I know. Spring is about to end. However, being in the tropics, we don’t experience spring. HAHA. I was actually planning to do this book tag last month. It is part of my New Year’s resolution to publish at least one book tag a month. So far, I have failed because I have been procrastinating a lot in the past few months. This is, however, not precluding me from doing more book tags, a book blogging activity that I always find fun.

I came across this book tag through Mybookworld24, a fellow book blogger. The book tag immediately piqued my interest so I am doing my own. Anyway, the creator of the Spring Cleaning Tag is Amanda from Between the Shelves, so let’s go into the questions.

Tag rules:

  • Link back to the original post
  • Tag as many friends as you want (the part I’m worried about).
  • Have fun!
Getting Started: A book series you’ve been wanting to read

Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time has been high on my priority list for the longest time. Since the first time I encountered the book and its series, I wanted to read it. However, I haven’t been able to obtain copies of the series, the main reason why I haven’t read it yet; I prefer physical books. You see, I wanted to find a hardbound copy of the series. They would look cool on my bookshelf.

Cleaning/Organizing the Closet: The best way to organize books

Because of limited space and the inordinate number of books I currently have, I just pile my books. I simply separate books that I have read and reviewed from the books that I have yet to review and books that I have yet to read. However, if I do get to have some space, I would organize my books by writer. I would place the best-looking books I have on full display.

Getting rid of unnecessary things: Books/series you no longer need

Honestly, I don’t have any books I want to dispose of. I want to read all the books I bought. Sure, I have some books I bought almost a decade ago. Some of them were written by writers I am not familiar with. This is not stopping me from wanting to read them.

 Get Some Air: Your favorite light-hearted read

I wouldn’t say that Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove is a light read. There are some heavy moments woven into the story. However, for the most part of it, it was light and a pleasure to read. It was riddled with humor although this humor is laced with profound messages about a bevy of subjects, life in general.

Snippet from my review: Everything was well done – the story and the writing were simple but with the perfect mix of comical and serious textures. Ove’s story paints a wide smile on anyone’s face. But as heartwarming as it is, it is also heartbreaking. A Man Called Ove is, undoubtedly, a memorable and remarkable read. Backman wrote a wonderful and heartwarming story that coaxes us to cherish everything in our lives, even the smallest things in life. It also reminds us that our small acts of kindness never go unpaid.

Clean out the kitchen cupboards: Favourite food-themed read

Unfortunately, I don’t have that many food-themed books in my bookshelf. Of the few I have, I enjoyed Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. It was a strange but compelling intersection of food, history, traditions, and some spicy romance.

Snippet from my review: Like Water for Chocolate was Tita’s story and her growth was the mantle of the story. What also triumphed, in the end, was the strength and fervor of Laura Esquivel’s imaginative writing. In writing Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel came up with a memorable classic that will transcend time. It was a complete recipe that both filled and seduced the taste buds, the olfactory senses, and the imagination.

Dust the shelves: What’s the fifth book on your bookshelf?

Title: True At First Light
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Publisher: William Heinemann
Publishing Date: 1999
No. of Pages: 311

Synopsis: We waited by the hunting car for it to be light enough to start and we were all solemn and deadly. Ngui nearly always had an evil temper in the very morning so he was solemn, deadly, and sullen. Charo was solemn, deadly but faintly cheerful. He was like a man going to a funeral who did not really feel too deeply about the deceased. Mthuka was happy as always in his deafness watching with his wonderful eyes for the start of the lightening of the darkness.

We were all hunters and it was the start of that wonderful thing, the hunt.

Written when Hemingway returned from his 1953 safari, but only recently edited by his son Patric, True at First Light, is a rich blend of autobiography and fiction, a breathtaking final work from one of this century’s most beloved and important writers.

The book opens on the day Hemingway’s close friend, Pop, a legendary hunter, leaves him in charge of the camp. Meanwhile, tensions are heightening among the various tribes and news arrives of a potential attack. Hemingway must take on his new role of leader and, of equal importance, assist his wife Mary to pursue the great lion she is determined to kill before Christmas.

Hemingway chronicles his exploits among the African men with whom he has become very close; aids his wife achieve her goal of killing her lion, whilst worrying about her wayward aim; is drawn further into the village life and customs of Debba, a beautiful young African woman whom he dubs his ‘second wife’; reminisces about writing and his days in Paris and Spain; and satirises, among other things, the role of organised religion in Africa. Torn between the rituals of his camp and life in Debba’s village, Hemingway reveals the many facets of rural Africa and explores the complexities of married life.

Passionately detailing the African landscape, the thrill of the hunt, and the heartfelt relationships with his African neighbours, Hemingway, a master of dramatic fiction, weaves a tale that is rich in laughter, beauty, and insight.

Published here for the first time, True at First Light is an extraordinary and powerful addition to the perpetually popular work of one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers.

Wishing for the end: A 2024 release you’re really excited about

Goodreads Blurb:

A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

While many narrative set pieces of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

Brimming with electrifying humor and lacerating observations, James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

Long but satisfying: The longest book series you’ve read.

With seven books in the series, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is currently the longest series I have read.