Book Watch

"Savannah" by John Jakes

2009-06-20T01:16:00.004+08:00

Reviewed by: Eric Tomas

“That dirty old wreck? I don’t care who he is. I wouldn’t care if it was Sherman himself.” “Well, you should, because it is.”

John Jakes has been one of my favorite novelists, ever since I opened the first few pages of North and South, his epic tale of two families on opposite ends of the American Civil War. Happily for me, most of his work is easily found in book sales, so I was able to complete my Jakes collection for a pretty low price.

My latest John Jakes read is Savannah, or A Gift for Mr. Lincoln. Set in the closing months of the Civil War, the story covers the taking of the city of Savannah by General William Tecumseh Sherman, who then offers the city to President Abraham Lincoln as a Christmas gift.

The story focuses mainly on Hattie Lester, a young Southern girl who inadvertently makes the acquaintance of General Sherman. Hattie, along with her mother Sara, is forced off her plantation due to the approach of Sherman and his army, and moves in with Sara’s friend Miss Vastly Rohrschamp. At Rohrschamp’s house, a group of Union soldiers attempts to loot the house, but they were stopped when an officer intervenes. This does nothing to assuage Hattie anger, however, so when she runs into a group of Union officers, Hattie, incensed at the depredations of the Union army, kicks a Union officer in the shin. The officer turns out to be Sherman himself, who is more amused than enraged at Hattie’s actions. It begins a complex friendship between the two.

Aside from the main story, as in many of Jakes’ novels, there are subplots to keep the reader adequately occupied. One underlying subplot is the awkward relationship between Alpheus Winks, an Indiana cavalryman and Zip, a young Negro slave whom Winks saves from drowning. As a result of the rescue, Zip considers himself beholden to Winks, much to Winks’ irritation. But, as the novel progresses, Winks finds himself reevaluating his view of the black man in general as he gets to know Zip better.

Another strength of Jakes’ books is his ability to create believable, fleshed-out characters, as well as well-described settings. He is rich in describing details about each character he introduces, even those who are destined to be seen only in a few pages, and it is easy to visualize Savannah and the Lester plantation.

What I also like about the novel, as well as Jakes’ books in general, is that it gives a fairly comprehensive look at American history, with vignettes not normally found in history lessons. While I was aware of the basic conflicts in the Civil War before I read his books, I was not aware of the complex issues that existed during that time.

For one thing, it’s clear that while the freeing of the slaves was one of the main reasons the war was fought, many Union soldiers fought mainly to preserve the Union, and more than a few were as bigoted as their Confederate enemies. Jakes emphasizes this through the characters’ words and actions.

Jakes’ afterword makes for interesting reading as well, as he explains the background for his story. He notes what events and characters are fictional, and what events actually happened. For the historical characters such as Sherman, he bases the character’s words and actions on his research; he notes, for example, that scholars generally believe that Sherman didn’t think that African-Americans would serve well as front-line Army troops. The afterword gives the reader an insight into how Jakes developed his story.

Unlike many of his books, Savannah isn’t as graphic with the violence and sex, which, while never gratuitously depicted, aren’t really appropriate for a younger audience. In the afterword, it is mentioned that Jakes meant the book to focus on Christmas, so I’m guessing that the toning down of the violence and sex is in line with this intent. However, the lack doesn’t take away anything from the book. Savannah is an entertaining, and even educational read, and I heartily recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about a tumultuous period of American history.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians Series by Rick Riordan

2009-06-18T15:40:00.013+08:00

Reviewed by: Enzo Flojo

No wizards. No vampires. No dragons.

Just gods.

Fantasy book series, whether they’re called chronicles, cycles or sagas, are a dime a dozen these days, what with the popularity of JK Rowling’s boy wizard renewing the young adult demographic’s interest in this genre. I have to admit that after reading “Deathly Hallows,” I wanted to get my hands on another set of engrossing tales. It was either re-reading C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books (my all-time fave!) or taking a risk on a new slew of titles. There were a lot of possibilities lining the shelves at the time, ranging from the wildly popular Twilight series to cult-favorites like the Abhorsen trilogy or the Inheritance Cycle, but, as the gods would have it, Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief just jumped out at me.

