THE FILIPINO SHELFIE: JOSE ELVIN BUENO

 THE FILIPINO SHELFIE: JOSE ELVIN BUENO 

What are your reading habits and/or tendencies (e.g. favorite type of reads)?

One, I can only read one book at a time. Maybe it is the obsessive in me, but I must be absolutely committed to the book I am currently reading. I am envious of those who can jump between two or more books simultaneously and not lose their minds. 

Two, I cannot not finish a book. See? Obsessive. Whether fiction or non-fiction, I make it to the last page. I also read the acknowledgment page, the author biography, and if there is one, the write up about the typography. 

Three, because of the abovementioned points, I maintain an updated list of the books I want to read, and I calibrate my library holds to spare myself and other patrons any headache. 

 

 

What are you currently reading?

The latest issue of The Stinging Fly. It’s a quarterly literary magazine from Ireland where the most innovative prose and poetry are, in my opinion, published. One fourth of the issues per year is devoted to international writers while three-fourths are from the modern Joyces and Becketts. Every issue is mind blowing.

 

 

If you’re a published book author, choose a book(s) and think about how you hope readers would read it?

My third novel is titled GIGANTVM PENISIVM and it will released by CLASH BOOKS this fall. I highly recommend that readers read it on a Friday. If possible, by candlelight during a power outage over a bottle of whiskey. In all seriousness, I sincerely hope readers arrive at a decision after they’ve read it and act accordingly.

 

 

Please share some favorite books.

More than plot and character, I am drawn to atmosphere and setting in a book.

 

When it comes to atmosphere, these are my favorites:

Silk by Caitlin R. Kiernan                  

Strange Angels by Kathe Koja                      

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite             

 

When it comes to setting, these are my favorites.

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

Veniss Underground by Jeff Vandermeer

The Divinity Student by Michael Cisco

 

Lastly, when it comes to the craft of writing, these are my favorites.

Story by Robert McKee

On Writing by Stephen King

Confessions of a Young Novelist by Umberto Eco

 

 

Ask yourself a reading-related question you concoct, and answer it.

My question: how do you read your work in progress?

My answer: No matter where I am in the writing, I read it from page one to the current page. This gets tricky if I am writing a novel and I am approaching the final chapters. But reading from the top every single time helps in getting continuity problems sorted. And more important, by the time I get to the current page, I am aching to write and this keeps the momentum of my writing and what is being written turbo charged. 

If I may, I would like to add a tangent to this answer. I never end my work in progress with a period. When I am working on a project, I always end my writing mid-sentence so that by the time I am done with my read through and about to continue the story, I know where to pick the writing up and get going.

 

*****

Jose Elvin Bueno is a first-generation immigrant to the United States from the Philippines. He is a fictionist, playwright, and novelist. His debut novel Subversivo, Inc. is the recipient of the Grand Prize in the 63rd Palanca Awards for Literature, the Philippines’ most prestigious literary prize. He is also the author of the novel Sindicato & Co. He lives in New York where he is writing his next book.