Books that Bring me Happy Memories

I debated a long time about whether or not I wanted this post to just be about books I read as a kid and have fond memories of. I ended up deciding no, but it’s certainly going to weight more heavily on this list than my kids-lit picks normally do. I still find a great amount of joy in reading, but I think I am able to more concretely link books to parts of my life as a kid, wheras now reading has taken on a life of its own.

1. Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce: this was my first ever audiobook! Back when we had MP3 players, this came with me everywhere, and more or less stands in for my love affair with Tamora Pierce via audiobooks. Progressive high fantasy for kids since the 80s, but Daine’s links with animals and a crush on her teacher (which I definitely shared at the time and now look back on with horror once they actually get together) meant that I got my allowance money’s worth out of this one!
   
   
2. Harry Potter by an author who can go to hell: I went to Harry Potter camps … I can’t not mention it. The older I am, the more I see the flaws that eluded me as a kid though. Lupin’s lycanthropy as an AIDS allegory is all well and good, if not for the fact that he’s a straight guy and the only other named werewolf infects kids with allegorical AIDS on purpose.
   
   
3. Shaman King by Hiroyuki Takei: I could have put a few Shonen manga here, but Shaman King was the one that resonated with me the most. I was that kid who was running around on the playgrounds doing fake manga fight scenes.
   
   
4. Pokemon Emerald Official Game Guide by Fletcher Black: back before there were internet guides for everything, this book helped me with my favorite entry of the video game series that still holds my heart. I am a Pokemon man through and through, even if the recent games have been a big letdown. Ironically, as an adult looking back through it, I realized a ton of information within was incorrect.
   
   
5. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré: I didn’t care a ton for this classic spy thriller, but it was the first read of my friend group’s in person book club which meets slightly infrequently, but is still going strong! This solidified that we are friends who talk books. We just finished Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz and, because it was a novella, paired it with My Macaroni And Cheese is a Lesbian Also She is My Lawyer by Chuck Tingle. Noodles all day.
   
   
6. The Incandescent by Emily Tesh: This was the first book I hosted the discussion for with r/Fantasy’s Beyond Binaries Book Club, which has become a queer reading community I really value in online spaces. It’s a magic school story from the perspective of a teacher. I liked it but didn’t love it, and its probably my favorite teacher POV from Fantasy books? Still looking for the bolt of lightning that strikes my heart, but this was solid.
   
   
7. Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli: I cannot with full confidence say this was my first Gay Romance. It was certainly one of the early ones however, and I used to reread it often as a comfort read. It got a lot right about how having a loving family doesn’t mean coming out to them will be easy. Lots of irrational fear in that process.
   
   
8. Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike: this is the first book logged on my first ever reading tracker! A great comedic fantasy that also indulges satirical D&D worldbuilding, which I love. Need to get around to book 3 at some point.
   
   
9. The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson: this is the book that convinced me that Fantasy books could be more than escapism. I’d read books with a strong thematic focus, but something about this story flipped a script in my head, and it radically broadened my horizons as a reader.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.