02/06/2026
Most of what I'm reading in June turned out Filipino, which I didn't fully plan.
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I'm starting with Song of Negros by Victoria Hoffarth which threads the island's myths into its history and its religion. It's been on the stack since I bought it because reading about Negros as a Negrense felt like something I wanted to be in the right mood for. Whatever that means.
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June 12 is when the year-long Philippine lit project starts properly. I'm beginning with the Locsin-Lacson editions of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, reading them across the whole year instead of cramming them into one month. I've had these editions for months and kept not opening them which is a very me thing to do with books I actually care about. Only recently did I learn the translator, Soledad Lacson-Locsin, was from Talisay, Negros Occidental. A Negrense too.
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June 19 is Rizal's birthday, so I'm reading Rizal Without the Overcoat by Ambeth Ocampo around then. I've only ever read Rizal as a school requirement so this one feels overdue.
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Then The Last Days of Magic by Ian Rosales Casocot, which only came out this year. A Philippine speculative fiction, more horror and fantasy than not. He's from Dumaguete and keeps circling back to the place in his work. There's also a story with a Jose Rizal clone in it, which is a ridiculous thing to find the same month I'm reading the actual Rizal. I'm delighted.
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White Lady, Black Christ by Charlson Ong made it onto the pile because the title alone got me when I ordered it. Turns out it's a mystery-thriller built on a religious conspiracy across cultures.
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The Woman Who Had Two Navels by Nick Joaquin, because, well, it's Joaquin.
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Mostly I'll read these in the gaps between work. Lucky for me my work lives around books, so I can pretend the reading is research. It kind of is?
