Last night, we closed Season 2 of our Bibliolater Book Club. We've finished 10 books since we started last March 2022. March 24 to be exact. Jili and Lena have been discussing during their separate 121s the plan to start a book club at work then on that day, it was formalized. Finally. (Wow? Seryosohan pala ito.)
The first book was, *drum roll, kindly!* George Orwell's 1984. Umpisa pa lang activism na, palag. LOL.
The approach was simple. Each person would choose any book for the month (Thea will find a copy kasi ito lang talaga role niya sa buhay) and everyone will agree on a date of the discussion. Ideally, book should be done in 30 days. But we know that once the word "ideally" comes in, it rarely happens. Of course. We're adults. We've got responsibilities outside of reading. Hence the Orwell was discussed May 27. Over Zoom. Mayaman pa kami non, nakahiram pa kami ng Premium account. Despite the delays, we pushed through, made adjustments when everyone will be available virtually or even face-to-face meet-ups kung may pera kami, and most of all, everyone committed to finish the book.
There were instances some will finish a few minutes before the discussion starts. Last paragraphs left! So we urge them to finish while we patiently wait, watching them read the last few words. Some painstakingly finish the pick while in transit to the physical meet-up, getting headaches from reading the last chapter inside the moving vehicle. But we also had some misses. There's this one book which was tagged as DNF (Did Not Finish). I can't blame them, though. Bulgakov, markado ka na sa amin.
In the middle of everything, you'll see chats in the GC asking questions along the lines, "Why did we choose this book?!" Most of the time, reactions are filled with anger and frustration. But everyone laughs at these banters because in one way or another, we brought these to ourselves without our knowing. Until we impatiently ask, "Pwede bang ngayon na 'yung discussion?! Nakagagalit na 'tong si ano, eh!" (The last book was this kind of pick. Of course, isa ako sa pasimula ng galit at bardagul.)
Discussions are held in two hours or more, depending on how many questions are being asked and how many thoughts we keep pondering on. The book picker is also the one who facilitates the discussion (except for the first pero may lihim ng usapan sina Jili at Lena ro'n, malalaki na sila). Once, the discussion was done and Danii said we'll say goodbye in three minutes. But the three minutes became saying goodbye by 3 am. The three minutes was uttered a little past 12 am. (Can we consider that as Girl Math?) And when the book has a film adaptation, we also schedule to watch it all together and see each other's reaction if the book was murdered or given justice, or if we like the film better.
Ten books are too many, but we're on to our 11th as we open Season 3. Yay!!!!!
Complete List of Books We've Covered:
- 1984 | George Orwell
- Para Kay B | Ricky Lee
- Stardust | Neil Gaiman
- Master and Margarita | Mikhail Bulgakov
- Tuesdays with Morrie | Mitch Albom
- The End of an Affair | Graham Greene
- The Gun Dealers' Daughter | Gina Apostol
- Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End | Atul Gawande
- The Memory Police | Yōko Ogawa
- Goodbye Days | Jeff Zentner
Why Bibliolater?
𝘽𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 (𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙣)
A person who shows excessive admiration for a book.
But we meant it in a different way. It's more of Bibilio-later. Nag iisip kami pangalan para bibo kids kami at pormal and I saw a list of words related to books. Bibliolater is one of them. Tapos syempre since may times that we adjust the schedule, "later", it was a consensus to use that term. All because of Master and Margarita which took us more than two months to finish and not finish. XD (Still saying Ugh of over this. Paka special mo, Bulgakov, nag rent pa kami Airbnb para sa 'yo.)
(Was planning to upload all photos of the discussion pero nabura ko na pala 'yung iba!)
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