About Mika

Although Javi had the idea of introductory posts, I'm going first because he's still playing the modesty card.So.

I'm actually pretty stubborn when it comes to reading and my "route" was much like everyone else's – from Enid Blyton, Bobbsey Twins, Babysitters Club, Camp Sunnyside Friends, etc., I moved on to Austen, Bronte, Tolstoy, etc. I rarely go past fiction and even there, I stay within the classics and/or the authors I'm already familiar with. I guess you could say i'm skeptical about the newer stuff, although I've had my fair share of them. I'm trying to read more poetry but that's not going too well because the ones my friends recommend aren't readily available in Manila.

This community is going to help everyone a lot in venturing out of our respective comfort zones. As Jaemark said, we're going to have to "fight for our book," so I'm excited about what everyone can haul up The important thing is to be able to tackle a wider scope than usual.

About the Author: Javi

I thought it would be appropriate to make an introductory first post because:1) this is a multi-person blog.
2) I need to buy some more time, before I write my real first piece.
3) so you know what kinds of books to expect from me.

So I'll try to make this brief and book-centric.

I think the first kinds of books that I actively sought out were non-fiction informative books like the Sesame Street encyclopedia (I remember pleading with the encyclopedia salesman if we could just buy one copy, and I had to pick out my favorite letter, I can't remember what), Ladybird series books (like How Does An Aeroplane Work). Later on I moved on to Hardy Boys, and then proceeded to Marvel comics, and then fantasy authors such as David Eddings and Robert Jordan, and then moving on to then bestselling author of the moment Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Rising Sun). I then progressed to doing a sort of roots movement, reading classics like The Brothers Karamazov, and the Lord of the Rings series just to get to know the books and authors that started it all.

In more recent memory, books I've liked include titles by Nick Hornby most especially About A Boy and High Fidelity, a little Gaiman (recent works but not yet Anansi Boys), and I've been getting into non-fiction (Freakonomics, Tipping Point, Blink, and some other perhaps not generally well-known business/IT field authors) because of work.

I was a pretty good student in English class, but I don't think I'm that sharp, so don't expect any extraordinary literary analysis out of me. What I do want to give you, dear reader, is as personal an insight as possible into the books I will read.