Filipino Book Bloggers (Part 1)
I PM'd a birthday greeting to an online book blogging buddy, Asia In The Heart, World On The Mind, early last week, and when she sent me her reply thanking me for the greeting, she asked if I was going to the meet up of Filipino book bloggers on Saturday, September 25.Out of the loop, I was like, "Huh? What get-together? What's going on?"
It seems there was an online call over at Filipino Book Bloggers for, um, Filipino book bloggers to get together and meet last Saturday at the 6/f of Shangrila Mall in Pasig, and I wasn't aware of it. Oops, my bad. My thanks to Asia In The Heart, World On The Mind, for letting me know about it in time for me to go.
Meeting fellow readers to talk books was great fun. There were at least fifteen of us book bloggers there, fifteen people passionate about books and reading, fifteen people for whom cracking open a book and spending a lot of time and brain power immersing ourselves in a world of words is a regular and important habit to keep. Given how long and how much I've been advocating reading, to hear others of like-mind speak about reading and books with even more passion than I can muster made me happy.
I was easily (easily!) the oldest one there, so knowing that there were these new, younger faces--added to the others I have met over the years--told me that a local reading culture is stronger than others think. I've heard many people lament many times that our country does not have a reading culture and that reading, or the lack of the habit, is one reason why our country is not what it could be. Looking at the greater population across demographics and all socio-economic segments, maybe that statement is true, or maybe not. But what is true is that Pinoys can be readers and can develop the reading habit, as shown by how the activity has taken the heart of these bloggers. It's all quite encouraging, and overall, a good Saturday afternoon. There is hope here, hope to develop and promote reading and to ask for the kind of books local readers want to buy. I'm going to do my best to attend future get-togethers.
More photos and the salient points that were discussed in a succeeding blog entry.
Related links: Filipino Book Bloggers 1, 2, 3, 4.
posted by pgenrestories at 7:13 AM
6 Comments:
Hey Kenneth! I'm glad Tarie invited you to go and we all got to meet you in person. It really is great to talk about books with people who are passionate about reading. I don't have a lot of friends who read so I mostly interact with other Filipino readers through online means.
Too bad we didn't get to chat more about the books that we read! We just established that we're both fantasy fans but we didn't get to talk about favorite books and recommendations. Maybe on the next meet up? :) Or let me know here if there are books that you highly recommend.
Hi, Chachic! Yes, it was nice meeting all of you in person. Sorry that I couldn't stay long. Maybe next time we can talk more, and maybe have a formal introduction where everyone gets to talk and say something about themselves. Maybe sometime next month or November? December may be too hectic for most people, so I think October or November would be best. TY!
"for whom cracking open a book and spending a lot of time and brain power immersing ourselves in a world of words is a regular and important habit to keep."
I kept reading this part, because it is, it is! Not just a habit but a necessity for so many readers I know.
I promised you links to Filipino reading groups and interesting threads. Here they are:
Filipinos on Goodreads - http://is.gd/fvTca
Voracious reading habit and terrible book buying addiction of Filipino book club members - http://is.gd/fvThZ & http://is.gd/fvTko
Interest of book club members to read Filipino books - http://is.gd/fvTqc, http://is.gd/fvTxy, http://is.gd/fvTC2
There are more and I may not have found the best conversations. At the Flips Flipping Pages we talk about books and everything concerning books, from covers to book tax.
I'm glad you made that birthday greeting to Asia In The Heart, World On The Mind--which led you to the book bloggers meet. We learned a lot from you.
Here's to the next get-together! BTW, thanks for letting me use the photos you took.
@artseblis: Wow! So many links! Thanks! I'll put them up on a blog post once I have the time in case any other reader out there is interested. TY very much!
You have a point there, December might be too hectic for most people so we should set something up for November. I'll ask the others when I do the Filipino Friday post for this week.
@Chachic: TY!
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