Filipino Fridays #4: Books and Friends

Books and Friends. Two of my favorite things in the world. So far, I am a member of three online book-related community. The Filipino Goodreads Group, Filipino Book Bloggers, and Read Philippines. I participate from time to time via comments and poll votes but I haven't really been in a book club face to face meeting because I don't live in Manila. And there aren't any book clubs in our community here in my province, not that I know of at least.

I would love to be in an actual meet-up. I do see posts of book club meetings TFG's meetings and they all look like fun, with games and food and books! But I have to be content with online ranting and raving with fellow readers and bloggers and the face to face ranting and raving with the few bookish friends that I have here at home, which I would be introducing to you.

1. My eldest sister - She has had a hand in my being a reader and we have fairly similar tastes in books. It could be because of the fact that she is a perpetual book moocher. She never buys her own books nowadays but happily feeds off of my library...like a leech. She loves YA now because that's the genre that occupies most of my book shelf. Well, she has no choice but to love it. (But she really does love it)

2. My cousin - He is my LOTR guru and was the one who introduced me to Tokien's world. He knows absolutely everything there is to know (well, almost anything) about LOTR. I used to throw a couple of LOTR trivia questions whenever I get to see him, and he always gets them right. Up until a friend of mine gave me an idea of a quite difficult LOTR trivia. What is the name of Aragorn's horse? And the answer to which, my cousin didn't know. (Yes, we are absolute nerds.) But lately he's been in an online gaming bubble and reads mostly the game-related / tie-ins. We hardly read anything in common anymore.
 
3. Friend #1 - a fellow Harry Potter and LOTR fan, who introduced me to Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. But then she began her romance genre phase and started to introduce me to it as well but after a couple or romance reads, I don't think it was for me. So I was very glad when she recently came back into the fantasy fold and picked up a Game of Thrones. But she still read romance novels on the side. She is always my book to movie adaptation buddy too. And I will never forget it when she gifted me with a Hunger Games hardcover for my birthday.

4.Friend #2 - She adores Paranormal and Dystopian YA with the absolute condition that they have to have romance in the story. She is a Twihard and Mortal Instruments fan. She also adores historical thrillers like those of Steve Berry's and Dan Brown's. She has the most passion and enthusiasm of the stories that she reads, which is absolutely contagious. I always smile whenever she rants and raves like a madwoman over the book that she read because I know that I am like that too, only more toned down. I will never forget it when she told me that when it comes to books, she tells her kids that they can buy as many as they want, no holds barred. A privilege not extended to them for toys and clothes.

I am glad that I made the decision to put up a book blog because through it, I got to meet more book loving people, both readers and bloggers (aside from the ones I mentioned above), a few of whom I now consider as friends. I really do hope I get to meet them and be able to finally attend a face to face discussion someday. :D     

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