Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week they provide a topic and you are free to use that topic and/or variations of that topic to make your top ten list. You don’t have to do all ten. Instead you can do three, five, fifteen, whatever you want. A full list of the weekly themes can be found here.

This week’s topic, Books with Sensory Reading Memories, feels like one that is going to get a little personal. Not usually something that I am terribly comfortable with but lets go with it and see what happens.

The Bone Season (The Bone Season #1) by Samantha Shannon – I figured I would start with something simple. The Bone Season, for me, gives me the warm fuzzies. Why? I hadn’t read in a very long time. It just wasn’t a part of my life much in my early 20’s. But, one day during my lunch break at work, I wandered in a Barnes and Noble and there this book was waiting for me. I remember seeing it sitting there on the shelf, waiting for me. It pulled my out of a years long reading slump and I am sure grateful for that.

Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) by Sarah J. Maas – This book is always going to bring up memories of driving up what feels like the endless expanse of I-81. I read this book as audio during trips I made between Baltimore/DC and my southern Virginia home. Those trips weren’t for a good reason so this book, and the rest of the series, will always brings back those bad memories for me. Might be why I hate Aelin so much…

Searching for Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles #2) by Patricia C. Wrede – As a little girl, my momma would tuck me in every night and instead of reading to me from children’s books, she would read books like this. Searching for Dragons was one book that she would read as a bedtime story and it will always bring back memories of warmth, safety, and love.

The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1) by Suzanne Collins – Now, this is a book I don’t think that I have ever brought up on LW. Years ago my husband, then boyfriend, bought me my first e-reader, the Nook. One of the first series I downloaded at that time was The Hunger Games. I can recall laying prone on the couch in our living room, he was sitting on the floor playing a video game, and I just lay there and binged the entire series in a weekend. It is a happy and comforting memory that brings back feelings of nostalgia.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore – I’m not quite sure this one is a sensory memory read but, screw it, using it anyway. Bitterblue is my lifeboat, my lighthouse, and my life vest. When I am drowning in all of the things the world can throw at me, Bitterblue is there to yank me back to the shore. I don’t know what it is about this book but it is the greatest escape for me. It is the book and the comfort I turn to when times are at their darkest.

The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro – When I first moved from the DC area to southern Virginia I started driving Uber to make a few bucks. In between rides when I had a few minutes of down time I would pull out this book to withdrawal from the world, even if just for a moment. For an intense introvert, Uber was exhausting because of the friendly and the conversation and constant stream of strangers in my car. The Perfume Collector helped me to release that tension as a means of escapism.

That is it for this Tuesday. I hope everyone has a fantastic day and happy reading!