Top Ten Tuesday #38

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish 

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic: Top 10 Things On My Bookish Bucket List. To be honest, I never thought about a bookish bucket list until - well, I started writing this post. But I suppose that there really are a list of bookish things that I would like to get done before I'm dead. And if I don't get some of these done before I die . . . . well, I'm just a poor excuse for a bookworm and a book blogger. So let's get started, shall we?

1. Create a video bookshelf tour! This is not only on my bucket list, but a 2014 New Year's Resolution as well. Sometime this year, I will do a full length, in-depth tour of my library for my followers. It probably won't be until towards the end of the year, because I would rather be able to include as many new books as possible, and considering how much my collection has grown already in three months, I would rather wait until the end of Christmas. I may do a "halfway" tour. We'll see. But a tour you guys shall have!
2. Read all of my books! This isn't all of the books on my 50+ paged TBR list. These are the books that I own, as of this date: March 25th, 2014. Because let's face it - I'm just setting myself up for disappointment if I challenge myself to read all of the books on my most TBR list, and there's no way that my collection is going to stop growing. So we'll create a set number of books: the ones I have as of today! I want to read all of those! Which is about 500+ almost 600 (actually, it might be over 600; I haven't counted in a while).
3. Finish out at least half of the series I own! This is also another 2014 New Year's Resolution. I have a lot of series where I have Book #1 and #2, but no #3. Or I have Book #3 and #4, but no #1 and #2. Or may #1 and #3, but no #2. Driving me up a wall. So I am going to try and finish buying all the books in some of those series. I'm actually already halfway there, if not a little more than that.
4. Read all of Charles Dickens' books! I've read a fair number of them, and I own all but three (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Barnaby Rudge, and . . . . I forgot which other one). But I would like to end my life knowing that I have read all of this great writer's novels. He is, without a doubt, my most favorite Author in the world. I must needs read all of his books!
5. Read all of Rosemary Sutcliff's books! This actually may be more difficult to accomplish than Dickens! Her books aren't as long, but she's written 50+ books, and most of them are very, very hard to get ahold of. Especially in the US. But I must persevere! Next to Charles Dickens, she's another all-time favorite.
6. Meet Caroline Lawrence! She wrote a series called The Roman Mysteries. A bit of a story, but one I think we all can relate to: I started reading Caroline Lawrence's books when I was about nine or ten - I think nine. I adored them. I loved the characters and the setting and how Caroline was able to conjure up such vivid imagery with her words. Reading them as I'm older, they, of course, have a ton of flaws that I didn't notice as a kid. But that's doesn't matter; this series will always hold a very special place in my heart, and I will never stop loving them. I first wanted to become a writer because my older sister wrote stories, and like most younger sisters, I wanted to be like her. But Caroline Lawrence is the one who truly made me dream of actually ever being published. I sent her a very early story I was writing at the age of nine - a good story for a nine-year-old, but an extremely bad bit of work that I would never dream of letting anyone read now. She was so amazingly kind enough to actually read some of it, even though she had a policy of never reading other people's stories. And she told me that she could see me being published when I was 20. I'm almost 22 and I haven't been published yet (mostly due to a lack of time to pursue it with any fervor), but her words gave me the hope that I really could actually get something out there and into the public's eye. If my favorite childhood author said I could do it, then of course I could! And naturally, because she was such a heroine for me as a kid, I always wanted to meet her. Here's the sad part of the story: she lives in London. But someday before I die, I will go over there and arrange to meet her. I want to tell her myself what an impact her simple, kind words in a simple, short email had on a young nine-year-old American girl. Whether or not I ever will be published has yet to be seen, but she gave me the hope that it could happen. And I want to realize the dream of the child in me that still exists by finally meeting her and talking to her about her books and just saying thank you.
7. Own all of the original Nancy Drew books! What girl didn't grow up with Nancy Drew? These rather silly, easily solved whodunits were the bread and butter of my childhood. They opened me up to the world of mysteries. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to sit and read one ever again - they're not very good. But just as I owe it to my childhood to meet Caroline Lawrence someday, I owe it to my childhood to own this entire series. I couldn't get enough of these books as a kid, and I always wanted to own them all.
8. Attend some big awesome book fair/convention! I read about them sometimes, but I've never actually been to one. How sad is that? I would love to go to one, to see all the books and authors and fellow bloggers.
9. Go to the Library of Congress! My mum has been (totally not fair, by the way). I really, really, really, really want to go!
10. Meet as many authors as is possible in my short span of existence! Because meeting authors is fun! It's fun to count all of the books you've got signed by them and ask them questions and hear them go on tangents and stand there in awe of their magnificence, gaping like a fish, while your questions fly out of your head and you turn as red as a tomato and know you look like an idiot, and hating yourself for it, but are still too star-struck to do anything about it. And then, once you get in the car, you want to slam your head against something because of course now you remember all of the questions you wanted to ask, but it's too late, and you wonder during the ride home if you looked and acted as stupid as you felt. ;-) Okay, so maybe that hasn't happened to any of you. I'm exaggerating a bit. But I have a bad habit of getting all tongue-tied when I'm around authors - because authors are awesome and famous and special - and I always hate it when that happens. I am a professional blogger, they are just as human as I am (except, of course, they have their godlike writing powers), and someday I may even be one of them. Cool as a cucumber is the name of the game, right? Ha, yeah, well, maybe I should just start bringing Hedgie; he helps me relax and is great for conversation starters. Anyway, I would of course love to meet every single author whose books I own - and then some. It probably won't happen (though I have a good list going already . . . . Marissa Meyer, Victoria Schwab, Kendare Blake, Lish McBride, Rick Riordan, David Patneaude, Maggie Stiefvater, Jennifer A. Nielsen, Peter Lerangis . . . . Not that I'm bragging). But I can dream. Maybe I'll get to meet at least half of them?

And there you have it! My Bookish Bucket List! What are some of the bookish things you want to accomplish in your lifetime?