The Angel

Probably not a good thing to finish this book while I was in a very busy coffee shop with lines snaking around where I was seated. I felt claustrophobic by the surroundings and the book I just finished reading made such a tangled mess of emotions. Somehow, I wished for a better ending, not just for the characters in this book, but for all of us, whether in the shadows, invisible, or not. If there's one fiction to read this year, it is this: Lie With Me by Philippe Besson. Translated by Molly Ringwald. (Yes, the actress from Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club.)

It is a continuous and lifelong pursuit of mine to declutter and simplify my life. So one rainy day, after many visits for coffee, I finally went to Local Edition Coffee and Tea at Perea Street in Makati and left these ten books so that others can read them. These are all novels either written by gay authors or featured gay characters. Rather than gather dust at my shelf, I decided to share them to others. I have ebook copies of these, anyway. And others may find something here to relate to or perhaps reaffirm themselves that who they are is not wrong.

Sometime in college, I realized I was born with a reading list I will never finish. It was in elementary when I discovered the joy of reading. At that time, in the province, we didn't have a good bookstore. Wait, correct that--we didn't have a bookstore. We had a school supplies store which sell textbooks and once in a blue moon a fiction novel would find its way in the shelves of Mathematics or Panitikan. But I didn't get those because buying books were simply out of my wallet's league. I don't think I even had a wallet then, much more any money I could call my own, except the spare coins I saved when I skipped lunch. I spent a lot of time in the library, which was sort of my refuge because I had no inclination for sports--and I didn't like staying in school playing with my classmates once classes are done for the day. I was an introvert; I just didn't know what it was called then.