Their favorite books our favorite essays
February 9, 2003 | 12:00am
Thirteen years old and joyless – that was me in the summer I approached my third year in high school where nothing had gone right in the past two years…And so it was when I was 13 going 14 that I fell in love, hopelessly, irrevocably. With words."
This was how the grand prize winner of My Favorite Book Contest, co-sponsored by The Philippine STAR and National Book Store, began her essay.
Last Thursday, NBS and The STAR led by president and CEO Miguel Belmonte awarded 10 individuals for their outstanding essays published between April and December last year. The board of judges was composed of award-winning literary writers Butch Dalisay and Krip Yuson; National Book Store general manager Socorro Ramos and Cecilia Licauco; STAR editors led by editor in chief Isaac Belmonte, lifestyle editor Millet M. Mananquil, assistant editors Ching Alano and Tanya T. Lara, Starweek editor Doreen Yu and desk editor Juaniyo Arcellana.
The grand prize went to Ma. Nimfa Penaco-Sitaca who wrote about how the book Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis changed her life when she was 13 years old. Nimfa is a regional trial court judge in Oroquieta City in Ozamiz and a law professor. This gentle-looking woman is a designated family court judge and she also handles the toughest cases: heinous crimes.
"You can imagine how beautifully written her decisions must be," said STAR Lifestyle editor Millet Mananquil during the awarding program.
Nimfa won P50,000 in prizes – P25,000 cash and P25,000 worth of National Book Store gift certificates. When we told her we would love to accompany her to go book shopping, she laughed and said, "I’m going to wait for the sale."
Second prize winner is Jearvy Remollo, who teaches literature and journalism at the Philippine Science High School, Southern Mindanao Campus in Davao City. Her favorite book is Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Something More: Excavating Your Authentic Self. She wrote in her entry, "Reading the book strangely felt like coming home to someone vaguely familiar, to someone both disturbing and comforting. I felt the author was leading me to something." Jearvy won P30,000 in prizes – half in cash and half in GCs.
Third prize winner Benjie R. Baclagon is a full-time missionary/youth worker with the Grace Bible Church. He took up Mass Communication at St. Joseph’s College and has been involved in church work for the past 12 years. His favorite book is the collection of poetry A Lasting Joy, edited by Cecil Day Lewis. Benjie won P20,000 – half in cash, half in GCs.
The contest was originally going to award only three prizes. But because many of the entries were so good, STAR and NBS decided to give seven more prizes of P3,000 in gift certificates to the top entries cited by the board of judges. Most of these winners placed in the judges’ top three choices.
The winners, in alphabetical order, are:
Voltaire Garces Cang who wrote about F. Sionil Jose’s The Samsons. He is currently in Japan pursuing further studies.
Emmanuel de Leon, a faculty member of the Ateneo de Manila’s John Gokongwei School of Management, Department of Leadership and Strategy. The affable professor also teaches psychology at the College of Holy Spirit. His favorite book is The Bible, the book that helped him get through the grief over his mother’s death.
R. Kwan Laurel, an award-winning short story writer, is married to Dr. Arjorie Young-Laurel and they have two children. Robbie was a staff writer of the now defunct, left-leaning magazine Midweek. A Literature graduate of Ateneo, he now works for Opus, a company that specializes in preparing corporate reports for some of the country’s leading companies. His favorite book is Awaiting Trespass by Linda Ty Casper.
Thirteen-year-old Kara Ortiga is the youngest winner of the contest. She’s studying at the Poveda Learning Centre. Kara is a Nick Hornby fan, lapping up all his books and their movie versions. Her proud dad Sari Ortiga says Kara has an eye for detail when it comes to movies. "She notices things and remembers lines all the time." Kara wrote about Hornby’s How to be Good. "But I always like his books better," she says.
