Books are bomb. Just admit it. Some of my best memories center around books. Here are my top 5:
Midnight release!
1) Finishing Harry Potter – I still remember sitting in a dark basement in Alaska, reading the very end of the series, tears streaming down my face, and a smile breaking through the tears.
2) Getting the 5th Harry Potter book delivered to our home in France the day it was released – we didn’t think we’d get it for a week or two. It was better than Christmas.
3) Meeting Scott Westerfeld, of Uglies fame. I haven’t been to too many signings, and there are authors I would be more excited to meet than Scott Westerfeld, but it was still pretty cool. Plus, he told me there are over 60 ways to spell “Caitlin.” It made me wonder what he spends his time doing . . .
4) The time Patrick Rothfuss emailed me back after I emailed him to tell him I liked his book and that I hoped I could write so beautifully some day.
I lied, you’re only getting 4. Too many choices for the 5th one. What are your top bookish moments?!
1.). Finishing my very first book, that had never been read to me, alone: “Run Away Ralph”.
2.) Reading “Les Miserables”…. So moving and worth the many hours I spent reading it.
3.) Meeting Mo Willems. I love Elephant and Piggie!!!
4.) Having my brother read, “The Night Before Christmas” to my family every Christmas eve.
5.) Having my son read his first book to me… “The Bridge is Up”.
Great post! Reading LOTR when I was 8 changed my life and I was obsessed with having that feeling of being in a completely different world – it’s sort of a drug and an addiction! Seeing my sister’s first book on a bookstore shelf is at the top of my book experiences, too, I suppose! Reading chapter one of HP Book one was a pretty transforming experience for me, too. It’s one of my favorite sections of any book ever. (BTW, Patrick Rothfuss is one of the most adorable human beings: I’ve met him and my sister did a signing/panel thingy with him and we are both delighted by his awesomeness!)
A drug and an addiction – ha, yes. Definitely. And you and your sister should introduce me to all your cool book friends.
I’ll try not freak out like the fan girl I am. And tell your sister I loved Tuesdays at the Castle. So delightful. 
I love that you remember the first book you read alone! I’m trying to think what my first book alone was. I know we have a video recording of me reading “The Teeny Tiny Woman” and her teeny tiny bone. But I wasn’t actually reading it – I just had the whole thing memorized, right down to when to turn the page! Ha!
Clearly my love affair with books started young.