The Untold Story of Imelda Marcos


Carmen Navarro Pedrosa - 1969
    As late as 1953, she was a starry-eyed, penniless, provincial lass in search of a good fortune in Manila. Then came Ferdinand E. Marcos, literally a knight in shining armor who rescued her from poverty and misery. "I will make you the First Lady of the land," he promised her.Complete, detailed replete with facts and documents which have been painstakingly hidden from the public by the administration's image-makers, her life story as told in generations. It explains Imelda's much vaunted charisma which in President Marcos' own words garnered one million votes in the 1965 elections.She is a person who is difficult to be indifferent to. This book tells us why.

The Best of Lola Basyang: Timeless Tales for the Filipino Family


Severino Reyes - 1975
    Out of her rich imagination she drew forth tales of bold princesses and cowardly kings, spurned suitors and ardent lovers, fearless young men and heartless queens. Every conceivable place of enchantment was Lola Basyang’s domain.The First “Kuwento ni Lola Basyang “ appeared in the Tagalog magazine Liwayway in 1925. Its author, Severino Reyes, was the founder and editor of Liwayway as well as a pioneering figure in Tagalog theater. Mr. Reyes wrote more that 400 stories under the pen name Lola Basyang.Tahanan Books has gathered together a literary dream team to produce this landmark collection of twelve tales. Poet and literary critic Bienvenido Lumbera sifted through hundreds of manuscripts to select the best of Reyes’ tales. Acclaimed author and publisher Gilda Cordero-Fernando delivered the original English translation and renowned children’s book illustrator Albert Gamos rendered over 30 unforgettable illustrations.Tahanan’s anthology introduces Lola Basyang to a new generation of readers in English. Open this book, sit at her feet, and let the magic begin.

The Indolence of the Filipino


José Rizal - 1890
    Jose Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (1861-1896) was a Filipino polymath, nationalist and the most prominent advocate for reforms in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree sobresaliente. Rizal enrolled in Medicine and Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas and then travelled alone to Madrid, Spain, where he continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid, earning the degree of Licentiate in Medicine. He was a prolific poet, essayist, diarist, correspondent, and novelist whose most famous works were his two novels, Noli me Tangere (1887) and El Filibusterismo (1891). As a political figure, Rizal was the founder of La Liga Filipina, a civic organization that subsequently gave birth to the Katipunan led by Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo. He is considered the Philippines' national hero and the anniversary of Rizal's death is commemorated as a Philippine holiday called Rizal Day.

Papel de Liha


Ompong Remigio - 1996
    She works all day: cooks their meals, does the laundry, cleans each nook and cranny. All this work must make her hands as rough as sandpaper! This distresses the little girl in our story who overhears her aunt say that sandpaper hands will make her father leave her mother!

In Case You Come Back: Poems, Confessions, Apologies, and Promises


Marla Miniano - 2016
    This book of poetry contains musings on: adventure, anniversaries, the beach, breakfast, childhood, clouds, constellations, courage, delayed gratifications, dragonflies, eating alone, falling in love, first dates, frenemies, goodbyes, growing up, half-truths, heartbreak, holding hands, homecomings, insecurities that follow you around, the internet, jealousy, kisses, marshmallows, memory, mornings, mortality, newsletters, opposites, paper cuts, pixie dust, plane crashes, popularity, queues, rain, report cards, room service, science, a sea of coffee, shipwrecks, sick days, souvenirs, space, tattoos, tense lunches with mom, trains, travel, waiting, weekends, white dresses, yoga

Looking Back


Ambeth R. Ocampo - 1990
    His wit, humor, keen observations and insights on Philippine history never fail to keep us entertained and informed.-Benedicto "Bencab" Cabrera, National Artist for the Visual ArtsHindsight is the lowest form of intelligence - except for historians. History is the collective memory of a nation but it has to be constantly rewritten. It is the historian's interpretation of,more often than not, questionable facts. A true historian must first get his facts from primary sources;second, be objectives; third, be interesting. Ambeth Ocampo's historical writings meet these three criteria. He is the historian to watch. -Alejandro R. Roces, National Artist for Literature

Write Here Write Now: Standing at Attention Before My Imaginary Style Dictator


A.A. Patawaran - 2012
    Recognized by industry insiders in the Philippines as “the man perfect to write this book,” the author has been at the helm of various publications, from Manila Standard’s The Good Life, for which he was lifestyle editor for seven years, to Manila Bulletin’s Sense&Style, in which he is the current editor-in-chief. He began practically as the “other editor” of Lifestyle Asia back when it was blazing the trail for glossy magazines in the early nineties. Blurring the distinction between instruction and inspiration, WHWN boldly takes the reader along the author’s adventures and misadventures in the publishing world. With a foreword by ruthless editor and bestselling author Jullie Yap Daza and with vignettes from the country’s top editors and writers, never has any book on writing in the Philippines been such a pleasure to read that it makes you want to “write here write now.”

