Sabi ng tatay niya, "Paglaki mo, igagawa kita ng mahabang-mahabang hagdan papunta sa mga bituin." Namilog ang mga mata niya. "Talaga?" "Oo. Tapos mula doon, ito namang mundo ang ite-telescope mo. Makikita mong mabuti ang lahat, pati 'yung luka-luka." "Sasama ka ba sa 'kin?" "Siyempre, hindi", sagot ng tatay niya. "Maiiwan ako dito sa ibaba. Para saluhin kita pag nahulog ka." Napaisip siya. "Masasaktan ako..." "Kahit masaktan ka, basta tatayo ka lang at itutuloy mo ang pag-akyat. H'wag kang mawawalan ng pag-asa. Pag buo ang loob mo at hindi mo iniinda ang sakit, mararating mo ang mga bituin."

What It Means To Be Malaya by Emmily Magtalas Rhodes follows the moral and psychological growth of Bunny, a young woman on the brink of adulthood as she negotiates her various relationships with her family and with friends in school. The popular and attractive Malaya stands out among these friends. A sensitive introvert who dreads socializing and endures the sterility of a regimented life with her mother, Bunny sees Malaya as the epitome of unfettered youth, who awakens in her a yearning to belong. The novel is a social commentary that holds a mirror to Philippine society, casting a critical eye on our definition of success; obsession with beauty contests; on beauty-enhancing products; on Western standards of beauty and fashion; on the advertising and PR industry; on church-going people unaware and unmindful of the disconnect between their religious practice and their behavior toward other persons. All told, an engaging, compelling read. —Susan Lara, Award-Wining Fictionist

Guadalupe, 15, is confused. She grew up in the house of one of the richest families in the world . . . in the servants’ quarters with her mother, the family cook. The life of luxury is all she knows, but it isn’t really her life. Unhappy in school, invisible at home, she lives inside her head, in a world made of books and movies. Outside, Manila is in turmoil: protest rallies, a bloodless revolution, coup attempts, and the Web hasn’t even arrived yet. When is Guada going to leave her imaginary shelter and get a life? Funny, caustic, and moving, The Age of Umbrage is the first novel from one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Filipino writing.

FROM THE BOOK What's Cooking? "The old and the new. The provincial and the pop. The slow and the fast. The past, the present, the future. That's what's cooking in Philippine cuisine. Which means that, as the most popular (people-created, people-processed and people-consumed) segment of popular culture, it is dynamic and changing, living and lively." Writing about Food. "When one describes food, one does not use words alone, but the readers' remembering as well -- of past pleasures, savored sensations. One writes on and with the readers' palates, alluding to food tasted as children, drawing on their reservoirs of pleasure. In effect, one draws on all of the culture that shaped oneself and one's readers." On Mangoes. “... we wager that the mango memories of many a Filipino still revolve around the fruit ripening to fragrance in Maytime; around fat golden halves dripping their juice on glistening suman in Antipolo; around mangoes peeled whole with the hands on farms and at fiestas...to drip on chin and clothes; around mangoes chilled in river water rather than in refrigerators, while the feasters-to-be swim in the rivers of childhood; around mangoes sweet because stolen from consenting uncles or neighbors; around the fruit not as commercial product, but as pledge of time and season and memory."

Akala natin ay nasabi nang lahat ang gustong sabihin ni Lualhati Bautista tungkol sa... Martial Law... sa kanyang Dekada '70. Pero narito ang Desaparesidos, at kalunos-lunos ang nilalaman ng bagong nobela tungkol sa paglasog ng mga kabuktutang militar sa pamilya ng mga rebolusyonaryong nasa kanayunan... Kahanga-hanga ang ipinamalas dito ni Bautista na kakayahang maigting na hagipin ang kamalayan ng mambabasa... ITo na marahil ang... katibayan na tunay na karapatan ng awtor na angkinin ang karangalan bilang pangunahing kontemporaryong nobelista ng ating panahon. Ang tagumpay ni Bautista ay mahirap ihanap ng katapat sa mga akda ng mga kapanahon niya...

"Maari bang malaman ang iyong pangalan?" "Victoria" "Kailan kita masisilayan, Victoria?" "Sa iyong pagsilang"