Ten bookish things I’m thankful for!

So today I’m linking up with Top Ten Tuesday, hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish! This week’s theme is ‘Top Ten Books I’m Thankful For (Happy Thanksgiving week in the USA!)’.

I live in Canada,* so I actually celebrated thanksgiving almost two months ago, but… I’m desperate for something to post about right now, so I don’t care, and I’m doing this anyways.

*Wow, I can’t spell, I just typed it Cananada… hahaha oops!

1 – I’m thankful that my parents encouraged my love of reading from a young age.

Although I don’t remember it very well, I know my parents read to me a lot when I was little. Even as I grew older, and was able to read on my own, they would still read to me if I wanted.
They encouraged my love of reading in other ways too. They brought me to the library lots, they bought me books, I believe that for my first birthday, they even asked everyone to get me books for a gift.*

This doesn’t necessarily seem like much, I’m sure a lot of parents bring their kids to the library, or buy them books. I never thought much of it, but If they hadn’t… who knows, I might not love reading the way I do now, and, well, I can’t even imagine life without books, so I think my parents did me a pretty huge favour by encouraging my love of books.

Thanks Mum and Dad!

*Books are the best gift ever after all!

2 – I’m thankful for libraries.

Can you imagine life without libraries? It would be terrible!

I admit, I complain about my library a lot. ‘It’s too small!‘ or ‘They don’t have any of the books I want!‘ or ‘They only have one copy, and there’s a gazillion holds on it!‘

So yeah, maybe my local library is small, and maybe I wish it was a gazillion times a bit bigger. But without it? My reading would be limited to the books I own. There is SO many books I would never have read, not to mention the experiences I would have missed. Library book club? That could never have happened.

There’s other things too, more personal experiences. For instance, the library was I believe the first place I ever went on my own, without a parent. Sure, it would have happened sometime, but I doubt it would have happened that young.

So I should really stop complaining about my library,* and be thankful that I live near one at all.**

*Yeah, okay, that’s probably not going to happen.

**But… maybe that can. I can be thankful and still complain.

3 – I’m thankful for authors.

Authors don’t always get as much credit as they deserve. They tend to get a bit overlooked, because books tend to outshine them a bit. Sure, your favourite authors get a lot of credit, but… I think a lot of people, me included, overlook authors who wrote those books that we liked a lot, but maybe didn’t quite love, or the authors who wrote that one great book, but you maybe don’t love their other stuff.

But all authors are pretty amazing. They wrote a book, and they got it published. And that’s pretty impressive.
If it weren’t for authors, where would we be? If it weren’t for authors, there wouldn’t be books. So I’m pretty darn thankful for authors. All authors, not just the ones who wrote the books I loved, or even the ones who wrote the books I just liked. Even if they wrote a book I hated, I’m still thankful to those authors.

Thank you authors, I appreciate you!

Julianna at Blots of Ink and Words wrote a whole post about why we should appreciate authors more, which you should definitely read too, by the way! 🙂

4 – I’m thankful that reading is easy for me.

I’m a fairly quick reader. It’s always come easily to me,* and I am so glad of that. I have a friends who’s dyslexic, and talking to her makes me so grateful that I don’t have that issue.

Like me, she’s a huge bookworm, and loves reading, but she has a hard time with it, and it sounds so frustrating! She’s actually a very impressive reader for having somewhat severe dyslexia, but she can’t just sit down and read a book in one sitting, and it gets really annoying.

I’m incredibly impressed by the way she pushes through it. I don’t think I could stand it. And hearing about it from her? It makes me sososososo thankful that reading has never been difficult for me.

*I mean, of course when I was first learning to read I struggled with it a bit, I think everyone does, but you know what I mean.

5 – I’m thankful for my cousins and friends, who are always willing to lend me books.*

I know some people aren’t so keen on lending books, but I’m lucky to have a lot of people who are always happy to supply me with books. Especially because, although now I treat them the way I treat my own books, and try to keep them in perfect condition, when I was younger I had no regard for the condition of books.**

But yet for some reason I’m still lucky enough to have people willing to lend me books.
All of my friends will loan me books when they have ones I want to read, and I appreciate it a lot. (If any of you guys are reading this, thank you!)

