Halloween 2010 Reading/Movie: Carrie

Forget about the diabolical clowns or creepy poltergeists. Get your popcorn, pizza and soda ready for the vintage movie from the book or the book that was made into a movie: Stephen King's Carrie.

Carrie is the ultimate pariah in the typical American highschool - withdrawn and insecure, she hides a secret power and a secret homelife and nurtures special dreams just like any other teenage girl.

When the high school hotties play a dirty trick on her, trampling on her hopes, Carrie unleashes her rage that turns a dream prom into a nightmare.

King at his early best!

Book Love: Ilustrado

I can hear the supercilious, syrupy singsong - mellifulous - lilt of the women from Manila; their Tagalog peppered with English or the other way around. The normalcy of pretense and the pronounced dysfunction in a family dinner where the protagonist guests is a total riot. The ubiquitous Filipino world-view (from my vantage point) of finding the right to be citizens of the world, finding passports from Goethe ("National literature no longer means much these days, we are entering an era of Weltliterature.") and being well-heeled and -traveled is palpable in each rich chapter of Miguel Syjuco's award winning novel Ilustrado.

The book is erudite, no doubt about it. There is a myriad of high-sounding words (get your dictionaries ready!) and intelligent jokes (deftly translated from the hysterical dialect to the equally hilarious English conversion) that lend to the true Ilustrado appeal and parody even. All in all, the book has its attraction on both the honesty and the self-depreciating quality Syjuco weaves his Filipino-universal Ilustrado story.

While it is wittily engaging, it is a modern-day exhortation of sorts for Filipinos to look at our culture straight in the eye and see it for what it is. You've got a good eye, Syjuco. Kudos! You have made this Filipino book lover proud!

Book Love: Peony in Love by Lisa See

(Video from Lisa See's official website)

Peony in Love is the historical novel by Lisa See set in the opulent Chen family villa and the lively Chinese afterworld back in the time when Lotus Feet were the rage and women's work got published.

Sixteen year old Peony, beautiful and betrothed, reaches a turning point in her life when she meets the man of her dreams on the opening night of her favorite play, The Peony Pavilion. She and her dream lover meet in secret in the courtyards of her family villa. Her sweet clandestine affair evolves into a lovesickness not unlike her favorite heroine, Du Liniang.

Will there be true love for Peony, who has been promised to another?
What course will she take in the pursuit of finding her happy ending?

Peony in Love will sweep you off your feet to vistas of China and the rich landscape of Love.