Cabinet of Wonders and Other Laguna Stories

Anita Feleo, David Sheniak
Illustrated by Edgar Santiago

This book takes us on a tour of the diverse, but equally interesting towns in the province of Laguna. From San Pedro to Santa Maria, this collection of vivid travel essays provides eager travelers with excellent tips, describes the natural and man-made marvels of the places visited in detail, and touches on folk festivals and local traditions.

Pasig City: Anvil Publishing, 2001

Cadena de Amor and Other Short Stories

Wilfrido Nolledo

“Young authors in the new millenium, whether they write in English or Filipino, whether they write fiction, poetry, or drama, will be suffering a great loss if they fail to be introduced to an ‘old’ writer who resisted the mellowing aging was supposed to induce and continued to be ahead of our times. Meet Wilfrido D. Nolledo, writer of the 1950s, still quite young when he departed in the 21st century.” —Bienvenido Lumbera, introducing W. D. Nolledo

Manila: University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2004

Calvary Road: Mga Kuwento sa Balighong Panahon

Abdon Balde Jr

Thirty-two stories by the author of Hunyango sa Bato and Mayong, National Book Award winners for Best Novel in 2004 and Best Book of Fiction in 2003, respectively.

Manila: University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2005

Caraga Antigua

Peter Schreurs

This book is about the Hispanization and Christianization of Agusan, Surigao, and East Davao.

Manila: National Historical Institute, 1990

Cartography: A Collection of Poetry on Baguio

Ma. Luisa Aguilar-Cariño

“The poems in the collection Cartography explore themes and subjects connected to or occasioned by living in the City of Baguio in the Philippines. While the poems in the collection do not seek to explain history or to duplicate its aims (nor to do sociological analysis of changes that have taken place within the fabric of cultural and social life in Baguio), they can be said to represent imaginative journeys into the past, present, and future of Baguio.”—Ma. Luisa Aguilar-Cariño, in the preface

Pasig City: Anvil Publishing, 1992

Casa Gorordo in Cebu: Urban Residence in a Philippine Province, 1860–1920

Resil Mojares

This is a work that combines historical description of Philippine domestic architecture, urban history, and portraiture of the turn-of-the-century urban Filipino family. The focus of the study is trained on a house and a district: Casa Gorordo, the 19th-century residence associated with the family of the late Cebuano Bishop Juan Gorordo (1862–1934), and the district in which it is found, the parian of Cebu.

Cebu: Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, 1983

Casaysayan nang Pasiong Mahal ni Jesucristong Panginoon Natin na Sucat Ipag-Alab nang Puso nang Sinomang Babasa

Introducted, annotated, and translated from the 1882 edition by Rene B. Javellana, SJ

The book reproduces the 1882 verse narrative written by unknown Tagalog poets about the life of Jesus Christ—perhaps the most significant Tagalog religious text of the 19th century. It also provides a critical introduction to the text, as well as extensive, textual, literary, biblical, and theological notes.

Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1988

Cat Painter

Becky Bravo
Illustrated by Mark Salvatus III

Cats come in three colors: black, white, and yellow—this is what Miral, chief cat painter, teaches all his students. All is well until Rahal, a playful painter, comes along. From then on, cats have never been the same. The volume also contains “Ang Pintor ng Pusa,” a translation into Filipino by Aneka Rodriguez and Dencel Aquino.

Quezon City: Adarna House, 2006

Catch a Falling Star

Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo

With this collection of stories, Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo departs from the “tale” mode of her previous books Tales for a Rainy Night (1993) and Where Only the Moon Rages (1994), and returns to the realistic short story, the mode of her earlier collection Ballad of a Lost Season (1987). But the simple narrative style and the nostalgic tone of these new stories about the young girl, Patriciang Payatot, are reminiscent of the tales, as well as of her travel essays—a genre in which she pioneered, and which some critics regards as her best work.

Pasig City: Anvil Publishing, 1999

Cavite before the Revolution, 1571–1896

Isagani Medina

“I find it to be fascinating and an admirable piece of scholarly work. It is thorough and well researched. His emphasis on toponyms and things indigenous to the province is indeed a new approach to the study of local history. I consider this work an invaluable contribution to Philippine historical literature, especially to local history.” —Dr. Napoleon J. Casambre, former chair, U.P. Department of History

Quezon City: U.P. COllege of Social Science and Philosophy, 1994

Checkmeta: The Cesar Ruiz Aquino Reader

Cesar Ruiz Aquino

The narratives and poems in this book previously appeared in the author’s two earlier books, Chronicles of Suspicion (Kalikasan Press, 1990) and Word Without End (Anvil Publishing, 1993).

