Books

The JeepneyShop is your AS/ISM Alumni Shopping site!

Great books, CDs and videos – all related to the Philippines!
Better stocked than Shoemart, glitzier than Rustans!

New Books: Home is Where My Earrings Are by Dannie Russell (wife of HS Principal Russell).

Popular Books: Works of nonfiction like Waltzing with a Dictator
and fiction like Cryptonomicon as well as great Books by Alumni.

Fiction
Nonfiction
By and About Alumni

BOOKS – FICTION

Noli
Me Tangere
is a classic read for those interested in South-East Asian
or colonial history/literature. This is an improved english translation
of Jose Rizal’s famous work.
Rod
O’Connor ’82 recommends the novel Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn.
Ironic, humorous observations of pinoy culture during the waning days
of the Marcos regime. It was turned into a play in NYC.
Dusk
is 5th novel in the acclaimed Rosales saga by F. Sional Jose which chronicles
Filipino life in the last century. Covers colonialism, poverty, Christianity
in Asia, and the Spanish American war.
Ghosts
of Manila
is a work of docufiction by brit James Hamilton-Patterson.
A haunting, violent tale of anarchy and depravity in Manila
The
Tesseract is a three-part crime-story vividly set in muggy, scary
Manila. Alex Garland (who wrote “The Beach”) is a master of
the youth paranoid thriller.
Rod
O’Connor ’82 recommends Biggest Elvis by P. F. Kluge as a Very
entertaining story about 3 Elvis impersonators that perform at a bar in
Olongapo on the eve of the US departure from Subic.
Alex
Kahl ’81 loved Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, famous for
his high-tech novel “Snow Crash.”
A whopping 1000 pages yet
highly hip and readable. Zooms all over the world, and between two time
periods–World War II and the present.
Stephenson’s
depiction s of the Philippines (then and now) are near-perfect.
Doreen
Staight Wiley’s historical novel FIRES of SURVIVAL has the best
description of the Battle of Manila Liberation that I’ve read. Doreen’
family home was on the front lines of the fight for days, and she brings
those awful times — as well as the way life was lived in Manila on the
“outside” to life.

BOOKS – NONFICTION

Ghost
Soldiers
by Hampton Sides is a detailed account of a daring WWII rescue
mission to free the last survivors of the Bataan Death March.
Story was
turned into the movie “The Great Raid” which is out in August 2005.
Rod
O’Connor ’82 recommends In Our Image: America’s Empire in the Philippines
by Stanley Karnow because it is a very complete account of Philippine
history after Magellan.
Whether
you’re going back to the Philippines or just homesick, the Insight
Guide to the Philippines
is a quality guide book.
It has detailed
facts, great photos, and tells you how to get the most out of your visit.
We
Band of Angels
is a non-fiction narrative by Elizabeth M. Norman about
99 WWII nurses – from country-club atmosphere of prewar Manila to jungle
hospitals and Bataan and Corregidor. And they all survived.
Norie
de la Cruz ’82 recommends Waltzing with a Dictator, a fascinating
read by NYT correspondent Raymond Bonner on the complex 20-year U.S. relationship
with the Marcos regime.
Not
a book but equally fun to read, the Philippines Country Map by
Periplus makes an excellent map to use when travelling in the islands.
Lots of detailed infos on quality paper!
iJET Weekly
Travel Intelligence Report
– Philippines covers all potential
travel concerns and is updated weekly. This “Travel Intelligence”
is current, independent, and unbiased and comes to you as a downloadable
PDF file.
Covers
these categories: Entry/Exit, Health, Security, Transportation, Communications
/ Technology, Financial, Language, Environment, Culture and Legal.
Adobo,
lumpia, sinigang, coconut and ube recipes, it’s all in the Cookbook Filipino
Cuisine: Recipes from the Islands
. In fact all the regional and cultural
styles of cooking are present, including Asian, Spanish, Muslim, Portuguese,
Mexican.
Filipino
Children’s Favorite Stories
is a compilation of 13 short folktales,
many of them classics of the Filipino culture.
The themes are universal
in nature: greed and laziness and their consequences, nature’s ways, family
love and loyalty, and humorous trickster tales.
Jens
Peters’ Philippine Travel Guide is considered the best all around
guide to the Philippines.
Be sure to pack it if you’re heading back. Or
just get the latest edition and browse it for some fun armchair travels.
BEYOND
COURAGE
,
One Regiment Against Japan, 1941-1945 is a wrenching
look by author Dorothy Cave at the small band of New Mexico National Guardsmen
of the 200th Coast Artillery Regiment, sent to the Philippines just before
WWII and captured there at the fall of Bataan.
Suzanne
Veaudry ’82 recommends
Third Culture Kids, The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds by
David Pollock and Ruth Van Reken.
People like AS and IS alums are called
Adult Third
Culture Kids or
ATCKs.
The book examines why we are what we are and what traits
we tend to have.
Gordon Lester ’63 recommends Escape to Manila: From Nazi Tyranny To Japanese Terror.In the 1930s more than a thousand European Jews sought refuge in Manila.Frank Ephraim, who fled to Manila with his parents, mixes history and first-person stories to describe the difficult journey to Manila, the lives they built there upon their arrival, and the events surrounding the Japanese invasion. The Great Raid on Cabanatuan : Rescuing the Doomed Ghosts of Bataan and Corregidor by William Breuer’s is a military history story combining oral history with dramatic narrative.The climax is the successful 1945 commando raid that rescued the last American POWs in the Philippines from the Japanese. Also deals with the fall of the Philippines, the atrocious treatment of American and Filipino POWs, the heroic and frequently dangerous work of both Americans and Filipinos in the resistance, and the role of MacArthur. Made into a movie called The Great Raid out in 2005.