Then there’s my cousins. They live quite far away, and we usually only see them once or twice a year, but yet every time I leave their house, I come away with a bag of books. Or like, two bags. That happened. That was not supposed to happen. Apparently I have no self control when it comes to books though. So I have two bags of books borrowed from my cousins, and I should really be reading them, but no, apparently I am not capable of deciding sensibly which books to read.

Anyways, I got a  bit carried away there.
I am so grateful that these lovely people are willing to lend me their books, thank you everyone!

*And, you know, I’m thankful for my cousins and friends who don’t lend me books as well, of course, but that doesn’t count as a bookish thing.

**Gasp! I know! Shocking!

6 – I’m thankful that I decided to give YA a go.

You probably didn’t know this, but up until less than a year ago, I didn’t read YA. I mean, I’d read a few YA books, but I didn’t realize they were YA. Mostly, I stuck to MG.

It was partially because, for the longest time, I thought that Young Adult, meant just that. Young adults. I didn’t realize it was actually more the teen section.

It was also partially because I’d  only ever read MG books, and I was worried that I would read something I wasn’t ready for. I’m not sure what I thought I would read that I wasn’t ready for, but it was still a concern, if an irrational one.

I think the biggest part though, was probably the fact that I had no clue my library had a YA section. It should have been obvious, but it’s tucked away in a corner, and really hard to find, and it just never occurred to me to look.

Finally I did find it, and at first I was very tentative. I only got out books I had already heard of, and specifically wanted to read. And they were amazing. So I slowly started to browse, and got a few books I hadn’t already heard of. And they were great. Soon I was in the YA section all the time. Then I found book blogs, and my love of YA was cemented.

I am SO glad I finally ventured into the YA section, as I think I might have gone mad if I had to keep reading MG.

7 – I’m thankful for book blogging.

Like I said, book blogs were a part of what cemented my love for YA, but it’s not just that.

I get almost all my book suggestions from blogs, and I’ve found most of my favourite YA books through them.

Blogging also gives me a place where I can fangirl freely, and interact with other people who understand my love of books. Other people who can fangirl with me, or who can offer a different opinion. Whatever they have to offer, there’s people in the blogosphere who are willing to talk about almost any book. I love having this place to interact with my fellow bookworms, and I am SO thankful for it.

8 – I’m thankful that I have people in real life to fangirl with as well.

I am incredibly lucky to have so many friends and relatives who share my love of books. I’ve talked to people online who hardly know anyone IRL who loves to read as much as they do. I can’t imagine it.

I have quite a lot of friends, but I have six really close friends. Five of them love to read. They don’t all have the same tastes as I do, some of them have very different tastes in fact, but they still love to read. They get why I could (and often do) spend all day with my nose in a book. All of them have some books in common with me.

A lot of my family members, (extended and immediate) also love to read. My parents don’t do a ton of it, but they love reading when they get the chance. My cousins, as I already mentioned, also love reading.

I think I’m very lucky to know so many people who share my love of reading, and quite a few who have similar tastes to me.

Thanks you guys, just for existing! I love you!

9 – I’m thankful that I live in a time and place that I have time to read.

I know that a lot of people, in the past, or in other countries, or even in my own country, maybe don’t have the time or money to read as much as I do. I’m very fortunate, and I know that. I don’t usually think about it much, but I do know it.

A lot of people have to use all their money on food, and shelter, or spend all their time working, to make that money, or on farming, or whatever.

I’m fortunate to be able to read as much as I do, and I’m thankful for that.

10 – I’m thankful for whoever decided writing down a bunch of words on paper, and sticking that paper together was a good idea- they were right!

I know this probably isn’t really a specific person, but hey, it could be.

To be more accurate, I’m incredibly grateful books exist. Without books, I wouldn’t know anything.* Without books, I wouldn’t be me. So I’m very glad that books exist. I’m very glad that people developed books, that somebody invented the printing press, that people decided they liked books, and that they were something worth treasuring.

So last, but very certainly not least, I am thankful for books!

*I swear ALL my knowledge comes from books!

Thanks very much for reading this gargantuan post,* and I hope you enjoyed it!

Also I would just like to say, I’m so sorry I disappeared for a bit… I was away, and then I just wasn’t motivated. I was having a somewhat major blogging slump, but I think it’s gone now, as I have lots of ideas again! I’ll try to post more frequently than I have this month…

*I’m very thankful that you did!

Do you agree with me on any of these? What is something bookish you’re thankful for? How about something not bookish? What age did you start reading YA at? (Probably younger than me… :))