Davao City: Midtown Printing, Book Development and Publishing Division, 2003

Chenelyn! Chenelyn!

Rhandee Garlitos
Illustrated by Liza Flores

Honorable Mention, PBBY Salanga Writers’ Prize, 1998

Children think that Chenelyn is a magician—she makes things happen around the household! Floors are cleaner, meals are cooked. It seems that without her, everything will stop running smoothly. Until one day, everything stops running smoothly, and everybody at home becomes worried.

Quezon City: Adarna House, 2000

Children of the Snarl and Other Poems

Marne Kilates

“Children of the Snarl and Other Poems stir up what is latent in us—the dark, primeval, sensual pre-colonial beings that lurk behind our westernized colonial façades. These poems disturb us because they open us up to ourselves, make us see what we are deep down inside, the core that we suppress in the name of borrowed good and borrowed honor. These poems subvert our ordered view of life, our mannered visions of ourselves.”—Alfrredo Navarro Salanga, in the introduction

Quezon City: Aklat Peskador, 1988

Chinese and Vietnamese Blue and White Wares Found

Larry Gotauco, Rita Tan, Allison Diem

This book is an attempt to present a more complete picture of the variety and quality of Chinese and Vietnamese blue and white wares traded in the Philippines. The Chinese ceramics featured here were made in the last 40 years of the Yuan Dynasty, and in the succeeding 275 years of the Ming Dynasty. The Vietnamese wares were contemporaneous, from the late 14th–16th centuries.

Makati City: Bookmark, 1997

Christmas Fireflies

Gil Valencia
Illustrated by Beulah Pedregosa Taguiwalo

Gillian often looks up at the stars, wishing she could see her mother again. Then one night, everything started to come together: pine trees, pine cones, stars, fireflies, glass lamps, perpetual light. Gillian was given a special gift, something that will always be there for her. And Christmas acquired a special meaning, something that everyone can share.

Quezon City: Papertree Publishing, 2004

Christology of the Inarticulate: An Inquiry into the Filipino Understanding of Jesus the Christ

Benigno Beltran, SVD

“What does it mean to believe that Jesus is the Christ when one is a scavenger in a garbage dump? I have been working with the scavengers for many years. With them I have often stumbled upon insights into a deeper understanding of who Jesus is and what He did for us. Faith in the power of Jesus and the experience of his consoling presence kindle their courage and endurance as they go through the terrible agony of living and scavenging in the garbage dump in order to survive.”—Benigno Beltran, SVD

Manila: Divine Word Publications, 1987

Cinco de Noviembre

Rene Javellana, SJ

This historical fiction paints the Filipinos’ first bloodless revolution as a play—seen through the eyes of a young boy who unknowingly takes part in one of the military victories of Philippine history. Though the boy Toto is fictional, the events that took place within the towns of Bacolod, Talisay, Silay, and Bago actually transpired as a glorious example of the Filipino revolutionary spirit of unity and creativity.

Makati CIty: Negros Museum and Bookmark, 2000

Cine: Spanish Influences on Early Cinema in the Philippines

Nick Deocampo

With meticulous scholarship and engaging insights, prizewinning filmmaker and author Nick Deocampo investigates the origin and formation of cinema as it became the Filipinos’ preeminent entertainment and cultural form. Cinema’s arrival and its difficulties in asserting itself in Hispanic, then Americanized, Manila until the outbreak of World War II are detailed in this book—the first in five volumes to discuss the development of Philippine cinema in its journey from colonization to nationalism through the process of indigenization.

Manila: National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 2003

Ciudad Murada: A Walk through Historic Intramuros

Jose Victor Torres

“This book is a highly interesting and entertaining guide to landmarks—both extant and vanished—and to the history of Manila’s Intramuros. It also serves as a possible inspiration and guide to policy makers and planners and to private-sector developers, as an object lesson on what can be done to recover some of the old glory of Manila the Beautiful.” —Jaime C. Laya

Manila: Intramuros Administration and VIbal Publishing House, 2005

Coconut Cookery of Bicol

Honesto General

This fun book, disguised as a cookbook, is a brief autobiography with a rather extended digression on food. Incidentally, the recipes in these pages are authentic and truly edible and—in fact—epicurean.

Makati City: Bookmark, 1994