Everyone We've Been : Reader Edition

In addition to being about memory and first love, Everyone We’ve Been is also about change. Because of this, I’ve been thinking a lot about change recently and how we evolve as individuals. This led me to thinking about how I’ve changed over time. The history of me is pretty boring (Once I was short. Then I was taller, but still short-ish. The end.), but I thought it might be fun to track how I’ve changed as a reader! Who I was - what books I loved - and who I am now.

The Brand New Reader: My very first independent reading memories are of picture books and short chapter books. I remember loving the Mr Men series, The Giving Tree, The Tale of Peter Rabbit and other books by Beatrix Potter.

The Enchanted Reader: I started to really love reading in elementary school. Everything about books seemed endless and enchanting and possible. I fell in love with A Wrinkle in Time, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlotte’s Web, Heidi, Matilda, Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. I could go on and on.

The All-You-Can-Read Reader: The next stage in my life involved serialized stories. A lot of serialized stories. I’d find an author I liked and read everything in every series they’d ever written. Some favorites: Enid Blyton’s The Secret Seven series, The Famous Five, Babysitter’s Club, The Mistletoe Farm, The Faraway Tree. Basically, if a series had more than three books (and involved secrets and numbers and Enid Blyton), I was in.

The Curious Reader: This phase took place at the end of elementary school and can pretty much be summed up in three words: Sweet Valley High. I remember my parents disapproving of these books, so naturally I devoured them. Then, I started to venture into the adult section. It all just looked so juicy and contraband. Until I read the first few pages of Stephen King’s It. I went running back to books for kids my age.
I’ve still never read It.

The Nonexistent Reader: I went through a sad phase where I didn’t read much in middle school. Maybe I was scarred by the pages of It I’d read, or maybe I was just so focused on surviving middle school. I remember that I missed reading the way you miss a friend you haven’t seen in ages.


The Prodigal Reader: In high school, I rediscovered my love of reading with books like The Giver, The Great Gatsby (which I hated at the time), A Separate Peace, The Diary of a Young Girl. I was the weirdo who read the required reading books and asked for some more. Then, I discovered newer authors like Meg Cabot, Sarah Dessen and John Green, and it opened up a whole new world.

The YA Reader: In college, I read a lot of YA. Tons and tons of it. Especially angsty YA. I also loved If I Stay, The Sky is Everywhere, Wintergirls and The Hunger Games and much more. These books felt like home to me. They were an especially welcome break from the Serious Literary Novels that I had to read for classes in college.

The Balancing Reader: I read a bit of everything these days. YA, adult, MG, nonfiction. I don’t read picture books much, though I always enjoy them when I do. I’m also making an intentional effort to read diversely, to buy books with voices that have been missing from publishing for so long and are so very needed. Some books I’ve loved in the last year:
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
Everything, Everything
More Happy Than Not
The Way Back To You
Suffer Love
Americanah
Wonder

And that’s everyone I’ve been, as far as reading goes. What reading phases have you gone through?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sarah Everett is the author of EVERYONE WE’VE BEEN (out Oct 4, 2016) and a second untitled novel that she is still hard at work on (both from Knopf/Penguin Random House). She remembers growing up in enchanted forests, on desert islands and inside a magical wardrobe. She would only ever erase her memory of past karaoke performances and certain fashion choices. Her interests include science, Friends, tennis, and reading. She currently lives in Canada where she attends graduate school and writes YA novels.

"Addison Sullivan has been in an accident. In its aftermath, she has memory lapses and starts talking to a boy that no one else can see. It gets so bad that she’s worried she’s going crazy.

Addie takes drastic measures to fill in the blanks and visits a shadowy medical facility that promises to “help with your memory.” But at the clinic, Addie unwittingly discovers it is not her first visit. And when she presses, she finds out that she had certain memories erased. She had a boy erased.

But why? Who was that boy, and what happened that was too devastating to live with? And even if she gets the answers she’s looking for, will she ever be able to feel like a whole person again?"

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