The premise is simple, yet, quite amazingly, never as fleshed-out by many other writers as Riordan eventually does here. The title character starts off conventionally enough – he’s not a good fit in any of his schools, his parents are separated, and he doesn’t have any friends. Just like most other young protagonists, he discovers that there is something special about him (he is a demi-god), and this opens up the layers of conflict in the story. If it sounds familiar, maybe too familiar, beside Rowling’s narrative, that’s because it is. Though it’s definitely no Potter rip-off, Riordan lays the foundation of his tale using tried-and-tested standards.

A struggling youth out to prove himself and an attractive female lead – check. (Ged and Tenar from the Earthsea cycle? Jason and Medea?)
A foil to the lead – check. (Ron Weasley? Flewdur Flamm? Han Solo?)
A wise mentor – check. (Take your pick: Gandalf, Dumbledore or Obi-wan)
A sympathetic cohort – check. (Gryffindor? The Galactic Rebellion?)
Magical gateways – check. (Platform 9¾? A mysterious wardrobe?)
Magical transportation – check. (Knight Bus? Magic carpets? Pumpkin coaches?)
Multi-headed giant monsters – check. (Hydra? Cerberus? Fluffy?)
A prophecy – check.
Freakishly pale bloodsucker who sparkles in sunlight – ummm… thank the gods no.

These are elements that define fantasy, but these exact same elements also define fantasy’s classics and ‘best works.’ Having said that (all that!!!), Percy Jackson seeks to enthrall the reader and lure him/her to embrace the idea that Greek Mythology, American pop culture, and teenage angst can all mesh into a terrific string of quests and adventures. It succeeds, too.

As Percy wrestles with the reality that he is the son of an Olympian, he also has to contend with class bullies, pesky teachers, a giant minotaur, a mysterious villain, and, of course, saving the world (or Manhattan, at least). Did I mention that all these things happen in just the first book?

There are five in all (Lightning Thief, Sea of Monsters, Titan’s Curse, Battle of the Labyrinth, and Last Olympian), with each one critically well-received, and contributing to the series enjoying 100 weeks on the New York Times Best-Sellers List.

And the last testament to its popularity (it has yet to reach fever-pitch in the Philippines, but I am confident it soon will) – a film adaptation will come out in February 2010. We can expect Hollywood to botch this one, naturally.

Bottom-line: If you’re a fan of any or all of the following: Harry Potter, Greek Mythology, adventure, mystery, fantasy, snappy dialogue, blue birthday cakes, pens that turn into swords, black pegasi, or hairy goat-men, then you will get hooked on Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Otherwise, you’re just pretending not to like it, and Zeus will strike you down with his lightning bolt. Or Poseidon will drown you in the waves. Or Hades will suck you into Erebus. You get the picture, right? Now go get the books.

"Prey" by Michael Crichton

2009-06-17T12:07:00.008+08:00

Reviewed by: Eric Tomas

“In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles -- micro-robots -- has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive.

It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour.

Every attempt to destroy it has failed.

And we are the prey.”

And thus begins the late Michael Crichton’s 2002 novel Prey. Once more, Crichton weaves a cautionary tale of what might go wrong with a new form of technology. In Jurassic Park, it was genetic engineering. In Prey, it’s nanotechnology.

The premise of the novel is interesting, as it focuses on the possible dangers of biotechnology and nanotechnology going awry. Like Jurassic Park, Crichton shares enough technical information to make his yarn seem plausible. The fact that the nanoparticles can gain sentience, and become dangerous to mankind is fascinating, to say the least.

However, this time around, the story isn’t as smooth as its predecessor was. While the concept seems plausible, Crichton seems to spend way too much time trying to explain the various concepts he’s introduced in the book, as opposed to telling a cohesive story.

