Meeting Alex Gilvarry

I have been so sickly for the past days and so I planned my weekend to only do as much and everything on a Saturday, then sleep until Monday. Before meeting my younger sister Mariane in Hyatt Hotel, I pushed my luck to getting on time to Greenbelt 4 where passing through EDSA to Ayala Avenue in an almost 4PM (Yes, I cringed because I was running late for the book launch) is a little hell. 

It was 4 to 4:20 when I got out of the car. Cameras are almost everywhere waiting for the man of the hour when I'm finally inside the Powerbooks. Knowing I wasn't late, or at least not before the event started, I wanted to give myself a huge you're-a-lucky-ass smooch! LOL

I scanned the area looking for familiar faces and took photos too.

And after a few minutes, a tall guy arrived in suit. Yes, my friends, Alex Gilvarry is cute and according to his lola (grandma), he's single. LOL! Introduction was made about him and his début novel "From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant", which most part were mentioned in my previous post. Camera lights started flashing when he finally stand in front of us with microphone on the right hand and water on the left. 

I press the red button on my iPhone's voice memo to start recording and took more photos. It seemed like it was recording okay until the interview is done and I played it. It failed on me and recorded nothing, zero seconds! 

Not even the part where he made everyone laughed with his jokes. It felt like I wanted to kill ugly people!  (Luckily, everyone was looking good LOL) Only because I planned for this post to actually write everything during the interview. I tell you, there were a lot of interesting things in the interview that my memory failed to remember what exactly were asked and said. It was even ironic reading the page before the Acknowledgement part of the book that quoted Coco Chanel's, "Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them." 

Oh well.

Let me share to you all the photos I took instead.

It was a fun interview! Alex's grandparents were in the audience and even complimented the shoes that I was wearing that day, they're seated in front of me. ^_^

And there he is, signing my book. :)

 And even more books!

I'm not the best photographer, just yet, but I tried to get the best shots. :D

Travelling home with Mariane was a bit lite so I decided to read a few pages. 

I can barely stop and even looked for high-lighters so that I can be sure to emphasize some points from it. It has always been my thing to re-read books I like whenever I get bored, or internet isn't working on an expected speed. Reading it through is like hearing him, it is so Alex Gilvarry - witty, deep and inordinately funny!

Know more about Alex Gilvarry and what the novel is all about HERE.  

From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant is available in any bookstores nationwide. 

http://alexgilvarry.com/

Follow Alex Gilvarry on Twitter!

Alex Gilvarry at Powerbooks September 15

Is it just me or this is totally a good timing? 

READ: Rogue Haha! :D (kidding!)

The founding editor of a book review collaborative website - Tottenville , a New York-based Filipino writer Alex Gilvarry is coming to Manila for a talk and book signing for his début novel “From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant” on September 15, 2012, 4PM at Powerbooks, Greenbelt 4.

Gilvarry’s first novel explores some of the most serious issues of our time with dark eviscerating wit, and slight centers about a flamboyant Filipino fashion designer named Boy.

“My initial idea was to write about an artist from a superficial world thrown into a political world. That’s how I came up with Boy.” Mr. Gilvarry told The New York Times.

“Boyet Hernandez is a small man with a big American dream when he arrives in New York in 2002, fresh out of design school in Manila. With dubious financing and visions of Fashion Week runways, he sets up shop in a Brooklyn toothpick factory, pursuing his goals with monkish devotion (distractions of a voluptuous undergrad not withstanding). But mere weeks after a high-end retail order promises to catapult his (B)oy label to the big time, there's a knock on the door in the middle of the night: the flamboyant ex-Catholic Boyet is brought to Gitmo, handed a Koran, and locked away indefinitely on suspicion of being linked to a terrorist plot. Now, from his 6' x 8' cell, Boy prepares for the trial of his life with this intimate confession, even as his belief in American justice begins to erode.”

 Photo credits: Erik Jacobs for The New York Times

Reading most about the press reviews makes my nerves wanting to read the book this instant. (LOL!) Not to mention, he has written for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, Vogue, The Paris Review and other publications. And has been named a Norman Mailer Fellow. He is, indeed, one of the Filipino writers we can truly be proud of!

Watch this video and I bet you, just the same as I do, can't wait to read the book! ^_^

So if you find yourself doubtful about your schedule this coming weekend (or no plans at all), 

come join me and my friends on Saturday! :) 

http://alexgilvarry.com/

Follow Alex Gilvarry on Twitter!