Last month I attended the launch of Anvil Publishing’s new book, Connecting Flights: Filipinos Write from Elsewhere edited by journalist and author Ruel S. De Vera.  I reviewed it for a travel magazine together with some other travel-related books — I’ll have to check if the issue is out already.

Connecting Flights is a companion to Writing Home: 19 Writers Remember Their Hometowns, also by De Vera. It’s a collection of poems, essays, and fiction by 20 contributors, including Dean Francis Alfar, Jose Dalisay Jr., Lourd De Veyra, Karla P. Delgado, Rosario A. Garcellano, Ramil Digal Gulle, Christina Pantoja-Hidalgo, Alya B. Honasan, Marne L. Kilates, Angelo R. Lacuesta, Ambeth R. Ocampo, Charlson Ong, Manuel L. Quezon III, D.M. Reyes, Sev Sarmenta, Alice M. Sun-Cua, Yvette Tan, Joel M. Toledo, Alfred A. Yuson, and Jessica Zafra.

“These dizzying days, we constantly move from home to in-between places before landing somewhere else,”  De Vera notes in his introduction. “But I believe that we Filipinos bring our true selves along with us on every leg of every journey. We leave with it — and we treasure it enough to take it home, changed perhaps, but always overjoyed to have returned.”

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Three days to go until the Manila International Book Fair!  A lot of people have been asking me for tips about the Manila International Book Fair, so I decided to create this (unofficial) guide  based on what I’ve seen over recent years.

I’ve been attending the MIBF for five years running now, covering events, shopping, and just generally enjoying the flurry of bookish activity around me. And every year, the exhibitors offer something new, and there is always a different lineup of special events to look forward to.

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I have more than 20 books lined up for reviews for this blog, but tonight they’ll have to take a back seat to this one — Cory: An Intimate Portrait, edited by Margie Penson-Juico.

To my readers from outside the Philippines, you may (or may not) have heard of the recent passing of former Philippine president Corazon “Cory ” Aquino, the first female president in Asia and the icon of the famous People Power Revolution,  a peaceful movement that toppled a dictatorship in 1986.

I purposely bumped up this review to join a nation that is mourning for a beloved president, who has touched many lives in her journey from a plain housewife to the bereaved widow of the slain opposition leader (against dictator Ferdinand Marcos) Ninoy Aquino to the president of the country and the symbol for national democracy.

(On the other hand, and on a lighter note, I also bumped up this review because the featured book is actually my boss’ copy and I have to get my own ) (more…)

The Flippers with The Adobo Book author Nancy Reyes Lumen (center)

I must admit that I am one of the few people who are not fond of the Filipino dish adobo. I do eat it, but I don’t really enjoy it, and I think I know why — it’s one of the most recyclable dishes in Filipino cuisine because it keeps so well, and I am a person whose taste buds have a very short attention span. I don’t like repeating viands in subsequent meals, and when there’s adobo at home it does tend to be appear frequently on the table for so many days. Adobo was also a mainstay in our family excursions – whether it’s a day at the beach, or the times  we rode a Superferry (16 hours) to Bacolod or Iloilo when I was young). It was also standard baon (lunchbox) fare, and I specifically remember that I had a packed lunch of adobo during all the college entrance exams I took.

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In a few hours, Flips Flipping Pages will be discussing books around the theme of Filipino food.

I’ve been looking forward to this book discussion, because I think among the Flippers’ core group  we’ve already proven our foodie status ages ago! A lot of the memorable foodie experiences I’ve had in recent time are with my Flipper friends: a weekend spent snacking in Tagaytay; Mike’s hummus; our British tea party; devilishly delish dinner at Wicked Kitchen; lunch at Casa Rap; Japanese buffet at Islandhopper’s farm; the humongous Al’s Rice; a French baker’s bread, and breakfast at Yogurt House in Sagada; and French dinner buffet at Log Cabin, also in Sagada. Practically every single monthly book discussion — or just about any time we’re all together — turns into a food trip.

For this discussion, I chose to read Anvil Publishing’s Comfort Food, edited by Erlinda Enriquez Panilio, which, incidentally, also happens to be book #100 of 2009! Comfort Food is a compilation of essays by notable Filipino writers and society figures. I actually got this back in 2006 for P40 from the Anvil bargain bin at the Manila International Book Fair, and I got as far as around two essays but I was only able to finish it for the book discussion.
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