The Man Behind the (Blog) Mask - Ivan Bookworm

As part of The All Male Review Challenge, I'm featuring some of our male book blogger friends in this new interview feature: The Man Behind the (Blog) Mask. Each blogger answered the same 7 questions so that we can all get to know them a bit better. The men of the book blogging community are interesting, charming, funny, witty, and some of the best all around bloggers! If you like what you read here, be sure to check out their blogs - you won't be disappointed.

My guest today is Ivan from Ivan Bookworm!

1) Tell us a little about your blog - when you started, what your focus is, why you do it, etc.

I started last August 2010. Back then, I really don't know that such book blogs exist. I just made a blogger account and made it as a book blog. Soon then, I discovered that there were other book blogs and they are A LOT. I decided to focus on Young Adults. Mainly in Sci-Fi, fantasy, dystopian and little romance. Once my teacher said that men die earlier than women because men don't share what they feel. They just want to keep their hatred to themselves. But not all men are like that. There are some, like me, who feel so comfortable when I share what I feel. First of all I'm not a gay! That's why I started book blogging. Many of my male friends don't read and they just feel bored whenever I talk about my recent read or whatever book related. So by book blogging, I can share what I feel, my opinions. That's the main reason I blog, to give my opinions. At least in blogging, I can feel someone reading my opinions than talking to persons that don't care.

2) Book blogging seems pretty heavy on the females. Do you think being a male blogger has any advantages or disadvantages?

There are more disadvantages than advantages. Since male book blogger are in rarity, when you first hear a male blogger you mostly tell "Oh that's a gay." That's the greatest disadvantage. We are being judge by doing such things that mostly done by females. I want to say that reading is not only for females. Remember during the Renaissance there are more male authors like Shakespeare and O. Henry than female authors. Literature back them was actually a man thing. It is use to express their love for the girl they admire. When science was explored more, males turns out to leave literature and love science more. That's the time women enter the world of literature. Katherine Mansfield and Jane Austen. So at the very beginning, books are man thing. Since of course, culture began to change, it became a female thing. So to conclude, it's actually for any gender. Men are just now afraid to be judge but I'm not. Because I now what I am.

To talk about the advantages of book blogging for males, we are enhanced in writing. Since you need to write reviews, you are exercised to show your opinions at the same time watching your grammar. English is not my mother tongue. I'm a Filipino. So whenever I write reviews, I practice how to write essays so when I'm in school I will not have problems when it comes to English. Also, we are able to apply slang and deep english words in our writing, which bring my classmates to wow.

3) Do you read a lot of books with male protagonists? Why or why not?

Yes, I read books with male protagonists. I read both male and female. I can relate more to the character when he is a male. There are great difference when it comes to the emotion of men to women. Men chose to be more hideous. They like their feeling to be kept by themselves while women like to express their feelings. When it comes to courage, males like violence while females like clean battles. Don't be offended by this, but females in most books are driven by their emotions. Please don't be offended! There decisions are base on how they feel. If they are angry, they like to take revenge immediately. While males like to think firsts. Whether what's good or bad. But I also like reading female books. WHY? Because it let me knows what females feel. So whenever I admire someone, I know how to impress them. See, that's also an advantage. I will have knowledge on how they want to be treated so they won't feel hurt. Also, women like men who reads :)

4) Give us three books you consider "must reads."

Three books to be a must read: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan and The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

5) If you could be any literary character, who would you be and why?

I would like to be Nobody Owens in the Graveyard Book. Not that I want ghost parents but because he have freedom. He can do what he wants. He can play at the same time learn. He can socialize and make friends. That's almost a perfect life.

6) When you're not reading or blogging, what are you most likely doing?

Oh expect me to be sitting in front of my computer surfing the next for the latest gadgets. Watching sci-fi films. Texting. Chatting. Like normal people do. But sometimes, I write. Yeah! Last few months, an idea hit my mind while I'm surfing the net. It is so cool. So recently, last week, I started drafting it and writing it. Until now, I'm still at chapter 2. I never imagine how hard it is to write books. Of course, the protagonists is a male. I'll give a hint on what is about. In question form. "What if another specie took the dominance on earth from the humans?" That's all I can give right now. That's actually not the main focus of the novel. It focus on choosing between family or duty.

7) Share an interesting/weird/random/funny fact about yourself with us.

IDK if there is funny things I can share about me. Let me just give you three weird things about me. a. I imagine myself to have superpowers and the King of UK. ....b. I imagine to own Apple Inc. one day. and c. I imagine myself being interviewed about my novel. HEY, there's nothing wrong to imagine. It's free. Hahaha

Thanks for sharing with us! You can follow Ivan at Ivan Bookworm and on Twitter @_Knight_of_One.