Ma. Consuelo Ortuoste is a graduate of UP’s College of Mass Communication. She is currently on leave from her PhD studies at the Arizona State University, where she is also a teaching assistant. Her favorite book is Rizal in Saga by Nick Joaquin. She used to head the research division of the Foreign Service Institute. She also writes conference papers and journal articles about international relations.
Ramon Felipe Sarmiento is chairman of the Liberal Arts Department of St. Joseph’s College. He also writes for film and stage and is finishing his doctorate in anthropology. His favorite book is Tim O’Brien’s war novel, The Things They Carried.
Mixkaela Villalon, 15, is a third-year high school student at Miriam College. She wrote about the Sandman comic book series by Neil Gaiman and her mother Zelda Villalon says that’s where her prize money is going for certain. Mixkaela also writes poetry and is on her school’s debate team.
We dare say My Favorite Book Contest, the brainchild of Life-style editor Millet Mananquil and now in its second year, is the most relevant contest we have held so far. Not only because it encourages people to read or because we are celebrating the printed word with those who are already book lovers, but because by asking this question, we are compelling people to examine their lives and the world around them.
When we started the contest, we didn’t know we would touch such a powerful chord. We made the announcement in May and only two weeks later, the entries were coming in mailbagsful, the e-mail address we had created specifically for the contest was swamped, and National Book Store was sending us entries from their branches all over the country. By the end of the year, we had over a thousand entries and had published 39 weekly winners.
Books are the one thing that touch everybody – from students to lawyers, from homemakers to politicians, from business people to professionals. We got a call one day at the office from a congressman asking the contact number of a weekly winner – a teenager – because he wanted to quote what she had written on the floor of Congress’ plenary hall!
We also realized how difficult it was to answer the question "What’s your favorite book?" until we tried to answer it ourselves and until many readers complained that it was like being asked to choose who among their children was their favorite. The analogy of a favorite book to a child doesn’t require a stretch of the imagination. Some books come into our lives unexpectedly, some of them are planned – we read about them and save up to buy a copy for ourselves. Some books bring us joy and others make us so depressed like the sun suddenly took a leave. With guilt, we sometimes forget about them, but when we do go back to them, the rewards are always wonderful.
But to choose just one – oh, what a troublesome assignment! If books could talk, do you think Raymond Carver would leap out of the bookshelf and accuse you of favoritism if you pick Nadine Gordimer? Would the other books laugh at you, think less or more of you if you pick a lightweight book? Or would they be chorusing, "Pick me! Pick me!" "Wasn’t I the one who kept you company when you had diarrhea?" "I entertained you while you waited at airports!"
As NBS general manager Socorro Ramos said during the awarding, "If anyone asked me that question, I would probably hesitate, not knowing how to answer it, much less write an entire essay about it. Adopting a favorite book is a bit different from, say, a favorite snack. My favorite? Piniritong mani na may bawang!"
STAR president Miguel Belmonte’s reading list is made up of management books and corporate journals. He doesn’t read much fiction, he says, but newspapers – 20 a day!
Butch Dalisay, chairman of the UP College of Arts and Letters’ English Department, said, "There’s no accounting for taste sometimes. People pick books for different reasons. It’s not so much the book that counts, but the reader."
Indeed, we received several entries on the same book that affected the writers in different ways. Some of the writers talked about how the book changed their lives while others talked about how their favorite book could change the country, if not the world.
Dalisay noted that this year’s batch is composed of a wonderful mix of books. The choice of books by the writers ranged from fiction to self-help, non-fiction to comic books.
"I am a partisan for fiction, simply because fiction is something enjoyable, yet nothing else will show us the complexity of life, our need to understand and be understood," Robbie Laurel articulates in his entry.
The one thing in common among the winners – and all the contestants who joined for that matter – is love of books. "It’s like a fraternity. When book lovers see each other, they discuss good books, where to get good ones, what’s on sale," says Robbie, who has a habit of scolding "browsers" who damage the books that they practically finish reading in bookstores.
At the end of the program, we finally cornered Nanay Socorro Ramos to reveal her favorite book. She’s read so many, she said. But you must have one, we insisted.
