I wanna polish my Filipino grammar and build my Filipino vocabulary (because it's a shame naman that I don't speak my native tongue fluently). i'm fil-chi but I'm more fluent in English >.< I was wondering, what books could help me do that? I was thinking: books by Efren Abueg, Edgardo M. Reyes (those are the authors in my HS third year textbooks)..but I can't find them anymore anywhere!

I tried reading Bob Ong's MACARTHUR but it wasn't my thing...so I guess that rules him out.

Ayaw ko rin ng local/native setting. Those settings really depress me! It's very hard to choose Filipino books...because majority of 'em are set in native provinces... I want to read a Filipino book that I could relate to.

And I also DO NOT like the romance books they sell in National Bookstore! (Yung Filipino version ng Mills and Boon!)

Of course, Eli Fili and Noli are out of the question! (Truth is, masyadong malalim yung Tagalog dun para sa akin)
btw, in case it helps, i'm currently 16.

Tagalog is a language since it have different structure from other Malayo-Polynesian language such as Bahasa, Cebuano, Tausug, Ilokano, Bicol, etc... Will you call Filipino a Tagalog dialect? Or is it the other way around? Since they got the same structure but sometimes use a different set of intonations and vocabulary.