Can't Wait for Filipino Friday

Thanks to the ReaderCon Filipino Friday meme for giving me a new fresh perspective for Fridays. No more gosh-I'm-so-tired-sana-Friday-na days. I'm all giddy inside for the Week 4 buzz so I'll be posting some stuff leading up to next week's topic:

September 2 - Do you read Filipino literature? If yes, what are some books by Filipino authors that you can recommend to fellow readers?

And I'm doing this with a little help from my friends.

I have persuaded (some of) them, using my charm congenialness (hihihi), to do some guest-blogging for misterserendipity. This is a milestone for this blog. (Lume-level up ang blogging skills ko! Com'on!)

If you consider yourself a friend of mine (which is a major life decision) and you are passionate about locally-published books or books written by Filipinos (any genre), feel free to send me a message on facebook or email me at brojersrc-at-gmail-dot-com. And let's get ourselves pumped with

Cheers!

Readercon Filipino Friday Week 3: Being A Reader In The Philippines

This is kinda late. Better than never. So for this week's meme, we zero in on the joys and travails of being a reader in the Philippines.

How hard or easy is it to be a book lover in the Philippines?

What are some of your frustrations as a Filipino reader?

And what are the positive aspects of being a reader in the Philippines?

Apparently, it's hard to be a leisure reader here in the Philippines. I only know a few friends and kakilala who include book-buying in their weekly/monthly visit to malls. Sila na ang may budget for books. If you are a book lover in the Philippines and you are

kahit anong book pa yan, makukuha't makukuha mo. You are a denizen of Fully-booked, Power Books, National Bookstore--the top three bookstores in the country. If you are part of the

hanggang browse/scan ka na lang muna sa favorite books mo sa NBS, Powerbooks at Fully-booked. More or less, nakatabi mo na ako sa Booksale, and you're also hoping na may naligaw na second-hand copy ng book na binibista mo sa Big 3 bookstores. The book prices in these second-hand bookstores fit your budget. Extra money, actually. Kung

ka naman, it's not a big deal that the movie you are watching is based on a book. And that the book is better than the movie adaptation.

One of the joys of being a children's lit reader in the Philippines is the fact that there's a big chance that I can meet the authors of the book I'm reading.

And I can force them to sign my book and have a fan-dominated chit-chat. You also have the Manila International Book Fair, the National Children's Book Day, the Buwan ng Wika, the SCBWI-Philippines conferences and the Book signing events that these publishing houses are putting up, to sustain your love for books.

Kung presyo naman ang pag-uusapan, I miss the "newsprint price" of Adarna House.

But I do still love their books and their book fair people. We look 'family' to each other. Haha. It's also a good thing that Lampara Books is publishing the winning stories in the Palanca Awards Short Story for Children category. Pati na rin yata PBBY runner-ups, because the other day, I saw Becky Bravo's

in National Bookstore.

Even if I have met a number of authors, illustrators and publishers, I still have frustrations as a reader. Let me enumerate those nega vibes..

1. There's a dearth of novels in the YA fiction category.

2. Publishing houses have yet to publish more books in other Philippine languages. I'm glad Adarna has started(?) the trend. See this one:

3. Only a few school libraries function as haven for book lovers. Only a few politicians, and civic organizations are trying to build more school/public libraries.

4. I know a few people who are dayuhan sa sariling bayan in terms of their reading choices.

5. Some bookstore/shop people do not know how to entice their customers to buy and not just browse. They should attend a seminar/ crash course on basic things about literature in general. They should know the what's-hot in the book scene. They should do book talks. Haha

6. Some parents are still misguided when buying books for their tots. More coloring books, less picture story books. More foreign(sounding) authors, less Filipino authors. Kumusta naman tayo diyan?

Filipino Friday: Becoming a Reader

Fudge! I just checked September 14 in the calendar, and it falls on a Wednesday. That means, I can't attend the first Filipino Readers’ Conference in SMX Mall of Asia unless an unexpected typhoon comes for a quick visit and DepEd declares another ill-advised suspension. Given my situation, I'll just show my support by participating in this meme. So for this week, the questions at hand are the following: How did you become a reader? What factors influenced you to take up reading as a hobby and why do you enjoy it so much? Because I was thrilled to introduce myself last week, I think I had spoiled my answers for this week. So this post would just give you a recap, additional info on the things I've blabbed in my previous post. I was forced by circumstances to read-- -after that Creative Writing class nightmare -the required readings in college (hahanapin mo pa sa UP Shopping Center; makikipag-unahan sa pagpapa-reserve sa library; manghihiram sa classmate). When I was a child, I equated reading to reading textbooks. My very first memory of reading is when my Mama taught me how to read using the classic

