10 interesting things about Marianne Villanueva

Last Saturday, I was holed up at Libreria again with fellow Flippers and book bloggers for a meetup with author Marianne Villanueva, arranged by Rocket Kapre. The Flippers were supposed to have a breakfast meeting, but I went home well past midnight from the previous night’s office party, got an hour’s sleep before dragging myself out of bed for the dawn mass, and then went back to sleep. I was alarmed when Gege’s text woke me up at 10am, when we were designated to meet! I threw on a shirt, shorts and flipflops (and I forgot my camera, too!) and hightailed it to Cubao, just in time for lunch at Ali Mall.

I was still bleary eyed by the time we went back to Libreria, but the discussion was well underway, and I think I was barely coherent while I was nursing a couple cups coffee. Unfortunately I had to hightail it again back home to Makati for a change of clothes for a girls’ night out with my high school friends, but I did get my copy of The Lost Language: Stories signed, and enough interesting factoids about the author to make me want to read the book!

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My Birthday Wish: Reading in Batanes

I don’t usually join blogging contests, because there are very few that fit my blogging niche. But I came across the SEAIR Batanes Winter Blogger Tour Contest on several travel blogs I follow (as well as the SEAIR Facebook fan page), and I realized this is one contest I just can’t pass up!

I’m not a travel blogger, but reading is actually one of my favorite travel activities (as you’ll see further along this post)!

Of course, I like to take in the sights, the culture, and the gastronomic delights, but I  also happen to do my best reading while traveling because it’s the only time I can really read in peace, for long stretches of time. So I end up packing books (and my book light) in my suitcase, spending more time thinking about what books to bring rather than the outfits I’ll be needing (really!) and I read voraciously every chance I get: while in transit, while waiting for meals, passing the time in airport pre-departure areas, during flights, and even after a long day of travel activities, right before I drift off to sleep.

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Filipino Book Bloggers’ Meetup!


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.

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Filipino Friday: Reading Habits

The Filipino Book Bloggers have been doing Filipino Friday posts for some time now, and I’ve been dropping in from time to time but Friday’s often quite busy for me so I tend to see the posts belatedly. Tonight’s the first Friday I’ve been home early in a long time, and  I’ve been mulling about what to blog about tonight when I saw Jhzunagev’s Filipino Friday Post over at Darchwonders (a recent blog discovery that I’m really enjoying so far) and it seemed about time I joined in.

Chachic, the founder of Filipino Book Bloggers, presented the option of answering the whole Reading Habits meme, so here, I’m revealing all my deep dark reading secrets!

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The Spook’s Apprentice

I’ve had a copy of Joseph Delaney’s The Spook’s Apprentice for a couple of years now, and only remembered it last week, when I was digging through my shelves of TBR books for some books to read for Halloween. I remember I looked through a list of books that other Harry Potter fans were reading post-Harry Potter, and this book, the first in a series called The Wardstone Chronicles, came highly recommended.

I hadn’t planned on a Halloween theme for the 24-hour Readathon, but I got home late that day from seeing the Galeón de Andalucía at the South Harbor and had no time to pre-select books for the Readathon. Since the pile of scary books was already sitting on my desk, I just grabbed a bunch of them so I could sign up in the nick of time.

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