Meet a literati and his books
Is it possible for a person to own so many books and read all of them in her or his lifetime?
Meet Jessie Cubijano, a 30-something professional, who keeps a collection of 800 to 1,000 books in his house in Mandaue City.
Can he finish reading all of them?
Hmmm… Well, he’s trying…. See picture below.
- SIMPLY JESSIE. He likes reading books. It’s that simple. Photo from Jessie Cubijano’s Facebook account.
Jessie works with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), a corporate-led social development foundation that advocates poverty alleviation through programs in health, education, environment and livelihood.
Okay, that’s a mouthful. Let’s do that again.
Jessie works for a non-government organization (no, no, definitely not affiliated with Janet Napoles’ string of bogus NGOs) and strives hard to implement projects that matter – meaning, those that really yield results for the betterment of society. You may check out www.pbsp.org.ph to know more about the organization.
Jessie is the is the foundation’s Visayas director and manages a porfolio of projects in Western Visayas (Aklan, Antique, Negros Occidental, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo), Central Visayas (Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental and Siquijor) and Eastern Visayas (the islands of Leyte, Samar and Biliran). He has been with the foundation for more than a decade crafting and implementing projects that has brought about positive changes in the communities, a feat worthy to be recognized by the University of the Philippines’ Alumni Association – Cebu with a Tatak UP Award. The award was bestowed upon Jessie for his integrity and excellence in his chosen field of expertise while demonstrating a social conscience.
Jessie is a social development worker but he can very well pass as a book and literary connoisseur as he maintains and sustains a home library of 800 to 1,000 books with several titles written by Anne Tyler, Stephen King and Ian McEwan.
And he does not have any plans of ceasing his buying and reading spree.
Just before 2013 ended, he finished Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement and is now closing the last 250 pages of Jeffrey Euginedes’ The Marriage Plot.
The Reading Ruffolos asked Jessie the hallmark 5Ws and 1H basic questions and we were met with answers that revealed a literati in his most honest self – who can’t seem to stop when you ask him about books and authors, who shamelessly flaunts his books in social media, and who finds happiness in a pile of flat paper and rigid cardboard sewn together to make priceless treasures called books.
