Mogsy: A Book That I’ve Read More Than Three Times

Okay, I’m going to cheat a little for this question. The thing is, I don’t typically reread books. If I were to read a book again, it would be a book that I love, and generally books that I love, I remember very, very well, and that’s why rereading isn’t something I do a lot. Unfortunately, life’s just too short (or more accurately, my TBR list is just too long) for it, so you can see why it would be kind of a challenge to come up with a book I’ve read more than once, let alone more than three times!

But…there is a book that comes close. In the fourth grade, I had a fantastic teacher called Mr. Smiley. And I am so not kidding, that was his real name. Mr. Smiley was a fun guy who was also Australian, so he had this really cool accent which made class story time even more amazing with his ability to do these great voices. One of the books he read to us was The Hobbit. And that, dear readers, was my very first exposure to this fantasy classic and the name J.R.R. Tolkien. I loved it.

Fast forward a couple years, in Grade 6, at another school in another country, my fellow students and I were assigned The Hobbit to read for English class. I’ll admit, reading the book for a school assignment was definitely not as fun as listening to Mr. Smiley do his Gollum voice, but eh, what can you do? I remember having a great time returning to Middle Earth, nonetheless. It was just as good the second time around.

I have, of course, read The Hobbit again since my school years. But even if you count that along with the first couple of times (which I do, even if it was read to me the first time around) that’s still just three times. But I included this book in my answers to the 30-Day Reading Challenge anyway, because as you can see the adventures of our beloved Bilbo Baggins played a big role in my childhood reading experiences which ultimately lead to my love for the fantasy genre in my adult years.

Eventually, I hope to be able to read The Hobbit to my own child, when she is a bit older. When I do, I suppose then it will be a book I have read more than three times, but too bad we’re not counting future reads! In any case, I can’t think of a better title to introduce my daughter to the world of fantasy books, and who knows, maybe it’ll be the one that leads her down the road to become a fantasy fiction fan, like it did for her mom. The thought warms my heart.