I got this tag from Ellie Mai Blogs and since her responses fascinated me, I shamelessly decided to provide my answers as well.

Rules

• Nominated bloggers can nominate up to ten other bloggers.
• Use the same questions from the tag.

Who is your all-time favorite book character?

Sherlock Holmes? Hermione Granger? Sirius Black? Aragorn? The Baudelaire children? I can’t pick just one. Though I confess being attached to Sirius Black and pissed off at his demise, I don’t really consider him as my all-time favorite book character. I admire Hermione Granger, Sherlock Holmes, and Aragorn but to be entirely truthful, the actors in the movie/series counterpart help bring the characters to life and influence how I like them. Look at Snape! I detest book Snape up to the last Harry Potter book but Alan Rickman, the perfect actor he was, endeared the greasy-haired, hook-nosed teacher to me.

I’m just more attached to the overall narrative of a book and I can’t pick a favorite.

If you were stranded on a desert island, which book would you take with you? (Survival books do not count)

These novels come to mind:

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – If Sirius could escape from a prison heavily guarded by Dementors, I think I would survive.
• Any Sherlock Holmes novel or collection – Reading about how Holmes solved a number of cases would definitely inspire me to look at my situation from a different perspective and hopefully I could look for possible ways to survive on that desert island.

What’s your most unpopular book opinion?

Many readers share my numerous opinions on the following:

• It’s perfectly acceptable to create fanfictions. I think it is a great writing exercise. Granted that the characters and settings aren’t the writers’ original creations, weaving a new plot about these preexisting details still poses a challenge. Googling whether an author allows it or not can be a good practice.
• Bus, price tags, or movie tickets are great bookmarks. Decluttering my books in January corroborated this idea. At the end of the process, I was able to collect a number of tickets.
• Unless a review is required, it’s fine not to finish a book. There are so many books in the world and we barely have enough time. It’s counterproductive to try and finish a work that doesn’t check all the marks when one can always use the time to read a more interesting novel or reread a comfort ‘book’. I don’t advocate hating on a DNF book. To fully criticize a work, it must be seen and evaluated holistically.

Perhaps the most unpopular book opinion I have is people love to throw titles of the most challenging read they had, finished or unfinished, and scorn more popular works, to somehow show intellectual superiority.

What’s your weirdest bookish habit?

I often read with a little background noise may it be music or a TV series. I usually play The Big Bang Theory in the background or a Japanese anime when reading a novel. When I have my annual Harry Potter marathon, I also watch Harry Potter movies.

What character would you bring to a family event as your fake partner?

I would bring Sirius Black, announce at the dinner table that he had escaped from prison, watch my family members’ reactions, and then say “Bazinga!”

What made you decide to start a book blog?

I will stand behind this concept until I get older and get tired of blogging: I didn’t start this blog as a ‘book blog.’ This platform is more of a brain dump for me and I just write about things I learn. I often read books and think about them. Sometimes these thoughts want to get out of my head in a form of review otherwise I won’t be able to go to sleep. The first time I posted a book review, I thought it was just appropriate and here we are.

What about reading and books do you love the most?

The idea that I can be transported to any world I want is the most fascinating thing about reading fiction books. Hogwarts, Middle-earth, and Narnia are within reach any time I desire to go somewhere. I wouldn’t even worry about the usual preparations like packing stuff or creating an itinerary. Getting to meet many characters, particularly the memorable ones is a plus.

What is your field of study/desired profession/current profession?

I am currently working as a Business Analyst but I got my bachelor’s degree in Education some centuries ago. Yep, I tend to think I’m immortal so in another century, I will have to update this post.

What are some book recommendations that became your favorites?

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares comes to mind- a recommendation from Syme. I like it to a certain degree but it’s a bit difficult to classify it as a favorite. Most of the time, I read books based on my personal interest and I can’t remember a time when someone recommended a novel and it got into my top ten. I have a soft spot for Love in the Time of Cholera, though.

What is the book you shove down everyone’s throat?

I can’t recall if I ever did try to force anyone to read a particular book as much as I encourage people in my life to actually read. When I was still teaching (about a century ago, I repeat), I had to require my students to read some short stories or novels but that was more because of the prescribed curriculum. My friends, of course, can always prove my statement wrong – which they’ll be more than happy to oblige.

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Thoughts (not part of the tag but something I just want to add):

• This tag is even more difficult than I thought. It’s fun reading other bloggers’ responses but it’s quite difficult giving my honest thoughts about these questions without giving too much away.
• Why don’t I remember anything lol
• Feel free to tag yourself. Time is precious and you don’t have to wait for someone to tell you to do something you already want to do. There’s no shame in that.