booknewb

TL;DR: It is a collection of crime/horror stories that happened in Manila around the 50's and 60's.  To say that this is a terrifying read is an understatement. Combined with the subject matter and Nick Joaquin's style of writing gives the stories a certain kind of flair that amplifies the tension.  There were some prominent individuals, one including Joseph Estrada; a couple actors and actresses. And others who seem to be normal people dealt bad hands with bad circumstances aggravating fate with bad choices. It is a different view of Manila. It appears that even before Martial Law, the country had its share of terrible events.

There was a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best grown corn. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked. “Why sir,” said the farmer, “Didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.” So is with our lives… Those who want to live meaningfully and well must help enrich the lives of others, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all. -- The author seems to be...

As the caption written on the title below says; it's a "medley of factual romances, happy or tragical, most of which made news." The first stories I wasn't sure if these were actual true stories. It seemed almost like a Gabriel Garcia Marquez plot.  Reading it now in 2016, some names seemed familiar; BenCab, the Aranetas, the Laurels. Others are some of which one will not usually learn in history class; though they may have made quite a stir at the time. It's an interesting insight on the toils and spoils of love. We oftentimes forget love transcends time. I wouldn't have known that the stories were from the 1960's-1970's if it wasn't stated. They could easily pass as today's stories. It seems love transcends distance and race as well. One is about a Japanese girl and a Filipino boxer. Another about a Yugoslav and a Filipina ballet dancer. Interesting ones also from a Colombian Miss International, an Irish American, and a German Barones...

This is a short story told inside a movie. That movie is called Cinema Paradiso. The Princess and the Soldier "Once upon a time, a king gave a feast. And there came the most beautiful princesses of the realm. Now, a soldier, who was standing guard, saw the king’s daughter go by. She was the most beautiful one, and he immediately fell in love with her. But what could a poor soldier do when it came to the daughter of the king? Well, finally, one day, he managed to meet her, and he told her that he could no longer live without her. The princess was so impressed by his strong feelings that she said to the soldier: “If you can wait 100 days and 100 nights under my balcony, then at the end of it, I shall be yours.” Damn! The soldier immediately went there and waited one day. And two days. And ten. And then twenty. And every evening, the princess looked out of her window, but he never moved. During rain, during wind, during snow, he was always there. The bird shat on his head,...