Earliest reading memories & what I've read so far in 2012..

For as long as I can remember, there have been books around. Growing up, it was no different. I was surrounded by books. I'm sure my parents read to me even though I don't remember any actual circumstances, but I knew there were books everywhere. Both my parents were (and still are) avid readers. The same goes for my aunt and both of my grandmother's. 

I'm 28 years old now, and it hasn't changed. 

Sure, I've had bouts where my reading wasn't happening as much as I would have liked it to, and then there were the times where all I did was read. This summer after I broke my left foot in a freak accident, I went through a good stack of books while I spent that first miserable week in bed. Things slowed down after that and I'm just now finding the motivation and focus to pick up a book or my Kindle and actually sit down and read. 

One of my earliest memories of reading is from Kindergarten. Let's just say that I was the scrawny, shy, freckle faced kid. I hated being the center of attention but I had a small group of friends. I lost a tooth during our Thanksgiving party and my grandmother announced it to the entire class - but my earliest reading memory comes from that year.

We were learning to read - and the one book we all learned to read together was none other than Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. I remember sitting on that carpet with all the other kids and reading along with my teacher, so excited, so proud of myself and knowing that I wanted to keep reading. I didn't want to stop.

It came full circle when I read the book to the two youngest girls I work with one afternoon before their nap time, now I see that same excitement in the girls - they are devouring books, always wanting more, more, and more. While I do have to encourage them at times to sit down and read as part of their daily homework, once they start to read it is almost impossible to get them to stop.

While I haven't read nearly as much as I would have liked in 2012, I've read more than I have in the past few years. Life threw hurdles at me, but I pushed past. I read when I could. I read when I could find the focus to fully get lost in a story and I watched the huge "to be read" pile get just a bit smaller.

The year is winding down, but so far I'm pleased with my progress. To re-cap the year in books so far I've read (and these are not in any order):

1. Shadow and Bone 
2. Catastrophic History of You and Me 
3.  Unbreak My Heart 
4.  Fracture 
5.  In Honor 
6.  My Life Next Door
7. Eve
8. Once
9. Under The Never Sky
10. Shatter me
11.  Pandemonium
12. Insurgent
13. Divergent
14. Delirium
15. Sisterhood Everlasting
16.  Matched
17. I Am Number Four (in progress)
18. Destroy Me (in progress)

I'm happy to have that feeling of excitement when I sit down to read and that feeling you get when you just don't want to put that book down. My hope and goal for the upcoming new year is to continue reading, push myself more and hold onto that love of reading I've had since I was a little kid.