Follow Friday #24

It's time again for Follow Friday! I'm a bit late posting this one, but better late than never right?
This weeks question:

Q: It’s Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. so we want to know what you are Thankful for – blogging related of course! Who has helped you out along the way? What books are you thankful for reading?

A. Well, there are a few different things.

1. First of all, I'm thankful for Jess aka The Cozy Reader. I don't remember how exactly I found her blog, but in doing so, I found literally HUNDREDS of books that I couldn't wait to get my hands on. Some of them, unfortunately, I'm still waiting on. But I'd been in a reading rut, and I got so many great "suggestions" from reading her.
2. Second, I'm thankful for Siobhan at Totally Bookalicious for being my ONLY follower for the longest time when I restarted my blog.
3. I'm thankful for memes. Without them I wouldn't have gotten to meet some of the coolest book bloggers. I love checking in with The Story Siren every week to see what new books she has. It's a blast looking for teasers every Tuesday to post on Miz B's wall at Should Be Reading. And then of course there's Follow Friday brought to us by Parajunkee. I love reading her BB101 posts too. It's so fun to participate in these things and it gave me a chance to "meet" a lot of really cool people.
4. I'm thankful that blogging has opened up the book world to me. I've had the good fortune to meet Maggie Stiefvater in person during a book signing as well as authors like A.M. Hudson, Shelley Watters, and Lisa Mantchev online. They are all fantastic people and are all wonderful authors.

Books that I'm thankful for?

Harry Potter. Definitely. I used to read. A lot. And I know I've posted about this in here before somewhere, but I'm going to do it again. There was a time when I was severely depressed and couldn't figure out how to get out of my own way. I probably hadn't picked up a book in forever. And then I remembered Harry Potter. I'd read it in highschool, but I decided to pick it up again. Which was a big for me because I hadn't felt like even opening the cover of any other book in a long time.

Reading Harry Potter took me away from all the stuff that was being thrown in my face left and right. It let me be someone else for as long as I could stay awake and read it. It gave me something to look forward to and be excited about. And as silly as this may sound, while I'm reading, the characters in the books are my friends. It was my escape. They took me away to somewhere better. They let me stop hurting and being angry. I could breathe again.

I think Harry Potter will forever be my all time favorite series.

And with that, I've written too much and bored you all.

What were you all thankful for this year?