Of Bookworms and Books

Someone had an awesome Sunday. No wait, someones.

If you didn’t know, earlier this month I had this sudden desire to meet fellow Filipino bookworms. And so, I contacted several people via Twitter, asking them if they’d be on board the idea of a meet up. The gods must have thought I did something amazing because the response I got was something in the line, “yeah, let’s make it happen!” And yesterday, Bookworms Unite happened. It was tons of fun you guys!

I am neurotic, and as much as I was excited for the meet up, I was also anxious. Anxious whether people would really show up or not. Whether it’d be awesome or totally awkward. Boy, was the anxiety for naught. It was absolutely awesome! In fact, I feel like if you’re a stranger looking from the outside, you wouldn’t see people who have just met. You’d see camaraderie. You’d feel the shared enthusiasm for books. For being bookworms. For being there. Just, the vibe was wtf-is-awkward-I-love-reading-these-people-love-reading-these-are-my-people.

There were introductions, games, raffle prizes, Book Blind Date and interesting—and often funny—conversations. But being one of the hosts, I hadn’t had much time to snap photos of the actual event. So I took a cue from the wonderful Brandon Stanton (of Humans of New York fame) and opted to spotlight some of the attendees instead. Here, and I hope you meet, if virtually so, your next reading buddy:

“I blog in order to share my love of reading with the rest of the world.” – Faye Matug, The Social Potato.

“I read to escape. I get to live a thousand lives through reading and being holed up in the lab, I really need that.” – Dianne Acoba, Oops! I Read A Book Again.

“I’ve always been a lover of contemporary romance and I think that’s mostly because I like the world of realistic fiction and I’ve always craved reading about that kind of love.” – Hazel Ureta, Stay Bookish.

“Um, hi! I’m Shannelle of The Art Of Escapism, and I hope you all read The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler.” – Shannelle, The Art Of Escapism.

“I feel human when I read, like, somehow, their happiness is mine and their sadness is too.” – Jayvee De Castro, Writer For Misfits.

“…but most of the time, you know when to sit back, relax and give us time to up ourselves.” – Godwin Cantre, Machinations Of My Muddled Mind.

“I have Stand Off.” – Justine Dy, Bookwormaniac.

“My favorite book for 2015 is The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan.” – Salve Villarosa, Cuckoo For Books.

“I read for passion.” – Inah Peralta, The Bibliophile Confessions.

“…another favorite book of mine is Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. [I find Maas] very nice; she’s a gorgeous author. And she’s the kind of author that I would want to be friends with.” – JM Cabral, Book Freak Revelations.

“I cosplay because I feel happy being this different person or character but at the same time being myself. I’ve always wanted to cosplay anime characters, but I find that with anime characters, your costume has to be exact and precise. And being someone who has to be thrifty, I settled for cosplaying book characters instead because there’s not much book cosplayers out there (and I’m glad there are lots of [us] now) and because I can add my own style in my DIY costumes.” – Eriele Japsay, This Is Not Your Book Blog.

“I started reading because I love writing poems. And then [I started writing stories.] Until now. [And books] are my companions because I live alone.” – Paula Ramona, Perks Be With You.

And of course, I’d be remiss not to extend my deepest gratitude to National Book Store, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins and Book and Borders Café, all of whom made Bookworms Unite extra special. Also? Faye uploaded an album over at The Social Potato Reviews Facebook Page; you can check that out.

PS. I love that everyone was stressed by my Word Soup. *Winks.*

How was your weekend? I’m still in a happiness hangover but let’s talk! And oh. For those who came, tweet us your recaps using #bookwormsunite.

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