Tats Rejante Manahan on Christian faith, history & meditation

Recently, I have been concerned about how the many of our iconic landmark architecture are being eaten up by huge real estate corporations. These real estate mega corporations, without concern for history or heritage, are quickly scheduling these iconic landmarks for destruction and conversion to more condos. Among the leading voices heading the heritage preservation committee is Tats Manahan. I asked her to describes her reading taste and share some of her favorite books.

In her own words:

“My reading tastes have changed over the years. When before I was attracted to well-written novels with unusual plots (Tom Robbins’ Only Cowgirls Get the Blues, Still Life With Woodpecker, among many others); now I find myself leafing through non-fiction books in bookstores, specifically those related to my work as a surface decorator and a restorer for built heritage and historical decoration. These are not all necessarily technical books, but books that make me understand my work better by way of history.

“City of Fallen Angels is one that resonates because it is about Venice, specifically January 1996, when a fire consumed the Teatro La Fenice. I went back to restoration school in Venice for a second term in February that year, barely a month after the fire, and one of the first things we were asked to do was to observe the cleanup being done at the theater. The book is a real account, written in narrative form, of how a city rallied behind the destruction of a heritage structure and how the collective consciousness of the community was such an empowering force in putting it together again. This is something we sadly don’t see here in our country where the powers-that-be even sanction the destruction of edifices that have been part of our heritage landscape. And have in fact held a significance in the community’s memory. I fear that my grandchildren will have, for heritage structures, giant malls.

“The other type of book that I buy are those that deal with my renewed Christian faith, and I don’t mean feel-good, self-help books, but rather books that cut deep to the core of who I now believe in: God. It is hard to list just five books that cover just these two genres, so randomly here is my ‘list’ which will probably be indicative of my present mindset.”

Conservation of Ruins by John Ashurst. “My go-to book for consultation with regards to similar conservation cases that I encounter.”

The Stones of Venice by John Ruskin. “Aside from being a discourse on building heritage, it’s about a favorite place.”

A History of Thought and Invention: From Fire to Freud by Peter Watson. “A thought-provoking, informative work about origins of just about everything.”

Jesus and Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias and other books by him. â€œZacharias is an apologist and gives you very solid arguments on why God is God in the light of other gods.”

The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey, and other books by him. “It changed my perspective on the much-misunderstood ‘Person’ and why salvation needs to be viewed in the light of what He had given us freely in exchange for a sacrifice many take for granted, aside from seeing His teachings from God’s all-encompassing point of view, rather than our own myopic vision.”

Books by C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, etc.) “All of C.S. Lewis’s books are meditative; that’s why I like them.”

* * *

The Reading Club recommends Thick Face Black Face by Chin-Ning Chu.

For your comments and suggestions you can write me at gr.rodis@yahoo.com.