ReaderCon Filipino Friday Week 5: What I expect from ReaderCon

The 1st Filipino ReaderCon is coming up!

My reading has not been a social activity lately. It was, back in high school, when I would actively promote (push) books to friends. In college, I told the entire story of Carl Sagan's Contact -- with difference-between-book-and-film commentary -- to a friend who preferred that to actually reading the thing. (That was a very long lunch.) Now, even though I read new books, I rarely discuss them or write reviews. But maybe a session or two at the ReaderCon will get me to "make it social" again.

I'm also expecting to learn more about what Filipino readers want, which I'm very curious about (as an author and publisher).

See you on September 14!

ReaderCon Filipino Friday Week 4: Philippine Lit

"Reading" to me means mostly novels and novellas, and these are the Filipino authors/novelists I've read since 2004 (when I started my book list).

Arlene J. Chai
F. Sionil Jose
Abi Aquino
Tweet Sering
Carla M. Pacis
Tara FT Sering
Bob Ong
Maya Burgos Cruzada
M.D. Balangue
Zara Irigo
Anna Ishikawa
Katrina Ramos Atienza
Abi Malonzo
Faye Ilogon
Jose Rizal
Miriam Delos Santos
Marla Miniano
Melissa dela Cruz
Vince O. Teves
Miguel Syjuco
Andrea Pasion
Maya Calica
Claire Betita
Marian Pinera
Martha Cecilia
David Hontiveros
Samantha Sotto

Graphic novels: Budjette Tan, Carlo Vergara

Not all of them were published in the Philippines, and not all of them have written specifically about the Philippines. My goal however has been to read more novels by Filipinos, and this list will keep growing.

My rather biased recommendation though is my husband, Michael AR Co. He hasn't (finished) a novel yet, but I'm a genuine fan of his work.

Visit the Filipino ReaderCon site!

ReaderCon Filipino Friday Week 3: Being a reader in the Philippines

This week's Filipino Friday post is about the pros and cons of being a reader in the Philippines.

When it comes to book buying I'm a bargain hunter, and I like that I can get cheap books here. This of course depends on reading taste, and the books I read are the ones that tend to show up in Book Sale eventually. I've gone into really nice bookstores in other countries and chose not to buy a thing, because upon conversion I knew I'd get a better deal back home. (The exception is my copy of ...Kavalier and Clay from the Strand, more of a souvenir.)

I like that Filipino readers talk to each other about books. My 2011 reading list has titles I discovered because of the local book bloggers I follow.

I don't like that some ebooks are more expensive or not available to me at all because I'm in the Philippines. I know there's distribution drama behind it, but come on.

I wish that we had a really nice and accessible library, but I have to admit -- I had access to a fairly good one in college, and all I did there was use the Internet kiosks. I work in a place with a really good one now, and I'm there only to buy stuff from the coffee shop. I'm a reader but I'm the type who would rather own than borrow, and if a book is too expensive then I wait for a sale or tell myself I can live without it. I visited the New York Public Library and spent some happy hours in the ones in Singapore and Hong Kong, but I don't think I'll be spending much time browsing there on a regular basis if I lived in those places.

But maybe if the books were sent to my house? Like a Netflix for books? Years ago my husband and I started a service kind of like this -- we sold a book cheap, sent it to the buyer, and after a certain amount of time they could send it back and get another one. (Or not send it back at all and it's like they just bought a book.) We stopped doing it because it was time-consuming, and courier services didn't offer cheap pickup and delivery then as they do now.

Is there something like that here now? Because I'd definitely try it.

Anyway, the Filipino Reader Conference is happening on September 14. Babysitter's been booked, so I think I can go. See you all there!

ReaderCon Filipino Friday Week 2: Your Reader's Story

When I was a kid, my mom used to read me stories from Children Everywhere, volume 3 of the Childcraft series. This was probably the first book I read, when I actually could read for myself.

We might have given away our Childcraft set when we moved out of the house, but I saw a Children Everywhere in a Book Sale in 2005, and I bought it.

Stories I love from that volume:

Sorry for the photo quality. These were taken in 2005, and I can't find the raw files anymore.

My next leap was when I discovered YA. I was at a friend's house and saw her copy of Sweet Valley Twins #2, Teacher's Pet. And from then on I followed that franchise, Twins to High to a few books in University. My reading life began here, and this particular branch led to Sweet Dreams and contemporary romance stories.

