I’m going to be trying something a little different today, and I hope that it’ll interest enough people that I can continue to do posts like this. That being said, I would love feedback on this post! Comments can be posted below or over on Instagram at @litandleta.
I think this is probably a tag somewhere and there’s a better way to do it, but I’m just going to list these things off and go into a bit more detail about each one. Here are Ten Bookish Things About Me, Myshara Leta!
1. The books that shaped me as a reader were Anne of Green Gables, DragonLance, and the Graceling series.
a. There were many, many more, I promise you. But these are the ones I think of most often. Anne of Green Gables was the story of a strange girl who didn’t fit in the little town of Avonlea yet thrived despite this and everything else that was thrown her way. The Graceling series comprised three books and told the stories of Katsa, Fire, and Bitterblue. It was one of the first series I’d read that introduced a unique world where some people had powers and others struggled for control. These three heroines didn’t make it onto my “Badass Heroines” list, but they sure helped me to find the women that are on the list. DragonLance was the series of books that my dad gifted to me. He had read so many of them and I believe they were his favourite. The first novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, told the tale of the Companions and their quest to prove that the old gods hadn’t abandoned the world. Honestly, it was much more than that. Tanis Half-Elven, Flint Fireforge, Raistlin and Caramon Majere, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, Sturm Brightblade, and Kitiara Uth Matar–with the help of Goldmoon and Riverwind–make up the Companions. It’s an extensive fantasy adventure series about saving the world from evil and I can see shadows of it in most of the fantasy series I read now. All these books had a tremendous impact on me as a reader and as a person.
2. I remember the plots of nearly every book I’ve read without having to reread them.
a. I have an eidetic memory (not a great one, it’s got lots of holes) that allows me to store away a ton of details about the books that I’ve read. I only need to know the characters’ names and the basic plot, and I can pull up knowledge about books I read over a decade ago. It’s a fairly useless skill unless I write something like book reviews. It helped while I was writing literary analysis papers during my degree, though.
3. I’m usually reading at least two books at once, but most of the time four or five. I tend to be in the middle of five or six series at the same time and jump between them as I feel like. (Yes, I hate the chaos of this more than you do.)
a. My Goodreads account will show proof of this. The best I can do is give an example because I have no idea why I do this. But because of my memory (see above point), it doesn’t seem to be a problem for getting stories confused. Right now, I’m reading The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher, The Betrothed by Kiera Cass, Watering the Soul by Courtney Peppernell, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody, Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, and rereading Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. I jump between them depending on my mood. The last three on this list have been there quite a while because I’ve been more interested in other books. Save the Cat! is a book on writing, so I’m slowly working through that as I plot my novel. The chaos, man. I’m surprised there’s this much of it.
4. My instant-buy authors are Sarah J. Maas, Holly Black, Angie Thomas, Marissa Meyer, Adrienne Young, and Tracy Deonn.
a. There are a couple others recently, but I’m going to wait to read their newest books to add them to the list. I love each of these author’s books for different reasons. If you believe they are problematic, that is your choice. I’m able to separate the story from the author and enjoy the escapism. To me, when the point is escapism, it makes little sense to place it in reality and bend it to reality’s rules.
5. I began writing my first novel when I was about seven or eight.
a. I remember my third-grade teacher getting furious at me for writing all the time in this little purple fairy notebook. One of my biggest regrets is that I don’t have that little book anymore. I’ve moved so much that it got lost in all the shuffling.
b. I’ve always called it “my novel” because I only ever had a title for the series. It’s not the novel that I’m currently working on either. A Feminist Wizard’s Guide to Gardening, my current work in progress, takes place around 800 years later in the same world and on a different continent. Hopefully, I have the chance to tell lots of stories from this world in the future, including the one I started when I was seven/eight.
6. My love of books has lasted my entire life, and it’s the reason that I now hold a Bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing.
a. When I was thinking about university and careers in the last couple years of high school, I could only think of myself doing something that involved books heavily. I settled on being an English teacher, which meant starting my education with a four-year Bachelor’s. Though I got my Bachelor’s and am very proud to have an education in the realm of books, I am not a teacher, nor will I ever be. I’m not the person who could teach like that. Unfortunately, I’m not talented in other academic areas and I have very poor skills for a setting involving other people at all (customer service). I was afraid while I was finishing up my Bachelor’s in English because I knew that this was my only shot. Teaching felt like the only option that I could be good at that would pay my loans. Now I have a partner that supports me in my dreams to be a writer and blogger and housewife. Though I won’t use it in a professional capacity again, I love my degree and all that it’s taught me. It lends every word I type and speak credibility. It shows how much I love books.
7. Audiobooks don’t hold my focus unless they’re on a scientific topic or I’ve read the book before at least once.
a. I have What If? and How To? by Randall Monroe and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson. All three are perfect–they hold my attention, broaden my knowledge in areas I’m interested in, and I can use them to fall asleep easily as well. I’m trying to get into other audiobooks, but I find them so difficult to follow and I can’t remember details of world-building when listening to them. I’ve listened to A Court of Wings and Ruin, but I’ve read in twice in the paperback and knew what the world looked like and what was going on. To everyone who can listen to them: I applaud you! It’s an amazing skill.
8. I’ve always wanted to start a Booktube channel over on YouTube and I recently started watching a few Booktubers.
a. This is a grand plan. I’ve got some steps done, but I’m not ready to make videos. I love to watch other people who love books talk about them and I hope to be one of them one day soon.
9. Paperback versus hardcover? I don’t care!
a. I try to keep books matching within a series, but I’ll go with whichever I find first. My new books tend to all be hardcovers because I buy them as they’re released, but I try for paperback with older books because they’re cheaper. If there’s a difference in cover design, I go with whatever I like most. I’m not into having multiple editions of books, unless it’s a special edition. I have the Collector’s Editions of A Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass and I love them. Unless it’s a favourite and easy to get a hold of, nothing needs to be special. Books are special enough already.
10. I do read broadly genre-wise, but my favourite will always be fantasy.
a. I’ve found that most of them fall with Young Adult or Adult, which I don’t mind at all. I’ve tried some middle grade fantasy, but I find them lacking the vast worlds and interpersonal relationships that YA and Adult fantasy have.
b. If I couldn’t get fantasy, my top three genres would by literature, science-fiction, and contemporary fiction. The only non-fiction I read are memoirs, but I prefer those that have a literary quality. I took a Women’s Memoirs class during my degree, and it was phenomenal.
Wow, that was quite the list. I hope it was as fun to read as it was to write! I thought I would struggle to come up with a list about me, but it was easy to think of things once I started. What are some bookish facts about you? Do your reading habits or opinions differ from mine? I’d love to know!
Thanks for reading!
Lit&Leta 
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