Philippines

[Elatsoe Stan]

Carlos Bulosan's America Is in the Heart: A Personal History is a poignant memoir of life in the Philippines and the transition to America:

"People interested in driving from America the scourge of intolerance should read Mr. Bulosan's autobiography. . . They will not find it difficult to read. The author writes simply and well. He makes no effort to spare the reader's nerves; he recounts his incidents shamelessly and realistically, be they love, murder, or brutality." (Saturday Review of Literature)

Another memorable one that comes to mind is When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe, a heartbreaking book that takes place during World War II in the Philippines. Portions of it were based on the author's family stories of that era.

[Elatsoe Stan]

Babaylan: An Anthology of Filipina and Filipina American Writers and Songs of Ourselves: Writings by Filipino Women in English are both good compilations of short stories and poetry by women authors of the Philippines - both very enjoyable and interesting reads.

[Kirstie]

The Tesseract from an ex-pat perspective.

[Elatsoe Stan]

Ilustrado: A Novel by Miguel Syjuco is a newer one that looks really interesting.

[Elatsoe Stan]

Here's a list on GR of more:
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/78...

[Lianne]

Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) by Jose Rizal. I got around to reading it last year (at long last) and it was pretty good.

I've heard that Bob Ong is quite popular in the Philippines at the moment; when my dad came back from a trip there recently he bought me most of his books, lol.

Leah wrote: "Ilustrado: A Novel by Miguel Syjuco is a newer one that looks really interesting."

I've been meaning to read this book, just waiting for it to come out in paperback xD

[Elatsoe Stan]

Li wrote: "Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) by Jose Rizal. I got around to reading it last year (at long last) and it was pretty good.

I've heard that Bob Ong is quite popular in..."

Finally read Ilustrado and it was great. It's a complicated book because he interweaves multiple voices and perspectives into it but that makes for engaged reading. Some parts are funny, others sad.

[Lianne]

Leah wrote: "Finally read Ilustrado and it was great. It's a complicated book because he interweaves multiple voices and perspectives into it but that makes for engaged reading. Some parts are funny, others sad. "

Glad to hear you enjoyed the novel! Seems fitting that it would contain such an myriad of perspectives =) Looking forward to reading it!

[Elatsoe Stan]

Gun Dealers' Daughter won the PEN award recently, and is one of my new favorites. Gina Apostol's other books, which are so far only published in the Philippines, might be harder to get, but her first novel Bibliolepsy: a novel is also really good.