d been listening to books. So this is why Harry Potter and other famous books are not on the list, when they would fit some of the categories.
First Book I Read by Myself
I haven’t talked about this in depth, but I was a late reader. I mean that literally; I didn’t learn to read until I was ten. I’m forever grateful for being homeschooled as it allowed me to learn at my own pace and not be crucified in public school. I have this vivid memory of staring at a chalkboard full of vowels, consonants and such and thinking, “I have no clue what this all means.” So we’d leave it alone and try again a few months later until one glorious day that old lightbulb turned on.
I’m not sure why, but I picked up the 8th Boxcar Children book and read it. I guess all the reading lessons just needed to be rebooted ‘cause all of the sudden I wanted to read and to some extent, I could. That Boxcar made a reference to a previous book and I figured I should read them in order. I never actually did, but it gave me the required kick to begin my reading journey.
First Book I Waited to be Published
This is one answer that could go to Harry Potter, but I don’t remember exactly which books I waited for.
So let’s take it back to September 2008. I had just finished the second Unicorn Chronicles book, Song of the Wanderer (great title, by the way) by Bruce Coville. This is one of the first books that shocked me with its quality. I loved it so much and I couldn’t wait to read the next one. But I had to wait three months. Three. Months. It seemed so long back then. But release it did. Then I had to wait another two years for the final book.
First Book That Made Me Angry
In the Coils of the Snake, the third book in The Hollow Kingdom trilogy by Clare B. Dunkle. Oh man, this book.
It has this character named Nir. He captures the main girl and uses magic to keep her from leaving his camp. Somehow, that’s deemed romantic so that when her rescuer comes, she decides to remain with Nir. Stockholm Syndrome much? I don’t know what she was thinking, but it must’ve been nothing. And what really bothered me is that the device keeping her imprisoned is this daisy bracelet made with hair and when she tries to break it, nothing happens. That frustrated me so much. What am I talking about? It still frustrates me and I will hate Nir’s guts forever. What a cad.
Dishonorable mention: The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis. That gorilla is a blight upon Narnia.
First Book That Made Me Cry
No idea. Moving on.
First Series I Finished
Before I started reading physical books, I went through lots of audiobooks. The true answer lies with one of those or perhaps even earlier, so we’ll have to go with…oh, the Hollow Kingdom trilogy. NO no no no. A series has to be more than three books.
The next answer is the Elsie Dinsmore series by Martha Finley. I like this series; I actually read it twice. Although, the ones I read are technically the abridged version but I’m still counting it.
First Audiobook
Again, no clue what the real answer is. The documented answer is The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan. It’s book two of the Ranger’s Apprentice series and that’s one of my top series. I owe Flanagan’s books a lot of gratitude as they were a contributing factor in me starting my own book. Yeah, good times.
First (physical) Reread
Ooo, I thought is was Betrayal by Patrica Finney, but upon closer inspection, it’s beaten by Cécile: Gates of Gold by Mary Casanova. I don’t have much to say about this book. It’s historical fiction and affiliated with the American Girl™ company. I guess it was good, if I read it twice.
First Series I Abandoned
Oddly enough, it’s the Boxcar Children. My mom said I had to cut ties by my eleventh birthday and find greener pastures, so I blazed through as many as I could before the date and then never read another one.
Another answer is the Guardians of Ga’hoole series by Kathryn Lasky. I read book one and never wanted to continue. Does anyone remember the movie they made? Yeah, I don’t really either.
First One Star
Young me was more forgiving and I didn’t give out one stars for many years. (In the Coils of the Snake would have had that rating.) What am I saying? I was way too lenient. Three stars back then would be one or two stars today.
At first I gave The Fault in Our Stars by John Green a higher rating. But after it had time to marinate and become rancid, I corrected my mistake. This is an intense one star, so much so that it made it on my Worst Books of the Decade list.
First Five Star
The Storyteller’s Daughter by Cameron Dokey. It is a retelling of A Thousand and One Arabian Nights and young me loved it. I did try to reread it but must’ve gotten distracted with something else because I never finished it.
First Book I Did Not Finish
DNFing is a more common occurrence nowadays, so dropping The Circle of Stone by A.J. Lake back in the day was a big deal. It’s the final book in The Darkest Age trilogy and those books never got on my good side. I only have vague memories of them and all that remains to single out this book are the notes, “Unfinished” and “It was bad.” So harsh.
First Fantasy
This is a muddled answer. I have Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis listed first. But I’d already listened to it in my strictly audiobook phase. Next option is Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville, which is the first book in the aforementioned Unicorn Chronicles. Then there’s the Hollow Kingdom books, but I don’t want to talk about those anymore. However, all those books have modern elements, so do they count?
Let’s just scrap all those answers and say The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien.
First Classic
Uhh, Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling. Has anyone read that book? I couldn’t tell you a thing about it. I then read an abridgment of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. After that was Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and the only thing I recall of that is a mention of bacon sandwiches. Yeah, hardly an auspicious start. Bacon sandwiches sound good though.
First Adult
The truest answer is the biography The Life of Nelson by Robert Southey. Eleven-year-old me had a thing for Lord Horatio Nelson. I’ll pick a novel answer.
Oh ho, this is a curious find. If mine records doth not deceive me, the answer is North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. It’s a classic that can be summarized as Pride and Prejudice, but if Darcy had a job. (Go watch the BBC miniseries; it’s fantastic.) This was at the beginning of my resurgence into classics, so while they were all categorized as adult at my library, they may not be that way at someone else’s library.
So if we’re talking non-classic adult, the answer is The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins. Good book; good audiobook; and excellent advertisement for Bushmills whiskey (used for all my baking needs).
First Historical Fiction
Victory by Susan Cooper. This is what led me to read that biography, so you can guess which historical figure played a key role in the book.
First E-Book
Let us join the modern age! I have no idea what this answer will be.
*flips through records*
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Not a very exciting answer, but okay. There are some hot and spicy opinions about this book. Strangely enough, I’m not one of its dissenters. I won’t sing its praises, but I had fun reading it. However, if we look at its companion book, Isla and the Happily Ever After, I have words.
First ARC
The Ill-Kept Oath by C. C. Aune. I got this book off of Netgalley and it was decent.
First Autographed Copy
First and only…The Disappearance of Winter’s Daughter by Michael J. Sullivan. I helped fund the Kickstarter, so that’s how I got it. I’ve never met an author, but one of these days I’d like to.
Let’s wrap this with a farewell, of sorts. These next answers may change at some point, but they’re a solid enough finale.
Last Middle Grade
This is ironic…Bad News by Pseudonymous Bosch. I do like his Secret series but the Bad trilogy sucks so bad. I would much rather my parting memory of middle grade be The Mage of Trelian by Michelle Knudsen, which I gave four and a half stars.
Last Young Adult
Sticking with novels (the Death Note and Fullmetal Alchemist mangas don’t count)…Anastasia and Her Sisters by Carolyn Meyer. Not her best work, but I’m glad I know more about the Romanovs. The second last choice is Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, which I disliked so much, it helped push me away from YA.
I realize not everyone keeps as stellar records as I do, but share whatever answers you can.
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