So many drafts waiting to be finished:
12/27/08
I always seem to find myself bringing some work with me
9/2/08
That was haw-haw.
8/1/08
Catholic writers revisited
Why is it that some of the best writers around have been Roman Catholics? Tolkien was faithful to his church to the very end. You can say he was also instrumental to the conversion of his good friend C.S. Lewis to the Christian fold (albeit to the Anglo-Catholic variety). There's of course Flannery O' Connor, whose fiction on the American South was, as someone said, "Christ-haunted" (she wrote about life in the fundamentalist Bible belt from a decidedly Catholic lens, coming out with fiction that showed deep and abiding respect for a people steeped in faith, no matter how hard they try to run away from it, or bastardize it). There's Walker Percy. And yes, the British essayist and fiction writer G.K. Chesterton, another favorite source of quotable quotes for evangelicals. Graham Greene, a convert to Catholicism from Anglicanism (?), whose fiction expressed the inner tensions between his own life and the faith he has embraced;
6/9/08
Bargain Books Galore Part II
Economic crisis notwithstanding, the bargain book business in the Philippines is booming, and to a bargain book bandit like me, things couldn't be happier. I'm listing some of the best spots there are in Metro Manila. I'd say Booksale is still the best place to explore as far as prices and choices are concerned.
SM Manila Booksale shop. Located at the basement of the mall, this stall offers a wide variety of choices. Right now, for those who have good money, the shop has an amazing selection of newly-issued Borders classics, with their beautifully designed covers. This is also where I ocassionally come across really good theology and philosophy titles. This is where I found the German New testament scholar Mier's excellent tome on Jesus and the theme of judgment in the Gospels. I also think this stall can give the booksale shop at Robinson's Manila a run for its money.
Booksale shop Robinson's Manila.
When it was smaller, it was the shop that offered my very first used book buy -- Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks, for P45 pesos. That was 15 years ago. How time flies by.
Booksale Shop, Valero Street, near the RCBC Towers. Now, here's one spot that's hidden from public view. On a recent foray, I found Stanley Hauerwas' most recent essays on theological ethics here (his collection of essays first delivered in the prestigious Gifford Lectures at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland).
3/14/08
Lord,
Why can't I seem to find poetry in my heart any