The Hand of the Enemy


Kerima Polotan - 1962
    

A Blade of Fern: A Novel About the Philippines


Edith L. Tiempo - 1978
    Set in the exotic background of the little mining village of Nibucal in the southern Philippines, A Blade of Fern sketches a panoramic vista of rural life and problems of survival among miners prospecting for gold.The novel is in the tradition of the Romantic hero who runs away from a society he rejects to seek regeneration in a deeply natural environment.A Blade of Fern should be of interest to students of Philippine literature in English and the general reader.

Everything Else in the World: Poems


Stephen Dunn - 2006
    In his fourteenth collection of poems, Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Dunn reveals his concerns, ranging from meditations on salvation and time to the difficulties and pleasures of loving in this "already brutal century." In language that Gerald Stern has called "unbearably fearless and beautiful," Dunn continues to probe the elusive in the lives we live.

Catch A Falling Star


Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo - 1999
    In this collection, Hidalgo returns to the writing of the realistic short story while remaining true to the style of the travel essays, which some critics believe to be her most inspired work.

(w)holehearted: a collection of poetry and prose


Sara Bawany - 2018
    it is the facade that many of us peruse our lives carrying, often neglecting our pain, our mental health, and most importantly, the way we are more prone to hurting others when we lack this self-awareness. (w)holehearted seeks to encompass as many stories as possible, touching on several topics, namely, spirituality, feminism, colorism, domestic violence, intersectionality, mental health and more. it aims to depict that anyone with the darkest past and pitfalls can still save themselves from drowning in the difficulties that not only plague our world, but also plague our hearts.

An Open Suitcase & New Blue Tears: Poems


J.R. Rogue - 2016
    Rogue’s An Open Suitcase & New Blue Tears is a romantic prequel to her bestselling debut, La Douleur Exquise.Follow the rise before the fall, as Rogue writes 50 letters in the form of poems to a love doomed to fail.

Malolos: The Crisis of the Republic


Teodoro A. Agoncillo - 2006
    The present work is a painstaking and thorough-going analysis of the travails of the Aguinaldo government during the war with the United States. Agoncillo, in an impressive display of historical technique, gives the reader the struggles within the Philippine Revolutionary Government. He expands on the theme of his previous book, namely the conflict between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots', and brings into full play the economic as well as the social motivations of the parties concerned. Sparing no one, Agoncillo, with the historian's impartiality, unmasks the selfish ilustrado class in their attempts at compromise which ultimately weakened Aguinaldo's hand. After reading his chapters on the crucial period of the Malolos Republic, one gains a new attitude towards men like Paterno, Pardo de Tavera, Buencamino, Legarda, Araneta and others, whom history has hitherto presented as heroes. The well-documented account of the extended negotiations between the Americans and Aguinaldo is one of the high points of the book. The author brings into sharp relief certain American maneuvers which other historians have glossed over or chosen to overlook. In the author's skillful hands, historical events come to life. Without sacrificing impartiality, he is able to write with vigor and vividness. This is not an anemic account of the past. Events are not presented merely as so many beads strung together haphazardly on the thread of time. Agoncillo has sought to write a history which will answer more than just the who, what, when, and where of our past. He has studied the why behind major events and consequently has presented a meaningful account of one of the most important periods of Philippine history. This voluminous work is the result of months of serious study here and abroad. In writing "The Revolt of the Masses...," the author complained of lack of materials; for the present volume, he had to wade through a plethora of sources. It is an achievement of the author to have mastered so unwieldy a period with its abundance of documents and materials. Teodoro A. Agoncillo is professor of history in the state university. He is noted not only as a historian, but also as a writer in Tagalog. Before he joined the University of the Philippines in 1958, he occupied high positions in the Institute of National Language and in the Philippine Information Agency. His book, "The Revolt of the Masses" (1956) won the Republic Prize in 1948.

Drama Queen


Abi Aquino - 2003
    It never quite plays out as beautifully as I imagine this scene to be. I am still a normal girl, after all, and in my head I've blocked it perfectly: We wake up with a slow stretch, cuddle for a few minutes, conduct a short conversation with our husky sleepy voices..."Even for a struggling actress like 26-year-old Kach, love doesn't come easy. Especially if your timing is off and you miss your cue and forget to deliver the right lines at the right time...Beautiful, talented and starving, theater actress Kach, who has a real penchant for drama, lives off the refrigerators and affection of her childhood friends: Nats, a chef who has taken it upon herself to play mother to Kach, and Jorge, an overachieving research genius who balances off Kach when she starts overreacting and who gladly supplies much-needed warm hugs when her world - or her tiny Makati apartment - dramatically turns cold.Now Kach has finally landed a legitimate role costarring an intense, sexy and brooding young stage actor named Sanchez. Their onstage chemistry quickly reaches boiling point and overflows into real-life, and suddenly Kach finds herself in a super-kilig affair, complete with snatches of smooches behind closed stage curtains.But their romance takes a dramatic turn when Kach discovers that Sanchez isn't tailor-made for the role of her real-life leading man...and that someone else is ready and willing to audition!