5 classic must-read novels about love this February

February is the month of love. Here are 5 classic must-read novels that you can read this month, whether you … More

The Splendor of Portugal (and the Colonization of Angola)

António Lobo Antunes’ Splendor of Portugal is a splendid novel dealing with the ugliness of the Portuguese colonial enterprise in … More

I wrote this reflection for the Philippine Online Chronicles. I was reading the final pages of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Of … More

Papa and Fidel is about, in Karl Alexander’s own words, “what might have happened, what should have happened if Ernest … More

Out of curiosity, while waiting to board my flight at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport the other day, I dropped by … More

Tol, pasok ako sa UP! Pano ba yan, iwan mo na kami? Malabo, wala naman akong pang-tuition. —TV commercial The … More

In acts of defiance evocative of Antigone in Sophocles’ classic tragedy, the women protagonists of the Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman’s … More

We need history, but not the way a spoiled loafer in the garden of knowledge needs it. –Nietzsche, Of the … More

On a personal note, I bought a signed copy of Genevieve L. Asenjo’s Lumbay ng Dila on a discounted price from … More

The beauty of it all was managing to weave it all together in a braid that would move through time … More

What if everybody goes blind all of a sudden? What would happen? Portuguese Nobel Prize-winning writer Jose Saramago follows the … More

Andrea Camilleri’s The Terra-Cotta Dog starts out like any other good detective novel. The Sicilian sleuth Salvo Montalbano staged the … More