My Life in Books Book Tag

While browsing through my WordPress Reader page, I came across My Life in Books Book Tag on Kerri McBookNerd’s blog. Since I haven’t made a book tag this month yet, I’ve decided to do my own version. Moreover, I found it interesting and it did seem fun. Unfortunately, I can’t trace where this tag originated but stince I love doing book tags, I gave it a go.

I don’t want to bore you again with my diatribe so here goes!

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Find a book for each of your initials

C–  Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

A – The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

R – Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

L – A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Count your age along with your bookshelf. What book is it?

I’ve counted off along with my bookshelf, as the task requested. The 29th book on my counting is Thomas Keneally’s Schindler’s List. I’ve read a few things about this book which led me to purchase it. I know that it is a non-fiction novel about the Second World inspired by an actual person (yep, Oskar Schindler) who helped protect Jews. I’ve read a lot of novels inspired by the Second World War but, hey, I guess another one won’t hurt.

Pick a book set in your city/country.

It is quite a challenge when you realized that not that many novel was set in your country. Thankfully, my last read was written a young adult fiction about President Duterte’s Drug War. Filipino-American Randy Ribay wrote about the country’s predicament in his 2019 young adult book Patron Saints of Nothing. 

It is, however, difficult to find a book written by a non-Filipino writer set in the Philippines. The other books that come to mind are Philippine National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal’s seminal works – Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. Most of my literary encounters apropos the Philippines and the Filipinos are snippets.  I’ve always wanted to research more on how we are projected in literary works.

Pick a book that represents a destination you’d love to travel to.

Oh travelling. Hmmm. There are a lot of places I want to visit like Origin’s (Dan Brown) Barcelona, Angels and Demon’s Rome, or The Adventure of Kavalier and Clay’s New York. In the end, what won me over is Harry Potter Series’ Hogwarts. I can always dream right?

Pick a book that has your favorite color on it.

My current favorite color is actually white but my first love was blue. Even though I don’t have a copy of this Neil Gaiman book, I love how the blue mixes with the black. I wanted to buy the illustrated version of the book.

Which book do you have the fondest memories of?

I do have a long list of books that I have had very fond memories of. Currently, Hiro Arikawa’s The Travelling Cat Chronicles‘ fuzziness fits my current mood right now. I did love the book though even though it was heartbreaking.

Which book did you have the most difficulty reading?

Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote is definitely one of the most popular titles out there. It is this very same reason why I wanted to dig in. However, I had difficulties understanding the story. It barely made any sense to me. Yes, I was laughing at the absurdity of the situations the eponymous Don Quixote found himself in but I simply could not fit in these images into the bigger picture. Five years thence, some of it started making sense.

Which book in your TBR pile will give you the biggest accomplishment when you finish it?

I am choosing Hungarian author, Peter Nadas’ seminal work. Parallel Stories for one thing – it is very long. I am no stranger to one-thousand pagers but this one seem very daunting. And yes, it is also about the Second World War.

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I did enjoy this book tag, a lot. I hope you enjoyed going through my answers. As a cardinal rule, I am not tagging anyone but anyone is free to do their own versions. Don’t forget, however, to tag me so that I can check out your answers.

And, as always, happy reading! Keep safe as well!