Banana Heart Summer


Merlinda Bobis - 2005
    Richly imagined, gloriously written, Banana Heart Summer is an incandescent tale of food, family, and longing—at once a love letter to mothers and daughters and a lively celebration of friendship and community. Twelve-year-old Nenita is hungry for everything: food, love, life. Growing up with five sisters and brothers, she searches for happiness in the magical smell of the deep-frying bananas of Nana Dora, who first tells Nenita the myth of the banana heart; in the tantalizing scent of Manolito, the heartthrob of Nenita and her friends; in the pungent aromas of the dishes she prepares for the most beautiful woman on Remedios Street. To Nenita, food is synonymous with love—the love she yearns to receive from her disappointed mother. But in this summer of broken hearts, new friendships, secrets, and discoveries, change will be as sudden and explosive as the monsoon that marks the end of the sweltering heat—and transforms Nenita’s young life in ways she could never imagine.

The Gangster of Love


Jessica Hagedorn - 1996
    from the Philippines the day that Jimi Hendrix dies. So begins a blazing coming-of-age story suffused with the tensions of immigration which finds Rocky moving from the counter-culture in 1960s San Francisco to the extravagant music scene in Manhattan of the 1980s. The Gangster of Love tells the story of the Rivera family as they make their new life in the States, all the while haunted by the memory of the father and the homeland they left behind. Among its members are Rocky's haughty mother, who has impulsively left her father; Voltaire, her brother, prone to heavy depression and odd friendships with strangers; and Rocky herself, unsure about sex and worshipful of her boyfriend, the guitar-playing Elvis Chang, who must learn to accept reality amidst the myths and lures of American success and idolatry.

The Filipino Heroes League: Book One: Sticks and Stones


Paolo Fabregas - 2011
    Undermanned and under-funded, the Filipino Heroes League does what it can to fight against injustice.It's tough being a superhero but its even tougher being a third-world superhero.

Bulaklak ng Maynila


Domingo G. Landicho - 1995
    Written with extraordinary insight, honesty, and a master writer's creative sensibility.

Skyworld: Volume One


Mervin Ignacio - 2012
    Every legend hides a lieA murdered Skygodre-emerges in modern-day Manila.A Tikbalang prince plots vengeancefor the death of his father.And the Queen of the Asuangunleashes the mythical Bakunawaupon the streets of the city.Caught in their age-old struggle is Andoy.a crippled orphan that discovershe is the fulfillment of a prophecydating back to Lapu-Lapu himself

The Philippines: A Continuing Past


Renato Constantino - 1978
    That past assumed a new dimension when seen from the people's viewpoint. The present work undertakes to prove that the essence of these past relations has persisted in the present era. The authors have therefore chosen to call this period The Continuing Past in order to emphasize the fact that while there are apparent changes, the new refinements of external control and exploitation merely conceal the persisting subjection. The authors express the hope that their "re-examination of the Philippine neocolonial experience...and the brief focus on evolving American imperialist objectives and the techniques used to attain them may not only reveal this historical period in a new light but may help to provide the basis for new historic initiatives on the part of the people in the attainment of their final liberation."As in the previous volume, events and personalities are subjected to stringent analysis from the point of view of the people's larger interest, thus giving the layman a better grasp of the forces that influence contemporary society. The process of demystification proceeds with greater intensity as sacred cows are re-evaluated in terms of the people's long-range objectives.The Continuing Past is a very relevant work; and also irreverent as the previous writings of Constantino have been.

You Know You're Filipino If...: A Pinoy Primer


Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz
    Pick up a copy today and find out what makes Pinoys stand out in a crowd!

മലയാളത്തിന്റെ സുവർണ്ണ കഥകൾ | Malayalathinte Suvarnakathakal


P. Padmarajan - 2006
    Ananthapadmanabhan, son of the master writer, made the selection.Stories are Lola, Choondal, Amruthethu, Swayam, Mazha, Mruthi, Oru Sthree Oru Purushan, Kunju, Soorpanakha, Kaikeyi, Nisasalabham, Kaivariyude Thekkeyattam, Banyan Avenue, Orma, Jeevithacharya, Oru Sameepakaladurantham, Ningalude Thavalangal Ningalkku, Ranimarude Kudumbam and Ore Chandranmar.

