Top Ten Tuesday - Gateway Books

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun!

Top 10 Gateway Books

The books that got me to where I am today

1. Little Golden Books: These were my first books, some of which I still have today. What? I'm sentimental. But these books were my bookish building blocks.

2. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit: This was the first book I ever remember re-reading. It was a gift from my next door neighbor (she was a teacher) when I was like 7. I read this over and over. It was also the first book that reduced me to tears.

3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: This was the only required reading book that I actually liked in school. Whenever I was told I had to read a book, I immediately dug my heels in and hated it on principal. This book was the exception.

4. Sweet Valley by Francine Pascal: Not I didn't say Sweet Valley Kids, High, Middle ... because I read them all. I grew up with these books. They were my first foray into the world of the series. I read everything with a Sweet Valley stamp on it and lamented that I was born without a twin.

5. The Babysitter's Club by Ann M. Martin: Let's be real - every girl read this series and formed her own babysitter's club with her friends that fell apart a couple weeks later because they realized watching squalling toddlers sucked. Also, why did I think $3 an hour was all that? Even in the 90's, I'm sure that was well below minimum wage.

6. A Moment of Weakness by Karen Kingsbury: This book launched my love and addiction to Christian fiction. I was on a retreat with my youth group and spotted this book, buying it on a whim. I was at the weird high school phase were I was outgrowing the small YA section that was out there but adult novels were too convoluted and full of adult stuff for me to love. These books pulled teenage Hannah back into the reading world.

7. Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles: I've said it before and I'll say it again: This book is the reason I ever started blogging. It was my gateway back into YA. I was in my mid-twenties, aimlessly wandering in a B&N when I saw this cover on a shelf. My jaw dropped when I saw that steamy cover. How was that young adult? I bought it on impulse and devoured it in a night. I had grown up in the world of Sweet Valley where kissing was briefly mentioned and this was ... Whoa. Intrigued, I started randomly buying more and more YA novels.

8. Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout: My first ARC, my first Jen Armentrout book ... This book is special to me because of all the memories it triggers. 

9. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer: Yes, I picked that book of the entire series. BD was my favorite in the Twilight series, deal with it. Also this is the first book I went to a midnight release for. I camped out at my local B&N with my friend (who was 7 months pregnant at the time). We sat in the children's section, flipping through picture books and talking about baby names until midnight where I went home and read for 4 hours, slept for 3 and then finished the book in another 3 hours.

10. Blank Canvas by Jen Fisher: Technically this isn't a book in the traditional sense. It's a kick ass manuscript written by an amazing friend of mine. This book is special because I have literally seen it from conception to birth to Extreme Makeover: Book Edition and I love every incarnation of it. This book (and author) have also inspired me to get my butt in gear and write for myself.