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Cathryn's Reading Life
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Dr. Seuss Stories
The first books that I really remember reading were the Dr. Seuss books. My dad would usually read me one or two before bed. He would always tell me that I would pick the one with the most tongue twisters just to make him stumble on the words so that I could laugh. My favorites were The Sneeches, Fox in Sox, and Oh the Places You'll Go. -
Animal Facts Brochures
During my childhood I remember reading these 2 page brochure packets about animals. Each brochure was about a different kind of exotic animal. It included all kinds of interesting facts and pictures of that animal. I was fascinated by them and had a collection of them that I kept in a special place in my room. -
Watching Granny Read
I moved to Dallas around this time and got to spend a lot more time with my Granny that also lived there. She has always been an avid reader and anytime I was over at her house I would always see her reading a book. Even though she mostly read romance novels (which she told me to never pick up!) she always encouraged me to read. I think she's the best so of course I wanted to read to be like her! -
Frustrated First Grader
A very vivid memory is one I have of sitting with my mom as I struggled to get through reading my first book assignment from school in the first grade. I can remember is it being something about tomatoes. This is the only memory I can really recall of being a struggling reader. I could barely get through a sentence without stumbling on the words. I become so frustrated and upset that my mom kept making me try to read. She kept encouraging me and we finally made it through the whole book. -
Favorite Book: Miss Spider's Tea Party
I absolutley loved this book in the 2nd grade. Almost every night my mom and I would read this as I held my own stuffed animal Miss Spider. I liked it so much because of the quirky characters and how nice Miss Spider was to all of the other insects. -
Boxcar Children Series
I loved reading the Boxcar Children book series in elementary school. They were so entertaining to me because it was about a group of siblings and I am an only child. They were all about adventures and survival. This series was great for me to start me out reading chapter books because there was always the next book to read. -
Treehouse Publishing
At my elementary school we had a really cool program in our library called Treehouse Publishing. We were able to write and illustrate our very own picture books and have them bound and covered into a real book. I absolutley loved coming up with my own stories and getting to draw out all of the illustrations.I probably made at least 10 books over my elementary years. -
The Book of my Childhood: Caddie Woodlawn
When I think of my reading life as a child this is the one book that comes to mind. It was my absolute favorite. I even remember being in the bookstore with my mom buying it. I loved it so much because I thought of it as a 'grownup' book since I had a hardback version. I loved the adventure and the stories about Caddie growing up as a pioneer. -
Guinness World Record Books
I loved looking at the World Record Books. I had a few years copies and I would look at all of the interesting records. They were a great read now that I was getting older and busier. I could flip through the book and start and stop whenever I wanted. -
Gossip Girl Series
During my middle school years I must have taken some time off reading as I started getting busy with afterschool activities and my interest moved into online IM'ing and chatting. I do remember reading the Gossip Girl series and a few other very girly short series books. These were easy entertaining reads that I turned to as a break from busy everyday life. They were an escape into a glamorous and cool life. -
A Bad Book: Great Expectations
During the spring semester of high school freshman year my Honors English class was assigned to read Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. When I look back on this time during that school year I remember feeling stressed and overwhelmed. I could never seem to stay current with the reading schedule and never really got past the confusing and wordy language. I didnt like having to annotate. I do recall most of the story and the scenes vividly though but I definitely did not enjoy this read. -
To Kill a Mockingbird
I had a sudden interest in this book sometime after seeing the movie on tv one day with my dad I think. Interestingly I never read it during my years in school but I really enjoyed reading this classic. I probably enjoyed it so much because I got to read it on my own time and take from it what I wanted to instead of being told how to interpret it. I was impacted by the cruelty shown to the outcasts of the town and I think it has influenced how I tend to see the positive in people. -
Teen Magazine Phase
This is right in the middle of my obsession with any and all magazines for the teenage girl. You name it, Seventeen, Teen Vogue, Us, People, I was subscribed to it. I even remember asking for these subscriptions for birthday presents. I loved reading about the latest fashions, celebrity news, and of course tips on dating. I would say this was the majority of my reading material during my tween and teen years. -
Harry Potter
I was a little late catching on to the Harry Potter trend but I spent my Junior year of high school reading through the series. Once again they were an easy read and I enjoyed them because they were an escape into a different world. Just like everyone else I was really sad when I reached the end of the series because it felt like I was missing some of my closest friends. -
Memoirs of a Geisha
Towards the end of high school I began reading a lot more for pleasure and I started to seek out books that appealed to my love of travel and different cultures. Memoirs of a Geisha was probably the first book that made me realize that I could read books about people in different cultures and time periods and it was like I was going on a trip or back through time. -
Giving in to Twilight
Even though I will agree that the writing is cringeworthy at some points I excitedly dove into the Twilight saga and loved every page. I let myself get pulled into the story, the characters, and the fantasy of it all. I have seen all the movies and this series is one of my guilty pleasures. I see how it pulled me in and how it has engaged some of my reluctant reader friends so I would definitely support these kinds of books for engaging uninterested readers. -
Favorite College Book: Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
At the recommendation of my English teacher in Junior year of college I started reading the first book of the Girl with the dragon tattoo trilogy. I was hooked and read through all of them within just a few weeks! I liked these books so much since they were set in Sweden and I could explore that culture through the text. I also liked them because of the complex plot and character webs. -
Birthday Present: NOOK eReader
For my birthday last year my dad got me a NOOK digital reader. I was so excited to get it and I have read a lot of books on it in the last few months. I love the convenience of being able to bring multiple books with me at once and the ability to buy a book anywhere at anytime that I have wifi. Digital readers are the new way to read and I believe that it has opened up reading to the digital generation right now. I notice that I have read more in the last few months than I had been normally.