I talked about it in my Inquirer interview. (PS - Why did I do that? I should have come up with a fancier origin story for my reader self.) What I did not mention, but also really happened, was that I borrowed the Nancy Drew story Mysterious Mannequin at the same time.

I was eleven. Nancy Drew is not at all scary, and yet I put this book front-cover-side-down every time I took a break from it. This led to more Nancy Drew hardcover mysteries, a handful of Hardy Boys (Boyses?), to "harder" stuff like Christopher Pike and RL Stine.

And then, a slump. I blamed it on the tons of required reading in college. I took a Great Books class to feel good about reading again, but speed-reading through Faulkner's Light in August (because of a presentation I had to make) and four other books in one semester was not very fun.

I got over it after taking a chance on The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.

It was beautiful, and stayed with me long after I finished it. This started the branch that led me to more Indian lit (Jhumpa Lahiri et al), which has since become part of my yearly reading lists. And I discovered that I apparently like Booker winners and finalists.

Posted this in support of the 1st Filipino Reader Conference. Off to read the other posts...

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.

It's good to go out sometimes

A busy week, in terms of writing. (And everything else, but that's another story.)

On Saturday, I attended my first Goodreads Filipino Group meetup. I now understand why these things can last for hours and hours. It was too bad that I only had a couple to spare, but I'm glad that I was able to meet them. (And Tina of One More Page, finally!) I also confessed then and there that I was a lurker, or at least a drive-by poster, and hope that I can find more time to discuss things. In case I haven't stressed it enough, I am very grateful for their support.

I was also able to meet author Samantha Sotto, whose novel Before Ever After has just been released. She is smart and lively, and I like her -- even if she favors the Tenth Doctor over my Nine and Eleven. (At least we don't have to share.)

On Monday, I spoke at St. Scholastica's College Manila (for something else, not an author thing) and offered freebies to students who knew the titles of my books. Lo and behold, we have winners! I've got your names and will email you soonish, promise.

Today, Thursday, I finally finished another draft, something I've been calling the TKoG project. I will let it sit and stew for a bit, before sending it off to the editor.

I'm actually glad that's somewhat over, because I am so excited about my new project. I'm calling it IGoL, and until recently I was too chicken to write it. I hope I hope I hope this works out.

Three stories that explain Mina

Recently I was asked two questions that left thoughts bouncing around in my head for weeks.

"What is your favorite book?" and "Do you have a mentor?"

I answered them simply and quickly when I was asked, but of course with time I managed to figure out why I was still thinking about this: The answers are related.

To answer the first question, I said that my favorite book was Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors collection of short stories. How strange, the reaction was, that someone who identified herself as a chick lit author would have this kind of book as her favorite. I guess it's possible to have a writing personality that differs from my actual personality, or maybe I'm just waiting to let the darkness out.

The answer to the second question is that I didn't/don't have a mentor. (I didn't undergo the kind of training that allows one to meet mentor types.) What I have are stories that stayed with me. You could say I was influenced by them, and maybe my love for them explains why I write this way, what I've written -- and what I intend to write in the future.

Wrong-Way Romance (Sheri Cobb South, YA Romance)
A Sweet Dreams novel? Don't scoff at what is my favorite of the series, and still is one of my favorite novels today. It's sweet and laugh-out-loud funny, and has a plot that isn't about moving away or terminal illness. I like my love stories with bite instead of sap. Because of this novel, or was I like that all along? I can't tell anymore. (PS. Follow the link to Amazon and see how expensive a copy of this can get. If you find it in a Book Sale, consider it treasure! Or send it to me as a gift if it isn't your thing!)

Witch (Christopher Pike/Kevin Christopher McFadden, YA Fantasy/Horror)
I've been called out for writing that is more terse than flowery, and maybe that came about because of the Christopher Pike novels I collected in high school. Witch I single out because it is a heartwrenching story (for a fourteen-year-old definitely), even when told with his clipped tone and short sentences. It's not a style that's inherently better than any other, but I happen to prefer it.

Snow, Glass, Apples (Neil Gaiman, from Smoke and Mirrors)
Neil Gaiman's take on Snow White is special to me because this is how I think. That probably doesn't make any sense, but that story is perfectly logical to me, and none of it is a surprise. When I'm writing and find myself stuck, I remember this story and it helps me move on along. Unlike the first two examples I've named, the traces of this haven't shown up in anything I've done. This is a side of me I still have to develop, and exploit.

What are your stories?