Mythspace, Volume 1


Paolo Chikiamco - 2014
    ALIENS ARE FICTION.That's what young Ambrosio believes, not his crazy Lola's stories about robot-riding Nuno, and Kapres from space. But now she's dead, and Ambrosio's about to learn that she wasn't so crazy after all...EVERY STORY HAS ITS OWN TRUTH.Mythspace vol. 1 is a collection of six stories, each exploring a shared universe where Philippine folklore creatures -- Tikbalangs, Kapres, Manananggals -- were inspired by alien civilizations. Each creature is re-imagined and used to populate a science fiction universe that is rooted in Philippine oral tradition. From Ambrosio's journey, to a Kapre war, to a Manananggal coming of age, Mythspace will take you on a journey both strange and familiar.SPACE OPERA. PINOY STYLE.

Pugad Baboy One


Pol Medina Jr. - 1997
    Only 800 copies were published and every one of them is sold in three weeks.

The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata


Gina Apostol - 2009
    Edward Said wrote that the role of the intellectual is to present altenative narratives on history other than those provided by the “combatants” who claim entitlement to official memory and national identity-who propagate “ heroic anthems sung in order to sweep all before them.” In this fearlessly intellectual novel, Gina Apostol takes on the keepers of official memory and creates a new, atonal anthem that defies single ownership and, in fact, can only be performed by the many- by multiple voices in multiple readings Raymundo Mata, appropriately blind, exists in a parallel universe where perception is always in question, and memory and the Filipino identity are turned inside out.-Eric Gamalinda

Eating Fire and Drinking Water


Arlene J. Chai - 1996
    I was, you see, a person with no history. Lacking this, I developed a curiosity about other's people's stories. . . ."Clara Perez is a reporter on a small South seas island. An orphan raised by nuns, she is a young woman with origins shrouded in mystery. Full of idealistic ambition, she grows tired of the trivial assignments she's given at the daily paper, yearning to write articles of substance. So when the tiny street of Calle de Leon bursts into flames after a student demonstration--and a soldier kills an unarmed man--Clara seizes the chance to cover the explosive story.Yet after Clara rushes to the burning street to investigate the tragedy, she discovers another, more personal one involving some remarkable truths about her unknown past--ghosts, she realizes, which have been silently pursuing her all her life. And as family secrets begin to unfold, Clara's missing history slowly spreads itself out on the tumultuous backdrop of a country wracked by revolution. . . .An evocative and multilayered tale, at once political and personal, Eating Fire and Drinking Water is an extraordinary work, a powerful and pulsing novel of politics and commitment, loyalty and love, and the poignant search for truth.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Ladlad: An Anthology of Philippine Gay Writing


J. Neil C. Garcia - 1994
    Features poems, essays, plays, and works of fiction written in both Filipino and English.

Stupid Is Forever


Miriam Defensor Santiago - 2014
    People are puzzled how she can spontaneously make them laugh in the midst of national policy crises, and of real danger to her life as a corruption fighter.This book is a collection of jokes, one-liners, pick-up lines, conebacks and speeches delivered and/or curated by the beloved Senator. Also, inside are illustrations by Cj de Silva-Ong, Manix Abrera, Elbert Or, Rob Cham and more of the Philippines' best young illustrators.

The Quiet Ones


Glenn Diaz - 2017
    Soon a couple of friends join in, and the operation proceeds smoothly up until they quit, vowing to take the secret to their graves. A month later, a phone call at 4 in the morning tells Alvin that the police are on their way.At once a workplace novel and a meditation on history and globalization, The Quiet Ones is a grimly humorous take on a soul-sapping, multi-billion-dollar industry. In interlocking narratives, it explores lives rendered mute by irate callers, scripted apologies, and life’s menial violence, but which manage to talk back every now and then, just as long as the Mute button is firmly pressed.Winner, 2017 Palanca Grand PrizeWinner, 37th National Book Award