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Bibliophiles of the internet, my name's Adriana and today I'm here to do the "Who Am I?" book tag.
This tag was created by PBS Digital Studios to highlight the Great American Read, an event where America gets
to vote on their favorite book out of 100 books compiled from a national survey.
It's not about definitively deciding which book is "best,"
but rather which book has been most formative for American readers.
Check out the link below where you can see all the selections and cast your vote.
And it's also pretty interesting to see how many quote-unquote "popular" books you've read in your life.
Not sponsored or anything like that.
I just really love reading and I enjoy good tags with interesting questions. So let's get to it!
First up: "If your life were a book genre, what would it be?"
Magical realism, 100%.
Not only does magical realism firmly have its roots in Latinx and Hispanic culture, which is obviously
a *huge* part of my life, but it's just a unique genre that is extremely sensory and detail-oriented
in a way that speaks to my experience.
I'm someone who's very visually oriented and motivated. My default mode is to observe and take in *everything*
I see. And magical realism tends to use powerful imagery that unlocks evocative emotion
and creates heightened experiences.
It's something I also tend to write myself, and I love that it's a genre where everyday magic—whether it's hopeful,
or painful, or dark—becomes something literal on the page and is shown as matter of fact.
"What protagonist are you most similar to?"
This question gets super hairy for me, because I don't have a *single* protagonist I can point to and say,
"Yes, absolutely, this person is everything I am." So I kind of have to mix and match.
Instinctually, first I have to say "Ari" from
"Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" by Benjamin Alire Saenz.
Obviously, he's a *** Mexican-American character, so there's definitely that.
And there's just so much about his demeanor that I truly understand.
His tendency to withdraw, his aversion to approaching difficult topics with those he loves,
the way he denies a fundamental part of himself because he's afraid,
to the point where he's hurting himself.
That is also part of *my* truth.
And to see him go on this emotional journey and surrender himself to his true feelings
when he realizes they're beautiful and they're *right* is extremely powerful and cathartic.
I also have to say Xiomara Bautista from Elizabeth Acevedo's "The Poet X."
Xiomara's journey in this book was TOO REAL.
I have lived with extremely devout Catholics my entire life—which is not a bad thing, but it *can* be a bad thing
when you don't feel like you have a place in your own beliefs.
I have never seen another book that so accurately portrays what it's like to be a Latinx teenager
going through the confirmation process while struggling to make sense of your conflicting thoughts about the church.
And Xiomara also wants to be a poet and she finds meaning in her writing, which is literally my life!
I *literally* sat in the back of MY confirmation classes writing poems.
And I'm also kind of cheating here, but I have to say that I *strongly* identified with Xiomara's twin,
who's (obviously) Hispanic AND *** and hiding his queerness, and who's *obsessed* with anime.
Every time he came on the page, I was like, "That's me. That's my guy."
"Which book did you connect with in the past that you no longer do?"
For sure that's "Major Crush" by Jennifer Echols.
When I was in high school, this was *my book*. Because it's all about marching band rehearsals,
band drama, dating other people in band, which was very much my high school experience.
And I still hold it very close to my heart. I would still maybe rate it four or five stars just for the nostalgia
factor alone, and just because it was the first time I even remotely saw myself reflected in books.
But now I can objectively say that this book shows very little of myself,
besides the fact that marching band is the focal point.
It's set in the South. Most of the characters are white. Obviously it's extremely heteronormative,
and I'm pretty sure it perpetuates some toxic masculinity and other crappy hetero ideas, like the whole
"if a boy makes fun of you and is CRAPPY to you, he likes you!" nonsense.
And I'm pretty sure the main character does that thing where the disposition of her love interest
strongly influences the way she carries herself.
So if HE'S being a *** and having a bad day, that in turn ruins her own mood and her own day.
And that's not my favorite.
"If you could be a character in a recent read, which book would you choose?"
I just read volume 13 of "Boku no Hero Academia" by Horikoshi Kohei, and I would want to be in that universe,
not because of the skyrocketing crime rate and not even to be, like, a top ranking hero,
but just for purely selfish reasons to see what kind of quirk I would manifest.
If you have any ideas for what you think my quirk would be, *please* hit me up in the comments!
"How do your reading habits show off your personality?"
Whether you've been watching me for a day, for months, for years, I think my reading habits perfectly show
that I have an *extremely* eclectic taste. And that is applicable to EVERY area of my life.
In terms of reading and BookTube, I kind of love that you can't actually pigeonhole me into one box.
Don't get me wrong: I love BookTubers who take the time to cultivate a very singular taste,
because then I know I can look to certain people for specific kinds of recommendations.
...But that's just never been me.
I am a greedy, restless, voracious reader. I want to read everything. I want to learn everything.
I love ALL the things, whether it's YA, middle grade, adult,
whether it's romance, or literary fiction, or nonfiction, or SFF, or speculative, or poetry, or translated, or ***.
I am open to *all* the things.
I don't like to draw lines around myself.
I don't like to self-impose limits, because the world does enough of that for us.
And that just really speaks how I consume all forms of media, whether it's music, TV shows, movies, podcasts,
video games, fashion. I am all over the place, and that's exactly how I like it.
So those are all questions I wanted to answer for this tag today. The complete list of questions
and the link for the Great American Read will be down below, so check that out and don't forget to vote.
For this I will tag Sam from Thoughts on Tomes, Kayla from Bookadoodles, Pricilla from *** Charm,
Saajid from Books are my Social Life, and Rogan from Rogan Shannon, because you're all great!
But that's everything I had for this book tag today. Thank you so much for watching this video.
I really hope that you enjoyed it, and I will catch YOU on the flip-side of the page.
Bye!
[♫ snazzy end screen music ♫]