Sunday, October 16, 2016

Fortnightly Book, October 16

This past June I won the "Shredded Cheddar" Book Giveaway, and the books arrived just in time to slide right into the Fortnightly Book lineup. They are both by Nick Joaquin and are Cave and Shadows and May Day Eve and Other Stories.

Nick Joaquin (1917-2004) was the National Artist of the Philippines for Literature, and is generally regarded as the most important Filipino author of the last half of the twentieth century. The two books together span a significant part of his career, with only the very earliest and the very latest parts left out. The short story "May Day Eve" was first published in 1947 and eventually became a literary staple. Cave and Shadows, his second novel, was published in 1983.

I've read a few of his short stories before -- "Gotita de Dragon" was good -- but I haven't looked at most of his work at all, so this will be interesting.