As a result, his characters appear two-dimensional and lacking in depth; it’s difficult to empathize with any of them. It’s as if Crichton, in the writing of the book, gave them a cursory fitting, enough for them to function in the story, and then went back to describing the tech in detail.

The story itself appears to be derived from a number of stories wherein the plot revolves around human possession by an unknown entity. Ray Bradbury’s short story, “Fever Dream”, for one, where a young boy finds himself under siege by his fever, shows how such a story should be done.

While I’m a fan of Crichton’s other novels, unfortunately, Prey falls a bit short of matching the quality of his earlier work.

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

2009-06-16T16:10:00.000+08:00

Reviewed by: Chan Ylagan

We all have a very good idea of how the world is going to end: amid torrents of sulfur and brimstone, tidal waves of flame, an armageddon of carnage. Apocalypse might come in the form of an incurable pandemic, a cataclysmic meteor hitting the Earth, or some destructive variant of Mother Nature’s wrath that will cauterize the terrain and wipe out most of humankind. This will usher in the collapse of governments and societies as we know it, and the unfortunate few who will be left behind will be forced to take up arms and relapse into a primitive and pernicious brutality in order to survive. Even these, however, will come to pass as the inevitable destruction of everything and anything becomes more and more imminent.

Cormac McCarthy’s tenth novel, The Road, undertakes the difficult and ultimately bleak task of contemplating the end of, well, the world. In this novel, McCarthy presents to us a dying Father and his Son, and their heartbreaking struggles in the irrevocably damaged landscape of a post-apocalyptic, unnamed country that has succumbed to an abominable nuclear winter. Armed with a pistol that has only two bullets and chased by degenerate marauders, other survivors who have turned to thievery and cannibalism, the Father and Son plod together desperately to the coast on the far side of the country, on the blind and perhaps foolish hope that they will be able to glimpse something—anything—other than gray snow, melted stumps of buildings, mummified corpses on the road, and ashes of what was once civilization.

The Road, like McCarthy’s other works such as Blind Meridian or No Country for Old Men, is a challenging read. Rivaling the hand of even the foremost master of apocalyptic writing, Samuel Beckett, McCarthy’s minimalist style, influenced greatly by Hemingway, shines brightly and consistently throughout the novel, but which in turn makes it deceptively simple. He paints the calamitous state of things in stark, unflinching language that is terrifyingly beautiful and endurable only because of its integrity, as when he describes the overcast days and nights as “sightless and impenetrable. A blackness to hurt your ears with listening…. No sound but the wind in the bare and blackened trees.”

Underneath his lucid, lilting prose, his spartan paragraphs, and his short, seemingly innocuous episodes lies perhaps the greatest truth of the book: that life, especially a dying life, is hardly neat or simple. On the contrary, the closer one stands to the face of death, the more morally complex one’s thoughts and decisions become. Indeed, as the Father comes to realize that his bloody coughing fits will soon take him, he begins to seriously reconsider if his moral obligation to protect his son extends to killing him instead of letting him be eaten by the cannibals around them. In the end, a father’s got to do what a father’s got to do.

Perhaps it is on this unabashedly moral point that The Road succeeds immensely. It is not merely some Camusian commentary on the bleakness and futility of human existence. Evil exists, and in this context, evil is triumphant. In this make-believe but thoroughly believable world, visions of a society and its people reduced to rubble and moral bankruptcy are absurd. What is even more absurd, however, is how two people’s love for each other can see them through even the most nightmarish things the world throws at them, and how it can sustain them enough to believe that their years-long journey will end in anything but despair and defeat. As one reads the book, one begins to wonder where the long and difficult journey in the novel will end. At the end of the road, one realizes that it only leads to one place: hope.

