When the Filipino Book Bloggers first met up back in September, I sorely regretted not being able to attend, so I was looking forward to attending the next one. Thankfully it was scheduled at a date that agreed with my schedule, and I was able to make it this time.

When the group was trying to decide on a venue, I suggested our BookMooch friend Triccie’s newly-opened store, Libreria. It seemed the perfect place for us to meet — it has enough space to hold us all, it serves good coffee but we wouldn’t have to struggle to get heard over the normal din of a busy coffeeshop, it’s relatively accessible to people from different parts of the metro, and best of all, we would be surrounded by books! I was glad the others were willing to give it a try.

Let me backtrack a bit and introduce you to the Filipino Book Bloggers. The group is a blog circle started by Chachic, and it’s a directory of Filipino book bloggers all over the world (and if you’re Filipino and you run a book blog and aren’t already a member, you should go sign up!).

The blog icon, designed by Chachic’s friend Ronjo Solis, really struck me when I first saw it. I have a similar work, which I did last year for the Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang I.N.K.) Blowing Boxes exhibit, and I think Ronjo and I share the same thoughts on how reading takes us on a magical flight to new worlds of meaning and imagination.

I came from the other side of the metro (Roxas Boulevard, to be exact) so I thought I would be late, but I got there when they had just settled down for coffee and I was able to catch most of the hearty discussion — how our book blogging crosses over in real life, blogging idols, addiction to monitoring blog statistics (guilty!), posting negative reviews, personal review policies, and many other topics!

The group’s a spirited bunch, so we had no trouble keeping the conversation going. My Flipper friends Peter and Rhett, Honey, and Michelle, and I know Chachic from school, but it was my first time to meet the other bloggers — Tarie (though technically I met her at the Manila International Book Fair), Kenneth, Jason, Aaron, and Will (from whom I just won a copy of Chuck Palahniuk’s Rant)… and I hope I got all the names right!

Let me tell you about Libreria by the way…. I met Triccie a few years back, through BookMooch – she had, in fact, read the article I wrote about BookMooch in Manila Bulletin and decided to give it a try! Her house became the official hang-out for Bookmoochers Pilipinas, because we loved that it was quite literally a house of books, and now that she’s opened her book shop again, Libreria is just as cozy as her home!

Libreria carries a lot of titles you wouldn’t even find at the local bookstores, and all reasonably priced, too. There’s also a P50 corner for bargain books!

I think Libreria will be seeing a lot of the Filipino book bloggers from now on.

Ohh, and Triccie gave each of us some pretty bookmarks to take home. Check out mine:

We capped off the night with dinner at Singapore Chicken Rice (I loved my Mee Goreng!), where Tina caught up with us, and we raided the nearby bargain bookstore after. Because I’m trying to be good until the NBS Christmas Book Bazaar next week, I only bought one book, a hardcover copy of The Lost Conspiracy by Frances Hardinge, which Chachic highly recommended, and I bought it for just P50!

I had to go at that point because I had to head back south to go home with my sibs, but I had a great day with the Filipino Book Bloggers, and I’m already looking forward to our next meetup.

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A bit of plugging, because Triccie, as always, has generously opened her doors to us:

Libreria Bookstore is open at Cubao Expo, 3pm-8pm on weekdays, until 12 midnight Thurs-Sat.