The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Fiction, Adventure; ISBN 0-553-21350-4; Bantam Classic, 1844.

The story is about a young Idealist who had been killed by the stalwarts of Society: Government, Finance/Industry, Military, and the Common People. (The fourth one, the Common People, didn't actually participated in the slaying of the Idealist, but then again, he did turn a blind eye on the entire thing so I guess he's guilty too.)

So down he went, the Idealist, into each circle of Dante's Inferno. Somewhere along the way, he met an old Rationalist, who arranged the means by which the Idealist came back to life. But the Idealist came back a twisted creature, an undead. He renamed himself Nihilist (and the Divine Providence), and swore revenge on the old stalwarts. So after much maneuvering, he tortured and killed his enemies by destroying what they treasure the most: the Military, by taking away his Honor; the Government, by taking away his Family; and Finance/Industry, by taking away his Money. (The fourth one, the Common People, had been screwed from the start by the Government, Military, and Finance/Industry, so there's nothing much to take away from him. Eventually he gets killed by his friend, the Common Criminal). Nihilist had also killed some innocent bystanders - Love, Trust, Free Will, and Youth - although he claims these were purely accidental (as the Divine Providence, he cannot make mistakes, right?).

In the end, everyone died or is left suffering. That is, all except Nihilist and his teenage love slave. Rich and contented, they sailed away into the sunset.

The End.

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Fourteen Love Stories - Jose Dalisay Jr. & Angelo R. Lacuesta (editors)
Fiction; ISBN 971-542-412-0; Flipside Publishing, University of the Philippines Press; 2004.

"Which is why, perhaps, the love story is a strange affair. As affairs go, there are good ones and bad ones, the ones we forget and the ones we remember, over and over again. But the well-written love story is an enigma, a strange beauty. Like any story, a path is laid out, but like any affair, the outcome of that journey depends on many circumstances. One reads it and wonders how and why it works, why one is unspeakably drawn to an obscure unknown. One relishes it while it is being discovered, uncovered, but knows with absolute certainty it will end."

I'm glad that the editors of Fourteen Love Stories chose to present the stories chronologically because this gave me a chance to appreciate the changing regard of Filipinos on love and relationships over the decades. But in the end, I can't help but group the stories according to what I'd felt about them (not a good way to review a book, I know, but I'm not aiming for a proper critique =P).

The first group are the ones I had appreciated and enjoyed like artworks in a museum. Indeed, I found myself connecting some stories to certain artists: "Dead Stars" is Luna's "Tampuhan", "Midsummer" is a sensual Amorsolo,"Wedding Dance" reminds me of Botong Francisco's murals, "Tanabata's Wife", to Bencab's sculptures, and Polotan's "The Virgin" to a Manansala jeepneyscape.

I very much enjoyed reading this next group because they reminded me of friends or people I know. This lot includes Ford's "Love in the Cornhusks" (reminded me of one of my parent's kasambahay), Gonzales' "Breathe" and de Jesus' "In Her Country" (a college friend), Fres-Felix's "Alma" (my boss' mistress), and Cordero-Fernando's "The Dust Monster" (a book club friend).

Not surprisingly, the two stories I've identified with  the most were those by writers of my generation. Sitoy's "Weight" is about the subtle pressures of life that chips away one's idealism. It also made me miss the Quezon City of my college and post-graduate life, as well as the naive enthusiasm I had then. My favorite story in the anthology is Katigbak's "Passengers". It is a story of love and loss, told through bus rides. I connected with a lot of things: the girl's fondness of commuting in dingy buses, the narrator's horror of being a new driver stuck in the hellroad called EDSA with suicidal bus drivers, Metro Manila bus routes, the 'techno-dreck' which are the official soundtrack of these buses, and even that infinite parallel universe thing.

There were two I couldn't relate that well: Melvin's "A Normal Life" and Villanueva's "How Could You Smile". The latter is a story of infidelity, something I had no personal or familial experience. The former is about a love affair between an older, more sophisticated woman and and a much younger man. I don't really know what to feel about these two stories. Do I sympathize? Or maybe abhor? But I still enjoyed reading them, though with a certain detachment.

Considering that the wealth of Filipino stories written in English spanned eight decades, I’m amazed that the editors, Butch Dalisay & Sarge Lacuesta managed to choose only fourteen stories. That they limited the pick to only those about romantic love probably didn’t help much, as the Filipino is race that is in love with Love – one just have to flip the local channels or browse through the thousands of Pinoy romance pocketbooks to realize that. But chose they did, and they chose well. 

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This started out as a slumber party topic, as far as I remember. What I don't remember is how we came from talking about songs in general, to specifically talking about songs of pain and heartbreak. After that, in a Facebook post, Eunice called them SPTD songs ("Saksak Puso, Tulo ang Dugo", which literally means "Stabbed through the heart, with blood dripping"). Lots of songs had been thrown around sporadically, both online and offline. Then I had this lame-brained idea of each of us contributing our own top ten SPTD songs and compiling them into a CD. With Joko contributing her own list, I guess this is a go. *shrug*

So anyhow, here's my own top ten list of heartaches, breakups, angst and other painful stuff like that, in no order whatsoever:

Insensitive - Jann Arden

I'll Be Okay - Amanda Marshall

Cry Me A River - Justin Timberlake

Much Has Been Said - Bamboo

You Oughta Know - Alanis Morrisette

7 Days in Sunny June - Jamiroquai

You Got To Hide Your Love Away - The Beatles

I Do - Lisa Loeb

Out of Reach - Gabrielle

Just My Imagination - The Temptations

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Ah, September. The month that most libruwitres either sings praises of... or curse to the deepest hell. It's the month you've been preparing your wallets for. It's the month of The 32nd Manila International Book Fair!

This year's MIBF is promising to be a very memorable one because of the first ever Filipino Reader's Conference!

Here's the program of activities for the ReaderCon:


1:00 – 1:20 PM Registration

1:20 – 1:30 PM Welcome Remarks

1:30 – 2:00 PM Keynote Speech: No Line on the Horizon: The Merging of Readers and Writers through Social Media
Speaker: Carljoe Javier

2:00 – 3:30 PM Panel Discussion: Putting up and Running a Book Club--for the fun of it!
Panelists:
Gege Sugue (FFP)
Doni A. Oliveros (Goodreads)
Tata Francisco (Ex Libris)
Facilitator: Peter Sandico

3:30 – 4:00 PM Snacks

4:00 – 5:30 PM Panel Discussion: The Why and How of Book Blogging
Panelists:
Tarie Sabido (Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind)
Charles Tan (Bibliophile Stalker)
Chachic Fernandez (Chachic’s Book Nook)
Aldrin Calimlim (Fully Booked. Me)
Sasha Martinez (Sasha & the Silverfish)
Facilitator: Honey de Peralta (Coffeespoons)

5:30 – 6:00 PM Raffles and Socials


As you all know, I'm a member of the Flips Flipping Pages book club (we call ourselves Flippers - we're weird that way, hahaha), so I'll definitely be there for the sheer nerdy fun of socializing with fellow bookworms. I just hope I'll have the chance to wander through the SMX Convention Center exhibition ground. I'll probably won't forgive myself if I don't give in to the book-buying frenzy at least once (okay fine, twice). I've seen the list of exhibitors and schedule of special events, and boy, these lists are long! If you need further information on this week-long event, do check out the MIBF website.

See you there!

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