Hello Everyone!

As part of my reading resolutions this year, I am going to do at least one book tag per month. There was a stretch during the early year of the pandemic when I was able to publish a book tag every month. Unfortunately, life happened, and the momentum was cut. I have since been trying to relive it but my tendency to procrastinate comes in the way. But here I am, doing my first book tag for the year.

As February is often associated with Valentine’s Day, I have chosen to do the Valentine’s Day Book Tag which I encountered through Books Are 42. So here goes my first book tag for the year. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone (even though I am a little late)!

P.S. if you know the original creator of the book tag, please do let me know so that I can give the proper credit.

1. Who was your First Book Crush?

Technically, it wasn’t through the book that I fell in love with her but my first literary crush was Harry Potter Series‘ Hermoine. I had a huge crush on Emma Watson who portrayed her in the movie adaption of the popular series. Harry Potter series is, I guess, an exception as I watched the movies first before I read the books.

2. What book would you want as your Valentine?

Valentine? I guess this means a book I badly want to read. If that is the case, then I am choosing Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks and maybe Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. Among romance stories, maybe a work by Jane Austen. Mansfield Park?

3. Candy Hearts or Chocolate??

I am not really a fan of chocolates but my first instinct told me to pick chocolates over candy hearts.

4. What Book would you gift your true love?

This one is a bit of a challenge because it will depend on my partner’s preference. Cecilia Ahern’s Love Rosie or even Nicholas Sparks’ The Wedding are good books for hopeless romantic types. But if my true matches my reading energy, then the works of Leo Tolstoy (Anna Karenina or War and Peace), Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Brothers Karamazov or Crime and Punishment), David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits or even Olga Tokarczuk’s The Books of Jacob might be great gift ideas.

5. Favorite Rom-Com?

I already gave away the answer above I guess. Cecilia Ahern’s Love Rosie.

6. What is the best Valentine’s gift you ever received? (or would want to receive)

I have never received a Valentine’s Day gift before. I guess it is because I am a guy? HAHA. I think the greatest Valentine’s gift would be loyalty and commitment. Otherwise, a great book is always a good gift idea for me.

7. What is your favorite (or least favorite) thing about Valentine’s day?

I don’t really don’t mind Valentine’s Day. I guess because I was never in a romantic relationship. Yes, I have been single for thirty-three years and I am no longer bothered. However, I feel like Valentine’s Day has become overly and heavily commercialized. Or maybe because I turned into an adult and my perspective of love has changed?

Nevertheless, I hope everyone has found or will find the piece that will make them whole. For those who already feel whole as they are, still cheers to us. This is also a reminder that love should not reign only during Valentine’s Day but it should be our universal language every single day of the year. Again, (belated) Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!