What do you think?
Rate this book
Cecilia's Diary, 1962-1969
CECILIA'S DIARY 1962-1969 collects diary entries by award-winning author Cecilia Manguerra Brainard when she was a teenager.
166 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2003
About the author
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
39 books48 followersCecilia Manguerra Brainard is an award-winning author and editor of over twenty books. She has written three novels: WHEN THE RAINBOW GODDESS WEPT, MAGDALENA, and THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW. Her SELECTED SHORT STORIES BY CECILIA MANGUERRA BRAINARD won the 40th National Book Award and the Cirilo F. Bautista Prize.
She has taught at UCLA, USC, the California State Summer School for the Arts, and the Writers Program at USCL Extension. She has served as an Executive Board Member and Officer of PEN, PAAWWW (Pacific Asian American Women Writers West), Arts & Letters at the Cal State University LA, PAWWA (Philippine American Writers and Artists), among others.
She also founded Philippine American Literary House.
(Source Wikipedia)
She has taught at UCLA, USC, the California State Summer School for the Arts, and the Writers Program at USCL Extension. She has served as an Executive Board Member and Officer of PEN, PAAWWW (Pacific Asian American Women Writers West), Arts & Letters at the Cal State University LA, PAWWA (Philippine American Writers and Artists), among others.
She also founded Philippine American Literary House.
(Source Wikipedia)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 6, 2018
My first Cecilia Manguerra Brainard book and will definitely not my last. This was an interesting book for me because I was born in 1964 and the young Cecilia had an entry exactly on my birthday - Saturday, July 25, 1964 - and she said that it was a very sweltering hot day so she felt so tired. However, my mom has been telling me that it was raining hard that day and she even remembered that the roof of the delivery room in Philippine General Hospital (PGH) was leaking and there was a water basin (planggana) on the floor to catch the rain water. I will call up mom tomorrow and ask. I checked the weather situation in Manila on those days here: 1964 Pacific typhoons and looked like there the typhoon dissipated in July 24 and there was a new typhoon in July 25 but it was in the east of the Philippines.
Aside from that, the diary was interesting from the viewpoint of someone whose parents did not experience the same privileges that a daughter of a prominent family in Cebu experienced. The teenager Cecilia brushed elbows with the politicians including the family of President Macapagal. She also studied in good schools, here and abroad, even if she was raised alone by her mother - Concepcion Cuenco - of the Cuenco family in Cebu. Also, there was a photo of her senior year in St. Theresa's College in Marcelino and I showed it to my daughter who also graduated from that school when it is already in Tuazon St. in Quezon City. There was still a nun in the photo. Present day, there were no longer any nuns in the board as well as in the faculty. The Belgian nuns are just those living in the adjacent building but they don't get themselves involved in the running of the school.
Being a teenager girl writing a diary, I could not help compare this book with Anne Frank's. There was no impending war in Brainard's case. She only prayed repeatedly on what path to take after graduating in Maryknoll (now Miriam): to work in Manila, be a nun (or do missionary work), take up an MA in the USA or be a wife. Obviously, we now know that it was the later two since she has been teaching literature and creative writing in the US (where has been based) and that she married Lauren and not Greg or Bert.
Lastly, Brainard is now one of the most prominent Filipino-American writers in the US writing in English. My appreciation of Pinoy books would not be complete if I don't read her works.
Aside from that, the diary was interesting from the viewpoint of someone whose parents did not experience the same privileges that a daughter of a prominent family in Cebu experienced. The teenager Cecilia brushed elbows with the politicians including the family of President Macapagal. She also studied in good schools, here and abroad, even if she was raised alone by her mother - Concepcion Cuenco - of the Cuenco family in Cebu. Also, there was a photo of her senior year in St. Theresa's College in Marcelino and I showed it to my daughter who also graduated from that school when it is already in Tuazon St. in Quezon City. There was still a nun in the photo. Present day, there were no longer any nuns in the board as well as in the faculty. The Belgian nuns are just those living in the adjacent building but they don't get themselves involved in the running of the school.
Being a teenager girl writing a diary, I could not help compare this book with Anne Frank's. There was no impending war in Brainard's case. She only prayed repeatedly on what path to take after graduating in Maryknoll (now Miriam): to work in Manila, be a nun (or do missionary work), take up an MA in the USA or be a wife. Obviously, we now know that it was the later two since she has been teaching literature and creative writing in the US (where has been based) and that she married Lauren and not Greg or Bert.
Lastly, Brainard is now one of the most prominent Filipino-American writers in the US writing in English. My appreciation of Pinoy books would not be complete if I don't read her works.
December 19, 2010
Anvil Publishing releases another book by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, internationally celebrated and award-winning author and editor. Cecilia’s Diary: 1962-1969, is a faithful record of Brainard’s days as a young colegiala. It is refreshing and funny, replete with references to a religious upbringing and a privileged lifestyle. Reading a diary may seem like voyeurism, but the inner thoughts of Catholic girls make for an interesting study on teen angst.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews