30-Day Tumblr Challenge: Day 4 - Your favorite book: The Best Little Boy in the World

I have a lot of favorite books. Most of these would fall under one of these two categories - a.) chick lit or b.) queer fic. Haha!

Though there are several titles in my collection that I can read over and over again, I guess my favorite has to be Andrew Tobias' The Best Little Boy in the World.

I found the book at a time when I was having questions about myself. Things were difficult back then. I knew who I was. Several people were telling me not to be who I really am. I was told, "Being who you are is okay. But you should control it. It's a sacrifice. One that you must carry for a long time." That made things more difficult, obviously.

And then one afternoon, I was browsing through the sale bin of National Book Store Robinson's Manila when I stumbled upon this book. It was hidden in a deep corner of the book bin. For one to have found it, he really has to sit and go through all the titles.

After reading the first few pages, I knew I had to get it. Here was the story of a guy from the other side of the world. His story was somewhat similar to what I was going through back then. But the best part is that he was already past the dilemma I was in, and he came out (pardon the pun) of it triumphantly. Surely, I was to learn something from this guy who had to write under a pseudonym when the book was first published in the 1970s for fear of the same things I feared.

And I did learn. Quite a lot, I have to say.

But if I had to sum it up in a couple of sentences. I learned that I was going to be okay, that I have nothing to worry about, and that no matter what, I could still be the best little boy in the world.

Thank you, Andy Tobias.