Friday, August 12, 2011

Readercon Filipino Friday Week 1: Introduce Yourself

Participating in Filipino Friday to show my support for the Filipino Reader Conference!

Hello, everyone. I'm Mina, and I'm a trying-to-get-my-groove-back kind of reader. In high school, I would get two new books on Sunday, finish those by Tuesday, and spend the rest of the week re-reading my favorites until the weekend came around again. Today it's rare if I get to finish a book in one sitting, and I still hope to get around to reading 50 a year. *shakes fist at age, work, and other distractions*

My comfort zone in reading -- contemporary, romance, procedurals, maybe a legal drama or a mystery here and there. If it seems all over the place, it's because I can't stand reading one similar book after another. (I feel I have to "cleanse my palate.") Favorite books (also a mixed bag): Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Interpreter of Maladies, Inherit the Wind, Time Traveler's Wife, Tina Fey's Bossypants, Sweet Dreams #176 Wrong-Way Romance, Life of Pi, Atonement.

For years, my comfort read was Michael Crichton. Not sure why, but picking up one of his books would help me through a reading slump. Pirate Latitudes is still on my shelf, unread. I need to find a new comfort read-author.

So far, some favorites this year that I haven't mentioned yet -- The Hunger Games, and Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel.

12 comments:

  1. It's really a good idea to mix up the genres that you read to cleanse the palate. Otherwise, you might get fed up with one genre then a reading slump occurs. I think you already know that I'm a fan of contemporary reads? Especially when there's romance in them. :)

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  2. Yay for Bossypants! Oh, and I didn't know you also count Atonement as one of your favorites. That's one of my best reading experiences right there. Thanks for supporting the Filipino Reader Conference, Mina. :)

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  3. Are you going to ReaderCon, Mina? Would be nice to meet you and Michael there.

    Wrong Way Romance. It was probably the best Sweet Dreams title ever. Whatever happened to Sheri Cobb South?

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  4. I love Wrong Way Romance!!!!!! Bruce and Darby, oh I'm so kilig, haha! :)

    My collection is around 20 titles short. I'm scrounging high and low for the missing ones. :D

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  5. @Chachic I also do a gender and nationality changeup. :) Right now I'm reading my 8th book-by-a-female-author in a row, must bring back the guys.

    @Aldrin Bossypants! Am tracking down the enhanced version nga eh.

    @dementedchris I want to go, will see if I can convince him to go with me. :) And I think Sheri Cobb South moved on to romances, but I didn't see any of them in our bookstores.

    @AttyMonique Neanderthal Bruce and Demoltion Darby 4eva! I still look for Sweet Dreams titles when I'm at a Book Sale.

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  6. @Mina
    The last Sheri Cobb South title I read was a Sweet Dreams one (with a pageant -- but not The Cinderella Game). Can't remember the title now. I've always loved her characters.

    @Atty Monique
    Just twenty titles short? That's amazing! Do you have all your favorites?

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  7. Mina, a gender changeup sounds good. I definitely need to read more books by male authors. Most of my favorites are written by females. :) Forgot to mention in my earlier comment that I've been looking for Wrong Way Romance in used bookstores ever since you mentioned that it's a favorite.

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  8. Smoke and Mirrors! One of the first ever book of short stories I read. I remember one story there that still scare the heck out of me: Troll Bridge

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  9. Hi, Mina! Would be happy to meet you at the ReaderCon. Oh, I do a lot of gender change-ups, too, though not as many nationality change-ups as I'd like.

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  10. @dementedchris: Sheri Cobb South also wrote I think a couple more titles after The Cinderella Game. And yes, I have all of my favorites! Some of them are already so hard to find. The most expensive title I bought was California Girl by Janet Quin-Harkin for P500. But sometimes, I trip by good-condition copies at BookSale. Maybe I'll post a pic of the collection sometime. ;)

    @Mina: Wrong Way Romance is, by far, my most treasured Sweet Dreams title. More than P.S. I Love You, I should say. :)

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  11. Oooh, Michael Crichton! I have all of his books, except for Pirate Latitudes. I don't think I'll be able to consider him a comfort read, but he's awesome. :)

    Great to meet you, Mina. I'll try to read some of your books! Hope to meet you at Readercon. :)

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  12. @isaw08 I think it's cool that people mostly pick out a different favorite from that book!

    @fantaghiro23 One year I actually shifted from foreign to Filipino author a lot. And then got tired of it, needed another changeup. :)

    @Monique P500?! Why and how? Sobra naman.

    @almediel Hope I get to meet you too! What's your favorite Crichton?

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