I think the original cover page is the one with the nipa hut. After that, puro textbook stories na. If you studied in a public school, you'll understand why most Filipino children in public schools are not exposed to authentic children's literature. Gayunpaman, na-enjoy ko pa rin ang mga short stories sa mga naghihingalong libro namin sa Filipino at English. Sayang, hindi nauso ang library sa school namin. I was a freshman in high school when I read my first YA novel. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I read that for a book report. Not bad. I enjoyed reading it but it didn't made me want for more. Malay ko ba na exciting pala ang mga detective stories at magkakaroon ng Sherlock movie after 8 years :) So I didn't bother asking the owner of the book if she had other Sherlock books. Bob Ong books

ang pumuno sa 'love' ko for reading. Pang-masa. Thank you Bob Ong (kung sino/sino-sino/ano ka man), because of your book, I discovered that I and reading are meant for each other.Before I graduated from high school, two books were added in my list--The Little Prince (recommended by a classmate who has a UP student-sister and Daddy Long Legs (lent by a classmate who has a UP student-cousin). HIndi ko natapos ang TLP kasi ang lalim. Na-excite naman ako sa DLL dahil may TV series sa Channel 2 no'n. I still feel blessed even if I didn't get to spend my younger years with Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, The Boxcar Children and all the other classics. I had a very typical masang Filipino childhood. TV, street games, school. I am more blessed now because I have the opportunity of inspiring children to spend their childhood with dragons, vampires, real people, fairies, talking animals from books.

My prayer is that through this convention, literature advocates would reach out to Filipino children, regardless of their socioeconomic status, and introduce to them the joy and power of reading.

The Hunger Games Movie

Filipino Reader Fridays: Introduction

Yeah. It's my first time to participate in a blogging event. I seldom (have the enough kasipagan to ) blog. I am more of a reader,I guess. But for the love of books, I will try to participate in the Filipino Reader Conference. And the task for this week is to introduce myself as a reader.

Warning, I'll be code-switching ha, para mas natural ang dating.

I was already a college freshman when I seriously followed the advice of my high school teachers to read. Before college, hindi ko alam na kailangan ko pala talagang magbasa nang magbasa. (I stopped blaming my parents and teachers for not exposing me/us to literature.) Buti na lang may creative writing class na nagpamukha sa akin na 

if you are not a good reader, you can't be a good writer.

 I was shamefaced during the time na winoworkshop 'yong piece ko. Ang sarap ma-eject sa kinauupuan ko. Eye opener. True story.

From then on, I started my catch-up reading . Saan ako magsisimula? Siyempre, ano ba ang una kong na-miss? 

This experience is one of the reasons kung bakit nag-shift ako from BSEd-English to BEEd-English. Salamat sa English 11 prof ko na si T. Lalaine, now president of Kuting, for letting us read a lot of children's lit. Sa klaseng 'yon, nakilala ko ang Little Prince, si Twink Macaraig at ang kanyang kuwentong What is Serendipity?, si John Steinbeck at si Harry Potter ( on a more personal level) dahil sa literary analysis na involved ang 3 nobelang 'yon. After that sem, nagsimula na ang effect ng 

I discovered that reading is an inexpensive hobby because we have the cozy UP-Diliman libraries and the ever-dependable second-hand bookstores like Booksale. Ang una kong binasa after English 11 ay The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller because T. Lalaine mentioned that it's a good read. Akala ko novel for children. Haha. But I still liked the book and as a matter of fact, I plan to say the lines--

"In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many lifetimes you live."

--sa magiging Francesca Johnson ko.

The next sem, I enrolled in the Children's Lit class of THE T. Portia Padilla. Golden Age ito ng college life ko dahil dito ko na-establish ang fact na Children's Lit fan na nga ako. The summer prior to this sem, I discovered the radio program Wan Dey, Isang Araw in 

. This program is hosted by THE Palanca Hall of Fame Awardee Dr. Luis "Tito Dok" Gatmaitan. In the program, they feature a pre-recorded storytelling of locally published books for children and Tito Dok interviews the author of the featured story. Do'n ko unang narining si Sir Rene Villanueva at ang kanyang (ang aking paboritong) Unang Baboy sa Langit. Kaya naman no'ng ma-invite si Tito Doc sa class namin, feeling ko pre-Nirvana moment ko na. Super thanks to our very passionate prof for all those greet-and-meet-and-interact-with-
your-favorite-authors-and-illutrators moments. At siyempre sa walang sawang pagpapahiram ng kanyang mga libro for our annotation.

Going back to the task this week, I am proud to say that I am one voracious Children's lit reader. I can easily spot the good reads whenever I scan the books in the shelves of my favorite tambayan--the second-hand bookstores. I read a lot of Newberys and Caldecotts and all those that should have won those awards like Tuck Everlasting.

I love the works of Katherine Paterson, Madeleine L'Engle, Lois Lowry, E.L. Konigsburg and Gary Paulsen to name a few.

In terms of illustration, walang papantay sa magic ni David Wiesner.

Sa local scene naman (na first love ko), hindi mawawala ang Tuwing Sabado ni Russell Molina, ang mga libro nina Grace Chong, Tito Doc, Rhandee Garlitos, Ompong Remigio at ng marami pang iba.

Ngayon, in love ako sa Hunger Games ni Suzanne Collins na babasahin namin sa school book club namin. Hindi pa rin ako maka-get over sa mas pinalalim na understanding sa The Story of Ferdinand (dahil nabasa ko ang pre-publication history niya.)

Wow. Reading has never been this good.

At present, I am moderating a school book club--The Bookmunchers.