25 Great Reads
MANILA, Philippines - In celebration of The Philippines STAR’s 25th anniversary, National Book Store has come up with its list if 25 recommended readsto ignite the bibliophile in you. Here are snippets from 25 books spanning different genres that you’ll surely enjoy and make you think.
1. Guinness World Records 2011
Think you’ve seen it all? Think again. This year’s book of records include: Circus skills and sideshow arts; stats and facts; eye popping 3D cinema; gadgets, gizmos and pocket technology; record-breaking roller coasters and top sporting records. This edition also features a tour of the world of records in a city-by-city guide.
2. Tropical Gardens of the Philippines Lily Gamboa O’Boyle & Elizabeth V. Reyes
Aimed at the gardening enthusiast, this book contains a rare glimpse into some of the most beautiful tropical gardens in the world today. It presents 42 spectacular contemporary gardens in the Philippines, both big and small, situated in and around the Metropolitan Manila area and the nearby provinces of Laguna, Batangas and Cavite.
3. The Four Purposes of Life: Finding Meaning and Direction in a Changing World Dan Millman
Few writers approach the topic of life purpose with the clarity of Dan Millman, whose prior book The Life You Were Born to Live has reached more than a million readers worldwide. In The Four Purposes of Life, Millman distills decades of exploration and experience into a concise map of what we’re here to accomplish on our life’s journey. This book is for anyone seeking deeper insight into themselves and their lives, but especially for those at a crossroads, facing a challenge or change, when past approaches no longer work.
4. Bossypants Tina Fey
At last, Tina Fey’s story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon — from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence. Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we’ve all suspected: you’re no one until someone calls you bossy.
5. Life Keith Richards
The long-awaited autobiography of the guitarist, songwriter, singer, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Ladies and gentlemen: Keith Richards. With The Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the songs that roused the world, and he lived the original rock and roll life. With his trademark disarming honesty, Keith Richards brings us the story of a life we have all longed to know more of, unfettered, fearless, and true.
6. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells — taken without her knowledge in 1951 — became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance. This phenomenal New York Times bestseller tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew.
7. Pacific Rims: BeermenBallin’ in Flip-Flops and the Philippines’ Unlikely Love Affair with Basketball Rafe Bartholomew
Welcome to the Philippines, where the men are five foot five, the everyman’s Air Jordans are a pair of flip-flops, and the rhythm of life is punctuated by the bouncing of a basketball. Sweating his way through hard-fought games of three on three played on homemade hoops for fifty-cent wagers, Rafe uses a mix of journalistic know-how and the hard-court ethics he learned from his dad to get inside this unlikely phenomenon. After three years, he finds not only answers but inspiration in Filipinos’ against-all-odds devotion to the sport.
8. Carte Blanche: The New James Bond Novel Jeffrey Deaver
“The face of war is changing. The other side doesn’t play by the rules much anymore. There’s thinking, in some circles, that we need to play by a different set of rules too…” James Bond, in his early thirties and already a veteran of the Afghan war, has been recruited to a new organization. Conceived in the post-9/11 world, it operates independent of MI5, MI6 and the Ministry of Defense, its very existence deniable. Its aim: To protect the Realm, by any means necessary.
A Night Action alert calls James Bond away from dinner with a beautiful woman. Headquarters has decrypted an electronic whisper about an attack scheduled for later in the week.
Casualties estimated in the thousands, British interests adversely affected. And Agent 007 has been given carte blanche to do whatever it takes to fulfill his mission.
For adrenaline junkies, this book might just be what you need.
9. Toxicology: A Novel Jessica Hagedorn
Jessica Hagedorn has won acclaim for exuberant novels that combine a strong narrative drive with a lyric sensibility in which pop culture and extravagant behavior thrive. Her ferociously entertaining new novel, Toxicology, centers on two women who are neighbors in Manhattan’s West Village. Mimi Smith, a filmmaker whose only screen credit is a low-budget slasher movie, finds herself in desperate need of resuscitation for both her career and her downwardly spiraling life. Her neighbor, Eleanor Delacroix, is a legendary, scandalous literary figure, now nearing eighty and addicted to cocaine and alcohol.
Toxicology is, often all at the same time, a dark, fearless, playful, savagely funny, and ultimately heartbreaking witch’s brew of a novel about the collision of art, fame, money, love, desire, and mortality.
10. Room Emma Donoghue
Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it’s the prison where she has been held for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But Jack’s curiosity is building alongside Ma’s own desperation — and she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer. Learn what happens to Ma and Jack, by grabbing a copy of this bestselling book.
11. Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jeff Kinney
Being a kid can really stink. And no one knows this better than Greg Heffley, who finds himself thrust into middle school, where undersized weaklings share the hallways with kids who are taller, meaner, and already shaving. Perfect for young adults, this book tackles the pains of growing up and how to survive.
12. The Mortal Instruments, Book 4: City of Fallen Angels Cassandra Clare
The Mortal War is over, and Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And — most importantly of all — she can finally call Jace her boyfriend. But nothing comes without a price.
If you’ve been an avid follower of this series, be sure to hit the book store soon to get a copy of book four.