"The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman

2009-06-14T00:26:00.000+08:00

Reviewed by: Honey de Peralta

review originally published in Coffeespoons

I've loved Neil Gaiman ever since I read the original version of Stardust (the graphic novel illustrated by Charles Vess). I then followed him through Neverwhere, American Gods, Anansi Boys, his collection of short stories Smoke and Mirrors, and even his collaboration with Terry Pratchett in Good Omens. Of his young adult and children's works, I've read Coraline, The Wolves in the Walls, and The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish. Unfortunately, though, I haven't gone through his Sandman graphic novels yet.

Anyway, I was pushed to get The Graveyard Book because, aside from it being a Gaiman novel, it also won the Newbery Award, a feat which I found curious.

Let me explain: majority of the Gaiman books I had read were dark fantasy meant for more mature readers. I simply found it curious and laudable that Gaiman could so easily transition to writing for younger audiences. To be honest about it, I thought that Coraline and his other storybooks were just a "hobby" for him. I see the Newbery proves me wrong.

In usual Gaiman style, The Graveyard Book starts out with something dark--the murder of a family, with the exception of a little toddler, who somehow finds his way to the local graveyard. Though the murderer follows him there, the residents of the graveyard--a plethora of ghosts and one vampire--decide to grant the boy protection and give him the freedom of the graveyard. Hence, the live boy, adopted by ghostly parents and named Nobody "Bod" Owens, becomes a resident of the graveyard.

Bod grows up nurtured by the different ghosts in his home. His guardian Silas, the vampire, manages his education by finding him tutors among the dead in the graveyard and basically feeding Bod's curiosity about the world. Bod's world, although seemingly grim, is actually warm, homey, and caring. It is when Bod insists on going into the world of the living that things get positively threatening.

Gaiman was right--he mentions in an interview with Stephen Colbert that it is the humans in this book who are scary. The "monsters" are the decent ones. I would say this is an excellent summary of his world view.

Within a graveyard and the cusp of the world of the living and the dead, Gaiman has created a story of charm, wonder, and coming of age. Beyond the sinister aspects, this is what resonates, though I do love a good sinister tale. Most importantly, however, the story gives hope without fudging the reality of the world--that bad things happen, change is constant, and people will have to leave at some point. And this is a great thing to tell children...at some point.

"Haroun and the Sea of Stories" by Salman Rushdie

2009-06-02T16:57:00.000+08:00

Reviewed by: Joel Falgui

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a story in a story about stories. It begins in "a sad city, the saddest of cities, a city so ruinously sad it had forgotten its name." In this saddest of cities, only the family of Haroun Kalifa is happy. Haroun is the only son of the professional storyteller Rashid Kalifa, who is such a fantastic storyteller that his listeners forget even their own unhappiness. However, when Haroun’s mother runs off with their neighbor who hates stories, her loss is so painful to the family that Rashid loses the ability to tell stories. Haroun’s desire to give his family any chance at becoming whole again leads him to an adventure to save Rashid and all the stories of the world.

At one point, when Haroun comes face to face with Khattam-Shud, the tyrant of the those who poison the Story Waters, source of all stories, Haroun asks, "But why do you hate stories so much? Stories are fun." Khattam-Shud replies, "The world, however, is not for Fun. . . . The world is for Controlling, And inside every single story, inside every Stream in the Ocean, there lies a world, a story-world, that I cannot Rule at all."

This then is the story in a story about stories that I love so much. This is Haroun and the Sea of Stories.

"Y: The Last Man" by Brian Vaughan and Pia Guerra

2009-06-02T16:54:00.000+08:00

Review written by: Dia Sales

Book Watch, Vol. 1, Issue 5

This is what you stumble upon when you check out what your students are reading during your class. Y: The Last Man is a comic book series published in sixty issues by Vertigo and collected in a series of ten paperback volumes. The story builds around the only man to survive a mysterious plague, of sorts, that wipes out every mammal with a Y chromosome on earth—including embryos, fertilized eggs, and sperm. This fortunate chap, Yorick Brown, happens to be a struggling young escape artist who, with his Capuchin monkey Ampersand (another survivor), becomes a government treasure as he would be the clue to the mass destruction of the male population. Together with his bodyguard, Agent 355, he plows through the ruins of infrastructures and chaotic female survivors who have realized their inevitable extinction in the absence of the Y-chromosome bearers.