"Okay," she said. "It’s How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I read it when I was 18. The most important lessons it taught me: Be humble. Make the other person feel he is important."
As for me, I think I will go out today and buy a new book: Public Speaking for Dummies.
This was how the grand prize winner of My Favorite Book Contest, co-sponsored by The Philippine STAR and National Book Store, began her essay.
Last Thursday, NBS and The STAR led by president and CEO Miguel Belmonte awarded 10 individuals for their outstanding essays published between April and December last year. The board of judges was composed of award-winning literary writers Butch Dalisay and Krip Yuson; National Book Store general manager Socorro Ramos and Cecilia Licauco; STAR editors led by editor in chief Isaac Belmonte, lifestyle editor Millet M. Mananquil, assistant editors Ching Alano and Tanya T. Lara, Starweek editor Doreen Yu and desk editor Juaniyo Arcellana.
The grand prize went to Ma. Nimfa Penaco-Sitaca who wrote about how the book Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis changed her life when she was 13 years old. Nimfa is a regional trial court judge in Oroquieta City in Ozamiz and a law professor. This gentle-looking woman is a designated family court judge and she also handles the toughest cases: heinous crimes.
"You can imagine how beautifully written her decisions must be," said STAR Lifestyle editor Millet Mananquil during the awarding program.
Nimfa won P50,000 in prizes – P25,000 cash and P25,000 worth of National Book Store gift certificates. When we told her we would love to accompany her to go book shopping, she laughed and said, "I’m going to wait for the sale."
Second prize winner is Jearvy Remollo, who teaches literature and journalism at the Philippine Science High School, Southern Mindanao Campus in Davao City. Her favorite book is Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Something More: Excavating Your Authentic Self. She wrote in her entry, "Reading the book strangely felt like coming home to someone vaguely familiar, to someone both disturbing and comforting. I felt the author was leading me to something." Jearvy won P30,000 in prizes – half in cash and half in GCs.
Third prize winner Benjie R. Baclagon is a full-time missionary/youth worker with the Grace Bible Church. He took up Mass Communication at St. Joseph’s College and has been involved in church work for the past 12 years. His favorite book is the collection of poetry A Lasting Joy, edited by Cecil Day Lewis. Benjie won P20,000 – half in cash, half in GCs.
The contest was originally going to award only three prizes. But because many of the entries were so good, STAR and NBS decided to give seven more prizes of P3,000 in gift certificates to the top entries cited by the board of judges. Most of these winners placed in the judges’ top three choices.
The winners, in alphabetical order, are:
Voltaire Garces Cang who wrote about F. Sionil Jose’s The Samsons. He is currently in Japan pursuing further studies.
Emmanuel de Leon, a faculty member of the Ateneo de Manila’s John Gokongwei School of Management, Department of Leadership and Strategy. The affable professor also teaches psychology at the College of Holy Spirit. His favorite book is The Bible, the book that helped him get through the grief over his mother’s death.
R. Kwan Laurel, an award-winning short story writer, is married to Dr. Arjorie Young-Laurel and they have two children. Robbie was a staff writer of the now defunct, left-leaning magazine Midweek. A Literature graduate of Ateneo, he now works for Opus, a company that specializes in preparing corporate reports for some of the country’s leading companies. His favorite book is Awaiting Trespass by Linda Ty Casper.
Thirteen-year-old Kara Ortiga is the youngest winner of the contest. She’s studying at the Poveda Learning Centre. Kara is a Nick Hornby fan, lapping up all his books and their movie versions. Her proud dad Sari Ortiga says Kara has an eye for detail when it comes to movies. "She notices things and remembers lines all the time." Kara wrote about Hornby’s How to be Good. "But I always like his books better," she says.
