Reading, like music, is in the blood

It’s been over 20 years since I met Rachel Alejandro. Today she’s much more than my talent — she’s like a daughter to me. I’m not quite sure who adopted whom, but I’ve definitely found another family in the Alejandros, who I visit often to attend birthdays, weddings or any celebration, where they always make me feel like I’m part of the clan. A few days ago, I dropped by the rehearsals for “In The Blood,” a series of concerts that will feature for the first time the combined talents of the five performing members of the family: Rachel, Hajji, Nino, Ali and Eddie. I took the opportunity to ask them to share their favorite books for my column.

The Alejandros’ 10 favorite books:

Hajj

1. Fifty Shades of Grey  by E.L. James. “It’s very artistic! Ha-ha! It’s so me!” (Rachel laughs, too, but is not surprised and a little bit disgusted.)

2. Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason. “It’s the simplest guide to financial independence.”

Rachel

3. The Power by Rhonda Byrne. “No exaggeration — this saved me. Following it’s advice, I was able to circumvent and even reverse a seemingly impossible situation with the simplest yet most powerful of all tools — love and gratitude.”

4. The Sexy Chef Cookbook by Barni Alejandro-Rennebeck and Rachel Alejandro. “Eh siyempre, I co-wrote it. Ha-ha! People have been calling me Chef Rachel since its release. For the record, the recipes in the book are purely the creation of my sister, chef Barni. I wrote the other chapters of the book and put it all together. It’s easy enough to write about what you hold dearest to your heart. In our case, it’s food, glorious food!”

Nino

5. The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice. “I related to the brat prince Lestat because I had a rebellious streak in my younger days.”

6. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. “I enjoyed this and all of Dan Brown’s novels. Pure entertainment from page one!”

Ali

7. The Art of Immersion by Frank Rose. “Being the manager of Nova Gallery, this book gave me ideas for marketing in the art world.”

8. Batman: Year One by Frank Miller. “I’m a fan of comic book art. It’s also an interesting take on the Batman story.”

Eddie

9. Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling.

“I believe in magic!”

10. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.

“It’s got lots of interesting plot twists. I’ve always fantasized about starting my own (fight club). Maybe I will. Wait, the ‘first rule’ is that you shouldn’t tell anyone about it, right?”

* * *

The Reading Club recommends “In The Blood” concerts Nov. 15 and 29 at the Music Museum. For tickets visit ticketworld.com.ph or call 0918-8380319.

* * *

Your comments and suggestions are welcome at gr.rodis@gmail.com. Follow me on instagram and twitter @showbizmanila.