Although the theme is rather grave and the adventures gruesome, writers Vaughan and Guerra strike a balance with wit and humor through Yorick’s unforgettable one-liners. The series will soon be made into a movie by the end of 2008.

"Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield

2009-06-02T16:50:00.000+08:00

Review written by: Tata Francisco

Book Watch, Vol. 1, Issue 5

This stirring and grand novel, told in Pressfield’s trademark masterful prose, tells the story of the ancient Spartans leading up to the famous battle of Thermopylae. Xeones, a Greek squire of the Spartans, somehow survives the battle at the Hot Gates, and is captured by the Persians. Yet the enemy burns to know more of the three hundred fearsome, valiant Spartans who slew more than twenty thousand of their finest warriors. And so, King Xerxes commands Xeones to tell him more about the Spartans: who were they? How did they get to be so fierce in battle? What were they like as men? What kind of wives and mothers did they have? Thus Xeones begins his tale.

Told through the dying Xeones, Gates of Fire delves deep into the society and psyche of the ancient Spartans. By turns brutal and lyrical, yet always brilliantly compelling, this novel brings the ancient Spartans to life. No stylized, semi-fantastical and glorious 300 this, but a darker, grimmer, more realistic and, ultimately, more compelling tale. Gates of Fire is more than just a war novel; it is a paean to the true nature of courage, the bond that comrades-in-arms, husbands, sons and fathers share, and the Spartans’ warrior ethic that so inspired the ancient world and still continues to dazzle our modern one.

"The Tale of Desperaux" by Kate DiCamillo

2009-06-02T16:48:00.000+08:00

Review written by: Jill dela Paz
Book Watch, Vol. 1, Issue 4

The Newbery Medal Winner in 2004, The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread, is a story about a mouse that goes on a quest to happily ever after. Despereaux Tilling journeys to the land of the humans where he meets an imprisoned prison guard, an ill-treated girl, and a remorseful prisoner. He also finds the love of his life and longs to be her knight in shining armor.

Though the book is intended for children, readers of all ages will surely be fascinated and captivated by how the author puts the stories of the characters together into a different kind of happily ever after.

"A Star Called Henry" by Roddy Doyle

2009-06-02T16:44:00.000+08:00

Review written by: Chinggoy Hidalgo

Book Watch, Vol.1, Issue 4

This first novel in The Last Roundup trilogy is a chronicle of the life of Henry Smart, a strapping Irish lad who just happens to run smack into the middle of the Easter Rising of 1916. Recruited by the Irish Republican Army, he proves to be a trusted soldier, training younger recruits and eventually marrying a fiery and passionate member of the same cause. Disheartened by the dirty politics and brutal tactics of his organization and his wife’s unfortunate imprisonment, Henry is forced by his former comrades to flee to America.

A departure from Doyle’s comic and touching novels, the book shows how Doyle can also tackle more serious subject matter. The laughs abound, though, as Henry and his father manage to charm their way into our lives, while taking life’s disasters head on, almost without hesitation. Henry’s boundless optimism and sense of hope shine through lighting the seemingly bleak and terrible corners of his experiences. At times tragic and emotionally wrenching, the novel simply does what a first volume of a trilogy should do: triumphantly stand alone and whet your appetite for the next installment.

"The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory

2009-06-02T16:40:00.000+08:00

Review written by: Tine Valdellon

Book Watch, Vol. 1, Issue 4

Warning: No historical content! The Other Boleyn Girl focuses on the larger than life historical figures of Tudor England; the intense politics and social climate of the era take a backseat in Gregory’s novel. Told from the perspective of Mary Boleyn, the relatively unknown and under-researched sister of the famous Anne Boleyn, the novel takes you into the glittering and ephemeral royal court of Henry VIII, where one wrong move can send a courtier to his death. Mary is presented as the angel between the two while Anne really shows her deviousness and her lack of compunction in sacrificing everyone around her in her quest to be Henry’s wife and the queen of England.

