It's probably because I've always been a reader, but when I think about the books that I've read, I think about who I was, where I was in life, when I first read them. Of course, this can't apply to all of the books I've read, because sometimes I read just to read, but I certainly remember my favorites.
Take Harry Potter, as an example. I was able to read the first two without waiting, but had to wait for the rest of the series to be released. When the last one was released, I was in D.C. for an internship, and it was my last day being there. I thought I had reserved it at the local Borders, but when I got there, they had not saved me a book like they said they would and they were out. On top of that, they told me that no other store in the city had copies. I cried on the metro on the way back to my dorm, until I realized that since I didn't have the book to read anyway, I could spend all day looking for a copy. Of course, the first store I went to, the store where I had gone for my first author event, had it, and I spent the day finishing it. (Note: On principle, I protested Borders. I'm not saying that's why they went out of business...I'm just making the comment.)
Other individual books have held their place in my memory--the book I was reading when I first talked to Nathan (a Phillipa Gregory), the books my mom read to me (A Wrinkle In Time, Where The Sidewalk Ends), the first book I remember reading by myself (Little House In The Big Woods). I loved the Princess Diaries books, and used to go to the bookstore the day they came out; the first ones I was still in high school, and the last one, I got on my first business trip in Arizona.
Today, a new book from my favorite author, Emily Giffin, comes out and I feel like it's Christmas. But I also remember first reading them--the first two after my first semester of college and the most recent one on my day off, right before we got married, plus the two between--and I love seeing how much has changed. So yes, while I am of course excited to sit down and read (or devour) the book, I also love how it, like so many others, reflects the changes in my life and lets me look back on the journey of life that has lead me to where I am today.