Ma. Consuelo Ortuoste is a graduate of UP’s College of Mass Communication. She is currently on leave from her PhD studies at the Arizona State University, where she is also a teaching assistant. Her favorite book is Rizal in Saga by Nick Joaquin. She used to head the research division of the Foreign Service Institute. She also writes conference papers and journal articles about international relations.
Ramon Felipe Sarmiento is chairman of the Liberal Arts Department of St. Joseph’s College. He also writes for film and stage and is finishing his doctorate in anthropology. His favorite book is Tim O’Brien’s war novel, The Things They Carried.
Mixkaela Villalon, 15, is a third-year high school student at Miriam College. She wrote about the Sandman comic book series by Neil Gaiman and her mother Zelda Villalon says that’s where her prize money is going for certain. Mixkaela also writes poetry and is on her school’s debate team.
We dare say My Favorite Book Contest, the brainchild of Life-style editor Millet Mananquil and now in its second year, is the most relevant contest we have held so far. Not only because it encourages people to read or because we are celebrating the printed word with those who are already book lovers, but because by asking this question, we are compelling people to examine their lives and the world around them.
When we started the contest, we didn’t know we would touch such a powerful chord. We made the announcement in May and only two weeks later, the entries were coming in mailbagsful, the e-mail address we had created specifically for the contest was swamped, and National Book Store was sending us entries from their branches all over the country. By the end of the year, we had over a thousand entries and had published 39 weekly winners.
Books are the one thing that touch everybody – from students to lawyers, from homemakers to politicians, from business people to professionals. We got a call one day at the office from a congressman asking the contact number of a weekly winner – a teenager – because he wanted to quote what she had written on the floor of Congress’ plenary hall!
We also realized how difficult it was to answer the question "What’s your favorite book?" until we tried to answer it ourselves and until many readers complained that it was like being asked to choose who among their children was their favorite. The analogy of a favorite book to a child doesn’t require a stretch of the imagination. Some books come into our lives unexpectedly, some of them are planned – we read about them and save up to buy a copy for ourselves. Some books bring us joy and others make us so depressed like the sun suddenly took a leave. With guilt, we sometimes forget about them, but when we do go back to them, the rewards are always wonderful.
But to choose just one – oh, what a troublesome assignment! If books could talk, do you think Raymond Carver would leap out of the bookshelf and accuse you of favoritism if you pick Nadine Gordimer? Would the other books laugh at you, think less or more of you if you pick a lightweight book? Or would they be chorusing, "Pick me! Pick me!" "Wasn’t I the one who kept you company when you had diarrhea?" "I entertained you while you waited at airports!"
STAR president Miguel Belmonte’s reading list is made up of management books and corporate journals. He doesn’t read much fiction, he says, but newspapers – 20 a day!
Butch Dalisay, chairman of the UP College of Arts and Letters’ English Department, said, "There’s no accounting for taste sometimes. People pick books for different reasons. It’s not so much the book that counts, but the reader."
Indeed, we received several entries on the same book that affected the writers in different ways. Some of the writers talked about how the book changed their lives while others talked about how their favorite book could change the country, if not the world.
Dalisay noted that this year’s batch is composed of a wonderful mix of books. The choice of books by the writers ranged from fiction to self-help, non-fiction to comic books.
"I am a partisan for fiction, simply because fiction is something enjoyable, yet nothing else will show us the complexity of life, our need to understand and be understood," Robbie Laurel articulates in his entry.
The one thing in common among the winners – and all the contestants who joined for that matter – is love of books. "It’s like a fraternity. When book lovers see each other, they discuss good books, where to get good ones, what’s on sale," says Robbie, who has a habit of scolding "browsers" who damage the books that they practically finish reading in bookstores.
At the end of the program, we finally cornered Nanay Socorro Ramos to reveal her favorite book. She’s read so many, she said. But you must have one, we insisted.
"Okay," she said. "It’s How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I read it when I was 18. The most important lessons it taught me: Be humble. Make the other person feel he is important."
As for me, I think I will go out today and buy a new book: Public Speaking for Dummies.
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