This tale of two sisters will resonate with anyone who has ever had to please his parents, take care of his siblings, deal with social climbers and gossiping neighbours, and advance the family’s fortune.

"Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

2009-06-02T16:37:00.000+08:00

Review written by: Nald Galinato

Book Watch, Vol. 1, Issue 3

Written by Canadian author, Yann Martel, Life of Pi tells the story of an Indian boy, Piscine “Pi” Patel, and how he survived 227 days stranded with a Bengal tiger on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The book won the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 2002 and is currently being set into film by the director of Amélie and A Very Long Engagement, Jean Pierre-Jeunet.

Life of Pi explores the powers of fear, faith, and fiction. Experience the unforgiving savagery of the wild through the eyes of Richard Parker (the Bengal tiger). Learn to cling to tomorrow from Pi’s daily struggles of survival. And marvel at the sustaining power of words through Yann Martel’s story.

"The Autograph Man" by Zadie Smith

2009-06-02T16:33:00.000+08:00

Reviewed by: Yey Ibanez

Book Watch, Vol. 1, Issue 2

Readers who lead straitlaced lives may find the characters in The Autograph Man, Zadie Smith’s second novel, rather unappealing. The main character, Alex Li-Tandem, does not have a conventional job; he is an autograph dealer who is obsessed with a ‘50’s movie star, Kitty Alexander, whose autograph he may have forged while under the spell of a drug called “Superstar.” His friends since childhood are equally eccentric: Adam, a black Jew who has “discovered God through the combined powers of marijuana and Kabbalah” and Rubinfine, a rabbi who keeps on getting on Alex’s case despite Alex’s vulnerable position since he is pressured to perform Kaddish for his father who has died many years ago.

This novel is, in truth, not about getting high on marijuana or searching for the autograph of an actress way past her prime; it is, rather, about a young man slowly learning to come to terms with his beloved father’s death and learning that gestures – as represented by the Kaddish and, perhaps, by the signatures that he avidly collects – are all that he has (and, ultimately, all that we have) to convey and to make meaning in this world where real meaning is obscure and elusive.

"The Time-Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger

2009-06-02T16:26:00.000+08:00

Reviewed by: Karen Ong

Book Watch, Vol. 1, Issue 3

The Time Traveler’s Wife tells the unusual love story of Henry and Clare. What makes their story different is that Henry has a genetic condition that causes him to time-travel to his past or future without his control.

When Clare is 20, she meets 28-year-old Henry in his present. Though Clare has known him practically almost all her life since he has appeared to her intermittently since she was six, for the present Henry, however, it would be a few more years before he would meet the six-year-old Clare. Confusing? At times it could be, with Henry appearing, disappearing, and reappearing in Clare’s life. But, as the story unfolds, this quirk ceases to become strange and instead contributes to making the story even more poignant.

“I hate to be where she is not, when she is not. And yet, I am always going, and she cannot follow.” – Henry

(The movie version starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams will come out in August 2009.)

"Falling Leaves" by Adeline Yeh Mah

2009-06-02T16:22:00.001+08:00

Reviewed by: Enzo Flojo

Book Watch, Vol. 1, Issue 2

Summary: The main character (this was sort of an autobiography) was shunned by her family because of her birth circumstances. She had a terrible time with her father, but, in his old age, the father turned to her for aid. In the end, all the events come full circle for the main character.

Comments: It is quite inevitable for the reader to empathize with the main character. Her struggles and small triumphs are easily absorbed by anyone who reads her life’s journey. It fits Pinoys to a "T" because it revolves around the issue of family, which is a staple in Filipino culture.

"Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer

2009-06-02T16:14:00.000+08:00

Reviewed by: Honey de Peralta

Book Watch, Vol. 1, Issue 2

Published in 2005, Twilight skyrocketed to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list and immediately spawned a wide fan base reminiscent of Harry Potter proportions. The first book in a series, Twilight introduces us to the love story between Isabella Swan, a seventeen-year-old new transferee to the town of Forks, and Edward Cullen, a 107-year-old vampire masquerading as a high school student. As Bella finds outs more about Edward and his family, her life is increasingly placed in greater danger.

In turns dark fantasy and romance, this compulsively readable book has, for a strong hook, the sweetness and headiness of first love, plus the excitement and danger of supernatural beings at work. Moreover, “Twilighters” are soon to get a treat as the movie adaptation is to be released in Dec 2008. Read it and understand why I say the book is probably as yummy as Bella smells to Edward.

Book Reviews sorted by book Author

2009-06-01T23:14:00.000+08:00

A

B

C

D

DiCamillo, Kate - The Tale of Desperaux
Doyle, Roddy - A Star Called Henry

E

F

G

Gaiman, Neil - The Graveyard Book
Gregory, Philippa - The Other Boleyn Girl

H

I

J

K

L

M

Martel, Yann - Life of Pi
McCarthy, Cormac - The Road
Meyer, Stephanie - Twilight

N

Niffenegger, Audrey - The Time-Traveler's Wife

O

P

Pressfield, Steven - Gates of Fire

Q

R

Rushdie, Salman - Haroun and the Sea of Stories

S

Smith, Zadie - The Autograph Man

T

U

V

Vaughan, Brian and Pia Guerra - Y: The Last Man

W

X

Y

Yeh Mah, Adeline - Falling Leaves

Z

Book Reviews sorted by Title

2009-06-01T23:08:00.000+08:00

A

A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle
The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith

B

C

D

E

F

Falling Leaves by Adeline Yeh Mah

G

Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

H

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

I

J

K

L

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

M

N

O

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

P

Q

R

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

S

T

The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo
The Time-Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

U

N

W

X

Y

Y: The Last Man by Brian Vaughan and Pia Guerra

Z

About "Book Watch"

2009-06-01T18:10:00.000+08:00

In SY 2008-2009, some teachers from the English Subject of the Ateneo de Manila High School conceived of the idea of having a book-related newsletter in order to actively campaign for reading within the high school community.

Thus, on May 21, the first issue of Book Watch was released. From the onset, Book Watch's intended audience was the community of teachers, staff and administrators in the Ateneo de Manila High School. Teachers contributed short reviews of books they had read and loved in order to encourage the other community members to read and to talk about books they had read.

This school year, Book Watch intends to extend its reach by going online through the Book Watch Blog.

From our original goal of building a stronger community of readers in our high school, we, the Book Watch administrators and contributors, now set our sights higher. We aim to join the greater community in promoting the love of reading. We want to enter into a discourse about books we've read, not just with members of our community, but with the the whole world.

We believe that, in the end, the only way to truly encourage our students to read is to be passionate readers ourselves, and this is what we want to shout out to the world.

Disclaimer:

Book Watch is an independent initiative of some faculty members of the Ateneo de Manila High School. Therefore, it is not an official school website.
The views contained herein do not represent the views of the entire school or university, its administrators, or the faculty body.
The books reviewed by the contributors are not necessarily those taught in school or found in our reading lists. Quite simply, the contributors review books that they enjoyed reading. Because what's the point of reading anyway, if you can't read what you enjoy? :)

Our Contributors

2009-06-01T18:05:00.000+08:00

Click on the images to see the reviews written by each contributor.

Joel Falgui

Dia Sales

Tata Francisco

Jill dela Paz

Chinggoy Hidalgo

Tine Valdellon

Nald Galinato

Yey Ibanez

Karen Ong

Enzo Flojo

Honey de Peralta