Currently re-reading TBLBITW...

I'm currently re-reading Andrew Tobias' The Best Little Boy in the World..

If there's one book that really influenced me during that period when I was asking myself a lot of things, it has to be this book.

On my last visit to Manila, I brought back with me some books that I love and one of them is TBLBITW.

The book has been with me for more than a decade. If I'm not mistaken, I found it buried in one of the bargain bins of National Bookstore Robinson's Manila. It was an afternoon. I had time to kill. One of my favorite past time activities is to go book hunting. Voila! I found the book.

Until now, I believe that the book was meant to find me and I was meant to find it. Hehe!

With no new titles to read, I decided why not re-read it again?

Jay Bell's Something Like Summer...

What was the last book you read?

The last one I recently finished (and the first book I read on my Kindle) was Something Like Summer by Jay Bell.

I stumbled upon the title while I was setting up Kino (the Kindle) and experimenting with how to purchase ebooks from Amazon even if I'm in Singapore.

I was searching for titles that didn't cost much. That way, if the transaction fails, I would have lost just a few dollars. Hehe!

That's how I stumbled upon Jay Bell's Something Like Summer. I was looking for LGBT fiction since I really miss it and this title kept on coming up. It had several stars, which I guess gave me the impression that it was good. And the price was very good.

My fave LGBT writers are Michael Thomas Ford, Timothy James Beck, Alex Sanchez and Andrew Tobias. It looks like Jay Bell just might be added to this list of mine. Hehe!

I won't delve too much into details of Something Like Summer since I dun want to spoil it for anyone. But to give you an idea, it is a "love story spanning a decade and beyond as two boys discover what it means to be friends, lovers, and sometimes even enemies."

The story revolves around Ben, Tim and Jace. There are also a few sub-plots involving Ben's best friend Allison.

There are several memorable lines and several memorable scenes. I found myself laughing sometimes at the troubles Tim got himself into. And I found myself feeling kinda heavy at certain pages as well.

I'm glad I bought the book. It turned out to be a good read. It's my first time to read Jay Bell's work and I think I can say that I will look for his other titles.

Finished queer fic book #2...

I just recently finished reading Different Strokes by David Leo.

It's one of the four queer fic books I recently got.

It was quite an easy read, given that it was a short novel.

The story revolves around the life of two people living with HIV-AIDS. It describes the challenges and obstacles the two people face while living with the disease.

The central character is a reporter named Keith. Because of the story assignment by his editor, Keith finds himself learning more about the disease and the issues faced by people living with the disease.

Published in 1993 (sheesh, I was just a high school freshman then), Different Strokes is said to be one of the earliest works related to the LGBT community in Singapore.

I wonder how the local community now views HIV-AIDS. I recently attended a short talk about it, and I was a bit surprised to learn that the meds here are not free. Maybe because this isn't a Third World country? In the Philippines, I know that meds are given for free via the UNAIDS Global Fund.

I also asked the speaker about whether the disease is discussed in science and health classes in schools. I was a bit surprised with the reply I got.

Good thing there are a number of local groups like Action for AIDS, which provides education, support and assistance.

While waiting for a friend to finish his workout yesterday, I decided I'd go to Kinokuniya at Takashimaya to check out if there are any interesting titles.

I haven't read any new books for awhile now, and I think it's time to get back to reading.

Well, guess what? I stumbled upon a number of titles from a certain genre I did not really expect to see on shelves of a local bookstores.

LGBT fiction. In Singapore. By local authors. Woohooo! :)

I was lazily going through the rows and rows of books, when I saw the shelf labeled Local Literature (or something like that).

I gravitated towards it, and the next thing I know I was hanging in that area for more than 30 minutes already.

The first book that caught my eye was entitled To Know Where I'm Coming From by Johann Lee. The cover image was a portrait of a handsome local (I think) who looked like he was contemplating something.

I picked up the book and got excited when I saw that it was indeed LGBT fiction. That's the only time I started to notice that there were several other titles that are from the same genre.

Uhm, so I ended up buying a number of titles even though it is not included in my budget for the month. I just rationalized the purchase by thinking the new titles would be great additions to my growing collection of LGBT fiction.

I started this morning with Peculiar Chris also by Johann Lee. The first few pages have got me interested, and it looks like I will finish it faster than I think.

Wooohoo!!! :)

I love NBS...

It's sale season again at National Bookstore, and I can't wait for next payday because I already have found a number of books I will buy. Eeeep!!! But the good thing is I checked out the books I plan to get and most of them are 40% off, so I guess that's good. (Because now I can buy more books. Hehehe! No!)

See the photo above. That's from the NBS in Robinson's Galleria. And that's the reason why I love National Bookstore has become a favorite when it comes to LGBT titles. They really have a shelf for it. Favorite authors Timothy James Beck, Michael Thomas Ford, David Stukas can be found on the shelves. Powerbooks does carry some LGBT titles, although the selection is very limited. Now, Fully Booked, I would have expected to have one, but I'm still not sure if they do. (I have yet to check out the Fort Bonifacio branch.) I remember I dared email Jaime Daez giving him a list of LGBT titles they can start with, and why those are the titles I recommended, but I don't know whatever happened to that email. I'm not even sure if reached him. Anyway.

Carlo told me about Bestsellers at the fourth level of Galleria. I think it was where Limits used to be. Anyway, I checked it out last Friday and it is total heaven for people who are in love with the written world. It's spacious and the lighting was good and you good spend several hours just going through their book selection. I was about to get six books, but after a serious debate with myself, I decided to put them down and get out of the place before I change my mind again. I promised I would go back there sometime next week to get the books. Hehehe!

If I had the resources, I'd start my own bookstore. But it would be a specialty bookstore, perhaps something like Borders or A Different Light bookstore. The bookstore would carry 80% LGBT titles and 20% chick lit-home-fashion-art titles. It would be small (think Hugh Grant's bookstore in Notting Hill) and the people who work in it can actually answer the customer's queries. They'll be there because they love books, and not really because they need something to pay the bills. (Or maybe both). Every month, we'll have a guest author do book readings and signings (and because the bookstore is doing well, we can fly in authors from abroad like Alex Sanchez or Noel Alumit). There'll be writing workshops with noted literary people. Coffee may be served. And in the storage room, there'll be hot men raring for some action. (Alright, that last sentence was a joke.)

I wonder what a good name for a bookstore would be - Margins... The Pink Room... Page 69... Odd Room... Happy Bookstore... Backdoor... Gray Area... Red Light... Happy Homo... The Queer Reader... okay, none of these seem right.