<a href="The JeepneyShop is your AS/ISM Alumni Shopping site!

Great books, CDs and videos – all related to the Philippines! Better stocked than Shoemart, glitzier than Rustans!

New Books: Encounters: A Lifetime Spent Crossing Cultural Frontiers

Popular Books by Alumni offers works of nonfiction like Filipino Style by Liz Reyes ’65 and fiction like El Grupo McDonald’s by Nick Carbo ’84. Books about Alumni offers nonfiction stories like the one about Colm Connoly ’82.

BOOKS BY ALUMNI – FICTION

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Nick Carbo ’84 is the editor of Babaylan: An Anthology of Filipina and Filipina American Writers.

Here over 60 filipinas and Filipina – Americans evidence the rectitude of the Catholic Spanish past, Malay roots, and the steady, century-long revolutionary wind of American influence. Poetry and prose by familiar and new pinay authors.

El Grupo McDonald’s offers Poetry by Nick Carbo ’84 covering cultural issues with wry sense of humor and grace.

Philippine images that are both beautiful and disturbing.

You don’t have to come back to the Philippines to relive and enjoy your TAGLISH days! The Complete Dictionary of Taglish Terms is the most hilarious dictionary you will ever read… from cover to cover… in one sitting!

Sabado de Gloria, aka Dan Callejo ’62 offers English words, phrases and usage that never fail to amuse. What could be more descriptive or intelligible than a Filipino saying: “CR” (Comport Room) or “TY” (Tenk Yu).

Read the hilariously incisive political analyses and commentaries in… The Penis Mightier Than the Sword Parts 1 & 2. Pinoy political headlines superbly – and “whackily” — narrated and annotated by Sabado de Gloria, aka Dan Callejo ’62!

Also included are Taglish lessons guaranteed to initiate any moron into real-world, “comberseyshonal” English as spoken by Filipinos.

Potato Queen, the first published novel by Rafaelito Sy ’85, starts off in Manila, where a young Juancho Chu is dreaming of life in America. Juancho makes his way to San Francisco and begins making friends and discovering the gay nightlife. Along comes a white man who is attracted to Asian men – a “rice queen.” Juancho finds that he is usually attracted to white men, thus dubbed a “potato queen.”

Will Juancho and Gerald remain “just friends?” Will Juancho secure the US citizenship he has dreamed of? Find out in Potato Queen!

