Celebrate the freedom to read with recent Filipiniana releases

Every day is a good day to add more books to your reading list, but this June, the month we observe Independence Day, is a particularly fitting time to celebrate our freedom to read whatever we want to read.  

 

This is also a fitting time to check out some interesting Filipiniana. Here are a few suggestions from among the recent releases:

 

“Imelda Marcos: The Rise and Fall of One of the World's Most Powerful Women” (e-book, Flipside Publishing) – Journalist Carmen Navarro Pedrosa, through research and interviews with both allies and adversaries of the Marcoses, traces the story of Imelda from her poor childhood to her marriage to Ferdinand Marcos, her time as First Lady, and her life after the fall of the Marcos regime. 

 

“60 Minutes: Interviews with People Who Inspire” (Anvil Publishing) – collects the stories that have previously appeared in the Manila Bulletin’s “60 Minutes” section. It features in-depth interviews with the likes of the late Dolphy, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, Pilita Corrales, Alfredo Lim, Judy Ann Santos, and other fascinating personalities.

 

“Motherhood Statements” (Anvil Publishing) – is an anthology of 30 essays by fictionists and journalists about “mothering and being mothered.” Co-editor Rica Bolipata Santos describes the stories as “mothers looking back, mothers looking forward, mothers with a million concerns or with one whopping issue, and daughters and sons writing about their mothers, with questions, confusions, maybe even anger.”

 

“Manila Noir” (Anvil Publishing) – Fourteen authors with “a deep connection and abiding love for this crazy-making, intoxicating city (Manila)” contributed to this collection that features “noir essentials: alienated and desperate characters, terse dialogue, sudden violence, betrayals left and right.” The book features new stories by Lourd de Veyra, Gina Apostol, Budjette Tan & Kajo Baldisimo, F.H. Batacan, Jose Dalisay, Eric Gamalinda, Jessica Hagedorn, Angelo R. Lacuesta, R. Zamora Linmark, Rosario Cruz-Lucero, Sabina Murray, Jonas Vitman, Marianne Villanueva, and Lysley Tenorio.

 

“Revolutionary Routes” (e-book, Flipside Publishing) – Angela Stuart-Santiago draws from her grandmother’s memoirs to tell the story of the Herrera family of Tayabas province, and along the way, also gives readers a vivid look at what the Philippines was like at the time. National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera describes it as “a book about the 19th century and the generations that lived through the times when the republic was finding its footing in the path to national stability. Stuart-Santiago has not only told us about a family, she has laid bare a society with its staunch patriots, its crooked politicians, its respectable criminals, its corruptible institutions and fallible dreams.”

 

“The Long Crisis: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Philippine Underdevelopment” (e-book, Flipside Publishing) – Ken Fuller looks into milestones and controversies during the Arroyo administration, and “asserts that her presidency ‘must be seen (at least in part) as a product rather than the cause of the fundamental problems confronting the Philippines’—problems that, though Arroyo is no longer president, continue to plague the country.”

 

“Querida: An Anthology” (Anvil Publishing) – is a collection of works in various forms by distinguished and emerging writers, all talking about the querida –the mistress. The book “spans one hundred and twenty-five years of literary portrayals…from Jose Rizal’s Doña Consolacion in ‘Noli Me Tangere’ to Angela Manalang Gloria’s nameless ‘other woman,’ and Ricardo Lee, Raquel Villavicencio and Ishmael Bernal’s Marilou in ‘Relasyon’.” The anthology includes the works of Dean Francis Alfar, Estrella Alfon, Jose Dalisay Jr., Ricardo M. de Ungria, Aida Rivera Ford, Nick Joaquin, Kerima Polotan, Lakambini Sitoy, and others.

 

“The Mango Bride” by Marivi Soliven (Penguin Books) – Winner of the 2011 Palanca Award for the Novel in English, “The Mango Bride” is about two women who flee to America under different circumstances but with the same goal to start a new, and hopefully better, life. It effectively conveys the reality and severity of certain social issues, but Soliven manages to keep it an engaging read.

 

“The Adobo Road Cookbook: A Filipino Food Journey—From Food Blog, to Food Truck, and Beyond” (Tuttle Publishing) – Food blogger-turned-gourmet food trucker Marvin Gapultos shares 99 easy-to-follow recipes for various Filipino dishes, including, of course, adobo. While the book seems like it is aimed at American foodies, Gapultos “demonstrates that Filipino cuisine can be prepared in any kitchen—from Manila to Los Angeles and everywhere in-between.”

 

“Icon of the Indecisive” (e-book or Print on Demand, Bright Girl Books) – For a change of pace from the other more serious books on this list, here’s a light, romance/fantasy novella from Mina V. Esguerra. This is the last book in her “Interim Goddess of Love” trilogy, which follows the story of college student Hannah Maquiling. One day, the Goddess of Love went AWOL, and Hannah was asked to take over while the deity is gone. What’s refreshing about this series is its incorporation of Filipino mythology into a modern romance story.

 

—KG, GMA News