in lieu of a field guide

Epistolaryo ng Bagamundo at ang Tugon ng Multo by Mikael de Lara Co (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2026) Reading Epistolaryo ng Bagamundo at ang Tugon ng Multo, the third poetry book of Mikael de Lara Co, was not a straightforward read.

This is the second of two-part posts on the last two volumes of Sonetoismo by Filipino poet Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles.

Dahilan (Reason) by Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles (De La Salle University Publishing House, 2026) It wouldn’t be too much to require that before reading Parra one consider the

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Pereira Maintains: A Testimony by Antonio Tabucchi, translated by Patrick Creagh (New Directions Ebook) [T]he fact is that I’ve been stricken with misgiving, what I mean is what if those two youngsters are right?

Tun-huang by Yasushi Inoue, translated by Jean Oda May, preface by Damion Searls (New York Review Books, 2010)

In “Cascais,” the second section of Montevideo by Enrique Vila-Matas—co-translated by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott—we learn that the protagonist, unnamed, is one to whom things happen.

Montevideo by Enrique Vila-Matas, translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott (Yale University Press, 2025) I have it all planned out—my reading list for the year.

Originally self-published in 2014, Ang Kompedio ng mga Imposibleng Bagay (The Compendium of Impossible Objects) by Carlo Paulo Pacolor, was reprinted in an expanded edition by the indie publisher Everything's Fine in 2022.

I've been reading three poetry chapbooks (or zines) by Aris Remollino: Manhid (DWB Publishing Philippines, 2024); Gabi, Umaga, Sinigang (Alagwa Books, 2025); and Mga Madaling-araw sa 7-Eleven (Alagwa Books, 2025).

Rajah Versus Conquistador by Kahlil Corazo (Pagecraft, 2025) Blood Compact Reimagined (2020) by Herbert S.

Tatlong Libong Araw (Three Thousand Days), Anyo ng Kalatagan (The Lay of the Land), and Sa Halip na mga Bulaklak (Instead of Flowers) by Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles (De La Salle University Publishing House, 2025) 1) The Japanese conceptual artist Kawara On

Novel-writing, like playing Go, is an art of assembly.

Seen from the outside, some stories have more truth than others, but the truth value of the story does not depend on its actual truth content. – W.

"Beyle, or Love is a Madness Most Discreet" was how W.

The MANIAC by Benjamín Labatut (Penguin Press, 2023) In her review of Benjamín Labatut's first book to come out in English – When We Cease to Understand the World (2020, translated from Spanish by Adrian Nathan West) – Ruth Franklin had some words about t…

Monstruo by Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles I recently had an exclusive interview with Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles (aka Ayer) about his septology of sonnet collections called Sonetoismo.

Laging Patúngo by Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles Laging Patúngo [Forever in Transit] is the first book in Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles's Sonetoismo, a cycle of seven books of sonnets in Filipino.

Narkokristo, 1896 by Ronaldo S.

I read and am liberated.

Before I get depressed about finishing a draft of a post on the state of this blog or the state of my reading, I decided to list books to be published this year (or beyond) that I want to read.

Last October, someone from Canada emailed to ask if I have updated figures (gender statistics) to a 2016 blog post Women in Translation Month: Novels from the Philippines.Yes, I have.Here are the updated numbers: Between 1900 and 2024, a total of 50 novels

Notes on The Pole: A Novel by J.M.

Does he know what his sentence is?”

Asinkrono: Isang Nobela by Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles (De La Salle University Publishing House, 2021) People say the novel is a way of imparting knowledge.

Ang Suklam sa Ating Naaagnas na Balat by Ronaldo Vivo Jr. (19th Avenida Publishing House, 2024)I dreamt of a difficult case, I saw corridors filled with cops, I saw interrogations left unresolved, The ignominious archives, And then I saw the detective Ret…