Category: Book Reviews

Face Shield Nation: COVID in the Philippines Seen Through Honest Yet Hopeful Eyes

“We overestimate our capacity to remember even as we underestimate our capacity to forget… if erasure is the default mode of engagement with the past, then we must become active agents of the labor of remembrance.” Gideon Lasco’s most recent book is a clear-eyed collection of essays that were written during the pandemic, a compilation… Read More Face Shield Nation: COVID in the Philippines Seen Through Honest Yet Hopeful Eyes

ex.libris.philippinesLeave a comment

Seek Ye Whore: Are You Adult Enough to Handle This Horror Collection?

Yvette Tan’s latest collection of horror short stories under Anvil Publishing should come with a warning on the cover: don’t read at night. And make sure you’re not snacking on anything, especially sisig. Blissfully ignorant, I started reading the first story while waiting for an event to start, only to hastily shut it after reading… Read More Seek Ye Whore: Are You Adult Enough to Handle This Horror Collection?

ex.libris.philippinesLeave a comment

Mouths to Speak, Voices to Sing: ‘Horror’ that Delights

“Delightful” is perhaps a weird adjective to use when describing a collection of horror stories, but Kenneth Yu’s book is truly a joy to read, in a genre-expanding work redefining the possibilities of this reader’s Halloween treat. Mouths to Speak, Voices to Sing is a collection of fourteen short stories and a one-act play, and… Read More Mouths to Speak, Voices to Sing: ‘Horror’ that Delights

ex.libris.philippines1 Comment

‘Dogs in Philippine History’: Tracing Pawprints through Time

One emerges from ‘Dogs in Philippine History’ with a heightened affection for the aspin and a better understanding of our nation’s past. The aspin is a neologism formed from Asong Pinoy (Filipino dog) that has supplanted the older term “askal,” a blend word that stood for Asong Kalye (street dog). The older portmanteau is loaded… Read More ‘Dogs in Philippine History’: Tracing Pawprints through Time

ex.libris.philippines1 Comment

Balete / Tree : F. Sionil Jose’s Word Made Flesh by Tanghalang Pilipino

Every beginning of November, Filipinos reenact the ancient tradition of going home to one’s province, to the land that birthed us, to the cemeteries that still house the fleshly remains of our ancestors. This story begins, and ends, in such a graveyard. Books and plays inspired by them are always two different art forms, yet… Read More Balete / Tree : F. Sionil Jose’s Word Made Flesh by Tanghalang Pilipino

ex.libris.philippinesLeave a comment

Infinite Lives, Infinite Deaths: Chillingly Cold Prose Delivers 8 Doses of Fil-Chi Horror

Douglas Candano’s collection of eight stories are all set in one universe that feels so much like ours, but defy Newtonian physics in its population that includes amalgamations of aswang and the Chinese jiangshi, as well as museums that house experiences rather than relics, and historical events with a few monsters thrown in the mix.… Read More Infinite Lives, Infinite Deaths: Chillingly Cold Prose Delivers 8 Doses of Fil-Chi Horror

ex.libris.philippines1 Comment