13. Trash Andy Mulligan
Andy Mulligan has written a powerful story about unthinkable poverty — and the kind of hope and determination that can transcend it. With twists and turns, unrelenting action, and deep, raw emotion, Trash is a heart-pounding, breath-holding novel.
14. The Hunger Games, Book 1 Suzanne Collins
Sixteen-year-old KatnissEverdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before — and survival, for her, is second nature.
Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
15. Fallen Lauren Kate
What if the person you were meant to be with could never be yours? There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.
Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at Sword & Cross boarding school in Savannah. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are screwups, and security cameras watch every move.
Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page-turning thriller and the ultimate love story.
16. Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book One: The Lightning Thief Rick
Riordan Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school…again.
And that’s the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he’s angered a few of them. Zeus’s master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Exciting and amusing, this book is a great experience for readers of any age.
17. StrengthsFinder 2.0 Tom Rath
In StrengthsFinder 2.0, Gallup unveils the new and improved version of its popular assessment, language of 34 themes, and much more. While you can read this book in one sitting, you’ll use it as a reference for decades.
Loaded with hundreds of strategies for applying your strengths, this new book and accompanying website will change the way you at yourself and the world around you forever.
18. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don’t Jim Collins
The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include:
Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness.
The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence.
A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results.
Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology.
The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap.
19. How to Live Longer, Second Edition: Practical Health Tips from a Heart Doctor Willie T. Ong
Do you have a health concern? Have you been told that you have a heart problem, high cholesterol or diabetes? Do you sometimes have body aches, headaches and stomach pains? Do you want to know the healthiest foods, and the best supplements and medicines for your health? If so, then check out this easyto-understand book on how to care for yourself better.
20. Simianology Scott Garceau
This monkey’s gone to heaven...
A group of archivists in biohazard suits tries to save film history before it turns into a toxic cloud... A night mas seus e plunges her hands into clients’ bodies, managing their dreams...
A kid’s party magician tries out his best trick on a bratty 11-year-old...
These are some of the stories in Simianology, the latest collection of short fiction by well-known Philippine Star columnist Scott Garceau. Ranging from the surreal and poetic to the comic and provocative, the stories are loosely linked by a trio of tales involving apes — “Simianology 1.0,” “2.0” and “3.0” — as the author hints at our connections
to the primate world.
At times sly and sardonic, other times moving, Simianology is a pulse read on our times. Whether tracking a Filipina whose camera can only take ugly photos, or a woman sharing jury duty with infamous author Brett Easton Ellis after 9/11, the stories are imaginative, vivid, one of a kind.
21. El Filibusterismo (Penguin Classics) Jose Rizal
Picking up the story of Noli Me Tangere thirteen years later, El Filibusterismo presents a gripping tale of obsession and revenge.
Gone are the Noli’s themes of innocent love, its hero, Ibarra, a man of great integrity and vision, replaced by the mysterious jeweler Simoun and a venal and reprehensible cast of characters. The result of Rizal’s growth as a writer and influenced by his exposure to international events, El Filibusterismo is a riveting and suspenseful account of Filipino resistance to colonial rule that still resonates today.
22. My Name is Memory: A Novel Ann Brashares
The secret is that Daniel has “the memory” of his past lives and recognizes the souls of those he’s previously known. And he has spent centuries falling in love with the same girl. Life after reincarnated life, spanning continents and dynasties, he and Sophia has been drawn together, and then torn painfully, fatally apart — a love always too short. Daniel remembers it all. Ultimately the two of them must come to understand what stands in the way of their love if they are to reach their happy ending.
23. Born to Run Christopher McDougall
Isolated by the most savage terrain in North America, the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons are custodians of a lost art. For centuries they have practiced techniques that allow them to run hundreds of miles without rest and chase down anything from a deer to an Olympic marathoner while enjoying every mile of it. Their superhuman talent is matched by uncanny health and serenity, leaving the Tarahumara immune to the diseases and strife that plague modern existence. With the help of Caballo Blanco, a mysterious loner who lives among the tribe, the author was able not only to uncover the secrets of the Tarahumara but also to find his own inner ultraathlete, as he trained for the challenge of a lifetime: a fifty-mile race through the heart of Tarahumara country pitting the tribe against an odd band of Americans, including a star ultramarathoner, a beautiful young surfer, and a barefoot wonder.
24. 48 Laws of Power Robert Greene
Cunning, instructive, and amoral, this controversial bestseller distills 3,000 years of the history of power into 48 well-explicated laws. Law 1: Never Outshine the Master. Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions. Law 7: Get Others to Do the Work for You, but Always Take the Credit. Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally. Law 33: Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew.
Each law is illustrated with examples of observance or transgression drawn from history and featuring such famous figures as Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Kissinger, Mao, Alfred Hitchcock, P.T. Barnum, Haile Selassie, Catherine the Great, and Socrates.
Convincing, practical, sometimes shocking, this book will fascinate anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.
25. Fables, Volume 15: Rose Red Bill Willingham
Rose Red, sister of Snow White, has finally hit rock bottom. Does she stay there, or is it time to start the long, tortuous climb back up? The Farm is in chaos, as many factions compete to fill the void of her missing leadership. And there’s a big magical fight brewing down in the town square, right under her window. This illustrated epic will sure bring imagination to new heights as the beloved characters, take on a new adventure.
