25 Bookish Facts About Me

I thought it would be fun to share some bookish facts about me!

1. My name is literary, so I feel like I was destined to become a reader. My parents picked Melissa because they were watching Little House on the Prairie while my mom was pregnant, and they liked Melissa Gilbert’s name (the actress who played Laura on the show). My mom’s middle name is Ann, which she wanted to pass along to me, but she preferred “Anne with an E” from Anne of Green Gables, so that’s how she spelled it.
2. My all time favourite books and series is Harry Potter, always and forever. I was a Girl Guide leader when I picked up the first book because the girls were OBSESSED with talking about Harry’s adventures and I had to figure out what Quidditch was. I had only planned on reading the first book, just so that I’d understand what the fuss was about, but quickly binge read the four books that were released at that point … and never looked back.
3. Speaking of Harry Potter, I worked at the launch of the sixth book and was in line for the seventh book at midnight. I have yet to find another series that has impacted me so profoundly (although, if Crescent City progresses as epically as the first book, I can see that series coming pretty close!)
4. I don’t write in my books or dogear pages, but I haul my books around in my bag and they get pretty beaten up while I’m reading them. I even own a couple of book sleeves, but if I do carry a sleeve, I’ll often forget that it’s in my bag and shove my book in right next to it!
5. Clearly, I’m not too concerned about regular wear and tear on my books, but I despise it when I lend a book out and people don’t care about how they treat the borrowed book. I once lent a book to a coworker who spilled a glass of water on it, and then returned it without either acknowledging the damage or even apologizing. I’m not super concerned about my books being worn, especially as a book has been read multiple times from loaning, but I think that people should be super considerate and careful with borrowed books, and if accidents happen at least say sorry!
6. It bothers me a little when my series don’t match, but I would never really consider spending the money on books that I already own. In that vein, I don’t own multiple copies of beloved books.
7. Further to number 6 above, Harry Potter is the only exception! My series was mismatched, but I slowly collected all of the original Canadian hardcovers because I needed to have one beautiful matching set, and in the covers that I originally read them (with the exception of #5 because I originally read it while I was in the US – and although the US covers are pretty, I like the Canadian ones best).
8. Again, further to number 6 above, I have purchased the illustrated versions of Harry Potter – so I do own more than one copy of those. I also recently re-purchased The Neverending Story because it’s one of my all-time favourite books and my original copy has completely fallen apart. I can’t quite part with my original copy though — so many memories!
9. I can’t WAIT to read the Harry Potter series aloud to my son!!! This is the main reason that I’ve purchased the illustrated versions. Reading them aloud with the pictures is going to be MAGICAL.
10. When I originally wrote this list (it was previously posted on my old blog), I stated that I didn’t own any Funko Pops, nor did I want to. I then started purchasing the Harry Potter ones, and I haven’t looked back! They were originally for my desk at work, to add some character to my workspace, but they’re now in my library at home.
11. I have yet to find a bookshelf organization system that works for me. I’ve organized my shelves purely alphabetical, but later reorganized by genre so that my husband’s sci-fi and horror wouldn’t be sitting with my books. I later shuffled by size so that I could fit everything together, and lost the alphabetical order. My books are currently divided into read and unread with my read books (mostly) in rainbow, but favourite series and authors on their own shelf — but sometimes I get the urge to go back to alphabetical again. Once my books are closer to almost all read, I think I’ll go back to alphabetical — but only once all my unread books will fit onto my book cart.
12. Again, when I last wrote this list I shared that “I sometimes wish that I could start my Goodreads shelves all over again, but I have way to many books on my shelves and it would take HOURS to reorganize it all.” I subsequently invested the time and it was SO WORTH IT. I love having my ‘unread shelf’ as the books that I own and haven’t read yet.
13. Speaking of my unread shelf, I have a lofty goal of reducing my unread books to double digits by the end of the year. I’m currently at 126, so it feels do-able. Ultimately, I would love to have my unread books fit on my book cart, or be at or under 50 total.
14. I met my husband in a bookstore! He was a customer and I worked in the store. And we lived happily ever after. I’m going to bring back my ‘Once Upon a Time in a Bookstore’ post next month for our wedding anniversary, so stay tuned!
15. We had a bookish wedding too – with decorative books as our centrepieces and bookmarks as our wedding favours and we took photos in a used bookstore.
16. I used to spend an hour and a half commuting to work, and another hour and a half commuting home. The way Vancouver is laid out, the only place to make a decent salary is downtown, and the only place one can afford to purchase a home is waaaaay east, so most people have a similar commute. But since COVID, I work mostly from home and it took me most of 2020 to figure out how to prioritize finding as much time to read at home once I removed my commute. In 2020 I didn’t hit 100 books for the first time since I started that commute, but I’ve shattered previous reading records in 2021!
17. Although I’ve read close to or over 100 books every year since 2017, I still set my Goodreads reading goal at 50 every year — no one needs to tell me that I’m behind on my hobby, thankyouverymuch.
18. I once stumbled across a video of myself explaining my 2010 New Year’s Resolutions. In the video, I explained that the previous year I’d planned to read one book a month, but in 2010 I was planning to read two books a month. In consideration of the item noted above, my first thought was WHO IS THIS GIRL AND HOW IS SHE POSSIBLY A PAST ME?
19. I used to subscribe to Owlcrate and, although it was been fun getting bookish mail, I’m not 100% sure I knew what to do with all the “stuff” that comes in the box. After I cancelled my subscription, I’ve opted for the occasional fandom purchase from Etsy or other site and I love supporting small businesses, but choosing items that I will actually use. I have my eye on a Get Happy Tees order next … just as soon as I can narrow down which one(s) I want.
20. In November, I will have been blogging for TEN YEARS. While I’ve had some starts and stops, especially in the last couple of years, it has been fun to have my own little nerdy corner of the internet to talk books.
21. When I stumble across a new blog, the first thing I do is read the blogger’s very first post. I like to see where people began, and I especially love it when the first post is a “welcome to my blog” or similar introductory post, rather than a review.
22. My son is turning into a super avid reader and is currently chewing through chapter books. While I would have loved him regardless of whether he became a reader, the fact that he is a reader just warms my mama’s heart.
23. I totally judge books by their covers. (Shhh, I won’t tell anyone that you do too). As a result, there are a few books that I probably would have totally passed over because the covers didn’t wow me (like Me Before You or Turtles All the Way Down), so thank goodness for people raving about these books online and convincing me to give them a shot!
24. Speaking of covers, my biggest cover pet peeve is putting a real person’s face on the cover. I don’t want the publisher to tell me what the character looks like; I want to imagine it for myself.
25. For the very reason noted above, I will search high and low for the original printing of a book in order to avoid buying a movie tie-in cover. NO THANK YOU to Hollywood actors on the front of this girl’s books!

Well, there you have it — 25 random bookish facts about me! Let me know some bookish facts about you in the comments below, or leave a link to your post and I’ll stop by! I love learning about other people’s weird (or totally normal) bookish idiosyncrasies!