Ashley Cornelius

Anytime we see somebody else with Chicago Bears gear, it is like we get a little head nod and a little community.

I grew up in a household full of books.

My parents are big readers.

And so my younger life was a lot of Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley Twins.

And then after I kind of graduated from that, most of my reading was shaped by what my parents had on their bookshelf.

So I read a

And then some fantasy with Anne McCaffrey and Lord of the Rings, of course.

And then after college, I kind of just read the same 40 books over and over again.

I had my collection.

And so I had some John Grisham and Tom Clancy and Maeve Benchy.

Those are ones I just rotate through the year, just kind of pick up the book that I was in the mood for.

And I was not very confident about picking up new books.

I would go to the library and basically just pick out the same authors that I already knew that I liked.

But then about 10 years ago, first, my kids started reading chapter books.

And so I had a lot of fun just reading them for them.

But really, it was for me.

And I just got to experience more of the middle grade books, which was really fun.

And then my friend at work started a book club and I started listening to both the Read Aloud Revival for book recommendations for my kids and What Should I Read Next for myself.

And I also, in the last couple of years, kind of co-host a really casual book talk group at my work.

And with all of those combined, now I'm just like filled with new books to read.