Taglish    
Ron Ames ’68 has written Vocare, a book about “A man’s search for, and eventual discovery of, the fountain of youth captured in poetic song.”    

BOOKS BY ALUMNI – NONFICTION

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Mary McKay Maynard ’52 has met with other WWII survivors such as the American guerillas her family knew and the submariners who rescued her, and shared stories with them. My Faraway Home is a beautifully written, courageous memoir of a wartime childhood behind enemy lines. An American family’s WWII tale of adventure and survival in the jungles of Mindanao.

Tisha del Rosario ’84 loves Filipino Style by fellow alum Liz Reyes ’65 et al. It makes the perfect inspirational table top visual treat.

The detailed photos will introduce your friend to traditional and contemporary Philippine architecture and design.

Patrice Cummins ’82 recommends A Normal Life and other Short Stories, which is a collection of short stories by Reine Melvin, who happens to be her sister.

Tropical Living: Contemporary Dream Houses in the Philippines by Liz Reyes ’65 is a showcase of the wonderful homes of the Filipino elite.

As inspiration for your own tropical mansion or to visit these fabulous homes, this book offers up the stylish ways of modern Filipino designers.

The Philippine Coral Reefs in Watercolor by Cusi includes underwater photographs by Scott "Gutsy" Tuason ’86.

They are brilliant reef and reef fish scenes complimenting both Cusi’s works and the timely reef conservation and restoration message contained in this unusually attractive art book.

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Manila Memories

 
Alumna Rebecca Gale De Villa ’88 and her co-author Jill Gale De Villa wrote the 2nd Edition of the Philippine Guide in 2000. This great personal travel guide comes from Open Road Publishing and is filled with lots of info for travellers on any budget.

Alphabet Alpabeto by Tracy David ’90 uses contemporary graphic design to create a playful and innovative bilingual book of letters for children of all ages.

Each letter is represented by computer-generated images (photography and illustrations); for each image the corresponding Filipino and English words both start with the same letter, i.e. B for “Boat” and ” Bangka.”

Publisher isAdarna House (ISBN 971-508-262-9).

Scott "Gutsy" Tuason ’86 took the beautiful photos for The Ultimate Orient – Philippine South Sea Pearls.

Vicky Sycip Herrera recommends ’68 this award-winning coffee-table book about pinoy pearls. It is quite informative and Scott’s photos are simply breathtaking.

AS Alumni Juergen Goldhagen ’50 has written Manila Memories, a book that includes the memories of Hans (Bob) Walser ’50, Rod Hall ’50, Hans Hoeflein ’49 during World War II in Manila.

The 140 page book is an easy read . Readers will learn what it was like as a civilian kid in the middle of a battlefield.

Purchase here

 

BOOKS ABOUT ALUMNI – NONFICTION

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As Assistant U. S. Attorney Colm Connolly ’82 helped prosecuted and convict prominent Wilmington attorney Thomas Capano for killing Anne Marie Fahey, an aide to Delaware’s governor. 

The story was turned into the best selling novel And Never Let Her Go by Ann Rule.

A two-part Hallmark TV miniseries based on the book “Never Let Her Go” also tell the true story of this high-profile murder case

Tom Hargrove worked at IRRI and his kids went to ISM. After 2 decades in the Philippines he moved to Colombia.

Long March to Freedom: Tom Hargrove’s Own Story of His Kidnapping by Colombian Narco-Guerrilla," is a harsh account of his long ordeal.

See also Proof of Life, a movie inspired by his story.

Vicky Sycip Herrera ’68 recommends Nancy Keeney Fortser’s book Encounters: A Lifetime Spent Crossing Cultural Frontiers which describes the adventures of her late husband Clifton "Cliff" Forster ’43 who graduated AS during World War II. Cliff was at AS when one day the Principal announced "The Japanese have invaded Manila…there will be no classes until further notice." The students all went to the Santo Tomas internment camp where they finished their studies and graduated.    

Click here for other great pinoy related Books by non-alumni.

Email us your favorite Books, CDs and Videos related to the Philippines and well try to stock them!

BOOKS BY AND ABOUT ALUMNI – CLICK HERE